Wagoner’s remarks yesterday on HB 318
Yesterday five Ohio Senate Republicans vote for HB 318, which was the budget compromise that’s been detailed in other posts on GCJ. Senator Mark Wagoner was one of those who voted yes, but I really recommend watching the video of his remarks from yesterday…I think he deserves some credit for what he stated yesterday and he expresses the frustration many have felt on both sides. Wagoner’s comments begin at 1:18 for those of you who want to fast forward or you can use the direct link.
“In order for this place to work for this state to work, we have to stand for something, we need to solve problems, we need to put the interest of the state first, every once in a while we have to put our political interests on the back burner, we’re all guilty in this process.”
Just one quote from what I recommend watching…
A brilliant speech
December 18th, 2009 at 8:05 pmWhy did he vote for a “band aid”? He wants to put the interests of the state first? What about the people? This guy is “kicking the can” down the road. “Back bone” my azz. He talks tough, but won’t walk the talk. Jeezzz!
December 18th, 2009 at 8:36 pmSo, you think he should have voted no, which would have created the over 850 million dollar deficit and would have created cuts in education as well as other programs? I think it takes more courage to do what he did than to do what the others did, they had no problem with five Republicans voting as long as they were not one of them so they could try to run for cover. He made it very clear this is a temporary solution he’s not thrilled with but it’s better than the alternative.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:57 pmI think no is the answer. You have to take a stand at some point. The state government is too huge and is not sustainable as he said. Instead, he kicked the can down the road, that takes no courage.
December 18th, 2009 at 9:02 pmI guess just another one of the many things we disagree on, it takes more courage to stand up to prevent something horrible than it does to just say no. Saying no is the easy way out, then it’s not your problem and you let someone else fix it.
December 18th, 2009 at 9:09 pmMaking the right decision, or ‘vote’, is not always the easy thing to do – I know exactly how Mark is feeling. Having your constituents mad for making what you believe is the right decision is hard.
And while I don’t like the idea that the tax-cut was ‘delayed’ (we’ll just have to wait and see if is in fact instituted in 2011), the reality is that IMO the Dems were willing to politically lay the blame of cutting funding to schools at the feet of Republicans. I think it was specious at best and a calculated maneuver to say the video slots revenue would go to fund schools, when reality is it all goes in to one ‘pot’ (the general fund), and other items funded by that general fund could have been cut – and probably will have to be cut if they can’t get it figured out in the next year before the next budget needs to be done.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:30 amwhen a budget relies on temporary stimulus money, of course there will be a ‘hole’ in the budget when that money expires. There are many ways the state can still cut. Strickland is looking at consolidating more depts. How many of us know people who are staying on unemployement rather than go to work . Is that the purpose of unemployment compensation? I know a retiree who gets good money and now gets unemployment . Should there be limits on unemployment compensation? — just another example where money can be saved.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:04 pmWagner is in a tough spot, but somewhere and sometime soon someone needs to tell the truth about our continual ‘kicking the can ‘ down the road.
An excellent speech by Sen. Wagoner. Mark articulated well what a representative democracy is all about…compromise. If the entire solution to Ohio’s economic malaise were in cutting state taxes, why are we in the mess we’re in now? The tax cuts started years ago. The 2010 cut was the latest in the series. Face facts: tax cuts, which are tiny for the individual tax payer check-by-check, do little to stimulate the economy.
Everyone wants smaller government until the program(s) to be cut directly affect them or someone for whom they care. For example, it’s so easy to say, “Cut Medicaid”, until it’s your mother or father, or grandmother or grandfather who loses everything before they qualify, and would literally die without the support provided.
There needs to be a well studied reorganization of state government. New line and staff relationships with less overlapping duties and responsibilities are vital. But we cannot cut our way out of this problem. Ohio must take the lead in targeted tax cuts and other incentives to encourage innovative 21st Century industries to develop here. Ohio has a great location and excellent ground, air, and water transportation facilities. But unless we do as Sen. Wagoner articulated so well, and work together to achieve common goals, rather than looking for some way to get an issue to win the next election, Ohio will be a desert of lost opportunities as this century advances.
This is not exclusively either a Democratic Party problem, or a Republicam Party problem. It just fell into the Republicans’ laps this time. I give Sen. Mark Wagoner a lot of credit, not only for making a “Yes” vote which will make him very unpopular with a significant segment of his fellow Republicans, but to go further and brand his colleagues who voted “No”, while pleading with him to vote “Yes”, as the political cowards they are!
December 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pmSenator Wagoner said that a “no” vote on the bill and doing nothing would automatically cut 1 billion dollars from public education, and that it would be moronic to do so.
Unfortunately, in 2011, when the budget shortfall will be 8 billion dollars instead of 850 million dollars, a 1 billion dollar cut in public education will not only be unavoidable, it won’t even be enough of a cut.
I would have voted “no.” There’s no getting around the fact that sacred cows in state government will have to be slaughtered. Not only do we need to release school districts from some costly mandates, our state legislature needs to recognize the beating that county governments and local governments are taking. County governments and local governments should also be released from costly mandates imposed by the state. We have to shed ideals and be pragmatic. When there isn’t money, there isn’t money. Guess what? There isn’t money.
The end result? The state will HAVE to stop issuing bonds and racking up debt, because the day of reckoning concerning the state’s bond rating is coming sooner than later. The state will HAVE to make cuts to Medicaid starting with the nursing home industry that’s fed campaign coffers year after year. The state will HAVE to reform BWC. The unemployment benefits will eventually HAVE to expire. Universities will HAVE to rely more heavily on their endowments as state funding necessarily dwindles, and, yes, there must even be cuts to public education, and perhaps, in addition to packing away the full-day kindergarten mandates in mothballs, we may have to suspend other mandates as well, maybe even the testing regime imposed by No Child Left Behind.
You may not desire a state government that performs so pitifully as ours will after we have to trim 8 billion dollars from state general fund expenditures in 2011, but Ohio won’t be equipped to embark on any other path, and that’s the reality. The reality must be faced.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:49 amDan…
I really LOVE the way some people throw numbers around as if they really know something! 8 billion dollar deficit? Really? On a budget of less than 30 billion? In a time of little or no inflation, or even DEFLATION as many costs are going down?
And, of course, you assume that the economy is going to get worse, not better, I suppose.
Let me guess. Whenever it snows, you’re one of the people who runs out to the store to stock up on candles, batteries for your flashlights, and buys a generator. How many generators do you have by now?
What a pessimist!! Hope you have some gold put away! It’s at an all time high, you know!
December 24th, 2009 at 11:25 pmI tend to agree with “Not Again”. Mr. Wagoner points several fingers so as not to have any of the blame land anywhere near him. His entire speech was self-serving and the references to Normandy and our proud forefathers who stormed the beach for freedom was nauseating at best, sickening at worst. Make the vote, state that you are putting the interest of the state first (if that is what you believe) and get on with it.
If you look at the few pennies that most Ohioans actually see in their paychecks from these tax cuts over the past few years, this shortfall will not have much of an impact on our economy. As dalepertcheck correctly pointed out, “tax cuts, which are tiny for the individual tax payer check-by-check, do little to stimulate the economy.”
All this business about “taking a bullet” is rubbish. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I believe if the state senator could not make the yes vote without whining about it, he should have voted no.
January 5th, 2010 at 9:30 pm