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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Ethics laws apply to stimulus money
As $8 billion in federal stimulus money flows into the state, the Ohio Ethics Commission has a message for public officials and contractors: all that dough is subject to the Ohio ethics laws.
That means public officials cannot profit from contracts using stimulus money or participate when family or business friends might benefit from them.
“The ethics law restricts public officials from securing a financial stake in, or participating in any fashion in the award of public contracts or oversight of public funds where their families and business associates could have a direct benefit, whether funded by stimulus or any other public money,” Ethics Commission Executive Director David Freel said.
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Senators propose ban on convicted felons in casino business
Sens. Timothy Grendell, R-Chesterland, and Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, on Thursday, Nov. 19, unveiled legislation that would outright ban convicted felons from ever having anything to do with the casino business in Ohio.
Senate Bill 208 goes beyond a proposal from casino backers that would allow a convicted felon to apply for a casino-related license five years after a conviction if the “applicant ….is honest, truthful and of good reputation, and there is no basis in fact for believing that the applicant or other person will commit such an offense again.”
Grendell said the bill is aimed at curbing “the potential for mischief.”
The bill also is tougher than the casino-backed plan in defining who would be subject to a background criminal check, Grendell said. The casino bill defines owner as someone with 10 percent or more of an interest in a casino while the Grendell-Seitz plan defines owner as someone with 5 percent or more interest.
Also, Grendell and Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, introduced Senate Bill 206, that would limit gambling interests from contributing more than $500 a year to a political campaign. The casino industry-backed bill went further, banning all such contributions.
The proposed legislation follows voter approval on Nov. 3 of a plan to put casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Penn National Gaming and Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, were key backers.
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National poll: Voters disapprove of Dems’ health care plan
Efforts by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to overhaul the nation’s health care system got a thumbs down from voters across the country in a Quinnipiac University Poll released on Thursday, Nov. 19.
In the poll, 51 percent of voters disapproved the Democratic-backed health care overhaul passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, 35 percent approved and 14 percent didn’t know or had no answer.
Also, 53 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of health care, while 41 percent disapproved and 6 percent didn’t know or were had no answer..
This was slightly better for Obama than the results of a poll released last week for Ohio in which 57 percent of voters disapproved and 36 percent approved his handling of health care.
Release of the poll came a day after Senate Democratic leaders released their version of a plan to overhaul health care.
There was a bright spot for Obama in the poll. Nearly three quarters of voters - 74 percent - like Obama as a person, but just 47 percent like most of his policies.
“Most Americans like President Barack Obama and might like to have a beer with him,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“But millions of voters who sided with him last November because they thought he would bring change to Washington aren’t crazy about the kind of change he is trying to bring.”
The poll was taken Nov. 9 - Monday, Nov. 16 with 2,518 registered voters nationally and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
