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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > April > 16
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Boehner blasts Strickland for ‘transportation slush fund’
Press release from U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp.:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ohio’s Republican congressional delegation today sent letters to Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood citing concerns about how Ohio is spending its federal stimulus dollars on studies that won’t create jobs and requesting openness and transparency for taxpayers. Fulll text of the letters is below and available here and here .
The Associated Press reported Monday that Ohio has refused to fund some “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects to set aside $57 million for transportation studies.
“While the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act does give governors flexibility on how they spend their state’s federal dollars, it appears that Ohio officials are violating the spirit of the law by diverting money intended for ‘shovel-ready’ projects into a planning slush-fund for proposals that have no funding stream,” the lawmakers wrote to Secretary LaHood.
Ohio’s congressional Republicans previously called on Gov. Strickland to establish an independent, bipartisan oversight board to ensure transparency in how federal dollars are being spent. Gov. Strickland has not responded to that request.
“This is not the first time that your administration has decided to spend federal stimulus in a manner inconsistent with the intentions of the bill and contradictory to the expectations of recipients,” lawmakers wrote to Gov. Strickland, citing a March 14 Cleveland Plain Dealer article detailing concerns from Cleveland schools officials about how education dollars are being allocated.
“In light of media reports indicating that these federal tax dollars are being allocated to programs that clearly violate the spirit of the law, we again ask that you immediately create an independent oversight board to give Ohioans a full and detailed accounting of how taxpayer dollars have already been spent and all planned allocations for the remainder of the year,” lawmakers wrote to Gov. Strickland.
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Children Services policy now in state lawmakers’ hands
HAMILTON — The question over whether married couples should get preference in adoption placement appears to be settled on the local level, Butler County commissioners said this morning, April 16.
Now it’s up to state lawmakers to decide whether to take up the issue.
As far as commissioners are concerned, the policy — which gives preference in adoption placement to married couples over single parents or same-sex couples — has never been implemented and now won’t be.
The policy was created by former Children Services director Michael Fox and put on hold pending legal review. The county prosecutor’s office issued an opinion last week that state law allows only the director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to alter the state-mandated preference for adoption, which makes no mention of marital status.
Commission President Donald Dixon has voiced support of the proposed policy, and still believes that children do better in homes with married parents.
But he said today that children can thrive in a number of environments, and “no group should be discriminated against or be made to feel they don’t’ have the same opportunities as everyone else.”
He and Commissioner Gregory Jolivette, who also supported the policy, said they won’t be pushing a change in state laws. His only message to legislators: “Let’s not do anything that will limit finding suitable parents for children in Butler County.”
Dixon and Commissioner Charles Furmon, who had opposed the policy, signed a petition from Liberty Twp. resident Carla Brittain, who has collected 655 signatures opposing the policy.
Brittain gave a half-hour presentation to commissioners this morning, outlining research that says children do just as well when raised by same-sex couples.
She also read a letter from Amy Keller, who with her same-sex partner has two adopted children, one foster child and two other children in her home. All of which are thriving, she said.
“The only difference between our family and yours is that both parents are women,” Keller wrote. “We are women who devoted our lives to loving and caring for the children that God and Children Services has entrusted to us. Please take this into consideration when reviewing policies.”
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