Print This Post Print This Post

Aug

21

McCain budgeted $273,000 for household employees in 2007?

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

OMG. Maybe I should just work for him, forget about voting.  And I thought I paid our babysitter well.

From NPR:

Make that 8 Houses

Politico digs up an 8th McCain residence. And don’t miss this remarkable number:

The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns.

According to the Census Bureau, in 2006 (a year of job growth and declining inflation), median household income in the U.S. was $48,201.

– Evie Stone

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:31 pm August 21st, 2008 in Politics | Comments Off 

Print This Post Print This Post

Aug

21

Closer look at student “tax credit” plans in ME, OK referenced by Mandel, Goyal

Filed Under Education, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Youth | 2 Comments

Read about the proposal for giving Ohio graduates a tax credit if they stay in Ohio for multiple years here.

Now – the potential co-sponsors of this bill, State Representatives Josh Mandel (R- Lyndhurst) and Jay Goyal (D- Mansfield), have indicated that both Maine and Oklahoma have similar programs.  But neither the press release or any of the news stories I’ve seen have written about how those plans work, when they started and how if at all successful they’ve been.

I’ll try to get the ball rolling, although I’m not 100% sure I’ve found what they were referencing.  And I’d also like to go on record as hoping that the Ohio Chancellor for Education goes on the record with an opinion about the Mandel-Goyal initiative.

MAINE

The website for Maine’s Educational Opportunity Tax Credit program, which began in January 2008, Opportunity Maine has an FAQ page where you can see answers to many questions and download their version of the student contract.

What I notice from the front page is that Opportunity Maine says that it:

…was founded by student and community leaders from all over Maine who are committed to advancing economic opportunity and prosperity in Maine.

We are working to educate and organize Mainers of all ages and political persuasions about the importance of affordable higher education for our state’s economic and community development.

State reps are community leaders of a sort, but, like many pieces of legislation that get into the Ohio Genearl Assembly, I would like to know if it’s had involvement from student leaders.  So often, the draft legislation comes from some lobby or special interest group, like Ohio Learn and Earn or Phil Burress and the adult entertainment-related bills.  Or even the Castle Doctrine bill, which was opposed by many law enforcement groups. Mandel I know was a student leader when he was a student but that was several years ago (he’s now 30).  So I’d love to hear from current student leaders.  Maine’s program came directly from its citizens:

Opportunity Maine was founded by student and community leaders from all over Maine who are committed to advancing sustainable economic prosperity in our state. We succeeded in bringing the Opportunity Maine Initiative from idea to citizens’ initiative to law. For only the sixth time in Maine history, the Maine Legislature passed a citizens’ initiative outright – unanimously in the House of Representatives, overwhelmingly in the Senate, and with the enthusiastic signature of Governor John Baldacci. Now, through public education, grassroots organizing, policy development, and other means, we are working to make the Opportunity Maine program successful, bring educational opportunity to all Maine people, and develop the workforce Maine’s businesses need to succeed.

Here’s an editorial that lauds the program’s potential. Here’s a piece in opposition to the program, prior to its enactment. And here’s a piece that anticipates the program as it starts (just eight months ago). And, it made the Drum Major Institutes list of top ten policies for 2007.

OKLAHOMA

I’ve had little success in 10-15 minutes of searching for something similar in Oklahoma, though that state has a few other kinds of programs to help students afford college.  What I did find was a reference to tax credits in a 1999 document, Brain Gain 2010 and there’s a 2008 update of that document here. This OK tax credit program seems to be for corporations but I haven’t read it thoroughly and might be what Mandel and Goyal are referencing.

If anyone has better info, feel free to drop a note in the comments.  Both of these examples are very new and neither state seems to have information on the success of the plans as of right now.

BONUS: Here students in Massillion talk about the proposal.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:08 pm August 21st, 2008 in Education, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Youth | 2 Comments 

Print This Post Print This Post

Aug

21

Sound of Ideas must-listen: Tribute to Stephanie Tubbs Jones; PD editorial

Filed Under Announcements, Cleveland+, Congress, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WCPN/SOI, Women | Comments Off

But be sure to have a tissue box handy.

Go here. Thanks to CPN for getting the audio up in less than 45 minutes. Show description:

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones died Wednesday night at the age of 58. She was Ohio’s first African American woman elected to Congress. Tubbs Jones blazed several career trails. She also was the first African American and female to serve as Cuyahoga County Prosecutor and on the county Common Pleas bench. On our program, we’ll remember her with those who knew her and worked with her. You’re invited to join us on The Sound of Ideas®.

Guests:
Sherrod Brown, United States Senator for Ohio
Cuyahoga County Commissoner Peter Lawson Jones
Former Ohio Senator C.J. Prentiss
Cleveland Municipal Judge Larry Jones
Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz
Congressman Steven LaTourette
Cleveland City Councilman Roosevelt Coats

The site also includes a variety of statements about her passing.

And from the Plain Dealer, a very nice editorial.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:48 am August 21st, 2008 in Announcements, Cleveland+, Congress, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WCPN/SOI, Women | Comments Off 

"));