The GOP Bottom feeders are in full voice

Since the earliest moments when Barack Obama  - he of the darker skin - entered the Oval Office, the bottom feeders of the Republican Party have denied that he was elected by The People.  Nearly  two terms later, they're still at it with Sen.  Mitch McConnell providing the hapless  face of his political class.

Never has that been more evident than their hollowed-out  opposition to a replacement in the President's  final year in office.  The orchestrated  off-key reaction to Obama's  nomination of Merrick Garland to  the U.S. Supreme Court  the morning after Tuesday's round of primaries revived the notion that Obama somehow mythically botched the U.S Constitution by stealing into the office when the voters weren't looking.

With McConnell leading the choir, his senators chanted that the next court appointment should come from The People,. a majority of whom have already spoken  in favor of appointment this year. In his own humorless way, the Senate leader continues to be staring at the shadowy walls of Plato's cave.

Crouching forward as the Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus mumbled that Obama was doing a "disservice" to the voters by trying to upstage the next president.  Priebus, who seldom makes sense in his responses to easy questions,  accused Obama of attempting to "tip  the balance of the court with a liberal justice in the eleventh hour of his presidency" .

And Ohio Sen . Rob Portman, who insists he's a "commonsense " conservative,  opposed an appointment his year - a year in which his own job will be severely tested by former Ohio Democratic Gov.  Ted Strickland.  "I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people and allow them to weigh in on the issue".  "Weighing in",   of course, is something Portman, whose greatest strength is  piloting the Koch brothers ship in Ohio,  is rarely inclined  to do.

Folks, these bottom feeders are not only intellectually corrupt but rather just plain politically stupid.  And they wonder how Donald Trump has gotten this far!

Portman says he would tag along with Trump

Ohio's tag-along Republican Sen. Rob  Portman says he fully intends to support Donald  Trump if the demonizing carnival barker is  the nominee.

If so, I have a vision of him in workaday apparel tagging along at Trump's side across Ohio, just as the senator did in 2012 with Mitt Romney.  Who knows in this crazy crowd whether Portman might be thinking veep, although you have to wonder whether Trump would want anybody so meek and mild sharing the center ring with him.  

But you must also wonder why Portman committed himself so early to any choice.

He's  facing a tough challenge  from ex-Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in the 2016 Senate race even though the Koch Brothers have claimed the senator's  obedience to their causes by chipping in $1.4 million for an early media blitz.

It's  Ohio, I know, a swing state,  if not  swinging state, where  GOP candidates take no chances in the Big Picture.

 Remember that Atty. Gen. Mike DeWine jumped ship on Romney in 2012 in mid-campaign and endorsed Rick Santorum.  The AG decided Rick was going to win, a thought that Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff probably shared with him while inviting Santorum to be the star of a big county Republican fundraiser.  The chairman even staged his poll of the feeders at the event and boasted that Santorum had virtually run the table.

P.S. As long as we've mentioned the Republican-style Summit fund-raisers, one even hosted Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Ultra Conservative U.
S. House Freedom Caucus.  Keep in mind that Jordan is now threatening to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood. 

On Akron U. name change, Strickland and Ben Carson

We've been told that the name change idea at the University of Akron is "still under discussion."  Not that it is at the same priority level as seeking more ways to cut the budget, staff and departments.  (Um..."disinvestment" they disguise it in the polite upper reaches of the administration).

May I come in?  Since Rubber Ducks has already been claimed by the Akron Aeros, I would suggest THE Harvard West U. as the Zippies new name.  With the added prestige, the school could immediately double its tuition instead of the annual incremental  increases to pay the many bills.  And it could convert its new football stadium into a giant receptacle  for a lake for a serious Harvard-style inquiry to convert Lake Anna into a bottomless source of fresh water for  California.

Even better, the scholarly research  might develop a way to ship freshwater icebergs to California - a concept  that has been on people's minds for a long, long time.  In the 1970s, for example, Mohammad al-Faisal, nephew of the king and a promoter of towed icebergs,  went so far as to have a two-ton berg shipped from the Arctic to Iowa for a conference on how to do it. But the cost made it prohibitive for Amazon to make it available to collectors.

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For all of the naysayers among some Democratic gurus, Republican oracles  and the ever vigilant Cleveland media who are dissing Ted Strickland's age in his  bid for the U.S.Senate, here's a tidbit you might want to consider:  At 73, Strickland is of  the same age as Iconic Ronald Reagan when the latter was sworn in for a second term.  Haven't read anything since then  that Dutch was too old when he sought to return to the Oval Office.  Almost forgot:  Jim Rhodes, another Republican icon and media star, celebrated his 72nd birthday during his fourth term.

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In my tireless  quest to recognize the many rising Republican stars, I discovered one in the report of Dr. Ben Carson's featured talk to the Cuyahoga County Lincoln Day (!) Dinner Saturday night.  The Plain Dealer reported that  top tier Republicans, normally white guys before they head south for winter vacations in the sun, are  "happy to have a black rising star on their side," as the PD described him. That's one.

Strickland-Portman poll: Early, yes. But...

Plunderbund is reporting that a new Quinnipiac Ohio poll gives former Democratic
Gov. Ted Strickland a comfortable 48-39 percent lead over  Republican Sen. Rob Portman in the 2016 race.  Remembering that early polls can be as fickle as April weather, it is still  interesting that Portman, once the rising GOP star and budget advisor to George W. Bush, is bringing up the rear. Among independents, Strickland leads 50-32!

Although the Cincinnatian spent a lot of time in 2012 tagging along with Mitt Romney in casual togs in the so-called Swing State, he didn't get the nod for veep -  but as these things go, he did draw the attention of  the Columbus Dispatch as  potential (along with Gov. Kasich) presidential  material.

Trouble is, the several newspapers enamored of Portman's blurry self-described "common sense conservatism"  weren't able to project him beyond his current job.   My hunch is that with the exception of the party apparatchiks looking to fill a seat on the dais,  few folks in northern Ohio can pick him out of a crowd.

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.

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.

Big night for Obama; a boating day for Romney

IF I MAY, some notes from  Battleground Conventions.  Thank you.

      Opening night for the Democrats unleashed a first-inning rally against the Romneyistas who had their chance in Tampa last week. The lineup of speakers left no voter group unturned: women, blacks, hispanics, gays, unionists and just plain folks who can only b e categorized as Democrats.   You expect this sort of thing at political conventions, but the D's were quite efficient in making sure they got their message across.  The cleanup hitter for the evening was, of course, Michelle Obama, who left no doubt about her enormous contribution to the Obama campaign team.

       Surprise of the night:  The blistering  speech by former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who shed his previous image as a kindly non-confrontational politician.  If he keeps this up, he will be a strong contender in a crowded Democratic field for governor in 1214.  On this night, Strickland assumed the role of Rahm Emanuel, who was a little restrained from this reputation as a glass-shatterer.  Rahm did start right off by mentioning that he and Obama were from Chicago, the city that Republicans love to hate without  knowing why.

        Aside to Bob Bennett, the Ohio Republican chairman:  He issued a press release allowing that the Democrats must have been desperate to find a spot in the speakers' lineup for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.  Can we now conclude that the Dems' "desperation" paid off handsomely?

       Watching San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, one could only wonder what Rush Limbaugh would do with that name if the mayor ascended to a national level.  I keep hoping that a tyrant will emerge in Siberia with the first name of Rush.

     Meantime, Romney spent the day boating, perhaps satisfied  that he had convinced everybody to put their money into a Swiss vault.  His confederate, Paul Ryan,  turned up in Westlake, Oh., to complain that Obama had made Bush's anemic economic legacy "worse", which was a takeoff on Romney's  notion that "The economy is getting better but Obama made it worse."(I've sent that one to Rosetta Stone for a translation, but haven't heard back. Cognitive dissonance can be challenging.)














     

   



   

     

Latest poll: Kasich would lose by 25 pts!

THE LATEST poll numbers indicate that buyer's remorse has locked on Gov. Kasich. The survey by national pollster PPP (Public Policy Polling) are so dismal for the governor that it would require a turnaround Federal bailout to rescue his effectiveness as the state's chief executive, bombastic sheriff and scowler. Life, I'm sure, was so much simpler for him in the shadows of his Wall Street days.

Now for the numbers: The pollster said that if Kasich were to run against former Gov. Ted Strickland, he would lose by 25 points - 59 pct. to 34 pct.. Of course, he won't be running against anybody but himself for another three and a half years so all of us will be forced to share the burden of having him around to witness his behavior. But Kasich's instant meltdown could have serious effects on other Republicans in the state who choose politics as a means to make a living.

Faced with a rising tide of dissent among Independents and Democrats (and even those disenchanted Republicans who are suffering in silence these days), Kasich is unlikely to change course and refine his blustery style. May I remind you that he's the guy who called a cop an idiot and threatened to run the bus over anybody who disagreed with him?

I will now await any charge from a Republican who believes that I've just wrongly thrown Kasich under the bus. C'mon, you helped put him in office. Shouldn't you now circle the wagons?

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The Summit Arshinkoff Party invests $150,000 in Kasich

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports that the Summit County Republican Party, which represents about 10 pct. of the registered voters within our borders, is the leading contributor - by far - to John Kasich among the state's 88 GOP county parties. Party Chairman Alex Arshinkoff has come through with $150,000 for the Republican candidate! No other county Republican party appears in the Top 10. In fact, the list of contributors falls off to $22,791 from the next in line - ABC Northern Ohio PAC. (The leading contributor at $485,835 is the Ohio Republican party, but that's to be expected.)

It's no secret that Arshinkoff is looking at this race as possibly his Last Hurrah for statewide recognition with a job in the Kasich Administration. He's been Kasich's champion and regular host since the mercurial right-wing Republican announced for office. He tried that years ago with George Voinovich by raising a fortune for him in hopes of getting George's blessing to support him for state chairman. Didn't work out that way. In the end Voinovich went for Robert Bennett.

May we assume that since Arshinkoff gave up his $52,000 party salary to, as he has explained it, keep the headquarters afloat, that a third of the money that went Kasich came out of the chairman's pocket? Secondly, as another Republican pointed out to me, what does that say about the local party's debt of about $92,000 that has been on the books for several years?

The Summit County Democratic Party has given $151,175 to Gov. Strickland but that has been spread across his four-year term in both money and in-kind services.

How important is it to have a governor from your party? For Arshinkoff, it would increase his power in appointing his choices to university boards of trustees, to the judiciary and for the various other perks that are handed down from above. With the race now being called a tossup, you can imagine how many sleepless nights the always-emotional Alex is suffering these days.

UPDATE: The Summit GOP s latest financial report filed this week now lists its debt at $99,046.

Is Arshinkoff counting on a rainbow?

IT WOULD BE fair to assume that no one is enjoying the ride to the November elections in Ohio more than Alex Arshinkoff, a.k.a. the oft-eruptive chairman of the Summit County Republican Party. Two of his favorite people, John Kasich and Mike DeWine are, at this stage, running ahead of their Democratic opponents. Should they win, Alex is hoping to find the opportunity to rise above his current status as the head of a party with 10 pct. registration in Summit County. Any higher title would be welcome, whether in the Kasich administration or, less likely since he is not a lawyer, somewhere in the ranks of the DeWine's attorney general's office.

How do we know this? You need only to look at the history of a mercurial man who has been futilely seaching for a statewide playing field for years - or at least his name on a building at the University of Akron and a paying job at the U - none of which materialized such fantasies about his importance in the broader scheme of things political.

Exaggeration? Hardly. As a young man, he was turned down for a job at City Hall by ex-Mayor John Ballard. Hoping to impress then-Gov. George Voinovich, he spent a year raising a handsome treasury for another Voinovich campaign in hopes of winning an endorsement from the guv for state GOP chairman. When the time came, Voinovich, who has always played his cards close to the vest, cast his support for the establishment incumbent, Robert Bennett, at state headquarters.

With the arrival of both George Bushes in the White House, Arshinkoff was a 24/7 soldier for them, even got invited to the White House and Kennebunkport. To show his gratitude for their attention, he took out a second mortgage on his house in Hudson for $25,000 and sent it all to the Bush II folks campaign - which had the same impact as an offer to take Donald Trump to lunch at McDonald's. Still he was gratified by conversations with Karl Rove who told him "We're keeping you in mind, Alex." Fat chance!

In the last Ohio gubernatoriallRepublican primary campaign, he lashed then-State Auditor Jim Petro in reprisal for Petro's failure to find fault in an audit of Summit County Executive Jim McCarthy. a Democrat. Arshinkoff threw his support to Betty Montgomery. When she dropped out of the race, he endorsed Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, whose rhetoric glibly skimmed over the emptiness of his vision. Blackwell, as we all know , was soundly defeated by the current Democratic Governor, Ted Strickland, the guy that Arshinkoff now wants to depose.

All of this occurred while he was in constant battles with the Democrats at home as a member of the Board of Elections, from which Secretary of State Brunner ejected him. He's also withstood two local challenges by a Republican faction that came after him with a largely incoherent game plan.

It has been, at best, a rocky ride for his decades of party chairmanship. If he doesn't squeeze out a job this time, it might be time to consider craigslist.

Meet John Kasich: 4 hours a month OSU lecturer

THERE WAS A letter to the editor in Sunday's Beacon Journal in which Bryan C. Williams, the executive vice chairman of the Summit County Republican Party executive committee, questioned whether Gov. Strickland, a Democrat, was fit to serve in the office. Among other things, he accused the guv of being a "hypocrite" and insisted that John Kasich would "do much better" if elected in November.

Well, I normally would ignore such official inbred partisanship from either side except this was a special case.

If Williams had fast forwarded to the BJ's Community Page, he might have had second thoughts - no, he probably wouldn't have! - when he played the hypocrite card.

There, plain enough, was a long piece recovered from the Dayton Daily News , that told of Kasich's particular ATM-style income that cost Ohio State University thousands and thousands of dollars with very little effort on his part other than to maybe buy a bigger wallet.

You need only to read the first two paragraphs by the paper's bureau chief, Laura A Bischoff , to find the real hypocrite in the room:

"As a candidate for governor, Republican John Kasich has called on colleges and universities to cut costs and force professors to teach more courses.

"Yet for seven years, Kasich served as a "presidential fellow" at his alma mater, Ohio State University, in a role that paid him the equivalent of $4,000 per campus visit." (OSU also paid Kasich's political friend $2,000 a visit as the candidate's aide.}

So for seven years, from the winter of 2002 to May 2,009, he picked up an easy $50,000 a year in hard-earned taxpayer money (a favorite term of the the tax cutters like Kasich) while his buddy got $20,000 - no questions asked by the university about what it was that Kaisch might be doing on its campus. Clue: He was a guest lecturer on several topics including finance and psychology while "serving as a panelist at banquets and forums." The Dayton News also noted that he once gave an ethics lecture to dental students.

Even Kasich admitted that he only worked on the campus four hours a month which, for all we know, might have included an appearance as Alfred Einstein.

But hold it right there. Richard Stoddard, President Gordon Gee's special assistant, defended the payments to Kasich, saying "we have a lot of positive feedback." Pro forma.

I should say. Kasich is a wonder. Always has been - even in the days when he chaired the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill and quietly worked up a plan that would hit the poor the hardest. David Hess, the Knight-Ridder reporter on the Hill at the time, managed to get a copy of it before it had become public knowledge and wrote a national story revealing its contents that appeared in many papers, including the Beacon Journal. Hess recalls that Kasich never talked to him after that.

But such additions to the Kasich profile - from Congress to Lehman Brothers to an honored spot on Fox News to OSU - begin to create a candidate who never knows that what goes around can come around. It would help if he would stop insisting on cutting back the cost of education as one who contributed to the red ink. You can fool some of the people some of the time........

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John Kasich: Haunted by Lehman Brothers

The Columbus Dispatch has become the newspaper of record in its coverage of this year's Ohio political campaigns. Last week it reported the Republican Senatorial Committee internet ad that showed a bare-chested Lee Fisher, with a strong implication that he was turning his lower torso into a playground. And today's paper reported that John Kasich, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, had "tried to persuade two state pension funds in 2002 to invest with Lehman Brothers," the now belly-up investment bank, while he was on Lehman's payroll as its managing director in Columbus.

It identified the funds as the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. Fortunately for them, they didn't take the bait. Had they entered a deal with Lehman, they would have lost many millions of dollars. A Kasich spokesman has shrugged off his candidate's role in all of this, saying only that he arranged some meetings with other Lehman representatives and vanished from the scene.

Whatever Kasich's involvement, it's now quite evident that Gov. Strickland's reelection campaign will raise Lehman from its bankrupt burial site on Wall Street to haunt Kasich throughout the remainder of the campaign. That's one haunt where your investment would be safe.

Morrison could fill his foxhole for years

THERE'S A strictly political scenario being played out in Atty. Jack Morrison's rejection of demands that he resign from the University of Akron Board of Trustees in the wake of his two convictions on ethics charges. Although I suggested in an earlier piece that he would likely remain on the board during a drawn-out appeal to reverse the outcome of his bench trial, that is only part of the unfolding saga involving a Republican member of the board. Another reason is that his resignation would give Democrats a windfall opportunity to name one more Democrat to fill the vacancy.

Although Republicans dominated the UA board, as well as those of all other state universities during the 16 years when a Republican governor (Voinovich, Taft) controlled the appointments, the current occupant, of course, is Democrat Ted Strickland. He has appointed three Democrats to the nine-member UA board and would name another one next year. A vacancy now, and you do the math. Right: 5-4 Democratic control. It could be the leverage to influence Morrison's decision to stay put. An active (and influential) Republican at the county and state levels, he arrived on the board in 2005, which means he could hang around until his nine-year term expires in 2014 - or in the event that Strickland loses to a Republican next year. Even for politics, that's a long time.

A diversionary Ohio poll on a rainy day

ALTHOUGH THERE are still mega-miles ahead in the major 2010 Ohio races, you can bet your rusty Wendell Willkie button that insiders from both parties will be carefully digesting the latest Quinnipiac poll for beneficial spins.  At this stage of the long journey,  polls tell us very little - unless, of course, they come in handy to influence the big early donors that their generosity would not not be forgotten.

The Q poll for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich, shows Lt. Gov Lee Fisher with a comfortable lead over Republican Rob Portman, 42 pct-31 pct, while Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who is competing with Fisher in the Democratic primary, is ahead of Portman, 40- 31.  Both also have double digit leads over State Auditor Mary Taylor,  who is not expected to run at this point.

Gov. Ted Strickland has a 51-32 lead over former Republican congressman Republican John Kasich.   More important than the one-on-one matchups is the context in which Ohio politics is currently being played out.  President Obama has a 62-31 approval rating in the Buckeye state; Strickland, 52-37.  

The Democratic senate primary remains the focal point among the party's movers and shakers, with a back-channel effort by some  inside chess players to persuade Brunner to withdraw and run for the Ohio Supreme Court instead.  You might keep an eye on that opening gambit.

A strong word of caution:  A year before the 2008 presidential election in Ohio, the Q poll reported that Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani (!!!!) were in a virtual tie.    We all know how that turned out on Election Day.  

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