King John, and not the historically famous one

EVIDENCE IS growing that Ohio has elected its first King John. No, not the historical King John who gave his land the Magna Carta. Not even close. The Buckeye version is - How can I be kind about this? - King John as in Kasich, a churlish fellow with strong autocratic tendencies who promises to lead our stricken state past the anthills to the pyramids, as he has described his burden when he is crowned.

Our latest clue is that he has barred reporters from covering his big moment of being sworn-in as Ohio's chief executive a minute past the bewitching hour of midnight Monday in his safe haven residence on his 10-acre preserve in Delaware County. Kasich says he's only looking after his children's security. But that could have been easily resolved by having the ceremonial occasion held somewhere other than his private home where he has decided to construct the state's pyramids from now on. Although he's vigorously promised to cut the costs of government, his rejection of the Governor's Mansion as his live-in hearth in Bexley will require extra costs for Ohio Highway Patrol security. That's not such a big deal when you're facing a deficit of billions in the next biennium, but sometimes even symbols have meaning.

Here, after all, is a fellow arguing transparency on one hand in what his flacks have labeled a "New Day," wherever that might rank as a political cliche that is soon forgotten. As the Plain Dealer noted, the media will be restricted from some other Inaugural events, including a ban on the media talking to any of the guests at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event. The paper noted that nosy reporters will be allowed to hear the speeches by King John and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and then be escorted from the hall before the real party begins.

Earlier in his King-elect period, our sovereign crabbed that reporters ask too many questions about his appointees that hinder recruiting good people for the jobs - and he won't have it! These are the anthills that he must conquer to get to those pyramids. And who builds those tiny powdery anthills? Ants, of course. Nice try, your majesty. But we're too small to bear scepters.

BJ, PD, Ganley: holy triumvirate?

THE EDITORIAL PAGE gurus at northern Ohio newspapers are facing a unique situation posed by a wealthy businessman in the 13th Congressional District. That, of course, can only mean mega-auto dealer Tom Ganley, the right-wing Republican who is out to unseat U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton. For the first time in my memory, the leading advertiser in the Plain Dealer and maybe the Beacon Journal will be seeking their endorsements in the fall. My experience in hanging out with political wannabes is that unless you are a Dick Cheney sitting at the top of Halliburton, you are not likely to be so bored with making zillions of dollars in your business that you would toss it all in for a zip code in D.C.

Considering the desperation of newspapers to stop the bleeding in their advertising revenue, the PD and BJ will have to weigh that concern against endorsing a Democrat, a pro-labor congresswoman like Sutton who has never been in their comfort zone.

Trouble is, if the Ivory Towers would own up to it, there isn't much in Ganley's playbook that favors the issues that have been supported by the papers, not the least of which have been his vibrant opposition to the the new health care law and abiding interest in tax cuts, as well as a lot of other things that Tea Partiers find so inspirational these days.

Those things alone might not be enough to dump a big advertiser from the A-list. Besides, the BJ demonstrated its remarkable indifference to the candidates' positions when it trashed Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, who went on to thrash Sen. Mike DeWine in 2oo6. (Sen. Brown has been considered to be an outrider by both papers, although the PD did prevail upon itself this week to connect him with the two new NASA programs ($2.1 billion!) that will add many jobs to the stricken Cleveland area. Front page stuff, too! On the other hand, the papers have had no editorial comment on DeWine, the GOP candidate for attorney general, for his grand style promise to repeal the health care law that both papers supported.

So far, the PD and BJ have endorsed Ganley in the Republican primary, which is clotted with a jumble of candidates, who, unlike Ganley, do not have the means for a limo-style campaign. I don't know how the papers squeeze play will turn out. So I can only humbly report the memorable tag on many an editorial: It bears watching.