April 21 – 27, 2018
SWAMP REPORT
Trump Calls Cohen’s Involvement ‘Tiny’ In Epic Fox News Rant
In a perfect “We called Grandpa for his birthday and now we can’t get him off the phone” impersonation, President Trump couldn’t stop complaining about life as POTUS. Hanging up just seconds before a “You kids get off my lawn” moment, Trump whined about unfair media, threw his lawyer Michael Cohen under the bus, managed to bring up Hillary Clinton (again), and blamed Democrats for his Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee dealing out opioids like they’re candy and getting drunk on the job. Pulling a classic Trump, the rant is likely to get him into even more trouble; he admitted that Cohen represented him in the Stormy Daniels hush payment, a claim that he’s been denying since the scandal first came to light.
SWAMPY STATEHOUSE
London, Normandy, Florida -The Free Trips That Brought Down Speaker Rosenberger
Former House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s free trip to London – courtesy of payday lending lobbyists – may not be the only time he’s eloped with the highest bidder. In addition to wining and dining with Churchill’s granddaughter and going on a romantic ferris wheel ride, Rosenberger would accept any suitor who whisks him away from Ohio — and was even down for some group “bonding” with his favorite fellow legislators. The weekend free-for-alls included intimate affairs like London, where Nathan Manning was the only other Ohio lawmaker invited, to hundreds of people drinking and partying in Florida. And sometimes lobbyists just wanted to be alone with Rosenberger, sipping wine in France.
Scandalous affairs aside, Rosenberger seems to do whatever the lobbyists want, whenever they want it — even holding up payday lending reform, which flew through committee as soon as he left.
Lawmakers Demand Answers About House GOP Corruption
The mystery of former House Speaker Rosenberger’s flight from the Statehouse continues, as State Reps. David Leland and Kristin Boggs demand independent investigations into why he left. In letters to Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, the two write:
“This is the first time in Ohio’s history that the speaker of the House has resigned in such disgrace, and his resignation leads us to believe that illicit forces have been corrupting, and may continue to corrupt, the work of the Statehouse.”
There certainly seems to be some serious pay-to-play schemes at the Statehouse, because as soon as Rosenberger left a payday lending bill that had been languishing in committee for over a year sailed through with literally zero changes.
GOP Gov Hopefuls Pledge To Kill Medicaid Expansion
It doesn’t look like the conservative war against health care is going to change anytime soon. As Republican gubernatorial candidates Mary Taylor and Mike DeWine spend millions tearing each other down, there’s one thing they can both agree on: if governor, they’re going to destroy health care in Ohio. They actually want the federal government to give Ohioans less money for Medicaid through block grants and institute even more onerous bureaucratic rules that would lead to severe cuts in coverage. That doesn’t mean they actually have a plan – DeWine is infamous for avoiding any real proposals. They just know they want tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of Ohioans to lose their health insurance.
UTERI WATCH
DeWine Can’t Take No For An Answer
Lighting taxpayer money on fire seems to be Attorney General Mike DeWine’s favorite way to motivate his rabid anti-choice base. Despite the fact that several laws are clearly unconstitutional and have even already been ruled constitutional, DeWine keeps putting millions of taxpayer dollars into the Waste of Time furnaces. The latest is a plea from the AG that the entire 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling made by a three-judge panel of the court that blocked Ohio from defunding Planned Parenthood.
CHARTER CHATTER
How Would Candidates For Gov Fix Charter Problem?
Candidates for governor offer their perspectives on how they would improve Ohio’s education ranking -slipping from 5th to 22nd nationally – and how they would pay for their proposals. You can read them in detail here.
Yost Punted On Criminal Investigation of ECOT After Whistleblower Tip
After a whistleblower with credible information regarding ECOT’s manipulation of attendance records and participation data came forward, Auditor Dave Yost, also a recipient of ECOT political dollars, failed to refer this information for a criminal investigation.
According to the Associated Press, a former technology employee of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow said ‘told the Ohio Department of Education last year that school officials ordered staff to manipulate student data with software obtained following the state’s demand that it return $60 million in overpayments for the 2015-2016 school year.’
We at ProgressOhio have our own thoughts; it seems that once again the state is slow-walking the investigation. Ohio regulators cannot put their heads in the sand like they did for years while ECOT was still operating.
DeWine’s Office Still Hasn’t Closed ‘Largest Investigation In State History’
It’s been 2 years, and the Pike County murders remain unsolved. The deaths of the 8 members of the Roden family still leave a scar on Pike County. According to Dayton Daily News, this case has been characterized as ‘the largest criminal inquiry in Ohio history’, the candidates to become Ohio’s next attorney general face the decision of whether solving the Pike County murders would be priority one for the office. Of course, had Attorney General Mike DeWine wrapped up the case instead of fighting to release information, perhaps this wouldn’t be a question.
The Youngstown Vindicator published an editorial regarding DeWine’s credibility as Ohio’s top law-enforcement officer, specifically regarding the Oakhill Scandal:
“Attorney General DeWine failed in his effort to defend the indefensible – his decision to let Anthony M. Cafaro Sr. off the hook. To us, the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal enterprise puts in perspective an interesting interpretation of the “Golden Rule”: He who has the gold rules.”
This tends to be DeWine’s approach to government.
Progressive Action Calendar Alerts
4/29: Interfaith March for Peace & Justice
5/5: Gun Violence Symposium
5/5: Rally for ReformRally for Reform
