Editorial: Gates’ blunt NATO critique can be useful

By the Dayton Daily News | Saturday, September 10, 2011, 02:10 AM

With American air power — its use and non-use — at the center of discussion about the Libyan war, outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued an angry indictment of this country’s European allies in that war.

He was making a point that will generate a lot of interest in some Air Force quarters.

Continue reading "Editorial: Gates’ blunt NATO critique can be useful"...

Permalink | | More: Editorials, National government, Wright Patterson Air Force Base

Editorial: Feds should ride Ohio on welfare reform

By the Dayton Daily News | Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 02:05 AM

In the 1990s, first some states and then the federal government, got aggressive about “welfare reform.”

The idea was that able-bodied people should receive “welfare” — typically money given to single mothers — for only a limited time. The welfare system should be focused on helping people get and keep jobs.

Continue reading "Editorial: Feds should ride Ohio on welfare reform"...

Permalink | | More: Editorials, Martin Gottlieb, Ohio government, Social Services

Editorial: Great Lakes need Ohio to honor pact

By the Dayton Daily News | Saturday, June 25, 2011, 06:07 AM

It’s almost never good to have politicians mediating scientific debates. But, of course, it happens all the time — on matters from abortion to air pollution.

After heated debate this week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed legislation designed to implement the Great Lakes Compact. That agreement requires the eight Great Lakes states to adopt rules protecting the water and the lake ecosystems by 2014.

Next week the Ohio Senate is expected to pass similar legislation.

Continue reading "Editorial: Great Lakes need Ohio to honor pact"...

Permalink | | More: Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Ohio government, Ohio politics

Guest column: Nutrition program not beset by raging fraud

By the Dayton Daily News | Saturday, June 25, 2011, 12:00 AM

This commentary was written by Tina Osso, of Hamilton, executive director of Shared Harvest Food Bank.

At a time when more than 1.8 million Ohioans are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, we cannot let our attention be transfixed by stories such as the one that appeared June 21 (“Is Ohio replacing food stamp cards being sold or traded for drugs?”).

Let’s focus on the fact that this program is meant to supplement an individual’s and family’s basic need for food when they have nowhere else to turn.

Continue reading "Guest column: Nutrition program not beset by raging fraud"...

Permalink | |

Editorial: ‘Racino” critics putting up good hurdles

By the Dayton Daily News | Friday, June 24, 2011, 06:07 AM

Gov. John Kasich and the Republican legislature are rushing to pass legislation allowing slot machines at Ohio’s race tracks, including at Lebanon Raceway and at Beulah Park outside Columbus, which wants to move to Dayton.

They want a law passed by June 30 that would require the race tracks to submit their applications for up to 2,500 slot machines by Dec. 31.

Luckily, this race is probably going to take longer to run than the governor wants. (He’s counting on a quick $350 million in license fees paid over the next couple years, not to mention the 33.5 percent tax that the “racinos” would have to pay on their net profits.)

Continue reading "Editorial: ‘Racino” critics putting up good hurdles"...

Permalink | | More: Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Montgomery County, Ohio government, Ohio politics

Editorial: Wal-Mart won; women didn’t necessarily lose

By the Dayton Daily News | Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 06:04 AM

Wal-Mart’s win at the U.S. Supreme Court this week was bigger than the loss handed to the women who were suing the company.

In a unanimous decision, the court said that lawyers didn’t have the goods to bring a class-action discrimination lawsuit on behalf of up to 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees.

The court didn’t decide if the women had been treated unfairly. Rather, the question was whether the company could be sued on behalf of virtually all women workers who would have been affected by practices some women said resulted in their being denied promotions and paid less.

The justices split 5-4 — with conservatives in the majority and liberals in the minority — on whether the women deserved the chance to make their case that they had been victimized under another part of the law.

A lawyer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, “This is, without a doubt, the most important class-action case in more than a decade.”

A women’s-rights group said that the decision was “devastating” and would undo “the rights of millions of women across the country to come together and hold their employers accountable for their discriminatory practices.”

Continue reading "Editorial: Wal-Mart won; women didn’t necessarily lose"...

Permalink | | More: Civil Rights, Editorials, Ellen Belcher

Paul Leonard: Consolidating government inevitable, so let’s plan for it

By the Dayton Daily News | Monday, June 20, 2011, 05:25 PM

This commentary was written by Paul R. Leonard, a former Ohio lieutenant governor and mayor of Dayton. He was chair of the State and Local Government Commission during his tenure as lieutenant governor.

I admit it. I am a “regionalist.” But not because I think regional government will result in a more efficient government.

Quite the contrary. If and when Greater Dayton adopts some form of regional government, public officials will have to work like they have never worked before to be seen as efficient, cost-effective and responsive to taxpayers.

The closer people are to their government, the greater the likelihood that that government will work. There is no substitute for being able to run into the mayor at the doughnut shop or the diner. That’s where voters have a captive audience with their community leaders.

Continue reading "Paul Leonard: Consolidating government inevitable, so let’s plan for it"...

Permalink | | More: Guest Columns