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.

The improbable age of Cruzifixion

With Ted Cruz bounding hither and yon with a deranged look and an eye on the White House, the national pundits and some Republicans are frantically trying to figure out how to thwart the Texas Tea Party senator from doing further damage to the American psyche.


So far as I'm concerned, there is only one new way to understand his madness.  It's his  ongoing Cruzifixion of  Obamacare and,  by extension, President Obama himself.

The Affordable Care Act is no more than a handy tool to Cruzify a president who isn't marching to the beat of a tumbleweed pol  with slitty eyes and a demonic half-smile who dismisses Democrats and Republicans with equal ease.   The Dems needn't try to put him in his place inasmuch as he's already doing much good for their chances in 2014.

But we await in vain for a national chorus of old-fashioned GOP guys like Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, Rob Portman, Jim Renacci and John Kasich to rise to the occasion..  Hey, guys.  The Tea Party has aleady assigned some of you to the cheap seats alongside the socialist Democrats in the balcony. Alas, Republicans' courage is normally directed with the truculence  of  standing up to enemies overseas, not to the terrorists within their own party.

We'll make an exception: The Dispatch reported today that former Ohio Congressman Steve LaTourette is heading a new group to raise $8 million for Republican incumbents  under severe attack by the Tea Party. Is there a show of hands?

Game on.

Originally posted on Plunderbund. 

What's that? Conservatives are now bleeding hearts on Obamacare?

Do you find it  bizarrely interesting, as I do, that the conservatives who have long resisted the "train wreck" of Obamacare are now the bleeding hearts who are gravely complaining  about the computer problems that are forcing millions of Americans to delay  enrollment in the program?...

And if you happened to see the sloppy fielding by the Cardinals in the opening game of the World Series, you can be sure somebody will step before a TV camera to blame it on Obamacare, the health reform plague on  all that is good in America the Beautiful.   Take it from Rep. Michele Bachmann, who speaks with Olympian wisdom.  The plan, she insists, is already killing women and children.  We can only ponder how much worse it will be by her standards once the plan is fully activated.

Finally, the more I encounter Ted Cruz on the airwaves, the more he impresses me as the brutish guy who would  saunter into a bakery and willfully sneeze all over the dough.      

To Judge Hoover, Coughlin: How to fill the empty hours

Open letter to Judge Kim Hoover and Kevin Coughlin:

I read in my morning paper that you have been barred from Republican events by County Chairman Alex Arshinkoff.

I share your loss.  I was barred a couple  of years ago from  a party finance dinner as Alex beetled past me in the hotel corridor shouting "NO MEDIA. NO MEDIA!" - as only he can.

During those times  when you might have sat through the scripted party pageantry at these events,  you will need to find something else to fill in your empty moments.  Speaking from experience, I can tell you that a trip to the library can always turn up a fascinating book or two that would get you through at least two or three of those Republican events.

Or you could walk your dog, and if you don't already have one, head to the pound and pick one out.  Dogs do take your mind off a lot of distressing things, including the emptiness of not hearing the chairman's favorite ear shattering harangues at the Democrats.

Or you could be public-spirited and donate to a charity the cost of the tickets.

Try not to think about the loyal  payrollers who owe their jobs to the chairman and meekly  show up at these events simply because attendance is taken and names are etched into slate tablets.

Know that except for these invitation-only occasions, the party is in a moribund state, having lost many of the important offices it once held.  (Probate court, sheriff, prosecutor, etc. etc. etc.)

I know you wouldn't normally  take advice from a liberal like me, but there are times when the absence of misery does love company, namely we three outcasts.

Sincerely,
Grumpy (who has a lot more time to read books now)

With Browns, who needs a calendar?

The morning paper arrived today with a headline on the sports page that told us,

Coaches ponder benching Weeden.  

That's Brandon Weeden, of course, the in-and-out-and-in Browns quarterback who may be back out again after a dismal performance on Sunday when he either misfired, or a receiver dropped a pass.

Living in Northeast Ohio all of these years,  I've never had to look at the calendar to check the month.   If there is a quarterback controversy, it must be October.

That's one way to explain no GOP council seats

In our continuing effort to alert you to the crackling insights shaping today's political dialogue, we refer you to a comment by Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff to the Beacon Journal to explain  the absence of a single member of his party on Akron City Council.  Asked why the GOP hasn't elected a Republican to a ward seat  for 15 years - nor an at-large seat for 46 years -  the chairman for many of those shutout years told reporter Stephanie Warsmith that it's largely about demographics.

"It is very difficult for us even to compete in the African-American sections of the city," he said.  (Does this refer to the more upscale Ward 8?)

The problem  is  the ongoing effort by the party's deep thinkers in Ohio and other states  to circumvent  or shrink the African-American vote with various ploys that haven't worked.  Years ago Arshinkoff talked about how the party was making an effort to expand its base to include minorities.  Didn't happen.  Not even close.  Think the word didn't reach  the aforementioned sections of town that  black voters aren't on the party's A-list?

* * * * *

Heavens!  Sarah's back. Hasn't lost a syllable in her chirping indignation that she isn't provided her very own limo to important Republican events.  So there she was, so full of her Palinesque Tea Party self on Fox, repeating the charges against the Obama administration, including a rehashed reference to Benghazi.  She's now expanded her oratorical ramble to include Republican Mitch McConnell.  She wants to turn him into a loser   in next year's election.  That much, she knows something about , having lost in 2008  despite accompanying a war hero  at the top of the ticket.  Somebody ought to talk to her about also being available for weddings and wakes to liven up things.

* * * * *

Finally, speaking of absurdities,you can always find something bizarre about the Sean Hannity Show.  In his armored panzer assaults on Obamacare, he brought in  a panel to tug at your heartstrings over what each guest must suffer from health care reforms.  Turns out to be sort of a stunt, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Salon reporter Eric Stern decided to contact the guests  and found a lack of awareness in each.  One worried guest told him that he had to cut back his staff to four because of new costs.  You'd think  Hannity would have intervened  with a touch of reality by noting Obamacare does not apply to employers with fewer than 50  workers.  Others noted  that the new insurance rates would cost them much more.  But Stern checked each and learned that it simply wasn't true.

Stern concluded: "I don't doubt that these six individuals believe that Obamacare is a disaster; but none of them had even visited an insurance exchange."

But, of course, we're talking about a la-la Hannity event, aren't we?  .

* * * * *
That is a small portion of the week that was - and will be again this week. 

The circus left town, for now.

Post-shutdown, from the archives:

Sifting through the debris of political madness

Day One - No shutdown...

Dial down the hysteria.  For now. Hundreds of thousands of government workers back on the their  jobs.  Shutdown costs of $24 billion.   America's prestige as a can-do country damaged.  Rush Limbaugh, foaming at the brain, describing a bi-partisan  agreement as an insufferable GOP concession, calling it the worst political disaster in American history.

Closer to home, U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who didn't get the memo on the rising floodwaters sinking the GOP,  voted no with 144 other Republicans. The wealthy freshman congressman,  who leap-frogged to Capitol Hill from  a gerrymandered district custom-designed for him, thus confirmed his allegiance to the hard right that has caused mayhem in the Republican Party...

Insurrection among self-styled "freedom loving" anarchists was openly embraced  at the recent anti-Obama gathering at the D.C.war memorial.  Larry Klayman, a lawyer and ultra right-wing blogger who heads an outfit called Judicial Watch, is recruiting  a mob to  rise against the president on Nov. 19. Klayman accused Obama of "kneeling before Al-Qaida"  to the delight of the protesters,  whose speakers included Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin.  "Mr.President," he demanded, "get up off your knees and come out with hands up."  Klayman widened the goalposts  with multi-choice epithets aimed at Obama,to wit:  "Muslim, socialist,  anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white,  pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda."  (You'd think that Presidents Cruz or Palin would quietly urge him to save some of the bile  for their campaigns against Hillary.)

One of the biggest GOP mistakes (as well as that of  some liberal Democrats) was assuming that Obama would cave at some point.  Instead, he tapped the mood in some quarters of solidly standing his ground.  It would have been a disaster for him to give up his health-care reforms in the face of a bunch of unruly Obama haters who ended up shattering the Republican Party. Obamacare was ruled constitutional by the highest court in the land and, regardless of what your dissenting neighbor might think, it's the law.  And as I recall, he was elected twice .  Do you think this theater of the absurd could have been played out with  a white Republican in the Oval Office?

Finally, I was reminded of Albert Einstein's observation as the Republican resistance movement to Obamacare drove the nation to despair until the last moment:  "Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds."

Seems about right these days.

As the BJ goes on endorsements, so goes the BJ

Were you surprised that the Beacon Journal endorsed Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robert for reelection?  Yeah, I was, too, sort of, given the problems that he and Mayor Plusquellic have had with each other over the years.  "They ended up not talking to each other again," one City Hall insider recalled about Plusquellic's anger over Robart's "breaking his word" on a water deal.  "It was basically a handshake deal, " the source said,  "and Plusquellic felt that Robart had lied to him".

Robart has long had the reputation of being a loner in the Falls who disdained cooperative approaches with others beyond his city's borders. As one of the last Republican leaders standing in Summit County,  he remains a favorite of Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, his financial  chaperone.

As for the BJ, its endorsements were a lot more effective in the days of Jack Knight than they are today,when it is calling for the reelection of a guy who has  been inimical to so  many other political entities and one  who is out of step at times with the BJ's views on urban policy.   Besides, when Robart tells a Tea Party crowd that the baggers are the moral AND fiscal conscience of America, you can see who is influencing his own decisions  in the second largest city in the county.

Is Cuyahoga Falls headed for a fresh start?

If you happen to drive into Cuyahoga Falls from the north or south on State Rd, you get a sense that not much has changed over the past 25 or 30 years. Fast-food  restaurants.  Gas stations.   Second-hand shop.  That was how it looked when we arrived from Columbus for a job at the Beacon Journal.  And except for a new look to an Acme market, the place seems  spent as  an invitation to experience the second largest city in the county. (pop: about 50,000)

For the past 27 years Mayor Don Robart, now 67,  has sat in the CEO's office at City Hall, a fellow who now  places his stake in another term in a 240-acre moonscape on State Rd. Rd. called Portage Crossing, which has been around conceptually ever since the Old West shopping center was razed for a new - yet unbuilt - shopping paradise for what Robart insists will jump-start the city into a new economic future.

That remains to be seen.  First, he must win another election on November 5.  And for a politician who ran unopposed four years ago - thanks in part to an indifferent
Democratic party - Robart faces a stiff challenge from what  has his opponents ready to proclaim victory. (That, too remains to be seen.)

The candidate of the hour is Council President Don Walters, 50, a fully accessible and experienced guy who has been in touch with the city's issues and residents for all of his 12 years on Council. Nor does he show a lack  of energy and enthusiasm in carrying out his block-by-block plan to return, as he puts it, city hall to the residents, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Is this the year for the municipal revival?    Walters doesn't hesitate to tell you that it is, with polls showing him 6 points ahead of the Republican mayor.  How can that be?  Former Democratic councilwoman Diana Colavecchio, now Stow Clerk of Courts and a strong Walters supporter,  says one of the mayor's problems is "Robart fatigue.  No mattter where I go, that's what I hear."

When I first met Robart as a Falls resident more than a quarter-century ago, he impressed me as a moderate politician. He even mentioned to me the city's food kitchens that are so important "even though as a Republican I probably shouldn't be mentioning this."

But he appears to have been caught up in the headwinds of the Tea Party.  In April 2012, he welcomed several hundred teeps  at a rally at the Riverfront Mall, exuberantly praising their value as the "social, fiscal and moral conscience of America."  Try that one on the many folks who have lost their jobs because of the Tea Party-inspired government shutdown."  (That mall on the Cuyahoga, built back in the 1970s  with such great expectations, is faltering badly as a retail lure.)

The mayor has also divorced the city from friendly relations with Akron and Stow and, as more than than one witness has told me,  created an island for himself.

Although the Falls has a tiny African-American  minority (about 3 pct) Barack Obama has twice carried the city.  So, unlike neighboring Hudson and Silver Lake, the  demographics favor Walters.

"It's time to get the city moving again," Walters says and this time the standby political promise may indeed be true on Nov. 5.