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ORP Chairman’s Update
Greetings for
Aug. 16, 2014
By Matt Borges
Our Party lost a great friend this week with the passing of former
State Senator and State Representative Merle Kearns. Kearns was a
dedicated leader who spent much of her adult life in public service,
first as a state legislator for fifteen years and then as the director
of the Ohio Department of Aging. She served as majority floor leader
for the Ohio Senate in 2005. There is no denying that Kearns leaves
behind a great legacy of devotion to her community, state, and party.
She will be dearly missed by family, friends, and colleagues. Our
prayers are with all of her loved ones.
Super Saturday
This weekend our Red to the Roots program organized a massive statewide
grassroots deployment. We had over 450 volunteers across the state
engaging with voters and knocking on doors. Thank you to everyone who
came out to support the Kasich-Taylor team, our statewide officials,
and our House and Senate races. Our grassroots team helped us make over
30,000 voter contacts and knock on over 19,000 doors. This grassroots,
person to person contact is key to victory in November. Stay tuned for
more information on the next Super Saturday coming up on September 13th.
Yesterday, the Cuyahoga County Republican Party Women's Outreach
Network also hosted a great women's summit that featured RNC
Co-Chairwoman Sharon Day and other Republican leaders. Thanks to
all who organized and participated in the summit.
FitzGerald punishes others, while breaking the law himself
On Thursday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Ed FitzGerald's
administration disciplined county employees who had driver's license
issues. Up to eight people received written reprimands, requests to
return mileage funds, and one even received a suspension without pay
because they did not hold valid driver's licenses. These new
revelations come on the heels of reports that Ed FitzGerald drove
without a valid driver's license for a decade, including having just a
learner's permit during much of his time as County Executive.
Putting the hypocrisy in overdrive, not only did FitzGerald punish
others for doing exactly what he did, but he took financial mileage
reimbursement from the taxpayers as he was breaking the law driving.
Ed FitzGerald has now spent the last three weeks showing Ohioans
exactly how unfit he is to be governor. Every criticism that has come
FitzGerald's way has been because of his bad choices, timing, and
rhetoric. The Akron Beacon Journal notes that "FitzGerald has saved the
Kasich campaign from the task of defining the Democratic challenger as
an unacceptable alternative. FitzGerald is doing that to himself."
ORP continues to push for key-card data
Following the reports that Ed FitzGerald didn't have a valid driver's
license for a decade, we renewed calls for him to release his county
key-card data which could provide information about when FitzGerald was
driving illegally. It now appears that he has been hiding his county
key-card data so Ohioans won't know how often he has been driving
illegally as County Executive. Ed FitzGerald needs to end the political
games, begin coming clean, stop wasting taxpayer's time and money
withholding public records, and release the records. Hiding the fact
that you've been driving illegally into county parking structures is
not a valid reason to withhold public records.
Ed FitzGerald is also now withholding additional public records we are
seeking related to our lawsuit to compel FitzGerald to release other
county records of when he enters county government structures. We asked
the Lakewood Police, Cleveland Police, and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff
for incident reports containing FitzGerald's name. Lakewood and
Cleveland complied, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff, controlled by
FitzGerald, has refused. So now FitzGerald is taking his secrecy to a
new level by illegally withholding records sought by our attorneys.
Every other government entity has complied with our requests, but
FitzGerald is refusing to turn over the very same records.
Ohio expects another surplus
A little over a month ago, Governor John Kasich announced a new
income-tax cut in response to a large projected budget surplus from the
fiscal year. With the rainy day fund at max capacity, Governor Kasich
sought a way to let all Ohioans see benefit from the extra funds. Even
with these new income tax cuts in place, Ohio is now projected to have
a budget surplus of close to $632 million. The surplus is in response
to effective fiscal management Ohio being employed under the Kasich
administration. Governor Kasich and the Ohio legislature will decide
how the extra funds will be used.
Ohio employers may also be getting a little more of their money back.
Governor Kasich proposed a $1 billion rebate this week for employer
workers' compensation premiums. If the proposal is approved by the
board, checks could go out in October to close to 188,000 public and
private employers.
Governor Kasich sets up office to help poor
Governor John Kasich has created a new office to focus on services
offered to the poor across the state. Governor Kasich appointed Douglas
E. Lumpkin to head the Office of Human Services Innovation which will
focus on coordinating services for the poor across all state offices
including education, work-force development, and welfare programs. The
Office of Human Services Innovation will also submit recommendations
for any changes to existing procedures or policies that they feel will
make public assistance programs more efficient and beneficial to Kasich
by the end of the year.
CPAs endorse Kasich-Taylor for Ohio
The Ohio Society of CPA's announced their endorsement of Governor
Kasich and Lt Gov. Taylor for reelection this week. In the press
release, Scott D. Wiley, CAE, president and CEO of OSCPA, said the
Kasich Administration's commitment to fulfilling their promises through
their first term aided the endorsement.
"They have taken OSCPA's recommendations and developed them into truly
impactful initiatives to improve Ohio's financial picture," Wiley said.
"Most importantly, they have done exactly what they promised to do."
Wiley also pointed to economic initiatives like Taylor's Common Sense
Initiative and JobsOhio that have made Ohio more business friendly.
OSCPA also endorsed Treasurer Josh Mandel, Secretary of State Jon
Husted, Attorney General Mike DeWine, Auditor Dave Yost, and Supreme
Court Justices Sharon Kennedy and Judi French for re-election this year.
Team Portman competes in Pelotonia, raises money for cancer research
On Sunday, Senator Portman rode 100 miles in the Pelotonia bike race to
raise money for cancer research. Over the past few years, Team Portman
has raised over $80,000 for this great cause. Watch some video
highlights of the ride here, and click here to learn more about the
race.
Senator Portman also visited Honda's East Liberty Plant on Tuesday,
where he toured the production line and talked with workers and
management about his legislative efforts on workforce development.
Treasurer Mandel promotes fiscal transparency
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel hosted a community town hall in Columbus
this week. The town hall brought together citizens from across the city
to discuss the Treasurer's office and Treasurer Mandel's plan to put
the state's checkbook online.
Additionally, the Sandusky Register is the latest newspaper to voice
their support for Treasurer's Mandel's online checkbook proposal.
"Ohioans have a right to know how their hard-earned money is spent,"
Mandel said. "Having legislators establish a registry by law will
preserve this open approach and give people access to the information."
Auditor Yost Protects Taxpayers
Auditor Dave Yost and his team of investigators scored a win for
taxpayers this week when the former Fairfield County Clerk of Courts
pled guilty to corruption charges. Auditor Yost's team found that
Smalley misspent nearly $40,000 in public money by purchasing campaign
materials and requiring clerk employees to work on her campaign during
business hours. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 23.
Human trafficking suspect detained, victims rescued
Attorney General Mike DeWine's office worked with local law enforcement
to rescue three women who were being held against their will and forced
into prostitution in Marietta, Ohio. An announcement on August 10th
confirmed that authorities arrested the person accused of running a
human trafficking ring out of a local hotel.
"Human trafficking is a very serious problem throughout the state of
Ohio, and it is often a crime that is hard to identify," DeWine said.
"I applaud the person who contacted authorities after noticing
something that didn't seem right. That tip allowed task force members
to quickly look into the situation and get these women to safety."
August Ohio Business Profile
Every month Secretary of State Jon Husted picks a handful of Ohio
companies to be a part of the Ohio Business Profile. This month's
profile spotlights nonprofits across Ohio that work tirelessly to help
make our state a better place to live. The companies include:
FreestoreFoodbank, Keep Ohio Beautiful, Black Swamp Conservancy, Food
for Thought, SHC/The Arc of Medina County, Elizabeth's New Life Center,
and The Arc of Ohio. Find out more about the great work these
nonprofits are doing here. It's one more way that Secretary
Husted is encouraging job creation in Ohio.
Sincerely,
Matt Borges
Chairman, Ohio Republican Party
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