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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > July > 03
Thursday, July 3, 2008
McCain, Obama stake claims in Butler County
Both U.S. presidential campaigns are setting the pieces in place for a battle in Butler County.
Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama have dispatched lieutenants to base regional headquarters in and around Hamilton.
The state Republican party has set up a two-person “Victory Center” at the Butler County GOP headquarters. This is only one of nine such offices in Ohio set up to back their party’s candidates on all levels.
The Obama camp has set up its own three-person “Campaign for Change” office at the Democratic party headquarters. They will set up phone banks, register voters and hand out signs in Butler, Warren, Preble and Clinton counties.
The Victory Center’s hope: to engineer a presidential victory on par with President George Bush’s 2004 landslide. Then, Bush walked away with 66 percent of the local vote. Many credit this margin of victory with giving Bush the state, and in turn, the election.
“We need the same type of turnout this year,” said Ohio GOP Spokesman John McClelland. “Butler County and all of southwest Ohio is critical for Republicans because that’s really where a lot of our base lives.”
As the election nears, paid staffers at the Democratic office are expected to double here.
They hope to seize on McCain’s perceived weaknesses with the Republican base and the fact that the March primaries left Butler County with more registered Democrats than Republicans, though many call that edge a statistical anomaly stemming from a hyped-up Democratic primary.
“We are not conceding any vote,” said Obama Campaign Spokesman Isaac Baker. “We are going to be actively campaigning in areas that have traditionally been Republican strongholds.”
“(Obama) lost 83 counties in Ohio in the Democratic primary because voters in the state felt lacked the experience and leadership necessary,” said McCain Spokesman Paul Lindsey. “The result will be no different in November.”
Baker packaged McCain as campaigning for Bush’s third term. “Once they know more about him (Obama) and get to know him, they’re going to support him,” he said.
And the spin begins.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Presidential race
Care Facility struggling to make ends ‘meat’
If you’re a long-term patient at the Butler County Care Facility these days, you’re more likely to have pork for dinner instead of chicken.
That’s because the price of chicken — like gas, pharmacy items and other expenses — are on the increase, forcing agencies like the one housed off Princeton Road to scramble for dollars with six months left in 2008.
Making matters worse, state-based Medicaid reimbursements — which account for a majority of the facility’s budget — have been stagnant for the past four years, and in some years have dropped. In addition, indirect costs have risen nearly $120,000 per year, according to county records.
“I think it’s going to be a rough period of time,” said Chuck Demidovich, Butler County Care Facility administrator. “We’re trying to do all this with the same amount of money we were taking in before.”
UPDATE: The Columbus Dispatch featured a story on Sunday about potential cuts in Medicaid. Read that story here.
See the e-mail request by the facility here:
A request to transfer funds from one line item to another in the facility’s budget was tabled Monday because the county’s finance department needed more information. The issue is expected to be considered at the commission’s next meeting July 10.
In an e-mail to Finance Director Robert Lowery, Demidovich requested to move $203,000 around in various funds.
The Care Facility does not use money from the county’s general fund. Rather, it’s a self-sustaining fund similar to the county’s utility funds.
The Care Facility, which is expected to serve nearly 350 clients this year, will continue to do more with less, Demidovich said. Pharmacy bills have traditionally added to nearly $9,000 per month in years past. This year, thanks to Medicaid reimbursements, it’s more than doubled to approximately $20,000 per month.
And although the Medicaid reimbursement rate is frozen until June 30, 2009 — the end of the state’s fiscal year — Demidovich said it could drop once again.
Demidovich said food expenses for the facility are up 13 percent from last year, the cost for pharmacy items is up nearly 9 percent and the annual cost for fuel is expected to double.
“Food has been an absolute killer this year,” he said. “And what are you supposed to tell the patient, you can’t get your medications?”
That’s not an option, Demidovich said, but exchanging chicken for pork is.
See the rest of the county’s transfer and appropriation requests here:
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Huffington Post: Butler GOP office ‘palatial’
In a story about party and campaign headquarters nationwide, the Huffington Post describes the Butler County Republican Party headquarters as ostentatious, second only to the party headquarters in Manhattan:
Perched atop a grassy mound just down the road from Walden Ponds Golf Course, Butler County HQ comfortably straddles a half-circular drive with a wide awning ideal for protecting guests from the rain. It’s also the clubhouse for one of the country’s most powerful Republican politicians, House Minority Leader John Boehner. President George Bush trolled for green here in 2004, and it paid off. The county voted overwhelmingly for the president and has contributed handsomely to Republican causes over the years. Maybe that’s why this modestly-sized county sports a palatial office in a relatively high-rent neighborhood. Across the street you’ll find a residential development with $300,000 single family homes.
This is part of the OffTheBus Special Ops experiment sponsored by the Huffington Post to get bloggers across the country to report on what presidential campaigns are doing in their communities.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Republican Party
