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Tag: Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio, other states sitting on huge piles of money, new report says

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio has enough in its rainy day fund to operate the state government for 35 days on that money and nothing else. If you factor in the money it has in other unexpended balances, the number of days grows to 73, according to a report released last week by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

It’s part of a trend in which states are sitting on reserves that are at or near record levels after states got unprecedented federal assistance during the coronavirus pandemic while their revenue collections didn’t drop off as much as they feared. In 21 states — including Ohio — collections even exceeded pre-pandemic growth.

Governments aren’t banks and their basic role isn’t to sit on huge reserves of taxpayer money. But today’s big reserves might come in handy in the not-too-distant future. Government data released Thursday said that gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6% in the second quarter, but experts warned that other signs of a coming recession loom.

As anyone who watched government finance during the Great Recession between 2007 and 2009 knows, in such circumstances tax collections can plummet, leaving state and local governments to face excruciating choices for years.

“States use reserves and balances to manage budgetary uncertainty, including revenue forecasting errors, budget gaps during economic downturns, and other unforeseen emergencies, such as natural disasters,” the Pew report said. “This financial cushion can soften the need for spending cuts or tax increases when states need to balance their budgets.”

In addition, large cash reserves can give states and local governments better credit ratings, allowing them to float bonds and otherwise borrow at better rates.

“For example, Fitch Ratings upgraded Michigan’s credit rating in July 2022, citing the state’s buildup of reserve levels as part of its rationale,” the report said.

However, the amounts states are sitting on can be eye-popping. For purposes of comparison, Pew expresses them in terms of the number of days states can operate solely on their reserves. Those amounts range from 350 days for Wyoming to 12 for Illinois.

At 71 days, Ohio comes in a little below the 50-state median of 89 days.

In dollar amounts, Ohio is estimated to have $5.5 billion in reserves for 2022. That’s far in excess of any year since at least 2000 except for last year, when reserves totaled $7.4 billion, according to the Pew report.

And those amounts don’t count unexpended federal coronavirus dollars to the states. This summer, Governing Magazine reported that at the end of 2021, states had spent just 27% of those funds.

In August, Cleveland.com reported that Ohio had spent nearly two-thirds of its $5.4 billion in American Rescue Plan funds, primarily repaying an unemployment loan, on law enforcement and sewer grants, and on incentives for the Intel chip plant.

Meanwhile, other pressing needs only partially have been met.

Ohio’s foodbanks say they’re desperate for supplies and infrastructure. In May they requested $50 million in emergency funding and have made an overall request of more than $100 million to also upgrade their infrastructure.

So far all they’ve gotten from the state is $15 million in coronavirus funds that Gov. Mike DeWine announced earlier this month.

Follow Marty Schladen on Twitter.

Oct 29, 2022
Paying the disabled like everyone else would reduce poverty, economists say

Ohio Reps. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati, and Dontavius Jerrells, D-Columbus. Official photos.

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio’s minimum wage is set to increase in January from $9.30 an hour to $10.10, but unless the law changes the disabled will be left far behind.

They can currently earn the state’s “subminimum” wage of $4.25 an hour and can be paid substantially less than that, NBC 4 reported. Now Ohio Reps. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati, and Dontavius Jerrells, D-Columbus want to raise it to where it will be for most other workers.

That would lift some people out of poverty, a majority of a panel of Ohio economists said earlier this week. But a majority was also uncertain whether it would be an overall help to the state economy.

In a survey conducted by Scioto Analysis, 12 of 18 economists said the measure would reduce poverty. Three disagreed and three were uncertain or had no opinion.

Four economists agreed that paying the disabled the regular minimum wage would be good for the overall economy. Four disagreed and 10 were either uncertain or had no opinion.

In the comments that accompany the survey, Youngstown State University economist Albert Sumell said increasing minimum wages for the disabled is no silver bullet, but it would be beneficial.

“The effect will be modest but clearly some individuals with disabilities would benefit,” he said.

On the other hand, Kent State University economist Curtis Reynolds questioned whether subminimum wages were what prompted some employers to hire disabled workers in the first place.

“The challenge, of course, is whether individuals will still have job opportunities at the higher wage,” wrote Reynolds, who said he was uncertain about the effect of raising the wages. “If yes, then the higher minimum wage would reduce poverty. If not, then it will not reduce poverty. I am not sure which will happen for this population (which has not been studied as much in research on minimum wage policies).”

The economists’ uncertainty about whether raising minimum wages for the disabled would grow the economy was even more pronounced. Some of the uncertainty stemmed from the relatively small number of disabled workers and how little minimum-wage workers of any group earn.

But some of the economists argued that there are other reasons for undertaking the increase.

“I think the main goal of minimum wages is to create equitable growth and dignity for workers,” wrote Jonathan Andreas of Bluffton University. “I’d be in favor of more equity and dignity even if it caused a little less growth, but the research on minimum wages generally finds that it doesn’t cause problems so it looks like a way to increase equity without hurting growth. I’ve never seen research about the minimum wage for people with disabilities so I haven’t seen enough information to know.”

Follow Marty Schladen on Twitter.

Oct 26, 2022
“Special paper.” Ohio Auditor floats theory of election fraud

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio Auditor Keith Faber last Tuesday told members of the Westerville Tea Party that it was unlikely that widespread fraud occurs in Ohio elections.

But that didn’t stop him from holding out a sinister possibility: that the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections might be diverting special voting-machine paper to other states where unscrupulous elements might use them to produce unsolicited, fraudulent ballots.

For his part, the director of the board of elections there said his office was doing no such thing and that the state auditor’s office had never contacted his agency about the matter.

With Republicans holding all statewide offices except the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, officials like Faber are in a tight spot when it comes to election fraud.

Former President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim that he was cheated out of the presidency in 2020 by a rigged election. And now, other Republican candidates are mimicking his past behavior by refusing to say whether they’ll accept the results if they lose on Nov. 8.

Experts say such talk is crippling our democracy by undermining faith in its most basic process. Indeed, about 70% of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential election was rigged despite Trump’s epic failure to produce any evidence of that.

So Ohio’s elected Republicans have a base that’s deeply skeptical of elections at the same time that those officials are running them.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the official responsible for administering elections, has hyped the possibility of cheating while simultaneously touting how extremely rare it’s been in elections he’s run. In February, LaRose slammed the media for supposedly downplaying voter fraud just after he found just the possibility of one fraudulent vote for every 222,000 cast in Ohio in 2020.

Faber, the state auditor, seemed to be trying to take a similar tack last week when a member of the Tea Party audience asked him if he audited elections.

According to an audio recording of the session, Faber said that it was the job of the secretary of state to audit elections, but the state auditor could look at other things handled by county boards of election, such as their money. He added that his office investigated some of those matters in the wake of the 2020 election.

Faber told the crowd that while he believes it’s hard to cheat in Ohio elections, that might not be the case elsewhere.

“What I found out is the paper, the paper we use to vote in Ohio, OK, is special paper,” he said. “You need special paper to run the machines. But there really wasn’t ever any inventory done on the paper, OK? And so that supply if you audit that, we’re going to start doing a count. If you ordered 100 (thousand) sheets of paper and you only voted 20,000 people, you better have 80,000 sheets left.”

He added, “And so we started asking those questions. And I wasn’t really worried because of the difficulty in Ohio of creating extra fake ballots because of the controls. But there was nothing to say the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections who ordered a million sheets of paper didn’t somehow quietly drop off 50,000 of them over here in (another state.) Because the paper is the same from machine to machine and state to state and so we started asking those questions. And I talked to a number of people at local boards of elections and said if you’re going to cheat, what would you do? And so we started looking at that. So the short answer is no. I don’t audit the election.”

Faber’s office was asked if it will audit voting-machine paper used in the Nov. 8 election, and if it did, whether it would do so in all 88 Ohio counties.

“The Auditor of State’s Office regularly audits all of Ohio’s counties for fiscal and operational controls,” the emailed reply said. “These engagements include boards of elections. These most recent audits included an examination, after consultation with the Secretary of State’s Office, of a number of board of elections’ required policies and procedures. While no significant findings were issued, a number of minor discrepancies were identified at boards of elections across Ohio. Those discrepancies and the Auditor’s recommendations to address them are included in counties’ publicly accessible audit reports.”

Faber’s staff was also asked whether he had any reason to suspect that Cuyahoga County — the most racially and ethnically diverse in Ohio — had or was planning to sneak voting-machine paper out of state for use in fraudulent voting.

The communications staff didn’t address that question. Nor did it address whether there was any evidence that the kind of voting fraud Faber described had ever been done anywhere in the United States.

Anthony Perlatti, director of Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said in a phone interview Tuesday that his office isn’t handing ballot paper in the way Faber described. He said his agency uses a third-party vendor to print ballots.

“In terms of having piles and piles of blank ballot stock at our offices, we don’t have that,” he said, explaining that the vendor prints off of massive rolls of paper. “I’ve never heard of people sending blank ballot stock elsewhere for people to try to manufacture ballots. It doesn’t make any sense to me. We definitely don’t do it in Cuyahoga County.”

Perlatti added that his agency keeps track of the ballots it handles.

“We send (the already-printed ballots) out to the polling locations,” he said. “When they come back, we do an inventory of what have that is unused and what we haven that is used, so this doesn’t really make a whole lost of sense to me.”

Asked if Faber’s office contacted the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to learn how it uses ballot stock, Perlatti said, “No. We really, from an elections standpoint, we really don’t have much interaction at all with the auditor’s office. The auditor’s office comes in more so with county in general on things like payroll and county procurement.”

Faber’s office did say that the state auditor believed the 2020 presidential election was on the up and up. Faber “has consistently stated that Ohio’s elections are some of the best run in the country and that Joe Biden is the President of the United States,” his office said.

To the Ohio Democratic Party, Faber’s statements to the Westerville Tea Party amounted to pandering.

“Add Keith Faber to the list of GOP politicians who are pandering to MAGA Republicans and dabbling in conspiracy theories in order to further their own political ambitions,” spokesman Matt Keyes said in an email. “Keith Faber knows better, but is more focused on shamefully clinging to power than being honest with the voters of Ohio.”

Trump-driven falsehoods about election integrity have led to widespread attacks on election workers, including “terroristic threats.” But Perlatti said that elections officials are “unique people.”

“We have tremendous pride in our work,” he said. “We have tremendous integrity in what we do. We know that we’re doing the right thing and doing it with the product we produce, which is an accurate, correct, open, accessible, fair election which is one of the fundamental things that this country is based upon.”

Follow Marty Schladen on Twitter.

Oct 22, 2022
Ohio legislative committee passes rule defining fetal heartbeat

Ohio Department of Health Assistant Director Lance Himes answers questions from the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Photo courtesy of The Ohio Channel

Rule passes despite court case holding back abortion ban and Dem objections

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

An Ohio legislative committee passed a rule on methods of identifying a fetal heartbeat that matched language in a previously passed abortion law, despite the fact that the law can’t currently be enforced.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review passed an administration rule from the Ohio Department of Health entitled “appropriate methods for determining presence of fetal heartbeat,” despite Democratic efforts to invalidate the rule.

Democrats on the committee objected to the rule, saying it violated not only existing state rules for medical care related to abortions, but also case law about how a rule is passed.

In the rule, a fetal heartbeat is defined as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart with the gestational sac.”

ODH Assistant Director Lance Himes said the definition of cardiac activity was taken “verbatim from Senate Bill 23.”

A physician should determine the presence of a fetal heartbeat in a method “consistent with the person’s good faith understanding of standard medical practice,” according to the rule.

This includes ultrasound equipment which allows the physician “to give the pregnant woman the option to view or hear the fetal heartbeat.”

What isn’t defined in the rule is when a “medical emergency exception” applies, a concern doctors have expressed with regard to the abortion law, even testifying to that effect in court hearings on the law.

“I would defer to the physicians who are interpreting this law and rule to determine, in their judgment, which is standard medical practices as defined in the statute and rule, for their determination as to whether it would be a medical emergency,” ODH Assistant Director Lance Himes told JCARR.

In writing this rule, Himes said the ODH was “not tasked with further defining medical emergency.”

The passage by JCARR this week represents the official passage of the rule, which was previously just an emergency rule put in place when Senate Bill 23 was implemented, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, that overturned Roe v. Wade.

State Rep. Kristin Boggs, D-Columbus, took issue with the rule being passed without public input and said the passage of the rule as an emergency, then “stacking” the non-emergency rule on top was “in violation of our JCARR standards and in violation of (Ohio Revised Code).”

Himes acknowledged that no public hearing was held on the rule, but said Ohio Revised Code does not require one and “we did not have a stakeholder request out there for input.”

“The regular rule filing does offer forums like JCARR for individuals to come and make public comment … but a public hearing was not required,” Himes said.

Boggs also said the fact that SB 23 is currently unenforceable – a Hamilton County judge blocked the law indefinitely as the ACLU and Planned Parenthood clinics attempt to get the law thrown out – means there’s “no statutory authority to put forward this rule at this time.”

“So right now, as I see it, there are two reasons that have merit that would suggest that even passing this rule today would invalidate it in the future,” Boggs said.

State Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, pushed back against the idea that the rule did not follow JCARR processes.

“This actually is going through the JCARR process, because that’s what we’re doing right now,” Brenner said. “So I don’t know how that would be a violation of doing something right now that we’re doing.”

State Rep. Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, said the new rule conflicts with a Medicaid rule allowing for reimbursement of services if an abortion is the result of rape or incest and one from the Department of Veterans Services regarding abortion services when a pregnant person’s life is in danger or in the case of rape or incest. He argued the six-week ban would create a situation in which those services could not take place, therefore violating the Medicaid and Veterans Services rules.

“This (ODH) rule violates it once there’s a detectable heartbeat,” Skindell said.

Himes did not speak to the Medicaid rule, but said the ODH administrative rule “only sets forth the appropriate methods for determining a heartbeat. It does not speak to the legality of abortion related to rape or incest.”

Skindell entered a motion to invalidate the rule, which was defeated on a 5-4 vote along party lines.

Oct 19, 2022
Ohio’s U.S. Senate nominees clash in final debate

Ohio U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Tim Ryan, left, and Republican candidate J.D. Vance, right. Screenshot courtesy of WFMJ broadcast of debate in Youngstown on Oct. 17, 2022.

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio’s U.S. Senate nominees met Monday in a contentious, final debate of the campaign.

Polling has continued to show a dead heat within margins of error between Democratic candidate Tim Ryan and Republican candidate J.D. Vance, who are looking to replace outgoing Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman.

Outside Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium, a 1920’s marble-columned behemoth, two groups of supporters waved signs and chanted slogans for their favored candidate. Inside, it was less rowdy. Attendance was limited to members of the media.

Mining for disagreements

The fireworks started early after a pair of questions delving into the nominees’ perceived subservience to their party’s leaders. Former Vindicator columnist Bertram de Souza brought up Donald Trump’s quip at a local rally that “J.D. is kissing my ass.” He pressed Vance to describe some point of disagreement with the former president.

Vance pointed to figures in the Trump administration like John Bolton who lobbied for “limitless non-stop wars,” but quickly shifted to dismiss Trump’s comment.

“Donald Trump told a joke,” Vance said. “He told a joke at a rally based on a false New York Times story.”

That article suggested Vance and other candidates may not be enthusiastic about Trump visiting their states. Vance then turned the charge on Ryan, arguing he’s beholden to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

“The guy who’s subservient to the national party is Tim Ryan,” Vance argued, “who has been begging for these guys to come into this race and save him from the campaign that he’s been running.”

De Souza asked Ryan to describe an issue where he disagreed with Speaker Pelosi, and Ryan brought up his bid challenging her as House Speaker.

“You have to have the courage to take on your own leaders,” he said. Turning to Vance he added, “these leaders in D.C., they’ll eat you up like a chew toy.”

“Mitch McConnell gave you $40 million dollars to prop up your campaign. Peter Thiel gave you $15 million. That’s $55 million, J.D. What do you think they want for that?” Ryan asked. “They want your loyalty, and you proved that you’ll kiss their ass, too.”

Replacement Theory

The night closed on an acrimonious note as well. De Souza pressed Vance about his embrace of replacement theory, which contends that white citizens are being systematically replaced by non-white immigrants. The National Immigration Forum explains adherents believe there is a “plot designed to undermine or ‘replace’ the political power and culture of white people living in western countries.”

On stage, Vance offered a toned down version of the idea. He argued “Democratic leadership… say they want more and more immigration because if that happens they’ll ensure that Republicans are never able to win a national election.”

Vance added that his wife’s family immigrated to the country, but stressed that they came legally.

Ryan meanwhile cut right to the racism at the heart of replacement theory. He said the theory was the “primary motivator” of a mass shooting in May at a predominately Black grocery store in Buffalo.

“Some sicko got this information that he’s peddling,” Ryan said. “Again, those extremists that he runs around with, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, all these guys that want to stoke this racial violence.”

“We’re tired of it, J.D.” he said. “This kid goes to a grocery store in Buffalo where Black people shop and shoots them up. No. We want to move on from that.”

Ryan had struck a nerve, both said. He called Ryan disgusting, disgraceful, and shameful at different points.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happens, Tim,” he said. “What happens is that my own children, my biracial children get attacked by scumbags online and in person because you are so desperate for political power that you’ll accuse me, the father of three beautiful biracial babies, of racism.”

“We’re sick of it,” Vance said. “You can believe in a border without being racist and you can believe in the country without being a racist, and this just shows how desperate this guy is for political power.”

Later this week Vance campaigns around the state with Sens. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Tim Ryan will be crisscrossing the state in the coming week but without any surrogates alongside.

Asked after the debate if he was concerned about his lack of support from national Democrats when Vance has had numerous visit and an influx of campaign cash, Ryan brushed it off.

“We don’t need them, we’re going to win without them,” he said.

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

Oct 19, 2022
Despite reports of harm, DeWine refuses comment on abortion ban law

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

With Gov. Mike DeWine’s blessing, Ohio is in court, fighting to reimpose strict abortion regulations under a law he signed in 2019. But he’s refusing to publicly comment on the numerous stories of suffering it caused during the 11 weeks it was enforced.

The law DeWine signed, Senate Bill 23, bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. That’s about five or six weeks into a pregnancy — a point so early that many women and girls don’t yet know they’re pregnant.

The law makes no exceptions for rape and incest. It includes some protections for the life and health of the mother, but doctors — who can be charged with felonies under the law — say they’re too vague to be workable.

SB 23 was unenforceable until June 24 because it violated the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade. But then the U.S. Supreme Court conservative majority handed down its decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, overturning Roe and its protections of the right to an abortion.

Almost immediately, SB 23 went into effect and just a week later, the Indianapolis Star reported that the law had forced a 10-year-old rape victim from Columbus to travel there for an abortion. The incident made for international news, but DeWine refused to comment on it, other than to say child rape is “gut wrenching.”

After that, more horror stories came in the form of sworn affidavits filed by doctors and other workers in Ohio abortion clinics.

They included two more minors who had been impregnated by rapists and cancer patients who couldn’t get abortions needed for treatment because their doctors were afraid of being charged with crimes and losing their medical licenses.

Other women were diagnosed with fetal abnormalities so severe that their pregnancies couldn’t be successful. Under SB 23 they had to leave Ohio for abortions if they didn’t want to carry those fetuses for months.

On Sept. 14, enforcement of SB 23 was paused when a Cincinnati judge granted a temporary restraining order against it and then later issued a preliminary injunction. The case is expected to make its way to the Ohio Supreme Court, on which DeWine’s son, Pat, sits as a justice.

In the face of news of medical and emotional problems caused by SB 23, Gov. DeWine has been steadfastly silent.

“Our office has no new comments on the issue or the ongoing litigation at this time,” Press Secretary Dan Tierney said in an email Monday. He said something similar 10 days earlier.

Also, some of the governor’s recent conduct might be seen partly as an attempt to avoid questions about the impact the abortion law he signed is having on some women and girls.

He has refused to debate his Democratic challenger in the Nov. 8 election, Nan Whaley. Also in recent weeks, DeWine has made few appearances in central Ohio, where he’d be likely to face the Capitol press corps.

At the same time, he may be quietly signaling his support for even more sweeping abortion measures.

After the Dobbs decision, state Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Cincinnati, introduced a bill that would ban abortions at any point in a pregnancy with only narrow exceptions to protect the life and health of the mother. She said she had the governor’s support.

DeWine apparently hasn’t spoken publicly about the measure, House Bill 598. But a spokesman didn’t dispute Schmidt’s claims.

Follow Marty Schladen on Twitter.

Oct 19, 2022
FDA, CDC greenlight updated COVID-19 booster for kids 5 to 11

Gavin Smits receives a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Harborview Medical Center on May 13, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)

BY: JENNIFER SHUTT – Ohio Capital Journal

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Wednesday recommended an updated COVID-19 booster for kids between 5 and 11, expanding use of the new bivalent shots beyond people 12 and older.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized the updated vaccines use in the morning before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended them in the afternoon, completing the two-step process needed before shots could begin

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced her recommendation in a tweet, saying it’s “a critical step in our fight against COVID-19.”

“An updated vaccine can help bolster protection for our children this winter,” she added, encouraging parents to talk to their child’s healthcare provider.

The announcement Wednesday for kids between 5 and 11 follows the FDA authorizing and the CDC recommending the bivalent booster dose for people 12 and older in early September.

“While it has largely been the case that COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children than adults, as the various waves of COVID-19 have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.

“Children may also experience long-term effects, even following initially mild disease,” Marks added.

The shot is updated to provide protection against the latest omicron variants of COVID-19, known as BA.4 and BA.5.

The move comes as public health officials are monitoring new variants that could cause disruptions this winter during the annual cold and flu season.

Winter surge in cases possible

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said Tuesday during a press briefing that everyone eligible for the latest booster should get it as soon as they can, though he declined to list any goals for the new shot.

Jha then warned that a surge of COVID-19 cases could be on the horizon this winter.

“We have seen an increase in COVID infections, hospitalizations, and deaths each of the last two winters. And we are carefully monitoring the rise of several subvariants that are evolving rapidly and emerging around the world, including ones that evade some of our treatments,” Jha said.

The Biden administration, he said, is tracking COVID-19 variants that “either have a lot more immune invasiveness or they render many of our treatments ineffective.”

The good news, however, is that the variants public health officials are tracking come from omicron strains BA.2 and BA.5, Jha said.

“That means our updated bivalent vaccines should provide a much higher degree of protection than the original prototype vaccine would have,” he said. “Obviously, we’re going to do the studies to figure out how much protection, but I’m confident that our vaccines will continue to work very well.”

No vaccine goals set

Despite encouraging everyone eligible for the updated COVID-19 bivalent booster dose to get vaccinated, Jha said the White House hasn’t set any goals for how many people it wants to get the shot.

“We’re not setting targets,” Jha said. “We are focused on driving deaths down, getting more people vaccinated.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website shows that 11.5 million people have received the updated booster dose, a fraction of those eligible.

The COVID-19 boosters are expected to become an annual recommendation for most people, similar to the annual flu shot.

Oct 15, 2022
Ohio Republican group urges GOP, swing voters to reject J.D. Vance

Former Cincinnati Councilmember and Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich is part of a coalition of Ohio Republicans encouraging voters to reject Trump-aligned candidates like J.D. Vance.

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

With November’s election looming, a group of Republicans are hitting the campaign trail this week. But instead of stumping for the GOP, they’ll be encouraging voters to back the Democrat, Tim Ryan, in Ohio’s race for U.S. Senate.

They’re working with an organization called Welcome PAC which emphasizes Democratic Party outreach to independents and “future former Republicans.” LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is the group’s primary donor. The PAC contends there’s a large pool of swing voters who reject former President Donald Trump. They’ve made it their mission to encourage those voters to reject Trump allied candidates as well.

And that’s how Phil Heimlich found himself teaming up with a handful of other Ohio Republicans campaigning for Tim Ryan. Among them are two high level former staffers for outgoing U.S. Sen. Rob Portman — chief of staff John Bridgeland and legislative affairs director Jonathan Petuchowski. Former state Auditor James Petro, former state Rep. Rocky Saxbe, retired Major General Dennis Laich, and former Shelby County GOP chairman Chris Gibbs round out the list.

There are a lot of “formers” in that lineup, though. While they’re pitching a return to a different era of Republican politics, it’s possible the party has picked up and moved on without them. Vance’s campaign makes no bones about its position on WelcomePAC:

“Ohioans shouldn’t be fooled: this bogus organization isn’t ‘Republican’ — it’s a Democrat trick funded by a far-left super donor,” campaign spokesman Luke Schroeder said in a statement.

While Hoffman has donated to plenty of Democrats, he has also contributed the $13,700 legal maximum to Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both of whom are Republicans.

Vance opposition

Heimlich himself is a former Cincinnati city councilmember and Hamilton County Commissioner, and he argued his conservative credentials are rock solid.

“I was never considered a kind of a wishy-washy RINO type,” he said.

Heimlich continues to describe himself as a loyal Republican, but said he can’t support nominees who deny the 2020 election or countenance the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“We’re taking a stand against the wing of the Republican Party that engages in crazy conspiracies like Q-Anon, and, most importantly, we are choosing to put country over party,” Heimlich said. “J.D. Vance is lined up with the crazies, with the traitors. He has lined up with the people who tried to overthrow this government, the people who tried to overturn a legitimate election.”

“We are supporting Tim Ryan because we’re putting country first,” he continued. “Tim Ryan is not only a moderate Democrat, but he is a pro-democracy Democrat and he’s running against an anti-democracy Republican.”

This isn’t the first time Heimlich has made this sort of pitch. He and some of the same Republicans campaigning against Vance urged voters to reject Donald Trump in 2020. That effort, known as Operation Grant, invoked former president and civil war general Ulysses S. Grant’s role unifying the country.

Heimlich explained this latest coalition doesn’t oppose Republicans reflexively, but it isn’t just Vance he opposes.

Heimlich unsuccessfully challenged Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson in the primary and criticized Davidson’s vote to overturn the 2020 election. He called out Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, too, describing him as a Republican who “put party over country.”

“In fact, they put one particular person, Donald Trump, over the interest of our country,” he added.

Split-ticket voting

When it comes to DeWine, Heimlich is more amenable. He expressed disappointment DeWine hasn’t made a more forceful stand against the former president, but credited him for not denying the election or praising insurrectionists.

“One of the things we’re saying to people is, look, if you’re a patriot, don’t vote the party line, vote the country line,” Heimlich said. “So, if you want to vote for Mike DeWine for governor, fine, but please don’t vote for an election denier like J.D. Vance. Vote for DeWine and then vote for Tim Ryan.”

Schroeder, with the Vance campaign, questioned the coalition’s Republican credentials. He argued it’s disingenuous to continue presenting themselves as part of the party.

“(The) individuals involved are donors to Tim Ryan, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and liberal PACs, and one member even served as a political appointee for President Obama,” Schroeder said. “It’s a shame that these individuals have chosen to lie to Ohioans about who they really are.”

In 2020, the Operation Grant pitch didn’t move Ohio into the win column for Joe Biden. Trump won the state by a margin nearly identical to his 2016 win. But in the aftermath, the organization argued it forced the Trump campaign to expend resources in Ohio, which they say helped Biden win elsewhere.

This cycle, with the election limited to Ohio, they won’t have the same leeway. But then again, it’s far from clear Vance commands the same allegiance as the former president.

Organizers of the group expect to make stops in Youngstown, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, and Dayton in the coming weeks.

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

Oct 13, 2022
Two Ohio lawmakers want to prohibit paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

State Rep. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati. Photo from Ohio House website.

Thanks to a 2006 constitutional amendment, Ohio’s minimum wage will increase from $9.30 to $10.10 next January. Two Democratic state lawmakers want to make sure all of the state’s minimum wage workers get that raise.

Under current state law, employers can pay people with disabilities less than the state’s minimum wage. When lawmakers approved the changes in 2000, their stated intent was to open more doors to employment. But Reps. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati, and Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, argue the two tier system harms rather than helps.

“Frankly, if we’re really serious about giving people more opportunity for a better life, if we’re really serious about ensuring that people have access to jobs, regardless of their disability status,” Kelly said, “then we should certainly, one, not be paying less than a minimum wage, and two, we should be raising the minimum wage.”

Kelly explained they came across the provisions in a previous general assembly while working on a broader minimum wage increase. She said many lawmakers are surprised when they find out the practice exists.

But Ohio’s legislative language actually mirrors federal law. Under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can apply for certificates to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. According to data from the Department of Labor, 44 Ohio companies have pending applications, 12 had certificates expire earlier this year, and another six hold active certificates.

Ohio’s Department of Commerce requires employers apply for a license as well but doesn’t post data about license holders on its website.

To the extent that it can, the Biden administration is attempting to move away from the policy. In an executive order, President Joe Biden required federal contractors offer the same $15/hour minimum wage to all workers regardless of disability status.

To Kelly, eliminating the dual standard is a no-brainer.

“If you have someone who does have a disability but is perfectly capable of performing a job, then they should be paid for it,” she said. “For me that that is a nonstarter. I mean, businesses make reasonable accommodations for folks on a regular basis. And that doesn’t involve changing their pay scale, or paying them less than the minimum wage.”

Kelly and Jarrells have picked up more than ten co-sponsors, but none of those are Republicans. Kelly expressed optimism that colleagues on both sides of the aisle will see it as a commonsense update. Still, she acknowledged it will likely take more than one general assembly for it to gain passage.

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

Oct 6, 2022
COVID deniers take vandalism case to Ohio Supreme Court

Photos from court documents of stickers placed on the Plain City Public Library.

BY: JAKE ZUCKERMAN – Ohio Capital Journal

The Plain City Public Library asked her to leave in January 2021 for repeatedly refusing to wear her mask, as was state policy at the time.

Court records indicate Julie Dean’s “unruly behavior had been a continual issue for the library.” Two months later she came back with her husband and some hard-to-remove stickers.

“THERE IS NO PANDEMIC,” reads the first one. “Your own government is waging psychological warfare on you.”

“LIVE IN FEAR,” reads the other. “(It makes you easier to control.)”

Julie and Samuel Dean were subsequently accused and convicted of misdemeanor criminal charges of trespassing and criminal mischief. Their case set off a bizarre bout of trials and appeals that distill some of the anger and paranoia that continues to dog the coronavirus pandemic.

Their case, which led to a $250 fine and two-day prison sentence, is now pending with the Ohio Supreme Court. The stickers, placed on a library drop box installed during the pandemic, have since only been partially removed.

After the court appointed the Deans an attorney, the couple fired him and chose to represent themselves. They soon filed near-identical motions a judge found nearly impossible to decipher but mentioned an objection to “undertake a medical intervention without any informed consent and without any medical necessity.”

In a pre-trial hearing, Samuel Dean asked that the court dismiss the charges against him, claiming in prepared remarks that his rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act were violated. However, court records state he repeatedly “refused” to say what kind of accommodations he sought. When a judge said he can’t help if he doesn’t know how, Samuel Dean read the same prepared statement again.

“That does nothing for me,” the judge said.

He later found Samuel Dean in contempt for talking over him and fined him $250. The judge then called Julie Dean’s case. She then read the same prepared remarks as her husband before telling the judge that he had “been served.”

“Well, I haven’t,” the judge responded before setting the matter for trial.

The deans then both filed affidavits with the Ohio Supreme Court seeking to disqualify the judge from their case. Those were denied.

The case then went to trial. The Deans acted as their own attorneys. After 20 minutes of deliberation, a jury found each of them guilty on two counts. They each received a $250 fine and 90 days in jail, but they only needed to serve two. They haven’t yet served those sentences.

The trespassing charge against Samuel Dean was dismissed on appeal earlier this month. Judge Stephen Powell of the Twelfth Appellate District found that because he hadn’t been previously banned from the library, he wasn’t trespassing. (A dissenting judge argued his criminal intent to deface the library should have waived his privilege to be on its property.)

On Monday, the Deans appealed their case to the Ohio Supreme Court. L. Bradfield Hughes, an attorney with Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur, said in court filings that the case raised “questions of public and great general interest.”

They argued they have been improperly denied the use of an ADA coordinator at lower court proceedings. An attorney with the Madison County Prosecuting Attorneys office denied this, noting that both state and federal courts who reviewed the matter ruled there has been no such violation. In the related federal lawsuit, Julie Dean claimed she suffers from hearing and memory loss. Samuel Dean said he suffers PTSD. These disabilities, they said, “substantially limit their life activities” and were ignored by the court. The claims were dismissed.

Attorneys for both sides didn’t respond to phone calls.

Chris Long, director of the library, said in an interview that it’s easy to focus on the loudest blips on the radar. But far more prevalent are ordinary bookworms staying positive in a difficult era.

“Public libraries, we see a lot everyday, pandemic and no,” she said. “For every difficult situation, we encounter dozens more of people wanting to help.”

Oct 1, 2022