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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > April > 21
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Editorial: Austria better for Republicans in Greene, Clark
2010 Election
It wouldn’t be an election without John Mitchel on the ballot.
The retired Air Force officer from Beavercreek has been running for something almost every two years since his first major bid for office in 1998, when he ran for governor as a Reform Party candidate.
(Remember third- party presidential candidate Ross Perot? That was his party.)
Since then, he has run, as a Republican, for the U.S. Senate, and also against former U.S. Rep. David Hobson — twice. Now this year will be his second run against Congressman Steve Austria, who represents Greene and Clark counties.
Give the guy credit for persistence.
But he’s still the neophyte that he was in 1998, when he had 20,000 copies of his school funding plan printed.
In 2004, when asked what he wanted to do in the Senate, he said:
“My first act if elected to the Senate would be to lobby the president to sign an executive order to declare the unborn innocent ‘persons,’ thus giving them the full protection of the Fifth Amendment.”
Mr. Mitchel, 62, opposes the Obama health care initiative, the Obama stimulus, the bank bailout under former President George W. Bush, and he supports the (unworkable) FairTax plan, which would eliminate the federal income tax, substituting a sales tax.
He also charges that Greene and Clark counties are steeped in cronyism that results in sweetheart deals for Republican insiders.
Congressman Austria is completing his first term in Washington. He was effectively handpicked by Rep. Hobson to replace him when he retired; Rep. Austria’s wife was on the congressman’s staff.
Previously, Rep. Austria served 10 years in the Ohio Senate.
As a freshman in the minority party, Rep. Austria could hardly be expected to make a big impact. In fact, though, he did get national attention for telling the Columbus Dispatch, in a discussion about his opposition to the Obama stimulus, that Franklin Roosevelt caused the Great Depression (which, of course, began way before the president was elected).
In talking about his job, Rep. Austria emphasizes constituent service, which, of course, does come with the position. But it is the most routine part of it.
He’s much less comfortable taking tough positions. He rarely diverges from his party, although he did vote for the administration’s Cash for Clunkers program.
He said he was persuaded by auto dealers that some of them would go out of business without this incentive.
On the other hand, Rep. Austria opposed the $787 billion stimulus program, without which unemployment would be immeasurably higher, and he is critical of the Bush bank bailout (that occurred before Mr. Austria went to Congress).
(Many economists believe that the bank and insurance failures that surely would have ensued without the Bush administration’s intervention could have pushed the country toward a Depression.)
Rep. Austria has refused to support earmarks, even though that was one way former Rep. Hobson made sure that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base got some of the improvements and commitments it needed sooner rather than later.
Rep. Austria was, for a while, reconsidering that position; then all the Republicans in the House said they wanted a moratorium.
It’ll be too bad if important advocacy for the base falls to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and Ohio’s U.S. senators alone. That would be copping out, for political convenience.
Rep. Austria doesn’t face a serious challenge this year and is unlikely to any time soon unless he really fumbles. He’s cautious, so he’s not a disaster waiting to happen.
For the privilege of that job security, he really does need to seize the important platform he has. He has work to do to grow into an aggressive advocate for the region and for the issues he cares most about.
Letters candidates submitted from their supporters are here.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: 2010 endorsements, Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Miami Valley Politics, National Politics, National government, Ohio politics, Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Editorial: Facing big year, Boehner best pick in primary
2010 ELECTION
By next year, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives might be a local guy. John Boehner, of West Chester, represents the western Miami Valley (the counties along the Indiana border) and Miami County and parts of east Dayton and Huber Heights.
He is leader of the House Republicans, who are expected to gain a lot of seats in November, perhaps reaching a majority. If that happens, their leader becomes speaker.
He will have come a long way from 1990, when he was first elected to Congress, insisting that he was not a “politician.”
Whatever one thinks of Rep. Boehner, having a speaker from here would be an important thing. How much good a speaker can do for his state is often exaggerated, and he long ago swore off bringing home federal “earmarks. Still, pretty cool.
Rep. Boehner faces a primary on May 4, but no real scare. His opponents have no background in politics, no support to speak of, no name recognition and no issues likely to play very well with the conservative primary voters in that conservative district.
Thomas McMasters, of Huber Heights, is a retired Air Force officer and father of five. He voted for Barack Obama in 2008. He has always wanted to run for Congress; there was nothing about Boehner or the district or this year that particularly beckoned him.
He has said he considered filing as a Democrat. Although he finally decided he has more in common with Republicans on spending issues, he says the party goes astray when it sticks with a Reaganesque approach to the issues. He has difficulty articulating a political philosophy that helps you to guess where he’d be on future controversies.
The third candidate is Manfred Schreyer, of Preble County, who grew up in Germany and has worked in telecommunications and as a pastor. He now owns a cafe.
He’s critical of Rep. Boehner’s alleged coziness with Wall Street and his support of the bailout and the North American Free Trade Agreement. He says the incumbent’s rigidity on health care led to bad legislation. He embraces the word “moderate.”
Whether the Republican Party in the 8th really has a non-conservative faction is doubtful. It if does, that faction needs to put up candidates with better credentials. Otherwise, John Boehner remains the party’s logical choice.
He has been known to do the right thing in difficult situations, most specifically on the unpopular but necessary bank bailout. Also, before he became speaker, he helped lead the effort to pass No Child Left Behind.
As a rule, though, he is hyper-conservative and too partisan. He eagerly stokes the partisanship that has become one of the country’s debilitating problems.
If Rep. Boehner does become speaker, things have to change. He and the Democrats need to constrain their partisan tendencies. That would be a heck of a challenge for both.
For the Republicans, the risk would be infuriating a base that seems on guard as never before against any sign of meeting the other side half way.
Rep. Boehner wouldn’t be any less likely to rise to the occasion than any other Republican who gets mentioned as a possible speaker. If somebody is to be put to the test, having that somebody be from Ohio wouldn’t be all bad.
(Endorsement letters submitted by the candidates are here.)
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment | Categories: 2010 endorsements, Editorials, Locals in national affairs, Miami Valley Politics, National Politics
Martin Gottlieb: April 15 not such a nightmare for most
April is said to put dread in the hearts of the American people, taxing them in more ways than one. The anger and frustration associated with April 15 used to be expressed by comedians and in social settings. Now it’s done in political demonstrations. This year, from Cincinnati to Dayton to Columbus, lots of Ohioans went to hear speakers decry the effect of taxes on freedom, on the American ideal. Complaints about taxes are the only thing more certain than death and taxes.
Here, however, after all the complaints have been heard again and again, are a few other points about how the federal income tax — and the process of paying it — affects actual Americans:
• About 47 percent of households don’t even have enough income to owe federal income taxes. This point, too, has come in for a fair share of attention lately.
Somehow, though, its existence doesn’t dent the consciousness of those who portray April 15 as a universally shared nightmare.
The exclusion of low-income people from this tax makes the overall tax burden fairer. Low-income people do pay state and local taxes, which can hit the poor hardest.
Think about sales taxes, for example. If you have to spend every dime you make, you pay the sales taxes on a bigger percentage of your income than if you can afford to put some money away. (And you hope to see that latter money grow.)
Or look at state and local income taxes. When Ohio “reformed” its tax code in 2005, the main idea was reduction in the income tax and in its progressivity. Progressivity — the degree to which rates are higher on those with more income — is considered a bad thing at the state level. That makes the progressivity of federal income taxes all the more important.
Low-income people also pay Social Security taxes, starting with the first dollar they earn. This hits them harder than the very affluent, who don’t pay on income above a certain point.
So, bottom line, those who don’t pay federal income taxes do pay as much of their income in taxes as any other class. (Citizen for Tax Justice, a liberal think tank, among others, has run the numbers.)
• A lot of people are trying to sell the notion that the federal income tax is out of control. Baloney. The stimulus that was passed last year entailed cuts for most people. The George W. Bush years saw repeated cuts. Even before that, the burden was falling as a percentage of income. Reported the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “The Treasury data show that in 1999, the typical family of four with two children was paying a smaller percentage of its income in federal income taxes than at any time since 1966.”
• For 2008, out of 155 million individual returns filed, 90 million were done online. The IRS says more than 70 percent of those were done by professionals doing people’s taxes.
It’s a shame the code is so complex that professionals are necessary. Still, these stats dispose of the image of a people burning midnight oil in a desperate effort to understand incomprehensible forms and bureaucratic rules.
Of those filing for themselves, many use simple forms. Software programs have made even moderately complex returns easy, allowing people to fill in the same blanks every year. And many people simply have confidence in their ability to handle situations involving math and rules.
• As April 15 was approaching, the IRS reported that 80 million Americans — about half of those filing personal returns — had received tax refunds. The average refund was almost $3,000.
That doesn’t tell you how much people are paying, of course. But it is another does big dent in the notion that April 15 is universally experienced as hell.
• Let’s end with a couple of polls, which are best used only as supporting material. At a time when public frustration with Washington is at a high, the IRS is an exception. A Pew study finds the IRS has a favorable rating, 47 percent, that’s up 9 points, more than any agency since 1997. For a tax agency, that’s remarkably high.
• Sixty-two percent of Americans say they are treated fairly by the tax code, another remarkable number, when you contemplate the special insight we all have into the universe’s tendency to victimize us more than others.
The same CBS/New York Times poll put the question to 881 people who describe themselves as Tea Party tax protesters. Even 50 percent of them say they’re treated fairly; 42 percent said no; 6 percent didn’t know. Surprising.
Submitted for the record.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Martin Gottlieb, National government, Ohio government
