Editor Benjamin Marrison
Columbus Dispatch
34 S. 3rd St.
Columbus, OH 43215
Dear Mr. Marrison:
In your subtle way, your lead editorial on Sunday April 15 was the most disingenuous yet: “Kasich and the House put Ohio on a sustainable path after predecessors failed” is a cruel joke.
· Bill Harris led the Senate in blocking Strickland and Budish from most of their good solution to budget problems.
· It would have been a waste of time and effort to pass more Bills in the House which would have been blocked in the Senate. Several were blocked.
· The “Jobs Budget” and SB 5 will cause losses by the state and sub state governments at all levels. · Please read the enclosed letter for evidence that Republicans caused the “mess we are in”:
1. The Republican Income Tax cut of 2005, which favored those with high income accounts for $ 1 billion per year.
2. Bill Harris and the Republican Ohio Supreme blocked the Executive Order by Strickland to allow VLTs at the Ohio horse race tracks. It would have generated $ 1 billion in revenue each of the last two years. Kasich and the Republican General Assembly will now institute VLTs.
3. Kasich has turned down about $ 1 billion in Federal grants because of his hyper conservative principles. This money came from Ohioan’s tax.
The total is more than the $ 8 billion deficit.
The Budget “gives local governments more control over pay rolls.” Decoded:
The budget and SB 5 shifts the burden onto the middle class by causing regressive taxes and loss of essential services by local governments.
Ex Speaker of the House is complaining now, but he should have solved the problem when he was in power. He was blocked by the Republican Senate.
Strickland and Budish used ----“one-time revenue sources available ---and, the the stimulus-fueled environment, there was plenty---to avoid restructuring that Ohio’s budget needed.” Kasich is using one-time money by selling state assets at below market value. This includes prisons and the liquor industry. This will end the annual income stream of that industry and make some more Republicans multi-millionaires by using taxpayers money to profit.
Sincerely,
Albert A. Gabel
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State University
Columbus Dispatch
34 S. 3rd St.
Columbus, OH 43215
Dear Mr. Marrison:
In your subtle way, your lead editorial on Sunday April 15 was the most disingenuous yet: “Kasich and the House put Ohio on a sustainable path after predecessors failed” is a cruel joke.
· Bill Harris led the Senate in blocking Strickland and Budish from most of their good solution to budget problems.
· It would have been a waste of time and effort to pass more Bills in the House which would have been blocked in the Senate. Several were blocked.
· The “Jobs Budget” and SB 5 will cause losses by the state and sub state governments at all levels. · Please read the enclosed letter for evidence that Republicans caused the “mess we are in”:
1. The Republican Income Tax cut of 2005, which favored those with high income accounts for $ 1 billion per year.
2. Bill Harris and the Republican Ohio Supreme blocked the Executive Order by Strickland to allow VLTs at the Ohio horse race tracks. It would have generated $ 1 billion in revenue each of the last two years. Kasich and the Republican General Assembly will now institute VLTs.
3. Kasich has turned down about $ 1 billion in Federal grants because of his hyper conservative principles. This money came from Ohioan’s tax.
The total is more than the $ 8 billion deficit.
The Budget “gives local governments more control over pay rolls.” Decoded:
The budget and SB 5 shifts the burden onto the middle class by causing regressive taxes and loss of essential services by local governments.
Ex Speaker of the House is complaining now, but he should have solved the problem when he was in power. He was blocked by the Republican Senate.
Strickland and Budish used ----“one-time revenue sources available ---and, the the stimulus-fueled environment, there was plenty---to avoid restructuring that Ohio’s budget needed.” Kasich is using one-time money by selling state assets at below market value. This includes prisons and the liquor industry. This will end the annual income stream of that industry and make some more Republicans multi-millionaires by using taxpayers money to profit.
Sincerely,
Albert A. Gabel
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State University