Did you ever think there were so many hacks and quacks among us from still-breathing Republican politicians to, say, Plain Dealer columnist Kevin O'Brien, who want to prevent President Obama from replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia?
Claiming constitutional insights that escape many of us, they insist that a lame-duck president should not do what the U.S. Constitution requires him to do. It's their tiresome assault on Obama from the first day he stepped into office 7.5 years ago.
Never mind. It's a big leap from lame-duck Obama to the lame-brains on the right. But a democracy guarantees rightists safe, if silly, passage for it.
Showing posts with label Plain Dealer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plain Dealer. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2016
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Kasich mauled after Wisconsin debate
Contrary to his soaring campaign rhetoric, John Kasich failed to land his plane at the Republcan debate in Milwaukee. Maybe his Ground Controlled Approach system that he's been trying to perfect in New Hampshire sent him back to Marysville or Lima instead. He didn't even enjoy a celebratory flyover.
Once again, our agitated guv kept bursting into the conversation (eight times) to the point where one of the others could have fairly called for a restraining order. GCA landings notwithstanding, he managed to get few kind words from his political and media critics. Oh, the non-partisan Associated Press did shelter him from further abuse by simply reporting in the last paragraph that he was "also on the stage".
On the other hand, polling guru Nate Silver likened him to Hensley "Bam'Bam" Meulans. It's OK if you don't know that Meulans was a baseball player of sorts who is now the hitting coach of the San Francisco Giants. Few people know the name, but that seems also to be the lot of Kasich's csmpaign. (In Iowa, 0 pct. in the polls)
National Review conservative Jonah Goldberg said Kasich is "done. He came across angry, condescending and uprincipled." It gets worse, but if there are any kids reading this, I'll stop right there.
His problem, as we've noted early in his first term, is his harsh, snappish, rough edges that presents him badly to people beyond the reach of the Columbus Dispatch as a school yard bully. There had been words that he's become the "New Kasich", with Biblical references on his lips and expressed concern for the underclass. Didn't last long because it didn't give his poll numbers a lift. So it was back to "no more Mr. Nice Guy", which we already knew he wasn't anyway.
Even in Ohio, his protective media custody has begun to falter. The Plain Dealer's Henry Gomez began his report with "Maybe John Kasich would have been better off at the kiddie table." And the Columbus Dispatch, his leading chaperone in Ohio, headlined: "Kasich heads back to New Hampshire amid unfavorable reviews."
But a Republican Party that was hospitable to the Tea Party and evangelicals when the latter began to invade it en masse years ago must now contend with the reality so vivified by Kasich's demolition by the hard right that doubts his conservative purity. No longer is the GOP the only party separated from Democrats. It must contend with being in third place, at least what's left of it, behind the fringe that encourages Ben Carson to blatantly lie about so many things and Donald Trump to make history with nonsense about shipping 11 million illegals back to Mexico.
Kasich's empty boast that he knows how to land an airplane (which qualifies him to handle government's course!) seems so trivial in comparison.
That much the Kasich campaign, as frivolous as it has been at times, has shown us with his mauling by the current proprietors of the old Republican Party.
Once again, our agitated guv kept bursting into the conversation (eight times) to the point where one of the others could have fairly called for a restraining order. GCA landings notwithstanding, he managed to get few kind words from his political and media critics. Oh, the non-partisan Associated Press did shelter him from further abuse by simply reporting in the last paragraph that he was "also on the stage".
On the other hand, polling guru Nate Silver likened him to Hensley "Bam'Bam" Meulans. It's OK if you don't know that Meulans was a baseball player of sorts who is now the hitting coach of the San Francisco Giants. Few people know the name, but that seems also to be the lot of Kasich's csmpaign. (In Iowa, 0 pct. in the polls)
National Review conservative Jonah Goldberg said Kasich is "done. He came across angry, condescending and uprincipled." It gets worse, but if there are any kids reading this, I'll stop right there.
His problem, as we've noted early in his first term, is his harsh, snappish, rough edges that presents him badly to people beyond the reach of the Columbus Dispatch as a school yard bully. There had been words that he's become the "New Kasich", with Biblical references on his lips and expressed concern for the underclass. Didn't last long because it didn't give his poll numbers a lift. So it was back to "no more Mr. Nice Guy", which we already knew he wasn't anyway.
Even in Ohio, his protective media custody has begun to falter. The Plain Dealer's Henry Gomez began his report with "Maybe John Kasich would have been better off at the kiddie table." And the Columbus Dispatch, his leading chaperone in Ohio, headlined: "Kasich heads back to New Hampshire amid unfavorable reviews."
But a Republican Party that was hospitable to the Tea Party and evangelicals when the latter began to invade it en masse years ago must now contend with the reality so vivified by Kasich's demolition by the hard right that doubts his conservative purity. No longer is the GOP the only party separated from Democrats. It must contend with being in third place, at least what's left of it, behind the fringe that encourages Ben Carson to blatantly lie about so many things and Donald Trump to make history with nonsense about shipping 11 million illegals back to Mexico.
Kasich's empty boast that he knows how to land an airplane (which qualifies him to handle government's course!) seems so trivial in comparison.
That much the Kasich campaign, as frivolous as it has been at times, has shown us with his mauling by the current proprietors of the old Republican Party.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Wordsmith McCarthy's untrustable dictionary
It was not a good week for words in the political arena. Let me show you:
Kevin McCarthy, a minor league prospect to succeed Speaker John Boehner, described Hillary Clinton as "untrustable". Even if you grant the guy from California some rein as a wordsmith, it may not guarantee him that he will be promoted. Indeed, some of his colleagues in the House prefer to call him a pleasant "hack".
Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson, a soft- voiced hard rightest, warned New Hampshire voters that America is heading toward Nazi control in the highest places. "If you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts,it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech," he said. But he controlled his own thoughts when he only implied that President Obama was the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. "I'm not going to go into that," he said. "I think that example is pretty clear."
Jeb! Bush disappointed those who believed he had a chance to be the only sane candidate in the GOP field because of his dynastic genes, skipped a definitive response on gun control in the wake of the Oregon massacre by saying, '"We're in difficult times in our country ... Stuff happens". Jeb! is new at the presidential campaign game and needs a lot more work on bumper sticker neologisms.
John Kasich, soldiering on and on for an American Miracle despite his two pct. approval rating in the national polls, mixed his own brand of hard-shell conservatism with cautious pragmatism as a gun-rights advocate by dodging the issue of gun control: "Stripping law-abiding citizens of their guns, I just don't know. I don't believe it would get the job done. I just don't." As a Plunderbund writer reported, guv, "Never mind that nobody serious on this issue is suggesting we strip law-abiding citizens of their guns." Time for Kasich to get back, in his prosaic words, to "leading America back to prosperity".
Finally, can't ignore the wisdom of Plain Dealer columnist Kevin O'Brien, a guardian of the Chicken Coop Fringe, who believes the GOP needs to pursue its destiny with a kick -ass conservative to succeed Boehner, who got too little "rope" in defining the GOP's pit bull playbook.
O'Brien's soaring recommendations included devout conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio farm resident who now leads the untrustable GOP's Freedom Caucus - another neologism that connects a pair of mutually exclusive words on Capitol Hill,where dictionaries are seldom found open.. .
Kevin McCarthy, a minor league prospect to succeed Speaker John Boehner, described Hillary Clinton as "untrustable". Even if you grant the guy from California some rein as a wordsmith, it may not guarantee him that he will be promoted. Indeed, some of his colleagues in the House prefer to call him a pleasant "hack".
Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson, a soft- voiced hard rightest, warned New Hampshire voters that America is heading toward Nazi control in the highest places. "If you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts,it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech," he said. But he controlled his own thoughts when he only implied that President Obama was the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. "I'm not going to go into that," he said. "I think that example is pretty clear."
Jeb! Bush disappointed those who believed he had a chance to be the only sane candidate in the GOP field because of his dynastic genes, skipped a definitive response on gun control in the wake of the Oregon massacre by saying, '"We're in difficult times in our country ... Stuff happens". Jeb! is new at the presidential campaign game and needs a lot more work on bumper sticker neologisms.
John Kasich, soldiering on and on for an American Miracle despite his two pct. approval rating in the national polls, mixed his own brand of hard-shell conservatism with cautious pragmatism as a gun-rights advocate by dodging the issue of gun control: "Stripping law-abiding citizens of their guns, I just don't know. I don't believe it would get the job done. I just don't." As a Plunderbund writer reported, guv, "Never mind that nobody serious on this issue is suggesting we strip law-abiding citizens of their guns." Time for Kasich to get back, in his prosaic words, to "leading America back to prosperity".
Finally, can't ignore the wisdom of Plain Dealer columnist Kevin O'Brien, a guardian of the Chicken Coop Fringe, who believes the GOP needs to pursue its destiny with a kick -ass conservative to succeed Boehner, who got too little "rope" in defining the GOP's pit bull playbook.
O'Brien's soaring recommendations included devout conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio farm resident who now leads the untrustable GOP's Freedom Caucus - another neologism that connects a pair of mutually exclusive words on Capitol Hill,where dictionaries are seldom found open.. .
Friday, March 6, 2015
PD's O'Brien: No escape from the fringe's lunacy
Kevin O'Brien, the Plain Dealer's deputy editorial page editor, wrote that U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder "lives and breathes racial politics" and that the Justice Department is "racially obsessed". These wicked insights from the leaning ivory tower of Planet PD were sent to the reader in O'Brien's screed about the clearance of Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
And whose investigation cleared the officer of guilt? Oh. The "racially obsessed" Justice Department!
I must tell you, folks, when weirdness and non sequiturs are permitted by press freedom - which I stoutly favor - you must grudgingly defend O'Brien, a fringe columnist, for being a reckless fool in disseminating his op-ed page crap.
There have been a number of occasions when I've been tempted to respond to O'Brien's right-wing notions simply because they in no way qualify as worthy of serious discussion in the biggest newspaper in the state. But journalism has many faults today, so I've backed off to leave other offended readers to gasp at one of the PD's higher titled editorial page writers. I used to think he performed only as the court jester , but I've concluded that the guy really believes everything that he writes. Even when he personally warned me back in my days as a newspaperman that when America's powerful enemies reached our shores journalists would be the first to be seized. Or, on another occasion, that an uninspected major bridge collapsed because we gave the feds too much to do. And today we shiver when somebody mentions that Louie Gohmert is in our midst.
So I can only report that his long rant against what he considers to be racially based injustices against white police officers failed to tell us of the feds' documented instances of Ferguson's institutional racial bias: Blacks stopped in traffic without cause; the top court clerk (since finally fired) sending emails casting President Obama as a chimpanzee or giving a black woman an award for crime-prevention for having an abortion. Or official indifference to higher traffic fines levied on blacks, and other evidence of an imbalance in carrying out the system of justice.
What about it, Kevin? Will that be included in your next column?.
As one who married into a fine Irish family, I can swear that the elders knew something about bias, too. Like signs that said "Irish need not apply". Or another that I remember: "Machine Gun Kelly was not an Italian."
In O'Brien's own city, the anti-Irish feeling was rampant in my days of covering mayoral elections there. As a couple of bar stoolers complained to me, there are too damn many Carneys, Feighans, Hagans and Corrigans thriving in the shadows of the Mother Church and running the city!
Funny,they didn't mention O'Brien. Sorry Kevin, you didn't make the cut.
And whose investigation cleared the officer of guilt? Oh. The "racially obsessed" Justice Department!
I must tell you, folks, when weirdness and non sequiturs are permitted by press freedom - which I stoutly favor - you must grudgingly defend O'Brien, a fringe columnist, for being a reckless fool in disseminating his op-ed page crap.
There have been a number of occasions when I've been tempted to respond to O'Brien's right-wing notions simply because they in no way qualify as worthy of serious discussion in the biggest newspaper in the state. But journalism has many faults today, so I've backed off to leave other offended readers to gasp at one of the PD's higher titled editorial page writers. I used to think he performed only as the court jester , but I've concluded that the guy really believes everything that he writes. Even when he personally warned me back in my days as a newspaperman that when America's powerful enemies reached our shores journalists would be the first to be seized. Or, on another occasion, that an uninspected major bridge collapsed because we gave the feds too much to do. And today we shiver when somebody mentions that Louie Gohmert is in our midst.
So I can only report that his long rant against what he considers to be racially based injustices against white police officers failed to tell us of the feds' documented instances of Ferguson's institutional racial bias: Blacks stopped in traffic without cause; the top court clerk (since finally fired) sending emails casting President Obama as a chimpanzee or giving a black woman an award for crime-prevention for having an abortion. Or official indifference to higher traffic fines levied on blacks, and other evidence of an imbalance in carrying out the system of justice.
What about it, Kevin? Will that be included in your next column?.
As one who married into a fine Irish family, I can swear that the elders knew something about bias, too. Like signs that said "Irish need not apply". Or another that I remember: "Machine Gun Kelly was not an Italian."
In O'Brien's own city, the anti-Irish feeling was rampant in my days of covering mayoral elections there. As a couple of bar stoolers complained to me, there are too damn many Carneys, Feighans, Hagans and Corrigans thriving in the shadows of the Mother Church and running the city!
Funny,they didn't mention O'Brien. Sorry Kevin, you didn't make the cut.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Do some political parties age better than others?
Former Gov. Ted Strickland's decision to challenge Sen. Rob Portman, Republican "commonsense conservative," as he sees it, has drawn mostly yawns from Ohio's media stallions who argue it is a dramatic sign of the Democratic Party's pathetic lack of youth and energy. (Strickland is 73).
I would agree that the party needs a younger profile. But for the articles and editorial pages to fret over the Democrats' creaking bones is a rare sign of Ohio's Republican-leaning newspapers to fret over the general welfare of the "other party".
Young or old, it usually doesn't make that much difference who shows up on the state ballot as a Democrat. Don't take my word for it. If age is a factor, here are some engaging figures from the 2014 vote:
Of the five state offices on the ballot, only one posted a Republican younger than his opponent , Treasurer Josh Mandel, 37, big deal(!), who was younger than his opponent Connie Pillich, a lively and competent 54.
In the other four, Republicans were the greybeards - none more pronounced than the attorney general contest that pitted Republican incumbent Mike DeWine, at 68 against Democrat David Pepper, 43!
As long as these many years that I've followed DeWine's career, I've never figured out how he maintains his Rasputin-like grip on editorial writers leading them to such contradictory endorsements. The Plain Dealer produced not a single negative word about Pepper, a Cincinnati lawyer who had ably served as a county commissioner and city councilman. The PD however, did go on distressfully about the lengthy downside of DeWine's tenure as the state's top lawyer, from questionable awards of state contracts to other matters that led him "astray'' by "insulting Ohio's voters for refusing" to debate Pepper.
So what will it be? Sayeth the lords of the Cleveland newspaper world:
"DeWine is a work in progress. But his flaws and blind spots are more than outweighed by his energetic and effective advocacy on behalf of all Ohioans on a range of issue" thus earning him a approval for a second term.
A work in progress at 68? Better hurry.
The PD lined up six of its opinion writers to record the event. Elizabeth Sullivan, the opinion director of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, expressed her sorrow over the old folks party thusly: Strickland's return is "another sorry statement about the dearth of viable Democratic candidates for a statewide run..."
Then, my old paper, the Beacon Journal, concluded that although DeWine "has stumbled at times" the record also showed that he ''has been a much better attorney general than Pepper allows" and deserves a second term.
Jarring, too, is DeWine's active agenda that has been at odds with the paper's position on several major issues dominating everyone's lives, from the Affordable Care Act to abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
With the yawners, I guess, it depends what party is creakily on the ballot.
So for the Dems, would it improve their chances if they sent in a teenage candidate for an endorsement interview? You might grow old waiting for a reply.
I would agree that the party needs a younger profile. But for the articles and editorial pages to fret over the Democrats' creaking bones is a rare sign of Ohio's Republican-leaning newspapers to fret over the general welfare of the "other party".
Young or old, it usually doesn't make that much difference who shows up on the state ballot as a Democrat. Don't take my word for it. If age is a factor, here are some engaging figures from the 2014 vote:
Of the five state offices on the ballot, only one posted a Republican younger than his opponent , Treasurer Josh Mandel, 37, big deal(!), who was younger than his opponent Connie Pillich, a lively and competent 54.
In the other four, Republicans were the greybeards - none more pronounced than the attorney general contest that pitted Republican incumbent Mike DeWine, at 68 against Democrat David Pepper, 43!
As long as these many years that I've followed DeWine's career, I've never figured out how he maintains his Rasputin-like grip on editorial writers leading them to such contradictory endorsements. The Plain Dealer produced not a single negative word about Pepper, a Cincinnati lawyer who had ably served as a county commissioner and city councilman. The PD however, did go on distressfully about the lengthy downside of DeWine's tenure as the state's top lawyer, from questionable awards of state contracts to other matters that led him "astray'' by "insulting Ohio's voters for refusing" to debate Pepper.
So what will it be? Sayeth the lords of the Cleveland newspaper world:
"DeWine is a work in progress. But his flaws and blind spots are more than outweighed by his energetic and effective advocacy on behalf of all Ohioans on a range of issue" thus earning him a approval for a second term.
A work in progress at 68? Better hurry.
The PD lined up six of its opinion writers to record the event. Elizabeth Sullivan, the opinion director of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, expressed her sorrow over the old folks party thusly: Strickland's return is "another sorry statement about the dearth of viable Democratic candidates for a statewide run..."
Then, my old paper, the Beacon Journal, concluded that although DeWine "has stumbled at times" the record also showed that he ''has been a much better attorney general than Pepper allows" and deserves a second term.
Jarring, too, is DeWine's active agenda that has been at odds with the paper's position on several major issues dominating everyone's lives, from the Affordable Care Act to abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
With the yawners, I guess, it depends what party is creakily on the ballot.
So for the Dems, would it improve their chances if they sent in a teenage candidate for an endorsement interview? You might grow old waiting for a reply.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
The rightwing era of the NoBamans
Reposted from Plnderbund
As we're sure you're aware of by now, the White House is in the merciless throes of the NoBama plague that has had everyone on edge. For six years, the president has faced assaults from the NoBama GOP that will feverishly grow for another couple of years. Even the party's newly minted African-American Democrat-turned-Republican , Ben Carson, a doctor from South Carolina of all places, has added to his conservative star power by accusing Obama of presiding over worsening race relations,which takes a lot of white guys off the hook, right?
Keep an eye on him. He's an author, essayist and opponent of Obamacare who figures to get royal treatment by his party. There's already a "Run, Ben, Run" national presidential draft movement under way .
But if you've been too busy to notice the rise of the NoBama phenomenon, the right-wing pundits will hammer it into your consciousness. Up in Cleveland, for example, a VIP Plain Dealer editor/columnist showers NoBama thunderbolts from his aerie high atop the Ivory Tower.
Oddly enough, NoBama Kevin O'Brien's column this week led the reader over a path of direct orders to the NoBamans in Congress to stonewall the president's proposed appointments unless he cancels his immigration plans (as if this crowd hasn't thought of it already!). He wanted to punish Obama for "posterity". I'm sure he knows his own choir well.
But wait, he is only warming up, and what comes next is an astonishing leap of logic from a guy who is offended by a president trying to execute immigration reforms that have long been stalled in the Republican Tea Party House. For this disconnect, he singles out Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Democrat from Northeastern Ohio, archly accusing her of being "irresponsible" for saying that Ferguson was a "miscarriage of justice".
From his perch, he didn't know how Fudge could possibly reach that conclusion from her district 500 miles from Ferguson.
But since we're only talking about distance here and not of the right or wrong of the grand jury decision, I suspect your draconian dictates to Congress, Kevin, have little force inasmuch as you live 363 driving miles from Washington. So I am a tad impressed by such Palin-like powers that enable you to see Capitol Hill from your front porch.
As we're sure you're aware of by now, the White House is in the merciless throes of the NoBama plague that has had everyone on edge. For six years, the president has faced assaults from the NoBama GOP that will feverishly grow for another couple of years. Even the party's newly minted African-American Democrat-turned-Republican , Ben Carson, a doctor from South Carolina of all places, has added to his conservative star power by accusing Obama of presiding over worsening race relations,which takes a lot of white guys off the hook, right?
Keep an eye on him. He's an author, essayist and opponent of Obamacare who figures to get royal treatment by his party. There's already a "Run, Ben, Run" national presidential draft movement under way .
But if you've been too busy to notice the rise of the NoBama phenomenon, the right-wing pundits will hammer it into your consciousness. Up in Cleveland, for example, a VIP Plain Dealer editor/columnist showers NoBama thunderbolts from his aerie high atop the Ivory Tower.
Oddly enough, NoBama Kevin O'Brien's column this week led the reader over a path of direct orders to the NoBamans in Congress to stonewall the president's proposed appointments unless he cancels his immigration plans (as if this crowd hasn't thought of it already!). He wanted to punish Obama for "posterity". I'm sure he knows his own choir well.
But wait, he is only warming up, and what comes next is an astonishing leap of logic from a guy who is offended by a president trying to execute immigration reforms that have long been stalled in the Republican Tea Party House. For this disconnect, he singles out Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Democrat from Northeastern Ohio, archly accusing her of being "irresponsible" for saying that Ferguson was a "miscarriage of justice".
From his perch, he didn't know how Fudge could possibly reach that conclusion from her district 500 miles from Ferguson.
But since we're only talking about distance here and not of the right or wrong of the grand jury decision, I suspect your draconian dictates to Congress, Kevin, have little force inasmuch as you live 363 driving miles from Washington. So I am a tad impressed by such Palin-like powers that enable you to see Capitol Hill from your front porch.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Benghazi: Bipartisan House committee said what?
Not a good day for all of those conservative Facebookers who stuck "Benghazi" on their names to scandalize the Obama Administration, particularly Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, on the hollow charges that she was at fault (cover-up conspiracy!) in the bloody 2012 attack on the U. S. diplomatic mission. Republicans had already filled several silos with fodder to diminish Hilary on the trail to 2016.
But I see in the Plain Dealer (Benghazi theories debunked) an Associated Press report that, well, here is the opening paragraph to tell you where this is going:
Game, set, match? Not quite. Superhawk Sen. Lindsey Graham still has doubts and is pushing the idea that the Senate ought to investigate, too. And Fox News suggests it isn't satisfied that all of the facts were turned up in the long bi-partisan House study.
For these fringies, they will have to delay their schemes to blame Obama for the six-foot snowfall in Buffalo.
P.S. Why wasn't the Benghazi story in the BJ, too, for the benefit of those folks who read nothing else? Hurrrummmppph!
But I see in the Plain Dealer (Benghazi theories debunked) an Associated Press report that, well, here is the opening paragraph to tell you where this is going:
A two-year investigation to the Republican controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly{in its response} and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.
Game, set, match? Not quite. Superhawk Sen. Lindsey Graham still has doubts and is pushing the idea that the Senate ought to investigate, too. And Fox News suggests it isn't satisfied that all of the facts were turned up in the long bi-partisan House study.
For these fringies, they will have to delay their schemes to blame Obama for the six-foot snowfall in Buffalo.
P.S. Why wasn't the Benghazi story in the BJ, too, for the benefit of those folks who read nothing else? Hurrrummmppph!
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Dispatch rapid-response team fuels presidential speculation
NOTES FROM THE SECOND MORNING AFTER...
Well, it was just a matter of hours before the Columbus Dispatch set all of us on the right track for the 2016 presidential election with whoopie speculation about two of its favorite Republican Buckeye politicians, Gov.John Kasich and Sen. Rob Portman.
In a long front- page piece, the story began by describing Kasich's "smashing" win and Portman's "key role in helping the GOP take control of the Senate".
Smashing? But only if you merely consider the raw numbers after the governor ran up the score against Ed FitzGerald's posthumous campaign to a cheering section filled with huge donors, media accolades and those practiced in convenient references to the Lord. You may recall that Kasich went to Nevada and cast God's blessing on casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, in a blatant appeal for Big Money. On Election night, caught up in the reverance of the moment, Kasich told us that God had placed a hand on him. That doesn't leave much hope for Portman.
To speculation about his future, Kasich stayed in form by coyly dismissing the question. He said he's not "thinking about the future''. As for Portman, his chief of staff told the Dispatch that the senator is "going to meet with his family about this issue over the coming weeks" and then with "trusted advisors", a process that could take months. That has always impressed me as Portman's normal speed.
Meantime, let the speculation roll.
Political experts quoted in the story agreed that both would make "viable" candidates - but as President Obama once said, "You can only have one president at a time" in deference to the fact that George Bush still had a few weeks left in his tenure following the 2008 election.
A cautionary footnote: The Dispatch poured out its heart to elect Mitt Romney and its home county of Franklin went for Obama.
* * * * *
More Grumpy style Meet the Press: The Beacon Journal, as is its wont to be kind to spoiled victors, described Kasich as '" governing from the center". Oh? With hefty right-wing pals like Adelson and the Koch Brothers looking over his shoulder?
* * * * *
While we're at it, might as well note that Armond Budish, a Democrat, defeated his Republican opponent, Jack Schron, for Cuyahoga County Executive rather handily despite the paper's endorsement of Schron. The paper accused Budish of being " too partisan". And for years I thought that partisanship was high up on the to-do list of a politician!
* * * * *
Finally, we turned to Huey Long's immortal words for the benediction on Tuesday's nightmare: "One of these days the people of Louisiana are going to get good government and they aren't going to like it.":
.
Well, it was just a matter of hours before the Columbus Dispatch set all of us on the right track for the 2016 presidential election with whoopie speculation about two of its favorite Republican Buckeye politicians, Gov.John Kasich and Sen. Rob Portman.
In a long front- page piece, the story began by describing Kasich's "smashing" win and Portman's "key role in helping the GOP take control of the Senate".
Smashing? But only if you merely consider the raw numbers after the governor ran up the score against Ed FitzGerald's posthumous campaign to a cheering section filled with huge donors, media accolades and those practiced in convenient references to the Lord. You may recall that Kasich went to Nevada and cast God's blessing on casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, in a blatant appeal for Big Money. On Election night, caught up in the reverance of the moment, Kasich told us that God had placed a hand on him. That doesn't leave much hope for Portman.
To speculation about his future, Kasich stayed in form by coyly dismissing the question. He said he's not "thinking about the future''. As for Portman, his chief of staff told the Dispatch that the senator is "going to meet with his family about this issue over the coming weeks" and then with "trusted advisors", a process that could take months. That has always impressed me as Portman's normal speed.
Meantime, let the speculation roll.
Political experts quoted in the story agreed that both would make "viable" candidates - but as President Obama once said, "You can only have one president at a time" in deference to the fact that George Bush still had a few weeks left in his tenure following the 2008 election.
A cautionary footnote: The Dispatch poured out its heart to elect Mitt Romney and its home county of Franklin went for Obama.
* * * * *
More Grumpy style Meet the Press: The Beacon Journal, as is its wont to be kind to spoiled victors, described Kasich as '" governing from the center". Oh? With hefty right-wing pals like Adelson and the Koch Brothers looking over his shoulder?
* * * * *
While we're at it, might as well note that Armond Budish, a Democrat, defeated his Republican opponent, Jack Schron, for Cuyahoga County Executive rather handily despite the paper's endorsement of Schron. The paper accused Budish of being " too partisan". And for years I thought that partisanship was high up on the to-do list of a politician!
* * * * *
Finally, we turned to Huey Long's immortal words for the benediction on Tuesday's nightmare: "One of these days the people of Louisiana are going to get good government and they aren't going to like it.":
.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Plunderbund threatened with suit by Plain Dealer
Plunderbund reports that the Plain Dealer/Northeast Ohio Media Group has threatened to sue the blog for publishing a short clip of a 40-minute video that the paper had shown online - and then removed.
The flap involved the PD 's editorial board's group interview of Gov. Kasich, Democratic candidate Ed FitzGerald and Green Party candidate Anita Rios.
Plunderbund reported a letter from Chris Quinn, vice president of content of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, demanding the removal of the clip from the blog, accusing it of " illegal use" that "entitles us to statutory damages, which can be quite steep". In other words, criminal copyright infringement.
I saw a few stray (?) clips that found their way to Cleveland TV telling me that Kasich was not taking the interview with aplomb. With FitzGerald trying to say something, the governor turned his head away and laughed.
(His dodge-em campaign mode recalls the TV commercial in which a car makes crazy turns while a squib warns the viewer that it is a " professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt".)
Plunderbund said the governor "slumped in his chair, refused to acknowledge the other candidates and ignored repeated attempts by the PD staff to answer even basic questions about his policies and programs."
That insufferable imperious attitude convinced me that he should satisfy his ego and run for president, as he did once before. Unshielded by the friendly Ohio media, he would find a much different reaction (and distraction) from a national media that would soon become impatient with his bullying style and short temper.
So guv, as you have said, this is halftime in the governor's office so go for the big one in
Washington. That would be painful to watch. But we're getting used to painful politics in Ohio.
The flap involved the PD 's editorial board's group interview of Gov. Kasich, Democratic candidate Ed FitzGerald and Green Party candidate Anita Rios.
Plunderbund reported a letter from Chris Quinn, vice president of content of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, demanding the removal of the clip from the blog, accusing it of " illegal use" that "entitles us to statutory damages, which can be quite steep". In other words, criminal copyright infringement.
I saw a few stray (?) clips that found their way to Cleveland TV telling me that Kasich was not taking the interview with aplomb. With FitzGerald trying to say something, the governor turned his head away and laughed.
(His dodge-em campaign mode recalls the TV commercial in which a car makes crazy turns while a squib warns the viewer that it is a " professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt".)
Plunderbund said the governor "slumped in his chair, refused to acknowledge the other candidates and ignored repeated attempts by the PD staff to answer even basic questions about his policies and programs."
That insufferable imperious attitude convinced me that he should satisfy his ego and run for president, as he did once before. Unshielded by the friendly Ohio media, he would find a much different reaction (and distraction) from a national media that would soon become impatient with his bullying style and short temper.
So guv, as you have said, this is halftime in the governor's office so go for the big one in
Washington. That would be painful to watch. But we're getting used to painful politics in Ohio.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
The PD's home run for Nina Turner over Husted
Re-Posted from Plunderbund
Even in these shrinking days before the November election there are still a few surprises left in the media world. I refer to the Plain Dealer's full-page endorsement of
Democrat Nina Turner over her Republican opponent, Secretary of
State Jon Husted. The paper's statement was more than an act of altruism for a hometown candidate, although her residency in Cuyahoga County couldn't hurt.
No, Turner is an aggressive, extremely savvy state senator - the kind of spirited person you would want to have on your side in any confrontation with the enemy. In a state buttoned down by a Republican dynasty, she represents a healthy start toward the political equilibrium that the state so desperately needs.The issue that the PD recognized but eludes the Beacon Journal's editorial page is what I've called the Husted Hustle for his tactics of talking one game plan while executing another. For too long he's been a leader in stirring the GOP witch's brew with a Boy Scout's honor to make voting easier and eliminate (non-existent) cheating. Amazing how many of Husted's media cheerleaders have bought into that notion at the expense of their own credibility.
But the PD knows something about the demographics of Cuyahoga County, whose population is nearly one-third African American. It is obviously aware that Husted's mythical protection of every voter's rights is at the expense of the minorities. Two federal courts have ruled his scheme unconstitutional despite the Ivory Towers who were inexplicably offended by their decisions.
As the PD asserted:
"Husted, 47, strongly defends his decision on early, in-person voting as stemming from a 'bipartisan' consensus of the state's election professionals. But the state's chief election officer must protect all Ohioans' voting rights and not narrow those rights unequally. Under Husted, those rights have frayed, including through his directives to restrict hours and days for early in-person voting an to deny local boards the right to set their own hours."
By now Cleveland has had plenty of experience with the wreckage of past elections, from the purchase by elections officials of voting machines that didn't work, to tabulating errors to the general torture of citizens trying to vote. This time it wants to begin with a clean slate in Columbus and not an illusionist. Hometowner Turner's spirited attention to the system's inglorious flaws as proposed by Husted was convincing.
Come to think of it, maybe the PD's choice wasn't surprising after all.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
There's a big difference between white hat and white hard hat
Re-posted from Plunderbund
Having declared Ed FitzGerald's gubernatorial campaign DOA on several occasions, the Plain Dealer still persists in digging into his distant past in the hope of handing the election to Gov. Kasich by acclimation. In less-polite circles, it's known as piling on.
There's never been any doubt that the PD, the voice of the city's controlling business and religious establishment, was on board with Republican Kasich way back when it endorsed him against Democratic incumbent Gov.Ted Strickland. When I asked an influential source at the paper how they arrived at that decision, he gave me his raw assessment:
"Kasich scares the shit out of me. But Strickland never did anything for Cleveland."
Oh. Another glimpse of Cleveland's fantasy of statehood?
In today's moment, the contest is no longer about re-electing the governor. Heavens, no! It is about having their guy win by such a crushing margin that he can immediately set out to run for the White House. (Kasich denies interest in higher office about any of his motives other than blistering his opponents in temper tantrums. Meantime, secretive big- money committees are gathering to pay for his trip to Disney World.
What a selling point in the heavy-footed swing state. To suppose that the Blue Collar Kid would be the savior of the party that has lost two presidenticsl races to an African American, well, you might know how those things go, rather softly among his caterers in the state media. .
So on Saturday, there was PD politics writer Henry Gomez talling us on front page that 15 years ago, FitzGerald didn't mention any traffic violations when he ran for a seat on Lakewood City Council. Yes, FitzGerald should have. And in a race that might have been a dead heat, that could have rolled some eyes.
But. hey, what does it matter to be sniffing arournd for more flaws from 15 years ago? And to have the Columbus politlcal writer writing the story with a Lakewood dateline.
From experience I can suppose that the Republican leak machine is working overtime while the governor, in one of those white hard hats from the central casting stock room, is appearing in TV commercials with his delighted Smilies with a shovel to stress how many jobs he has created in Ohio. (When will he - or the media, for that matter - admit that whatever success he's enjoyed with the state economy can be immeasurably traced to the comeback around the country from the Bush recession?)
Careful, there, Guv. Your right wing has long insisted that government doesn't create jobs. Even when the governor is decked out in a hard hat and flanked by a bunch of happy-go-lucky Republican achievers.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Understanding Ohio politics, Plain Dealer style
Today's recommended reading:
John Michael Spinelli's piece on Plunderbund on how the Plain Dealer has set the table with its own political utensils not only for the November election but also for 2016 and even 2018. He reports that PD political writer Henry Gomez has based his crystal ball on hs best five (unidentified) Democratic sources. Yummy stuff for guys like Gov. Kasich, the PD's choice since it endorsed him four years ago.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Post-game reviews; Browns lose more than a game
Quickly, to update my earlier piece on the media hype of the Browns' QB crisis:
The reviews of the Monday night snore were distinctly flavored with the acidity of a lovers' quarrel. The Beacon Journal headlined "QB hopefuls don't impress'' and the story reaffirmed it by describing the historic performance as "perhaps the biggest dud since the Y2K Scare".
The Plain Dealer took a meaningless more humane course by calling for a reader poll on whether Brian Hoyer or Johnny Middle-Finger Football Manziel should be the starter. (One fan proposed dressing Tim Tebow for the next game! You can understand the desperation.)
But shouldn't some of the red faces be shared by the media for the electrified buildup of the QB gold rush that asked us each day which guy should start? Unfortunately, the Browns didn't play on Broadway Monday night, where bad reviews can close a show in an instant. .
They are left, instead, with Hoyer and Manziel, for better or worse and the show must go on.
The reviews of the Monday night snore were distinctly flavored with the acidity of a lovers' quarrel. The Beacon Journal headlined "QB hopefuls don't impress'' and the story reaffirmed it by describing the historic performance as "perhaps the biggest dud since the Y2K Scare".
The Plain Dealer took a meaningless more humane course by calling for a reader poll on whether Brian Hoyer or Johnny Middle-Finger Football Manziel should be the starter. (One fan proposed dressing Tim Tebow for the next game! You can understand the desperation.)
But shouldn't some of the red faces be shared by the media for the electrified buildup of the QB gold rush that asked us each day which guy should start? Unfortunately, the Browns didn't play on Broadway Monday night, where bad reviews can close a show in an instant. .
They are left, instead, with Hoyer and Manziel, for better or worse and the show must go on.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
A frustrated LaTourette passes baton to Joyce
When former Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette arrived in Akron recently for a luncheon talk sponsored by the Akron Press Club and Bliss Instititute he recounted his frustration with trying to get anything done against the right-wing Tea Party fringe contrrolling the fate of most legislation.
They represent 40 or more House members who come to the office each day, vote no, and go home praising themselves for a job well done. It was left to the memory of Groucho Marx to describe such heinous resistance: "Whatever it is, I'm against it."
LaTourette faulted the Republican Party for failing to invite minorities, women, gays and others to come aboard. And as a reputed moderate Republican from Lake County, he decided to give up his seat in 2012 after 18 years in the House. He is now pacing a group, Main Street Partnership, which is supporting GOP moderates against the sweep of Tea Party insanity. While a noble cause, it does seem to be an attempt to build a sand castle in a windstorm.
LaTourette has also had nice things to say about his Republican successor, Rep. David Joyce, who is being challenged in the GOP primary. Here, we have shadings of where moderation ends and the ancient GOP texts arise again. For example, Joyce has put out campaign ads saying he wants to cut taxes and repeal Obamacare. And ,of course, he wants the voters to know that he opposes abortion while favoring family, guns and prayers. the Plain Dealer noted in endorsing him.
The paper had little choice against Joyce's Tea Party primary opponent, State Rep. Matt Lynch. It described Joyce, the former Geauga County Prosecutor, as "less combative."
But there's nothing in Joyce's campaign spiel to suggest that he is a...um... moderate..
Eliminate Lynch from the equation, and you still have a garden variety version of a modern Republican conservative that's not likely change much of the resistance movement in Congress.
They represent 40 or more House members who come to the office each day, vote no, and go home praising themselves for a job well done. It was left to the memory of Groucho Marx to describe such heinous resistance: "Whatever it is, I'm against it."
LaTourette faulted the Republican Party for failing to invite minorities, women, gays and others to come aboard. And as a reputed moderate Republican from Lake County, he decided to give up his seat in 2012 after 18 years in the House. He is now pacing a group, Main Street Partnership, which is supporting GOP moderates against the sweep of Tea Party insanity. While a noble cause, it does seem to be an attempt to build a sand castle in a windstorm.
LaTourette has also had nice things to say about his Republican successor, Rep. David Joyce, who is being challenged in the GOP primary. Here, we have shadings of where moderation ends and the ancient GOP texts arise again. For example, Joyce has put out campaign ads saying he wants to cut taxes and repeal Obamacare. And ,of course, he wants the voters to know that he opposes abortion while favoring family, guns and prayers. the Plain Dealer noted in endorsing him.
The paper had little choice against Joyce's Tea Party primary opponent, State Rep. Matt Lynch. It described Joyce, the former Geauga County Prosecutor, as "less combative."
But there's nothing in Joyce's campaign spiel to suggest that he is a...um... moderate..
Eliminate Lynch from the equation, and you still have a garden variety version of a modern Republican conservative that's not likely change much of the resistance movement in Congress.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
The Plain Dealer's new survival plan; Good luck on that
Just received a spritely booklet from the University of Illinois College of Media in which I learned that the old School of Journalism is now called the Department of Journalism. If I remember correctly I got a journalism degree from the school a long time ago. So if I had a nostalgic twitch upon reading the pages (with a donor envelope tucked in!) I hope you'll understand.
Journalism is seldom mentioned as a profession these days in the tectonic shift from newspaper print to electronic conveyances of what you could unfold and read at the breakfast table. Some schools are now boasting of studies in "electronic arts". Besieged by drops in circulation and advertising, more and more papers (those that haven't already expired) have eliminated several home delivery days, many absent from wash-day Mondays.
But let's stick to that paper on the lake - the Plain Dealer - that Titanic-like has drastically rearranged itself with big cutbacks in staff, shrinking its home deliveries and creating an office maze that is as challenging a weave as the maddening pattern of Venetian streets.
Columbia Journalism Review has the gory details:
While scattering the staff to divided venues, CJR writer Anna Clark reports, the new PD will equip reporters and editors with iPhones and laptops, "along with actual packpacks so they can work from home or cafes."
In the new setup, some staffers will work out of from the current Superior Ave. offices, some flung out to the paper's distribution center in the suburbs and another cadre in the Tower City Center above the Cleveland Hard Rock Cafe.
One reporter told CJR: "They are very much encouraging us to be mobile, to not claim particular place and not keep a lot stuff there," which sounds a lot like what the Browns must tell their prospective head coaches.
Andrea Hogben, president of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, explained to CJR that the rationale for the upheaval is to "showcase our digital capabilities and promote a culture of innovation and creativity".
But never at my doorstep on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It will be darkly interesting over the next year or so to see how the survival plan by Advance Publications, the owners who are exercising the same concept at some of its other papers, works out. As I struggle from the murky deep to understand all of this, I must first decompress.
Journalism is seldom mentioned as a profession these days in the tectonic shift from newspaper print to electronic conveyances of what you could unfold and read at the breakfast table. Some schools are now boasting of studies in "electronic arts". Besieged by drops in circulation and advertising, more and more papers (those that haven't already expired) have eliminated several home delivery days, many absent from wash-day Mondays.
But let's stick to that paper on the lake - the Plain Dealer - that Titanic-like has drastically rearranged itself with big cutbacks in staff, shrinking its home deliveries and creating an office maze that is as challenging a weave as the maddening pattern of Venetian streets.
Columbia Journalism Review has the gory details:
"As a major reorganization of the Cleveland Plain Dealer takes shape, veteran reporters are adjusting to ' backpack journalism,' the division of staff into two companies, a looming move to a new office, and demands to post stories more quickly."The concept appears so bizarre to some reporters that one told CJR "this used to be a.... newsroom", adding, "newsroom culture is gone".
While scattering the staff to divided venues, CJR writer Anna Clark reports, the new PD will equip reporters and editors with iPhones and laptops, "along with actual packpacks so they can work from home or cafes."
In the new setup, some staffers will work out of from the current Superior Ave. offices, some flung out to the paper's distribution center in the suburbs and another cadre in the Tower City Center above the Cleveland Hard Rock Cafe.
One reporter told CJR: "They are very much encouraging us to be mobile, to not claim particular place and not keep a lot stuff there," which sounds a lot like what the Browns must tell their prospective head coaches.
Andrea Hogben, president of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, explained to CJR that the rationale for the upheaval is to "showcase our digital capabilities and promote a culture of innovation and creativity".
But never at my doorstep on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It will be darkly interesting over the next year or so to see how the survival plan by Advance Publications, the owners who are exercising the same concept at some of its other papers, works out. As I struggle from the murky deep to understand all of this, I must first decompress.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
When a story didn't make it to BJ's crossword puzzle
Saturday's Plain Dealer ran a story and photo across the top of the front page that reported Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald had chosen a running mate: Sharen Neuhardt, a lawyer from the Dayton area .
On the other hand, readers of the Beacon Journal didn't see a word of it unless it might have been a clue in the crossword puzzle. FitzGerald's action had been making the media rounds by early Friday afternoon.
Oh, I see. The story arrived on the BJ's online Ohio.com page by late afternoon. Sorry, I'm still trying to get used to the idea that news really isn't printworthy until it appears on my computer. Maybe I had better first double-check the crossword puzzle.
On the other hand, readers of the Beacon Journal didn't see a word of it unless it might have been a clue in the crossword puzzle. FitzGerald's action had been making the media rounds by early Friday afternoon.
Oh, I see. The story arrived on the BJ's online Ohio.com page by late afternoon. Sorry, I'm still trying to get used to the idea that news really isn't printworthy until it appears on my computer. Maybe I had better first double-check the crossword puzzle.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Whatever happened to El Nino?
Polar vortex, did someone call it? The icy burden of zero-dipping weather, I mean. In America, where we must have names and explanations for everything, the term was just one more blank in the pre-millennial dictionary in my head. And we had long thought that with El Nino, we had heard everything there was to know about crazy weather.
(Along with the thousands of flight cancellations and dead batteries, PV aIso will lead to friendly approaches by folks blithely asking: "Is it cold enough for you?" I have yet to figure out an appropriate response.)
The media loves freaky weather. Headline writers can top stories with "Brrrr..." or "city digs out" - observations that do not require advanced journalism degrees. And then there was the news editor across the room from me who who lived for the moment that we would get a photo of an old woman, head scarf flat out and a twisted umbrella, bent forward against the wind!
The interesting non-confrontational thing about freaky weather is that nobody can trace it to the liberal media. Can't happen when nature takes over. No risks that anybody will turn off the TV or cancel a newspaper subscription over sub-zero reports. And although the TV meteorologist commands the screen with weird looking maps (a benefit I never enjoyed growing up in a frigid hill town) their boasts of being first with the stories lose some credibility when you consider that all of the reports arrive from the same National Weather Service.
At the same time, we've noticed that the climate deniers are stomping with finger-pointing delight to the minus-30s in some northern states. Numbing evidence, they'll tell you, with anecdotal science to satisfy their spinning.The Plain Dealer's Kevin O'Brien, the very conservative editorial page columnist, went to great, if fog-bound, lengths to satirically link an ice-trapped ship in Anarctica to the myth of climate change.
In my old town, they closed the mile-long east-west Main Street in snowy weather so we kids could belly slam our sleds at the top of the hill and burst all the way down to the other end below. If we had only known about polar vortex as the source of our pleasure! But now that we've mentioned Newt Gingrich's attempt to be cool with soy latte, I wonder if the TV millennials with their weather maps will accept me as a senior observer if I mention polar vortex to them with a wind chill factor thrown in to be even cooler. Better yet, frozen.
(Along with the thousands of flight cancellations and dead batteries, PV aIso will lead to friendly approaches by folks blithely asking: "Is it cold enough for you?" I have yet to figure out an appropriate response.)
The media loves freaky weather. Headline writers can top stories with "Brrrr..." or "city digs out" - observations that do not require advanced journalism degrees. And then there was the news editor across the room from me who who lived for the moment that we would get a photo of an old woman, head scarf flat out and a twisted umbrella, bent forward against the wind!
The interesting non-confrontational thing about freaky weather is that nobody can trace it to the liberal media. Can't happen when nature takes over. No risks that anybody will turn off the TV or cancel a newspaper subscription over sub-zero reports. And although the TV meteorologist commands the screen with weird looking maps (a benefit I never enjoyed growing up in a frigid hill town) their boasts of being first with the stories lose some credibility when you consider that all of the reports arrive from the same National Weather Service.
At the same time, we've noticed that the climate deniers are stomping with finger-pointing delight to the minus-30s in some northern states. Numbing evidence, they'll tell you, with anecdotal science to satisfy their spinning.The Plain Dealer's Kevin O'Brien, the very conservative editorial page columnist, went to great, if fog-bound, lengths to satirically link an ice-trapped ship in Anarctica to the myth of climate change.
In my old town, they closed the mile-long east-west Main Street in snowy weather so we kids could belly slam our sleds at the top of the hill and burst all the way down to the other end below. If we had only known about polar vortex as the source of our pleasure! But now that we've mentioned Newt Gingrich's attempt to be cool with soy latte, I wonder if the TV millennials with their weather maps will accept me as a senior observer if I mention polar vortex to them with a wind chill factor thrown in to be even cooler. Better yet, frozen.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Three not a crowd when OSU moves $50 million to a venture capitalist
Let us begin the week in Beautiful Ohio with a squinty look at the academic/political complex that is the pride of Gov. Kasich. While public universities genuflect to the governor and legislature in hopes of squeezing out a few more public dollars for their campuses, Ohio State University and a private venture capital fund have worked out an investment scheme - private! - that has been exposed by a couple of Plain Dealer reporters.
But only partly exposed because the major players in the deal aren't talking - enforced silence that Kasich honed from his days with the defunct Lehman Brothers.
Such ideas were seeded when Kasich replaced the state development department with a new office with the seductive name of JobsOhio, a merger of two prized words in the governor's lexicon. To protect the agency's virginity, it was guaranteed total secrecy in its stated workaday world of creating new jobs in the Buckeye marketplace.
So now we are told that OSU has invested $50 million in the secret venture capital fund run by Mark Kvamme, who had directed JobsOhio until a a year ago when he left to create his very own private fund. A close friend of Kasich, Kvamme isn't talking about the deal. Nor is recently retired OSU president E.Gordon Gee, who surely knows a lot more about it as the widely reputed Wizard of Oz.
And where will the invested money eventually land? Only the privileged insiders to the flow know. And given OSU's iconic position in the state's academic universe, it appears no one will find out soon.
As the PD's Brent Larkin observed in a Sunday column, OSU has long nurtured a bad habit of keeping blemished episodes under the radar. He described the lastest stone-walling on major transfers of public money, as is this one, as an exercise in obfuscation".
Meanwhile, Mike Douglas called it "coziness" in Sunday's Beacon Journal but more gently dampened concern by describing Kvamme as a credentialed operative with success in his past who "may prove to be a winner" in this instance.
Kasich, Gee, Kvamme. Connecting the dots can raise dark suspicions. Coziness? While we're waiting for transparency, it looks more like crony capitalism under a rock in the governor's office.
But only partly exposed because the major players in the deal aren't talking - enforced silence that Kasich honed from his days with the defunct Lehman Brothers.
Such ideas were seeded when Kasich replaced the state development department with a new office with the seductive name of JobsOhio, a merger of two prized words in the governor's lexicon. To protect the agency's virginity, it was guaranteed total secrecy in its stated workaday world of creating new jobs in the Buckeye marketplace.
So now we are told that OSU has invested $50 million in the secret venture capital fund run by Mark Kvamme, who had directed JobsOhio until a a year ago when he left to create his very own private fund. A close friend of Kasich, Kvamme isn't talking about the deal. Nor is recently retired OSU president E.Gordon Gee, who surely knows a lot more about it as the widely reputed Wizard of Oz.
And where will the invested money eventually land? Only the privileged insiders to the flow know. And given OSU's iconic position in the state's academic universe, it appears no one will find out soon.
As the PD's Brent Larkin observed in a Sunday column, OSU has long nurtured a bad habit of keeping blemished episodes under the radar. He described the lastest stone-walling on major transfers of public money, as is this one, as an exercise in obfuscation".
Meanwhile, Mike Douglas called it "coziness" in Sunday's Beacon Journal but more gently dampened concern by describing Kvamme as a credentialed operative with success in his past who "may prove to be a winner" in this instance.
Kasich, Gee, Kvamme. Connecting the dots can raise dark suspicions. Coziness? While we're waiting for transparency, it looks more like crony capitalism under a rock in the governor's office.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
An opening day disruption of a workaday world
The opening day of a new season is quite likely to be a fan's highest moment of anticipation. No games lost so far. Only 30 pct of the players aching (or worse) from injuries suffered during the exhibition games. All of the coaches with game faces that disguise their deepest fears that their franchise quarterback will be flattened on his way to the sidelines by a vengeful linebacker.
Today's Plain Dealer explained it all in a big front-page spread: "A magic day." A 7-member panel of the paper's sports experts curated the fans' expectations by unanimously predicting a home-team victory over Miami, if only by a couple of points. Like the team, the writers began the day with perfect records.
The Beacon Journal had other ideas about what was newsworthiest on this day of fantasies. Its Page One splash covered LeBron James' impending wedding with the usual outsize photos. Somehow, even in a tux, he looked like he was cut out to be a tight end.
Within 24 hours, of course, for the Browns (and the eager forecasters), it all could change.
As a loyal Steelers birther, I have learned to allow myself far more margin, figuring they could finish in last place - or win the Super Bowl. With the Steelers, there is always the leading question of whether Big Ben will finish a game on his feet.
If not, consider this: There's always next year. Are you with me?
The Beacon Journal had other ideas about what was newsworthiest on this day of fantasies. Its Page One splash covered LeBron James' impending wedding with the usual outsize photos. Somehow, even in a tux, he looked like he was cut out to be a tight end.
Within 24 hours, of course, for the Browns (and the eager forecasters), it all could change.
As a loyal Steelers birther, I have learned to allow myself far more margin, figuring they could finish in last place - or win the Super Bowl. With the Steelers, there is always the leading question of whether Big Ben will finish a game on his feet.
If not, consider this: There's always next year. Are you with me?
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Moving day just ahead for PD news room
The Plain Dealer apparently isn't close to ceasing news about...the Plain Dealer. A widely circulating online report says the paper's 120 news staffers have been informed that they will be moved out of their editorial offices on Superior Ave. to a destination yet unknown to accommodate the paper's new online staff of 50.
The reports have surfaced in Cleveland Crain's Business and Cleveland Scene as well as from other sources. Here's word from the media blog, jimromenesko.com:
Managing Editor Tom Fladung reportedly told the news staff that he couldn't say where it would be stashed - maybe in a downtown office building or the paper's huge West Side production plant. Note that the online operation will consist of non-union employes, one of Advance's unspoken anti-guild missions in the new operation. Obviously, guildsmen whose labors once created a powerful paper have been demoted to second-class citizens.
With so many moving parts at the PD these days, it is terra incognita for anyone trying to guess the next move by Advance Publications. But this much seems obvious: None of the remaining options seem bright.
The reports have surfaced in Cleveland Crain's Business and Cleveland Scene as well as from other sources. Here's word from the media blog, jimromenesko.com:
“The Plain Dealer is being kicked out of The Plain Dealer building. Staffers were told today the news operations will move out in as soon as 8 weeks. The first floor of the block-long building will be remodeled so that Advance’s brand new, non-union online news operation can move in. The online company [Ohio Media Group] has about 50 employees. The PD news operation consists of 120 journalists — 36 dedicated to print production who were just moved to the 4th floor of PD headquarters and the remaining 82 on the 1st floor. (There are also 2 in Washington.)”
Managing Editor Tom Fladung reportedly told the news staff that he couldn't say where it would be stashed - maybe in a downtown office building or the paper's huge West Side production plant. Note that the online operation will consist of non-union employes, one of Advance's unspoken anti-guild missions in the new operation. Obviously, guildsmen whose labors once created a powerful paper have been demoted to second-class citizens.
With so many moving parts at the PD these days, it is terra incognita for anyone trying to guess the next move by Advance Publications. But this much seems obvious: None of the remaining options seem bright.
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