Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Cleveland Tea Party Patriots!

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GOP campaign financing: Part 1

GOP campaign financing: Part 1 ~ Chris Christie

photo credit: blogs.wsj.com

ConservativeTreehouse concludes that the January GOP debate will narrow the field to six: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Bush, and Christie.  As that number is considerably more manageable, we can start to look more closely at the candidates' campaign funding sources. Starting with Christie, from the factivist blog, a September 2014 New York Times article

featured a story about Chris Christie’s continued refusal to include New Jersey in a regional anti-climate change partnership that New Jersey itself helped found in 2005. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state entity that seeks to reduce emissions in partner states to mitigate the damage of climate change. New Jersey’s legislature has voted twice for the state to rejoin RGGI, and Christie has vetoed that legislation both times – despite evidence that leaving the partnership has cost New Jersey more than $100 million.

Why?

Because the Big Money donors like the Koch Brothers that bankrolled his efforts – and he hopes will bankroll his presidential campaign – wanted him to.

Since then, OpenSecrets  identifies the America Leads PAC as Christie’s biggest source of funds, over $11 million to date. What is the America Leads PAC?

Open Secrets has a list of all the major PACS here. Most of the names sound generic or innocuous, so one has to dig a bit more. Fortunately, several major bloggers have been doing just that, and here’s what we know from a Politico blog about America Leads PAC: 

Donors to the America Leads PAC, which raised $11 million,  were disclosed for the first time Friday. Among them were several billionaires and several companies with million of dollars in state contracts would have been barred from giving to Christie’s gubernatorial campaigns. 

Winecup-Gamble Inc., a Nevada ranch owned by former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman, gave the group $1 million. Fireman, who lives outside Boston, plans a massive, $4.6 billion casino in Jersey City if state voters approve a constitutional amendment to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City. 

Christie said in May that he favors letting voters decide whether to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City, after he had previously opposed allowing it. Fireman, who with his family has begun making donations to many New Jersey candidates, made the donation to America Leads on June 25.

Las Vegas casino mogul Stephen Wynn, who is not currently involved in the New Jersey gambling industry, gave $25,000.

Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen and his wife Alexandra were the super PAC's biggest backers, giving a combined $2 million.

Another major donor was Quicken Loans chairman Daniel Gilbert, who gave $750,000.

Home Depot founder Ken Langone, who has been one of Christie’s biggest backers, gave $250,000, and Anheuser-Busch heir August Busch gave $100,000.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman chipped in $100,000. So did Christie’s brother Todd.

Wrestling mogul Linda McMahon, who ran twice for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut, donated $250,000.

George Harms Construction, which in 2014 had more than $100 million in contracts with several state agencies, gave $25,000. Ferreira Construction, which made more than $34 million from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in 2014, gave $100,000.

Public Service Enterprise Group, which as a regulated utility also would have been barred from giving to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign, gave $250,000.

The link to the FEC source, hyperlinked above, is here. 

Christie has almost no chance of becoming the presidential candidate. According to Conservative Treehouse, his role in the primary campaign is the same as the many of the remaining candidates in the GOPe field (such as Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, Rubio) each of whose role is to split GOP primary votes in particular states to lead to a Jeb! nomination.

To be continued…

Merry Christmas

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!

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The Omnibus spending bill and the Uniparty

photo credit: jamesaltucher.com

Last Friday, Jim Robb at NumbersUSA reported on the Omnibus spending bill that sold conservative voters down the river:

This week, Congress pushed through a horrible Omnibus spending bill to fund the government through next September.

The bill amounts to a betrayal of American voters, especially on immigration matters.

Where do I begin to condemn this? I'll start with House Speaker Paul Ryan.

It didn't take long for Ryan to break all his promises on immigration, did it?

When he was running for Speaker two months ago, Ryan promised he would not bring up immigration bills that did not have the backing of a majority of Republican House Members.

Yet as soon as he got the chance, Ryan snuck several huge immigration giveaways into the Omnibus spending bill Congress approved today. It goes further:

Nearly QUADRUPLES the number of H-2B low-skilled foreign workers allowed in this year. This could raise the total of these workers this year from 66,000 to 264,000.

Not only that...

FUNDS a large increase in Syrian and other refugee resettlement in this country. Instead of a timeout and a full security review, Congress handed Obama everything he wants.

FUNDS Obama's catch-and-release policy that virtually stops deportations.

FUNDS Sanctuary Cities, so that cities like San Francisco that refuse to turn over jailed illegal aliens to the feds will face no cut in funding.

MAINTAINS tax credits to illegal aliens in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit. That is, if a family is poor enough, they not only pay no income tax, the government pays THEM. Yes, that includes illegal aliens! Also, Congress continues to allow illegal aliens to claim child tax credits on their tax returns.

FUNDS the continued relocation into America of the unaccompanied minors who are marching across the border into Texas and states. The numbers of these crossing the border is way up again this year.

Even with all these outrages I've mentioned, there are still MORE terrible things hidden in the Omnibus bill, which passed both the House and the Senate. A hopeful sign is that 95 House Republicans joined with 18 House Democrats, and 26 Senate Republicans joined with 6 Senate Democrats to vote NO on this monstrosity. Yet, most Republicans and most all the Democrats voted yes, and it passed.

The House roll call votes are here; the Senate roll call votes are here.

Voting YEA on this irresponsible bill were Rep. Marcia Fudge, Sen. Sherrod Brown, and House Republicans from Ohio Steve Chabot, Brad Wenstrup, Bill Johnson, Michael Turner, Pat Tiberi, Tim Ryan, David Joyce, Steve Stivers, and James Renacci.

Rob Portman, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul voted against the bill. Marco Rubio did not cast a vote. Also disappointing were Congressional freshmen who ran on conservative values and then voted for this “monstrosity,” such as Mia Love and Martha McSally.

As Conservative Treehouse concluded,

the Omnibus Spending and Tax Provision bills, used by Republicans in lieu of an actual Fiscal Year 2016 budget . . . passed. . . .

Summary:  [conservative voters] gave Republicans large majorities in both the House and Senate so they could push-back against ridiculous progressive big government spending.   What did the REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP do with the majority?   Republicans constructed big spending on behalf of the Democrats and voted with them to end up with the same result if Democrats were in control.

….THAT IS A UniParty !!

This blog will be taking a close look at the UniParty as we head into next year.

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About that wall

Art credit: raymondpronk.wordpress

About that wall...

Over at Conservative Treehouse we read that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is outraged at GOP candidate Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall at the southern border of the US. The Prince

has called Donald Trump a disgrace to the United States following his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and demanded the Republican front-runner withdraw from the U.S. presidential race.

. . .

“You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America,” Prince Alwaleed, the chairman of Kingdom Holding, said on his Twitter account, addressing Trump and referring to the Republican Party.

Screen shot of the Twitter Feed is at the link here.

This report links to The Jerusalem Post here:

Just over a week ago, IS militants launched an attack on a Saudi border post, killing a senior Saudi general and two border guards, marking the first direct IS assault on Saudi grounds, The Telegraph reported. 

In an effort to defend itself from the IS threat and further attacks, the [Saudi] kingdom launched a massive project to construct a "Great Wall" along it's northern border with Iraq, where IS presence is heavy. 

Proposed in 2006, the border zone entails five layers of fencing, supplemented by watch towers, radar cameras, night-vision security, and a heavy presence of extra Saudi troops, according to the report. 

The wall is set to extend nearly 1000-km and will combine fence and ditch barriers along the northern Saudi border. 

Riyadh hopes that the completed project will fend off IS threats and keep the relatively closed kingdom, closed indeed.

Hypocrisy.

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Dec 7 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Photo credit of the Arizona: Pat J Dooley

[Wikipedia]: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which is observed annually in the United States on December 7, is to remember and honor the 2,403 victims who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On August 23, 1994,United States Congress . . .designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.^[1] National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is also referred to as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day. It is a tradition to fly the Flag of the United States at half-staff until sunset in honor of dead patriots.

It is even more important that we remember these patriots when we are perpetually informed that the biggest threat we face today is global warming.

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For those who don't "do" PC

This image has been making the rounds on FB and elsewhere ... in case you missed it.

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Giving thanks for abundance is giving thanks for free enterprise

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Republished from this blog site in 2013:

What Thanksgiving really means To Americans

A couple of years ago, Jerry Bowyer, writing in Forbes Magazine, recounted the real significance of Thanksgiving, a significance that is too often lost among the turkey dinners, football games, and stories about Indians who befriended the early settlers.

In 1620, the Plymouth pilgrims based their original community on Plato’s Republic, a collective model that appealed to their religious convictions and morality. But the communal model didn’t work for them. After over two years of failing harvests and resulting malnutrition, disease, starvation, and deaths, the pilgrims replaced the communal model with a model based on private property. The ensuing harvest was abundant, with surpluses available for trade.

Their Thanksgiving celebrated the triumph of the individual, private property, and incentive, over collectivism. At first, the pilgrims were guilty because they were putting self-interest over the seeming altruism of socialism. Yet the devout survivors had learned two lessons: 1) that a theoretical and utopian collective society fails, and (2) in real life, private property and capitalism produce prosperity. For them, God, not Plato, knew best. Accepting the principles of private property and self-interest was God’s way of harnessing self-interest to the greater good. We know all of this because an elder of the Plymouth plantation, William Bradford, kept a journal and it survives today. Mr. Bowyer’s earlier article, with additional historical background, is here.) 

Here’s Bowyer's “How A Failed Commune Gave Us What is Now Thanksgiving.”

It’s wrong to say that American was founded by capitalists. In fact, America was founded by socialists who had the humility to learn from their initial mistakes and embrace freedom. One of the earliest and arguably most historically significant North American colonies was Plymouth Colony, founded in 1620 in what is now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts. As I’ve outlined in greater detail here before (Lessons From a Capitalist Thanksgiving), the original colony had written into its charter a system of communal property and labor.

As William Bradford recorded in his Of Plymouth Plantation, a people who had formerly been known for their virtue and hard work became lazy and unproductive. Resources were squandered, vegetables were allowed to rot on the ground and mass starvation was the result. And where there is starvation, there is plague. After 2 1/2 years, the leaders of the colony decided to abandon their socialist mandate and create a system which honored private property. The colony survived and thrived and the abundance which resulted was what was celebrated at that iconic Thanksgiving feast.

As my friend Reuven Brenner has taught me, history is a series of experiments: The Human Gamble. Some gambles work and are adopted by history and some do not and should be abandoned by it. The problem is that the human gamble only works if there is a record of experimental outcomes and if decision makers consult that record. For many years, the story of the first failed commune of Plymouth Bay was part of the collective memory of American students. But Progressive Education found that story unhelpful and it has fallen into obscurity, which explains why (as I alluded to before) a well-educated establishment figure like Jared Bernstein would be unaware of it.

I’m often asked why our current leadership class forgets the lessons of the past so often. They are, after all, very smart men and women. Don’t they know that collectivism will fail?

No, they don’t. Not anymore. For much of our history, our leaders were educated in the principles which were to help them avoid errors once they have joined the ruling class. They studied to learn how to not misuse power. Now our leaders learn nothing of the dangers of abusing power: their education is entirely geared to its acquisition.  All of their neurons are trained on that one objective – to get to the top. What they do when they get there is a matter for later. And what happens to the country when they’re done with their experiments is beside the point: after all, their experiments will not really affect them personally. History is the story of the limitations of human power. But the limits of power is a topic for people who doubt themselves and their right to rule, not the self-anointed.

That’s how it is now, and that’s how it was in 1620. The charter of the Plymouth Colony reflected the most up-to-date economic, philosophical and religious thinking of the early 17th century. Plato was in vogue then, and Plato believed in central planning by intellectuals in the context of communal property, centralized state education, state centralized cultural offerings and communal family structure. For Plato, it literally did take a village to raise a child. This collectivist impulse reflected itself in various heretical offshoots of Protestant Christianity with names like The True Levelers, and the Diggers, mass movements of people who believed that property and income distinctions should be eliminated, that the wealthy should have their property expropriated and given to what we now call the 99%. This kind of thinking was rife in the 1600s and is perhaps why the Pilgrim settlers settled for a charter which did not create a private property system.

But the Pilgrims learned and prospered. And what they learned, we have forgotten and we fade.  Now, new waves of ignorant masses flood into parks and public squares. New Platonists demand control of other people’s property. New True Levelers legally occupy the prestige pulpits of our nation, secular and sacred. And now, as then, the productive class of our now gigantic, colony-turned-superpower, learn and teach again, the painful lessons of history. Collectivism violates the iron laws of human nature. It has always failed. It is always failing, and it will always fail. I thank God that it is failing now. Providence is teaching us once again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A specific plan to defeat ISIS?

Photo credit: GettyImages

As a Cleveland Tea Party Patriot, I receive regular emails from Tea Party Patriots’ national office and also their PAC, Tea Party Patriot Citizen Fund. Today, the email from the Citizen Fund reported on Ted Cruz’s efforts to win support from evangelicals; Jeb Bush’s message on national security; and Rubio's plan to defeat ISIL [ISIS]. The section refers the reader to Senator Rubio’s plan, published on the Politico blog here. 

I would also refer the reader to Ed Straker’s take on Sen. Rubio’s plan over at American Thinker here. Its title is “Marco Rubio wants to defeat ISIS by arming ISIS and fighting its enemies,” and here is an extract (Rubio's words appear in gray highlight):

Marco Rubio has a plan for defeating ISIS.  . . .

As president, I would demand that Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government grant greater autonomy to Sunnis, and would provide direct military support to Sunnis and the Kurds if Baghdad fails to support them.

Guess who is currently supporting ISIS, lock, stock, and barrel: the Sunnis!  Rubio would arm them directly.

Cutting off oxygen to ISIL also requires defeating Assad in Syria. I would declare no-fly zones to ground Assad’s air force and coalition-controlled “safe zones” in the country to stop his military

If Assad is defeated, can you guess who will move in and take over his territory?  I'll give you a hint: the group's name begins with the letter "I."

. . .

Marco Rubio is not a brilliant foreign policy strategist.  . . .  When Politico starts publishing his press releases, you know you're reading the words of an establishment Republican.

Cleveland Tea Party Patriots is nonpartisan and does not endorse or contribute to any candidate, but it does want to contribute to debates on major issues, in this case, a strategy to defeat ISIS. 

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There will be more out-of-control immigration

Art credit: thepoliticalforums.com

A meaningless bill to put some "safeguards" 

into immigration background checks

From cleveland.com:  

Northeast Ohio Democrats Tim Ryan and Marcy Kaptur were among 47 Democrats who joined with the majority of House Republicans on Thursday to pass a controversial bill that would increase government background checks done before Syrian or Iraqi refugees are admitted to the United States.

All Ohio's Republicans backed the bill, which passed by a veto-proof vote of 289 to 137.

But the bill is toothless. From Conservative Treehouse:

House Votes On Meaningless Refugee Bill – “SAFE Act” Passes With Veto Proof 289-137 Support….

Under the Paul Ryan approved bill -American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015– the FBI director would be required to certify the background investigation of each refugee from Iraq and Syria.  And only refugees from Iraq and Syria.  And if you are Syrian and you walk into Turkey to begin applying for refugee status, presto, the bill doesn’t cover you.

The SAFE ACT requires the FBI, along with the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence, to certify to Congress that each refugee is not a security threat. The legislation also requires the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office to independently assess the refugee approvals.

However, the bill is largely meaningless and well beyond toothless. Senator Sessions (R-AL) noted refugees and migrants from nine different countries have been implicated in terrorism incidents over the past year.  “Ignoring this reality, the American SAFE Act allows the president to continue to bring in as many refugees as he wants from anywhere in the world,” Sessions said previously. 

There is nothing in the bill to prevent refujihadis from crossing our borders. Just more Kabuki theater from Congress.

UPDATE Nov-20 4:30 pm: Cleveland.com reports that

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson this week joined dozens of other mayors of major U.S. cities in affirming that Syrians seeking refuge from their war-torn homeland are welcome here.

"The City of Cleveland has always opened her arms to refugees, regardless of where they are from," Jackson wrote Wednesday in an emailed statement.

Jackson joins Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings -- who all said they would help resettle Syrian refugees in their cities, despite the recent wave of panic among politicians about the perceived connections between Syrians, the Islamic State and last week's terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people.

Mayors of 18 other cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago also signed a letter sent to President Barack Obama in September, pledging to work with the administration to help resettle Syrian refugees in their towns.

But like many of those mayors, Jackson's views on the issue depart from those of his state's governor.

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Kasich refuses Syrian refugees - but the Obama Administration doesn't care

art credit: IndyThisWeek

Cleveland.com reports that Gov. Kasich went on record to refuse to admit Syrian refugees into Ohio, but over at neoneocon.com, we find that the 16 (and counting) governors who want to refuse admitting “refugees” probably can’t block the feds. Some refugees are already here, of course. Rush has a map here (scroll down a tad).

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Veterans Day downtown Cleveland

Good to see downtown saluting Veterans Day.

photo credit: patjdooley

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Veterans Day Parade tomorrow downtown Cleveland

art credit: seeingredaz.wordpress.com

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. From cleveland.com:

Cleveland's Veterans Day Parade on Wednesday, November 11, will be a salute to Vietnam veterans, stepping off at 9:30 a.m. in front of City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue.

Paul Tuggey, parade coordinator, said the salute is a way of making amends for the lack of recognition many Vietnam veterans encountered after coming home from the war.

"It was not a good time," Tuggey said. "This year is an opportunity to say thank you to those guys properly."

This year's choice for parade marshal reflects that era of military service, with local architect Anthony Paskevich Jr. filling that role.

Paskevich, a Marine helicopter pilot during the war in Vietnam, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during combat in 1969, an honor second only to the Medal of Honor.

Parade participants will assemble from 8:30-9:15 a.m. then march east on Lakeside Avenue to East Ninth Street, south to Superior Avenue, west to West Mall Drive, and north to Lakeside and City Hall.

For more details, parade map, and info, go here. 

For a list of businesses offering free goods and services to vets, go here.

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art credit : avalonboro.net

All Election results are at Cleveland.com. Below are the results for the two Issues you've been reading about on this blog:

Issue 2, the Ohio constitutional anti-monopoly amendment, passed, allowing the Ohio Ballot Board to regulate future ballot measures dealing with monopolies. The votes:

Yes  157,155

No   148,421

Issue 3, to legalize marijuana, failed. The votes:

Yes  123,493

No   188,434

Good!

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Responsible Ohio, Progress Ohio & Ex- Ohio Democratic Party Staffer Deploy Double Super Secret Twitter Ninja's to pass Marijuana Monopoly in Ohio

A lot has been written on why voters should vote no on the Responsible Ohio's Issue 3 Marijuana Monopoly in the upcoming November election. 

Be it for religious reasons, medical disagreements, protecting the Ohio Constitution from being used as a tool to create monopolies, they all present very good reasons to vote no on Issue 3.

The purpose of this post is to clear the room from the cloud of the weed smoke that hangs over Ohio and expose who is really behind Responsible Ohio (Issue 3) and Ian James, the driving force of wanting the green dollars from this "green" initiative.

The below video, put together by Citizens Against Responsible Ohio, is from leaked emails and leaked audio of a conference call on April 13th, 2015 between Responsible Ohio, the Democrat aligned Progress Ohio former Ohio Democrat party officials and Don McTigue - a long time go to attorney for the Ohio Democrats.

Progress Ohio, a political/public policy action committee of the Democratic persuasion, implicate some very subversive tactics used against Ohioans.  Many of the players involved are known supporters of none other than Hillary Clinton.

These tactics aim to intentionally mislead and misinform Ohioans via Social Media, as evidenced with their use of fake Ninja Twitter accounts.

Ian James, the architect and public face of Issue 3, was former Ohio GOP chairman Bob Bennett's hand chosen consultant to collect the signatures for the 2009 passage of the casino amendment. Now, James has the entire ODP 2016 presidntial campaign Fake Mutant Ninja Turtling for a marijuana monopoly, an exact replica of his 2009 casino sham. Even Ian's husband Stephen Letourneau is puff-puff passing through tens of thousands of dollars himself to Progress Ohio's ninja hive.

Known as Responsible Ohio's "puppet master" is Erik Greathouse, who was Chris Redfern's finance director at the Ohio Democratic Party under Ted Strickland until the Ed FitzGerald campaign.

Responsible Ohio's fake twitter ninja operation at Progress Ohio is run by Brian Hester, who most recently was ODP's deputy communications director. After putting lipstick on that pig for a year, Hester is now paid at Progress Ohio from $5,000 monthly from The Strategy Network for marijuana "research".

Progress Ohio's chair is Antoinette Wilson, who ran for ODP chair last fall, and who is widely expected to be Hillary Clinton's Ohio director in 2016.

 

Wilson, a long time political operative for the democrats in Ohio, worked on former Ohio SoS Jennifer Brunner's 2006 election & helped Brunner run the 2008 election in which Barack Obama won Ohio.  Along with being a Brunner flunky, Wilson worked on the campaigns of Dick Cordray, Treasurer , John Kerry’s 2004 Ohio primary director and as the 1996 Ohio political director of the Clinton/​Gore campaign.

 

Responsible Ohio and Progress Ohio also share Don McTigue, who sits on Progress Ohio's board, and drafted Issue 3 from its birth.

Tea Party members will remember McTigue as one of the attorneys who joined with Hillary Clinton attorney, Marc Elias, to file a lawsuit against the State of Ohio to block laws and orders they claim are designed to throw roadblocks between the voting booth and traditional Democratic constituencies.

So with all this Green Slime - we don't really even need to go into Responsible Ohio marketing to children with their "Buddie" character or lefty 1% er's using the Ohio Constitution to form a marijuana monopoly as a reason to Vote No on Issue 3!

Vote No on (Ir)Responsible Ohio's Issue 3!

 

Election Day November 3, 2015 issues

art credit: montgomerynews.com

Election Day November 3, 2015

For a look at the ballot initiatives that residents of Cuyahoga County will vote on next Tuesday, see a sample ballot in PDF format at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website here.  (You’ll need to enter your ward number and precinct letter; you will have those details on the voter registration card you received in the mail from the BoE.)

Some of the issues on the ballot fall under the Tea Party Patriot platform of fiscal responsibility and free markets.

If you are already confused because ballot Issues #2 (anti-monopoly) and #3 (legalize marijuana in Ohio) seem to be in conflict with each other, below are remarks by Ohio Senator Larry Obhof (R-Ohio Senate District 22) on what voters need to know about Issues 2 and 3 (h/t Ohio Christian Alliance Click here for OCA Voter Guide):

Issue 2 is specifically limited to initiatives that would purport to grant a private interest or group of private interests a “monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel” or a preferential tax rate or commercial right that is not “available to other similarly situated persons.”  It would not affect citizen-led initiatives, unless they are designed to give someone a monopoly or a special tax rate not available to similarly situated persons.
 

Issue 2 will protect the Ohio Constitution from special interests buying their way into the state’s foundational document.  Frankly, this is long overdue and should have been proposed after the casino amendment a few years ago.  Carve-outs for specific investors, protections from competition, the addresses of particular businesses … these things do not belong in the Ohio Constitution.  
 

Regardless of one’s position on the Issue, [some of the information being promoted concerning these issues is misleading or incorrect, as per below]:

1.   Statement: “There is no judicial review over the ballot board decision.”

This is simply wrong and is contradicted by the plain text of Issue. Section C clearly provides for judicial review and states that “The supreme court of Ohio shall have original, exclusive jurisdiction in any action that relates to this section.”

2. Statement: “This restriction could extend to issues such as ballot initiatives for workplace freedom, protection of life, etc.”  

Issue 2 would not affect a "workplace freedom amendment."  A workplace freedom amendment would not grant a “monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel” and it would not specify a tax rate or commercial right or license that is not available to similarly situated persons.  And keep in mind that even under Issue 2, one could specify a tax rate or provide commercial rights or licenses.  Issue 2 only affects such initiatives if they would carve out a special tax rate for a small group of people that is not available to other, similarly situated persons.

[Senator Obhof] cannot think of any logical basis for saying that Issue 2 would affect an initiative related to “protection of life.”  It is hard to conceive of a pro-life ballot initiative that would also grant someone a monopoly, or a special tax carve-out or commercial license not available to similarly situated persons.     

3. Statement: “Consider this scenario:  If Issue 2 had been in the Constitution prior to now, the effort that many concerned citizens launched to limit strip clubs’ hours of operation and activities, should it have needed to be placed on the ballot, would be subject to Issue 2’s provisions, as it would be deemed to limit the commercial activity of a state license holder (alcohol establishments).”  

Issue 2 would not apply to this scenario.  Issue 2 only applies to attempts to “grant or create a monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel” or a preferential tax rate or commercial right that is not “available to other similarly situated persons.”  It would not affect an initiative to limit clubs’ hours or activities.  It would not even affect a ban on such clubs, unless the ban carved out specific clubs for special treatment (i.e., closing all clubs except for 10 of them, or closing all clubs except those owned by a specific operator or group of operators).   

4. Statement:  “If a citizen’s initiative goes before the Ballot Board there is no judicial recourse for the citizens to challenge the ruling by the Supreme Court.”  

First, this contradicts the earlier statement that there is no judicial review over the ballot board’s decision.  Obviously, review by the Ohio Supreme Court is “judicial review.”   

Second, the scope of review is not more or less under Issue 2 than it is for any other party in Ohio’s court system.  What does it mean to say “there is no judicial recourse … to challenge the ruling by the Supreme Court”?  When does anyone challenge a ruling by the Supreme Court?  On questions of state law, the Ohio Supreme Court is the court of last resort.  That is not any different under Issue 2 than it would be if you and I sued each other under state law.   

Thanks to Sen. Obhof for setting the record straight.

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