What am I missing

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Rosebush1

Strickland is a most unimpressive politician and in a crisis couldn't figure out how to cut the fat out of the state budget. His TV commercials are embarrassing, he looks unkept and sloppy while attempting to look like a regular guy.
During the crisis virtually every family, public(non federal) and private entity streamlined operations in some fashion to balance their budget. There is some fat in every organization that can be cut.

Check out federal deficits under Portman. They dwarf anything under Strickland, even though, unlike Ohio's pension funds, military pension funds and medical expenses are entirely unfunded. Social Security and Medicare are funded by the federal government borrowing from itself.

How have the Republicans cut out the "fat" in Ohio after Strickland? Slashing, especially on a real basis, funding for local governments, parks, schools, and mass transit, among other areas.

To compensate, local income taxes and real estate taxes have gone skywards. Some municipal income tax rates, such as in Columbus, have gone up by 25 percent. Some poorer communities, such as East Cleveland and Lorain, now have difficulty paying safety forces and buying safety equipment, "fat" apparently by your opinion.

Kasich and the Republicans have imposed hidden taxes levied in the future by borrowing against decades of future tolls on the Ohio Turnpike and funding the secretive JobsOhio with borrowings against 25 years of state liquor fund revenues. What were the underwriting fees paid Wall St. investment bankers on these borrowings? Probably at least $150 million (at the standard 7 percent). Of course, those pay-to-play fees are not "fat."

Today's Ohio Republicans are the most fiscally irresponsible politicians that I've ever seen, despite all of their tough talk on budgets.

Portman was one of George W.'s chief economic officials while Bush cut taxes materially while fighting two wars, an unprecedented fiscally irresponsible action in American history.

"Fat," by Kasich/Portman/Bush definitions, is anything that doesn't accrue to benefit their wealthy supporters.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by Coseau

Self deception. Outside of the cities Ohioans in the suburbs , small towns and rural areas are as a general rule older, whiter, more conservative and suspicious of democratic liberal politicians. They are influenced by right wing talk radio and Fox news. They believe liberal politicians will give out free stuff to those cop hating anthem kneeling people. They constantly complain their jobs going overseas to China and Mexico yet they constantly vote for guys for political office that supported these globalist free trade policies time after time. This has to tell you there is another underlining reason people are not saying out loud why they vote for politicians that throughout their political career have always supported Wall Street corporate globalist policies that has de-industrialized this state.

Nailed it. Ohio is becoming one of those highly provincial places that doesn't benefit from much movement between states/countries (especially outside the Columbus metro). Young people either stay in one place their entire lives or move away not coming back. So it's mostly older people who only see what's around them and don't understand complex issues like globalization or foreign policy outside what their politicians tell them.

[Buckeye614]

Strickland was actually leading in late spring and the race was virtually tied for most of summer. Once the slew of Portman Super Pac ad's hit the air The Strickland Campaign could not keep up and their numbers begin to tank.

Strickland was Governor during one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. Whether it's fair or not many Ohioans will blame him for the tough times the state went through since he was the leader at the time.

[Dumbdowndemocrats]

Ted Strickland is from my home in Scioto County he has represented us here for a very long time in the U.S. House of Representatives and all we have is high unemployment,drug addiction,crime during his tenure he has really done nothing for us in impoverished southern Ohio. Ted Strickland's broken promises along with,Sherrod Brown and Obama about Piketon Ohio and nuclear energy was just grandstanding for 2 election cycles to get votes.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Nailed it. Ohio is becoming one of those highly provincial places that doesn't benefit from much movement between states/countries (especially outside the Columbus metro). Young people either stay in one place their entire lives or move away not coming back. So it's mostly older people who only see what's around them and don't understand complex issues like globalization or foreign policy outside what their politicians tell them.

Most of America, at least by land-area, is like this. 100 years ago, Ohio was a leading state. People moved here, to join the tumult of innovation. The tragedy of Ohio isn't any particular backwardness, but that it lost its leading role, and has receded into America's amorphous background.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Dumbdowndemocrats

Ted Strickland is from my home in Scioto County he has represented us here for a very long time in the U.S. House of Representatives and all we have is high unemployment,drug addiction,crime during his tenure he has really done nothing for us in impoverished southern Ohio. Ted Strickland's broken promises along with,Sherrod Brown and Obama about Piketon Ohio and nuclear energy was just grandstanding for 2 election cycles to get votes.

Strickland hasn't been in the House of Representatives since 2007. From 1999 to 2007, the House of Representatives was controlled by the Republicans.

So Scioto County prospered under the George W. Bush administration, of which Portman was a leading figure, and the Great Recession?

Have things gone well under Congressman Bill Johnson, a Republican, who has represented Scioto County since 2010 in a gerrymandered district created by the Ohio Republicans that stretches all of the way to northeast Ohio? Johnson, unlike Strickland, has since 2011 had the advantage of being in the party that controlled the House of Representatives. What has he done for Scioto County?

Do you approve that Portman and House Republicans have blocked funding of the anti-opioid bill that they are all touting as a success in their re-election campaigns?

Congress Passes a Major Anti-Opioid Law, But Without Any Funding

You care about the heroin crisis and yet you vote for yahoos like Portman and Johnson? Have you contacted Portman and Johnson demanding immediate funding of this important legislation that they supported?

Does anybody in your 6th Congressional District understand the significance of Ohio's Republicans pumping highly radioactive fracking wasters under very high pressures underneath your potable water aquifers? Has Bill Johnson or Portman (or, to be fair, Strickland or Sherrod Brown) raised any concerns about this ticking time bomb?

Do you understand that Congressional Republicans consistently have blocked any efforts to resurrect the U.S. economy, including especially a robust infrastructure program, recommended by most economists and now by both Trump and Clinton?

The U.S. healthcare system is a competitive drag on the U.S. economy, yet Republicans continue to block any efforts to reduce healthcare costs in the U.S., ridiculously even refusing to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, let alone setting up a drug prices board as used in Canada.

Just how dumb are the voters in Scioto County that support Portman and Johnson?

[woxyroxme]

Strickland lost his seat in congress in 1994 but won it back in 1996, he is a really nice guy but does not have the first clue. Warren County used to be in the 6th district, then we were in the 2nd and Portman was our congressman, after that we were gerrymandered into the first to make sure Chabot never lost his seat again, if you were to look at the map of congressional districts the first looks ridiculous. Hamilton county should be with Butler, Warren with Clinton and Fayette but that would mean Chabot and Boehner would have had to run against each other, the republican cronies would never have done that.



^ Steve's job security map.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

Strickland lost his seat in congress in 1994 but won it back in 1996, he is a really nice guy but does not have the first clue. Warren County used to be in the 6th district, then we were in the 2nd and Portman was our congressman, after that we were gerrymandered into the first to make sure Chabot never lost his seat again, if you were to look at the map of congressional districts the first looks ridiculous. Hamilton county should be with Butler, Warren with Clinton and Fayette but that would mean Chabot and Boehner would have had to run against each other, the republican cronies would never have done that.



^ Steve's job security map.

There are more ridiculous gerrymandered districts in Ohio, thanks to the Republicans and ridiculous state laws (we need an Ohio Constitutional, or even a federal Constitutional amendment mandating contiguous, compact districts).

Check out the 9th district which connects Toledo with Cleveland by sliver of Lake Erie, in order to concentrate Democratic Party votes. Ditto with the 16th district which connects largely African American precincts in both Cleveland and Akron. Disgusting. Akron even isn't served by its own unique Congressperson. The 4th, 7th and 11th Congressional also are disgusting gerrymanders. Why would any newspaper endorse Ohio legislative candidates who created such a mess in order to pervert and polarize Ohio democracy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio%2...onal_districts