Gov Stricknine is being political, not Senator Harris. The people have voted 4 times NO Gambling in state wide elctions by 60% majorities or more. What doesn't the Gov understand about NO?

The state can cut it's way out of this budget by cutting the wages and benefits of state emplyees 10% to match the private sector. That is the real solution. Just do it Gov.

Don't let Gov. Strickland use out libraries, school lunches for children, food banks, etc as political pawns for his gambling agenda. If you check out his top campaign contributors list, you'll notice tens of thousands of dollars from various gambling associations, committees, and individuals with vested interests. If you look at the list and query by profession, you'll notice that Librarians (picked because they're over 18 and eligible to vote) donated right around $1000 (in about 75 small contributions) to his campaign. Is it any wonder who he is working for here?

Governor Strickland sees the writing on the wall. He's a one-term pony and he's trying to pay off his contributors with his last budget before he's booted.

Visit www.midcoastperspective.com for information on how to make sure that Gov. Strickland hears your voice on this issue. And if you wouldn't mind telling him to stop using our libraries as his whipping boy, it'd be appreciated. One of the few gov't expenditures that we actually get good value out of (top national ranking).

Thanks,

Too bad for Teddyboy. He should have supported the last venue that wanted gamblin' in Ohio.

This should be interestin' to watch to see how Teddyboy untends to squirm out of this one.

Probably the best thing he could do, is drop the idea, propose a budget, and let the legislature argue about it.

The Gov continues to be a gutless wonder. Reinstate the income tax back to 7.5% from 6% for the highest levels and a lot of this budget problem goes away. The Taft cut of 2004 actually exercerbated a lot of the problem. AkronLaw is right, he's a one termer therefore he should do the right thing..he has nothing to lose. Raping libraries, introducing gambling, rading pension funds all are acts of political desperation. Oh. and stop kowtowing to the nursing home leaches. They serve only to suck more from the budget and provide service to only a few.
Come on Ted..do the right thing!

@ OMG
"The state can cut it's way out of this budget by cutting the wages and benefits of state emplyees 10% to match the private sector. That is the real solution."

Huh? Where do you find that public employess make 10% more that those in the private sector? Please get back on your meds and stop being delusional.

The blatant bias in this article is disgusting. I bet most of you didn't know that two years ago, Republican Senator Steve Stivers (while President Harris was still head of the Senate) proposed a bill that was almost identical to Strickland's proposal. And guess what? The Senate, who had the same Republican majority then, approved the bill, however, it never got a hearing on the House floor. Now do you want to say who's being political?

The voters turned down the past Casino projects because of their locations. Have a vote such as YES or NO to Casino gambling in the State. After that passes, Ohio looks at all offers from the established Casino companies and selects the most advantagios offers to OHIO. Ohio controls it. The past efforts were for precise areas in the State, some to exact square footage of property owned by the sponsors. Use Casino gambling to the STATES advantage not private investors.

Eh, they'll just change the name from Slots to "Skill Games" and ignore the wishes of the voters again.

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/49468182.html

Follow above link to read about a drive by shooting with 5 shot in Akron. The ABJ buried this story in less than three hours last night. Should be on the front page. Or type "drive by" in the ABJ search box.

JohnBoy: Just tear down the neighborhood and build a wal-mart. Create jobs, a convenient place to shop-lift from, and of course, weed the neighborhood.

It's really time to look at the systemic problems of these neighborhoods. As populations decline, the need for 19th century housing distribution becomes less necessary and we're left with thousands of houses that are left unoccupied, unmaintained, and attract various criminal elements (drug deals are more likely to occur in front of vacant houses than owner-occupied houses, trespass, prostitution, and generally just gang congregation). Lets foreclose these empty delapidated POS houses, tear them down, restore the land, and then split the lots between the neighbors at no charge and grant a 5year tax abatement on the additional sq. footage.

Sponsor community gardens where people in the neighborhood can get flowers for their flowerbeds and borrow hand tools to fix up their yards and houses. Cleveland used to have a resource like this where you could rent free of charge, post-hole diggers, rakes, shovels, tampers. Those things we should all have, but some cannot afford. It'd be a small price to pay to increase property values, develop a sense of community, and rebuild pride in our inner-city neighborhoods.

Lets return our neighborhoods to the hands of the people who live there and see if maybe they'll help maintain.

There is absolutely no reason to not have gambling in Ohio. Do it so the state controls it and benefits from the revenue. It is time to join the 21st century and stop gambling revenue from going to every state that borders Ohio. For those opposed simply do not go to them.

Old Man, get your head out of your arse.
Making up the budget deficit on the backs of state employees is ridiculous.
If you don't like slot machines stay away from the racetrack!

Slot machines aren't even the issue, the issue republicans are having is that the slots mathmatically cannot generate the revenue being prospected by the governor. They refuse to sign on to a budget that they know will be $1billion short in its last year when Strickland is no longer around to accept responsibility.

In Ohio we have a state law that precludes debt service payments in excess of 5.5% of total state expenses. Thanks to losses of revenue over the last few years due to tax-cuts, this debt service now comprises 4.5% of the Ohio Budget. If slots payout 90% of their funds to gamblers (general payout), then to make up $933 million, if the revenue is taxed at 50% (as expected), then Ohio Gamblers would need to put $18,000,000,000 through the coin slots of slot-machines over two years. Broken down, that's $24,500,000 in slot machine play per day every day of the year. $3.5million in slot play at each race-track in Ohio every single day of the year.

I don't know if you've been out to see the ponies lately, but attendance isn't high enough to hit the numbers.

So when the slots only return 1/3 of what the governor projects, we'll have to finance $600million, and this will increase the debt service burden well over 7% (probably over 8% if revenues do not uptick).

And the state legislator will be forced to circumvent this law, this will lower the states debt rating, increase costs, force additional cuts, and push us a step closer to default.

I'm not against slots, I just want honest projections and the conversation to be removed from the back room.

IrishLou,

I think OMG is calling for putting the burden on someone else. This would be the same as your call to raise the tax level on top earners.

I give Strickland credit for sticking with his guns and not raising taxes. Cut, cut, cut.

IrishLou, I do not know who you work for but everyone I know is taking pay cuts or other benifit reductions. So it is not out of the question to expect our state house to tighten their belt.

@ Jason and Code Monkey
I didn't say that they shouldn't take cuts, I took issue that thay make 10% more than the public sector. That's a broad bursh OMG is painting with and needs some substance backing it up. Please read what he said and what I said before you jump to conclusions!

@Jason
If you recall that "burden" was there before 2004 and since income taxes are not regressive, but progressive, that burden is greatly mitigated but the earnings of those at the top. I ask that it be reinstated. What the Gov has been doing is way much more a burden on the middle and lower classes, and much more destructive to Ohio in the long term, than the reinstatement on the income tax levels will be on the higher income earners. You're pretty samrt, judging from posts I've seen you make here and there, therefore you know this.

I know what you meant, I just oppose the reinstatement in principle, at any level. It's a slippery slope. I can see one bracket at a time being rolled back in "an hour of need."

Beyond that, I'm curious if John Kasich can actually make a budget work with NO income tax. That might be a pipe dream, but I'd like to see it.

@Jason
Given that the 2004 reductions helped make this mess Those cuts should be on the table as well as necessary cuts in state spending. I take particulsar issue with cutting those services that provide necesary and cost effective programs to Ohio's citizens. One good example is the "Passport" program which helps seniors stay independent in their own homes and out of nursing homes. Nursing homes are a huge drain on the stste's medicaid, and thus the state, budget and they are very inefficient and costly compared to in home programs like "Passport" However the lobby for nursing homes is powerfull and throws a lot of money at legislators, and into scare ads, to get undue concessions. To me they are nothing but "budget leaches".
As for making the budget work without reinstating the 2004 cuts, it probably will mean increases in other taxes such as sales taxes, which are regressive. For the record, I'd be in the 7.5% bracket so I'm saying I will accept the "burden". I can well afford it. I'd accept that rather than see libraries, parks and cost efficient programs, like "Passport" take a huge hit. Some programs, if cut will only come back after increased property taxes and I'm against that, big time! This seems to be Strickland's answer so far, balance the budget by hammering the property owner with levies from the various agencies who were cut. Humbug!
Strickland needs to "man up" here!

@Irish Lou - see, you made OMG's head explode with all those facts and well formed observations.

Well put - bravo!

I don't know the costs of the individual program you referenced. My cynicism in general is rooted in the fact that every program on the table will have an army of advocates preaching how essential are the benefits. I don't disagree with your net gain logic (vs. nursing home care) if the numbers work out that way.

Regarding brackets, I'm not in the top bracket and still don't think we should bump that up. If you are in that bracket, then puts you in the minority of people who are advocating an increase for altruistic reasons as opposed to class warfare. I don't want that bracket increased because I generally trust that money is better spent by individuals rather than by the government. Another force working against the budget is the decline in sales tax receipts. People spending that marginal income would have a beneficial impact as well.

@ Jason
RE: Spending vrs. taxing higher incomes. True to some degree, but, people in higher incomes have a lower marginal propensity to spend. They have most of what they need. Those in lower incomes have a higher propensity to spend and a larger percentage of it goes to the necessities of life. Thus reinstate the 2004 cuts which effect the higher incomes..result less burden and virtually no reduction in spending. But, large increase in now needed state revenues. As I ststed before, the 2004 cuts helped exercabate this problem.

the answer here....the fair tax.org for federal and local gov'ts!
and let the slots spin,get rid of the "games of skill"parlors proving no matter how bad the odds are....people want to gamble (I dont consider the skill parlors as gambling)