Blade Slices

McNamara fund-raises off Lopez newser

Democrat Joe McNamara is jumping on an attack over the weekend from his Democratic opponent for mayor, Anita Lopez, to raise money for his campaign.

County Auditor Lopez on Saturday accused city Councilman McNamara and Mayor Mike Bell (independent, running for re-election) of "contemplating" a pay raise for the mayor and council at the same time that council is planning to boost water fees.

Lopez said: 

"The mayor and the [then]-president of City Council played shell games with public dollars, costing citizens more fees and more money for basic services. To now even consider a raise is an insult to citizens and city employees."

McNamara's campaign manager, Andrew Grunwald, replied that McNamara opposes the pay grab.

That provided the McNamara campaign a fund-raising opportunity and the campaign today issued an urgent appeal to its supporters:

Only 1 week into the race, our opponent is already launching false and negative attacks against Joe. We knew from the start that there would be a negative  attack blitz but we did not expect it to come from the Democratic side.

This is a desperate move right out of Karl Rove’s playbook that blatantly distorts the facts about Joe’s record against pay raises for Toledo's elected officials.

These shameless attacks have no place in Toledo and we deserve to hear about solutions to crucial problems, not an onslaught of negative misleading attacks.

This is exactly why Joe challenged both of our opponents to join us in signing an ethics pledge – and both have openly refused. 

Andrew Grundwald, the campaign manager, goes on to say that they’re establishing a “Rapid Response Fund” to raise $7,200 by midnight Friday.

 

Zawistowski says Ohio Republican Party only an election machine

By the time you read this, Tom Zawistowski's Tea Party challenge to become chairman of the Ohio Republican Party will no doubt be history.

The party's central committee was to 10 a.m. meets Friday (today) to elect a new chairman. The party's statewide elected officials were backing the current executive director Matt Borges to replace current Chairman Bob Bennett, who is retiring.

On Thursday Zawistowski issued a last-ditch appeal to the party's 66 state central committee members who elect the chairman.

Here are some excerpts:

When I got into this race for Chairman, I can now say that I really did not understand your point of view and I really did not understand how different our views are about the Ohio Republican "Party".  I did not understand until I had the opportunity to talk to Matt Borges last Saturday and he told me privately, and then said publicly, that the Ohio Republican Party's role is to elect candidates and specifically to re-elect Governor Kasich.  When I asked him about policy, he looked me in the eye and said "We don't do policy."  When I specifically asked him about policies like the "Navigator" bill in the Senate, he repeated "We don't do policy."

***

The reason it does not make sense to "us" is because "we" collectively believe in policies. We believe in the National Republican Party Platform.  We believe in values.  We believe in principles. We believe in a conservative approach to living our lives and wish to see that reflected in our Governance.

***

Citizens are not walking away, they are running away from a system that is fundamentally broken and from "Party's" that are not political parties at all.  More importantly, they are running away from "Party's" that do not have their best interests in mind and instead manipulate them through media and advertising to gain power and take wealth from citizens for themselves and their circle of consultants and operatives.

***

"We" want to be part of a political party that stands for something and then does something about it.

***

If the Republican "Party" is not a political party but is instead a campaign organization, we will go find a political party to be part of or we will create our own.

AFL-CIO backs Lopez in Toledo mayor race

Anita Lopez gained the backing of a major voice in labor in her race for mayor today.

The Toledo area AFL-CIO ( The Greater Northwest Ohio Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO) voted unanimously Monday night to endorse the Democratic Lucas County auditor for mayor.

 “We are very excited about Anita’s campaign,” said George Tucker, executive secretary of the labor council, and who was among the crowd of about 300 at her announcement one week ago.

 “Her policy positions are worker friendly.  Her plans to grow our economy are solid.  She comes from working class Toledo and will have the confidence of our citizens to move an agenda forward that addresses Toledo’s biggest problems,” Tucker said. 

Three weeks ago the labor council screened Lopez along with fellow Democrat Joe McNamara and unaffiliated mayoral candidate Alan Cox (who is the president of a city AFSCME local).

The AFL-CIO says the endorsement “highlights the fact that the Toledo race for mayor is the top target for the Ohio AFL-CIO in 2013.”

“It brings with it a ready field program that will communicate with voters on Lopez’s candidacy via door-to-door canvasses, phone calls, direct mail and work-site leafleting.  The AFL-CIO field program, often cited as a crucial component of past campaigns in Ohio, will be rolled out in the coming weeks in every Toledo neighborhood.”

Lopez’s ultimate opponent is Mayor Mike Bell, who incurred organized labor’s wrath by wresting concessions out of the city unions in 2010 by getting city council to give him the power to impose unilateral cuts because of the city’s “exigent circumstances.” In the end the cuts were negotiated – but under the threat of exigent circumstances.

Then the mayor supported Issue 2 (a.k.a. Senate Bill 5) in a 2011 referendum that would have weakened public employee unions (and strengthened the hand of mayor and council, as well as school boards and superintendents). The measure failed under an intense barrage of opposition from public employee unions, private unions, and the Democratic Party.

“Our members are fired up and ready to go for this race,” Tucker said of the volunteers that he said will provide the manpower for the field effort.  “In the 2011 campaign to defeat S.B. 5, we learned who our friends are,” he said.  “Anita Lopez is a friend to Toledo workers.”

The council has more than 100 affiliate union members and while it doesn't have its own political action fund, it encourages its member unions to support its candidates, and it communicates directly to union members.

The AFL-CIO includes among its affiliates the building trades unions, AFSCME, Toledo Federation of Teachers, and the Toledo police and firefighter unions.

Phil Copeland wants to keep old job and new county elected job

Phil Copeland seems to have decided he has enough time left in his day as the elected Lucas County Recorder to continue running Laborers Local 500.

After he defeated Republican George Sarantou for the post of recorder (maintaining Democratic ownership of a county row office post that goes back to the 1930s), Copeland told Blade writer Ignazio Messina in December that he would phase out of his job as business manager for Local 500.

His salary heading the laborers union is $126,127. His salary as county Recorder is $71,286.

Here's what Copeland told us in December:

“I just haven’t come up with a date yet and I have some things I have to wrap up,” he said. “I don’t have a date when I am going to retire. It might be a couple or few months after I take office. The recorder’s job is not full time but I am going to make it full time and I am going to be there everyday.”

We had heard that Copeland was planning to run again for business manager. This ad running in the newspaper of the Northwestern Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council confirms it:

Copeland said today (4/16) he never committed to a date to retire and still has some things he wants to get done for his members, including establishing contracts with some contractors and building a training center.  "That training center is going to be our survival," he said.

 

David Pepper of Hamilton Co. to run for Attorney General

CINCINNATI –David Pepper, a former Cincinnati City Councilman and Hamilton County commissioner, filed paperwork with the Ohio Secretary of State's office today declaring his intent to run for Ohio Attorney General in 2014.

He'll be taking on Republican Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Pepper ran for auditor in 2010, losing to Republican Dave Yost.

Here's Pepper's news release:

Pepper is running because Ohioans deserve someone who will keep them safe from crime, protect them from economic predators, defend their most essential rights against political and partisan attacks, and be an aggressive watchdog over their tax dollars.

“I have been traveling the state for years now listening to working and middle class Ohioans and it is clear they want a change, a new direction at all levels,” Pepper said. “I’m running for Ohio Attorney General because Ohioans deserve better."

“I fought for safe streets in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, working hand-in-hand with law enforcement. And I have cleaned up wasteful, unethical practices in government to restore integrity and save taxpayer dollars," Pepper said.

“With the right person in the job, the Ohio Attorney General can make a tremendous positive impact on the daily lives of all Ohioans. As the top law enforcement officer in the state, I will partner with our local police and prosecutors to keep our communities safe, fight for consumers against economic predators, and be an aggressive watchdog against corruption on behalf of taxpayers,” Pepper said.

“The Ohio Attorney General should be above partisan politics,” Pepper said.  “It is time to clean up Columbus, and that requires restoring the Ohio Attorney General’s reputation as an advocate and watchdog for us all.”

McNamara reaches for ethical high ground

Here's Toledo mayoral candidate Joe McNamara signing his ethics pledge (Blade story) to accept no contributions from employees who work for him, nor to allow government employees to work on campaigns during the day.

McNamara said “We owe it to the people of Toledo to conduct ourselves honestly both during this campaign and as Mayor.  I am hopeful that every candidate will be eager to join me and sign this pledge to show that our ethics are beyond reproach.” 

The aim of the pledge, according to McNamara, is to protect city and county government workers from being pressured to give to the campaign of their politician-boss or to attend functions of the boss's campaign.

 Complying with this ethics pledge should be less of a burden for McNamara, who doesn't have supporters in high positions of city government, as does Mayor Mike Bill.

Nor does he have supporters on the auditor's office payroll who will volunteer their personal time and make campaign contributions as does Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez.

We asked whether he'll refuse to accept donations from unions, who will back the candidate most likely to give them the best deal at contract time. The answer: no.

And we asked whether he'll refuse to accept contributions from anyone who might go to work for him as mayor. He suggested that would not be feasible. What we might have asked is this:  If and when you are elected mayor, will you refuse to hire anyone who has donated to your campaign?

Here's the text of the ethics pledge:

- To refuse any and all campaign contributions from government employees over whom I have the power to hire or fire as well as from their spouses and immediate family members.

- If I learn that a government employee (or spouse or immediate family member) over whom I have the power to hire or fire has contributed to my campaign, I will promptly donate that contribution to charity.

- To hire, fire, promote, demote, and set compensation levels based on knowledge, experience, and performance and not previous campaign contributions.

- No Government employees can participate in campaign activities during normal government business hours.

- Strictly ban the use of government property for anything besides official business.

 

 

Anita Lopez inching closer to mayoral launch

Toledo's mayoral race could gain another official contestant next week with plans by Anita Lopez, the Lucas County Auditor, to make an announcement.

"We will be making an announcement and we just want to let folks know that it'll be happening sometime next week," Lopez told The Blade this morning.

Lopez, a Democrat, strongly forecast that a mayoral campaign is in the offing while at a town hall meeting on immigration reform Wednesday night at the University of Toledo.

Program moderator Oscar Sanchez, a Latino community advocate, introduced her as "possibly our next mayor."

That made the predominately Latino audience roar its approval.

"I'm proud to have served the community as auditor, and I'll be just as proud to serve the community in whatever future roll I may play in the community," Ms. Lopez said.

As she finished her sentence, Ms. Lopez noticed the media present at the event and hurriedly blurted to the audience: "I wasn't officially announcing that I will run for mayor. That's not what I was doing."

City Councilman Joe McNamara, who has already declared his candidacy for mayor, also attended the event, but was not one of the featured speakers.

McNamara appeared to enjoy Lopez's discomfiture. After Ms. Lopez's on-stage comments, Mr. McNamara could be seen shaking audience members hands and introducing himself.

"Hi, I'm Joe McNamara, and I am running for mayor," he said.

If she announces for mayor, Lopez would join a mayor's race that's it's already producing political firefights.

McNamara, also a Democrat, this week has kept up attacks on incumbent Mayor Mike Bell's economic development trade trip to Germany as a "vacation."

Bell is running as a political independent. Also running are independent Alan Cox, Republican Opal Covey, and Libertarian Michael Konwinski.

Medicaid expansion - another side

As promised, here's a counterpoint to conservative group Ohio Rising's take on Medicaid expansion in Ohio.

In arguing against the Medicaid expansion, Ohio Rising pointed to Arizona's experience with Medicaid expansion from 2001 to 2001. It found that the cost to Arizona taxpayers turned out to be quadruple what was projected ($1.2 billion instead of $315 million).

Concern about a program's cost running amok may have been part of what prompted the Republican leadership in the Ohio House to revise Republican Gov. John Kasich's budget to delete his plan to expand Medicaid coverage to cover everyone at 138 percent of the poverty line (up from 100 percent of poverty now).

Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal group, supports the expansion and says it would be be good policy.

It says Arizona’s population rose significantly from 2001 to 2011, about 25 percent (vs. 1.5 percent for Ohio), while total Medicaid expenditures grew at a lower rate (22.6% for 2000-2010). The economy is worse in 2011 than in 2001 so of course more people qualify for Medicaid. Voters have approved the expanded program twice (most recently by 63%).

According to the Arizona legislature's budget staff, the cost of the program was up to $8.4 billion by 2008; enrollment was projected at 108,000 new enrolled adults by 2005 but actually reached 200,000; charity (uncompensated) care, as a percentage of health care costs, remained between 3 and 4% from 2001 to 2011.

Tea Party GOP chair candidate aligns self with Legislature

Tom Zawistowski, a Tea Party candidate for Ohio Republican Party chairman, today hailed the Ohio Republican General Assembly leaders for kicking the Medicaid expansion out of Gov. John Kasich's budget.

Kasich is a Republican, too, but you'd hardly know it from what's going on right now in Columbus.

On Tuesday, GOP leaders rolled out their own version of Kasich's budget, but without some of his key proposals. One of those was to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid eligibility in Ohio. That move would have covered an additional 450,000 Ohio residents who don't have private insurance in the next eight years.

Kasich said it's hard to turn down an opportunity that would be fully paid for by the federal government for the first three years, or about $13 billion over seven years - and that would cover the medical needs of low-income Ohioans.

Conservatives don't like it because it entangles Ohio in ObamaCare and promotes big government. A study published by the conservative group Ohio Rising highlighted Arizona's experience with Medicaid expansion. The costs zoomed far beyond the projections and there was no increase in private insurance (we'll be offering a counter view shortly).

Here's what Zawistowski says in his letter to House Speaker Bill Batchelder and the Republican members of the House:

"I thank Speaker Batchelder and our House members for removing Medicaid Expansion for the Budget. It is an essential step toward bring unity to our party going forward.

"This issue is one of the reasons that I have chosen to run for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. I was involved in this fight long before I decided to run for Chairman.

"It quickly became clear to me that the leadership of the Republican Party had no concept of the damage that the passage of Medicaid Expansion would do to the Party. This vote may prevent the defection of a critical part of our party base."

    Zawistowski is challenging Matt Borges, the party's executive director, who's been endorsed by all of the party's statewide elected officials. The GOP central committee meets April 26 to elect a chairman to replace Bob Bennett, who is retiring to "chairman emeritus" status.
    Zawistowski, 57, owner of a communications company, is the former President of the Ohio Liberty Coalition and the current Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party.

    

McNamara bashes Bell trip as "vacation"

Toledo City Council President Joe McNamara is keeping up his critiquing of Toledo Mayor Mike Bell, whom he would like to be opposite in the November general election.

McNamara says Bell's trip to the "Hannover Messe" trade fair in Hanover, Germany this week is more of a vacation for the mayor than it is economic development for the city of Toledo.

Here's the statement from his campaign:

McNamara stated: "In a time when many Toledo families are struggling, our Mayor shouldn't be going on luxurious vacations to Europe.  It is even worse that he would use our tax dollars to pay for his trip."  

Mayor Bell has made a habit of using his office to go on trips overseas.  This includes trips to China, Japan, and India.  

Unfortunately, these trips have failed to yield any results for the City of Toledo as the unemployment rate is sitting at 9.2%.  

McNamara said: "The mayor should be focusing on creating jobs for the people of Toledo, not which vacation he can go on next."

McNamara made much the same argument in Blade staff writer Ignazio Messina's story in Sunday's Blade about Bell's Germany trip where Bell explains why his worldwide travel on behalf of Toledo has economic development value.

And here's WTVG's report: http://www.13abc.com/story/21926172/mayor-headed-to-germany-to-promote-toledo.

For McNamara to face the politically unaffiliated Bell in the Nov. 5 election depends on whether he emerges as one of the two top vote-getters from the Sept. 10 nonpartisan primary. Joining the lists in that election is expected to be Anita Lopez, a fellow Democrat, and the Lucas County Auditor. She hasn't declared her candidacy yet, and has until July 12 to do so. Also said to be considering another try for the mayor's job is independent Councilman D. Michael Collins.