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Dec

26

[updated] List of Ohio politicians who "sold you out" from PD’s Plain Dealing columnist, Sheryl Harris


Thank you, Sheryl. I don’t know exactly how Harris does her job, but given the countless hours I’ve spent on my consumer product and service problems over the years, I can’t even begin to imagine what she confronts. She must love fixing problems more than I do – and for other people no less. Seriously. Thank you.

Here’s her Sunday 12/14/06 column and here’s the list of state legislators who sold us out.

Sen. Ron Amstutz, Wooster
Sen. Jeffrey Armbruster, North Ridgeville
Sen. Kevin Coughlin, Cuyahoga Falls (no surprise)
Sen. Tim Grendell, Chesterland (also no surprise but might have hoped otherwise)
Sen. Bob Spada, North Royalton (my rep)
Rep. Chuck Calvert, Medina
Rep. Matthew Dolan, Novelty (another no surprise)
Rep. Bob Gibbs, Lakeville
Rep. Sally Conway-Kilbane, Rocky River (would have hoped otherwise)
Rep. Earl Martin, Avon Lake (he is GONE)
Rep. Tom Patton, Strongsville
Rep. Mary Taylor, Uniontown (new auditor)
Rep. Jim Trakas, Independence (Josh Mandel: how would you have voted?)
Rep. Dan White, Norwalk
Rep. John Widowfield, Cuyahoga Falls

Harris counts the ways in the column and they include,

In a single day, as the legislature was about to adjourn, these Republicans joined their lame-duck colleagues and weakened the state’s 30-year-old Consumer Sales Practices Act.

In a single vote, they dulled the impact of the state’s predatory lending law before it even went into effect.

They arbitrarily limited awards for noneconomic damages to $5,000.

Simply put, they voted to protect businesses that cheat consumers from having to pay the price in court.

Spurred on by the car dealer lobby, these legislators acted without holding a single hearing.

Without asking for testimony.

Without allowing even one consumer to speak out.

A House committee rammed the changes into a bill on an unrelated topic expressly so the public would be shut out of the process.

Wonderful column. Read the whole thing. And again, thanks, Sheryl Harris. And the PD for publishing it.

UPDATE: See also this post on realneo. Norm has good suggestions for how to pursue these elected individuals.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:03 pm December 26th, 2006 in Politics 

Comments

11 Responses to “[updated] List of Ohio politicians who "sold you out" from PD’s Plain Dealing columnist, Sheryl Harris”

  1. 1 redhorse on December 26th, 2006 6:11 pm

    Add Widowfield to the “no suprise” category. There are those who wonder if he’s even capable of independent thought.

  2. 2 Jill on December 26th, 2006 6:45 pm

    I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of Widowfield. Which other ones are due to be replaced besides Trakas, Martin and Taylor? I don’t remember – who won Taylor’s seat? And do you think Ray Ku will run again? Grendell – I’m trying to remember who ran against him. And of course, Judy Hanna not winning is a bummer.

    Now – if we could just figure out how to systematically follow these folks, consistently, all the way through 2007 – making roll call votes easier to get to online sure would help. :)

  3. 3 Norm on December 26th, 2006 7:43 pm

    Hi Jill – I was thrilled by this article in the PD and to see it mentioned here – I posted about that on realneo too. My real concern with these sell-outs is over their attack on community rights to sue Sherwin Williams over the public nuisance of lead. Each of us doing our part to keep this knowledge active in cyberspace will insure these sell-outs do not drop out of consciousness between now and their next elections. That would be best accomplished if we set up a portal on just these people and and their impacts on the public and encourage broader monitoring of that there, from throughout the state. Move-On would probably help, as they are already looking to change in 2008.

  4. 4 Jill on December 26th, 2006 7:52 pm

    Great ideas, Norm. Thanks – I’ll link to the realneo post. Love the suggestions for how to follow.

  5. 5 redhorse on December 26th, 2006 8:50 pm

    If you have access to L-N, search the Beacon archives for Widowfield sometime. You’ll learn a lot about who pulls his leash.

    As for Taylor’s old seat, Steve Dyer won it.

  6. 6 Daniel Jack Williamson on December 26th, 2006 9:34 pm

    The state reps and state senators vote on hundreds and hundreds of issues, bills, resolutions, amendments, etc. I don’t form my opionions of state legislators according to a vote on a single bill or issue. Even your favorite legislators are bound to vote in a way that you don’t like once in a while–the sheer number of things to vote on will guarantee that. When looking at voting records, I look for patterns, rather than votes on a single bill, to characterize a legislator’s record.

    Having said that, let me point out that appointee Rep. Dan White (R-Norwalk) has been replaced by the voters with Matthew Barrett (D-Amherst). I’m not shedding any tears over White’s loss.

    Also, it’s a shame that the paper chose only to highlight NEO legislators, because, within the Republican caucus, I have a more favorable opionion of some NEO legislators than I do of many from other parts of the state. Some of the Republicans I would choose to replace (with other Republicans :>), if I could, are from other parts of Ohio. Rep. Louis Blessing (at least he’s quoted in the article) tops the list. Blessing (recently recycled as a state rep after reaching term limits as a state senator) may be the most prominent pro-gambling Republican in the legislature. When you combine his gambling votes with his consumer protection votes and labor votes, Blessing seems to really have it in for the little guy. He’s from a heavily Republican area of the Cincinnati metro area, so he might be more easily ousted in a primary election than in a general election.

  7. 7 Jill on December 26th, 2006 11:01 pm

    All good points, reinforcing the adage that politics are local.

  8. 8 Jill on December 26th, 2006 11:02 pm

    Jason – you are such a teacher – you always make me go do more homework.

  9. 9 Anonymous on January 21st, 2007 6:15 pm

    You talk and write like a real RINO. It makes me sick when I read this “little guy” crap. Typical Lib stuff, tsk, tsk, tsk…

  10. 10 Jill on January 21st, 2007 6:29 pm

    Thanks for leaving the comment, but why would you read this blog if it causes you so much tzuras?

  11. 11 Anonymous on June 25th, 2007 4:03 pm

    John Widowfield is one of the dumbest people to ever hold public office.

    He’s been one of the least effective legislators Summit County has ever had. The guy’s a no show. The only thing that saved him from defeat in this last election was the way the district is drawn, But it’s an embarrasment that the Republicans even had to spend money on him.

    And in return, they get an idiot. Well played.

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