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Monday, March 14, 2011
UPDATE: Kasich to allow cameras and audio recorders in press conference on state budget
UPDATE: Gov. John Kasich’s administration quickly stepped back from an attempt to ban TV cameras and broadcast audio recording equipment from a press conference on his state budget plan.
The ban drew immediate protests from the Statehouse press corps, the ACLU of Ohio and Ohio Democratic Party.
Kasich press secretary Rob Nichols announced late Monday afternoon that, indeed, reporters would be allowed to videotape, photograph and record the governor’s 1 p.m. press conference. Earlier in the day they were told they could bring pens and notebooks and small recorders only for accuracy purposes.
The press conference will be the first look at the closely guarded details of how Kasich plans to fund K-12 education, colleges and universities, the prison system, Ohio Medicaid and other state and local government services.
Kasich is expected to hold a televised ‘town hall’ meeting at 6 p.m. on the budget plan.
Kasich has discounted the importance of transparency laws in government. Initially, he planned to be sworn in at his private home, out of the media eye; he has said open records laws dissuade good candidates from applying for government jobs; and he reorganized the state’s job development functions to be run by a private, non-profit organization that will not be subject to the same open meetings and public records laws.
March 13-19 is Sunshine Week, which is a national initiative to promote discussion on the importance of open government and freedom of information.
ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link denounced Kasich’s now defunct plan to ban cameras and recorders, saying, “Gov. Kasich has decided to celebrate Sunshine Week by shrouding his budget announcement in unprecedented secrecy. The public deserves better.”
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TweetKasich blocks media cameras to budget briefing
Gov. John Kasich’s team is banning TV cameras and broadcast radio recording equipment from a press conference on his state budget plan.
The governor and his senior staff are expected to detail the two-year operating budget proposal at a 1 p.m. press conference but reporters will only be allowed to bring in pens and notebooks. Small audio recorders will be allowed but only for purposes of accuracy - not broadcast, the Kasich communications team told the media.
It will be the first look at the closely guarded details of how Kasich plans to fund K-12 education, colleges and universities, the prison system, Ohio Medicaid and other state and local government services.
Kasich is expected to hold a televised ‘town hall’ meeting at 6 p.m. on the budget plan.
A balanced budget must be adopted by June 30.
Kasich has discounted the importance of transparency laws in government. Initially, he planned to be sworn in at his private home, out of the media eye; he has said open records laws dissuade good candidates from applying for government jobs; and he reorganized the state’s job development functions to be run by a private, non-profit organization that will not be subject to the same open meetings and public records laws.
March 13-19 is Sunshine Week, which is a national initiative to promote discussion on the importance of open government and freedom of information.
“Ohio’s biennial budget promises to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation to come from Gov. Kasich’s administration over the next two years. Every resident has a stake in understanding and thoroughly vetting these policies. By limiting the press’ access, he has effectively shut the door on the public’s right to know,” said ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link. “Gov. Kasich has decided to celebrate Sunshine Week by shrouding his budget announcement in unprecedented secrecy. The public deserves better.”
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TweetKasich’s approval rating stands at 40 percent
Forty-percent of Ohioans approve of Gov. John Kasich’s job performance and 53 percent of adults would like to see the state budget balanced with a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, according to The Ohio Poll released Monday.
Kasich, a Republican former Fox News commentator and Lehman Brothers investment banker who became governor in January, is due to release his first budget proposal on Tuesday.
Kasich has promised to balance the two-year operating budget with significant reforms, spending cuts and no tax increases.
Kasich’s approval rating is below the levels enjoyed by the last three governors when they were in their nascent administrations. The Ohio Poll registered 68 percent approval for Democrat Ted Strickland in May 2007, 49 percent approval for Republican Bob Taft in March 1999 and 61 percent approval for Republican George Voinovich in February 1991.
Democrat Richard Celeste’s approval rating in April 1983 stood at 32 percent, the poll said. At the time, Ohio’s unemployment rate was 13.5 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate, as of January 2011, is 9.4 percent.
The Ohio Poll found that 53 percent of adults want the budget balanced through spending cuts and tax increases, 35 percent favor solely spending cuts, six percent favor solely tax increases and six percent had no opinion.
One-third of those who favor spending cuts named “funding for local government” as the area they would most like to see spending reduced, 15 percent said prisons and public safety, and 13 percent said colleges and universities. Only 5 percent named libraries as an area to cut.
The survey also showed Kasich as stronger approval ratings among Republicans — 65 percent — than among Democrats — 25 percent. Among independents, Kasich has a 30 percent approval rating, the poll found.
The telephone survey, conducted between March 1 and March 9, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent. A random sample of 908 adults were interviewed.
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TweetBill calls for elimination of death penalty
Two Democrats in the Ohio House are pushing a new bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty statute that has been on the books since 1981.
Anti-death penalty advocates said 60 percent of Ohio counties do not have any inmates on the state’s death row and five counties account for half of the prisoners sentenced to death.
“Life is precious, regardless of your circumstances,” said Melinda Elkins Dawson, whose mother was raped and murdered and her niece raped and beaten by Earl Mann. Dawson’s now ex-husband, Clarence Elkins, spent eight years behind bars for the crimes before DNA evidence proved Mann was the true rapist and killer.
Dawson, who now lives in Preble County, said she has never believed in the death penalty, in part because it drags out appeals and delays closure for the victim’s family. She added that some members of her family disagree with her and wanted Mann to face the death penalty.
Dawson as well as the Ohio Catholic Conference came out in support of the bill, which is supported by state Reps. Ted Celeste, D-Columbus and Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood.
Illinois just abolished its death penalty law and a handful of high profile Ohio officials have recently called on the Buckeye State to do the same, Celeste noted.
Gov. John Kasich, who just began a four-year term, has said that he supports the death penalty for the worst of the worst. As a state lawmaker, he voted in favor of the statute in 1981.
The Innocence Project, a legal clinic that helps inmates prove their innocence through DNA evidence, has helped exonerate 267 prisoners across the nation, including 17 who had been sentenced to death.
Dale Johnston, formerly of Xenia, urged Ohio officials to follow Illinois’ lead and recognize that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system.
Johnston spent five years on Ohio’s death row for the 1982 murders of his teen stepdaughter and her fiance. The Ohio Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1988 because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from Johnston’s defense team.
Twenty-six years after the crimes, Chester McKnight pleaded guilty to the murders while a second man, Kenneth Linscott, pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse.
Ohio executed two men this year and has seven more scheduled between now and October. There are 157 inmates on Ohio’s death row.
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TweetUPDATED with Democratic reaction - Secretary of State Husted to rent Kettering home, establish residency in Franklin County
Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that he plans to rent his home in Kettering and establish his legal residence in Franklin County.
Husted, 43, a Republican, said that he still plans to return to the Dayton area to live when his public service ends.
“My heart’s still in Dayton. It’s the place I feel at home. The people there are the ones who helped make my public service career possible. All that I’m today, I owe to the people of Dayton and the Dayton area,” said Husted, a University of Dayton graduate.
For personal and professional reasons, now was the time to make the change in residency, he said. As a statewide elected official, he goes to work every day in Columbus, Husted said.
In recent years, Husted has spent much of his time living in suburban Columbus with his wife and family but maintained his legal residence in Kettering while serving as Speaker of the Ohio House and in the Ohio Senate.
He was elected secretary of state last year.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2009 that Husted was a Montgomery County resident for voting purposes, reversing a decision by then Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.
Before Brunner’s tie-breaking decision, the Montgomery County Board of Elections had deadlocked 2-2 along party lines on Husted’s residency.
Husted said that maintaining his residency in Montgomery County was “absolutely right” while he served in the legislature.
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern, who had been critical of Husted, said, “I wish Jon well.”
Redfern said the decision should allow Husted to spend more time making sure voters get the opportunity to cast ballots in November without continuing concerns about where Husted lives.
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