The Elites know nothing
We should remember a better world is possible, as the State Legislature won't be able to hurt us until September at the earliest after today.
There I was last night around 11:30 p.m, reveling in socialist Zohran Mamdani delivering one of the most shocking upsets in American electoral history over unrepetent sex pest Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary.
And then I remembered I had to go to work at the Ohio Statehouse tomorrow. Talk about taking an anvil to the testicles (and not in the good way, either).
Someone on Twitter asked how we can replicated Mamdani’s juice in Ohio. That’s like asking how we replicate LeBron James. Mamdani is a generational talent.
But Zohran’s seismic victory is another reminder that The Elites know nothing. There will always be more of us than them, and that’s a reality of which they live in constant fear.
Maybe the Democratic Party will take the ultimate lesson from Mamdani and run charismatic candidates who know how to campaign by repeating easy-to-understand policies to improve material conditons of anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year.
I’m skeptical that happens, though I’d love to be wrong.
But a good first step in Ohio would be voting for Jesse Vogel for Columbus City Council in November. We don’t have to tolerate stand-for-nothing, cowardly candidates foisted upon us because they adequately rubbed the feet of “stakeholders” and carry endorsements from their buddies on the cocktail circuit.
That, however, is a topic for another day.
Today, it’s all about our beautiful State Legislature, which will thankfully slither into summer break until September after passing the 5,000-page, $60 billion biannual budget that no legislator has read in its entirety because it dropped at roughly 12:30 a.m. this morning.
The flat tax heist is underway
As The Rooster reported on Tuesday, the installation of a 2.75% flat-tax—which, according to Policy Matters Ohio would only benefit the top 20 percent of wage-earners—was the State Senate’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 priorities in budget negotiations with the House.
“[Senate president] Rob McColley is campaigning to be Vivek [Ramaswamy]’s Lieutenant governor,” said a source familiar with the negotiations. “He’s being a huge pain in the ass.”
McColley got his wish, as the Conference Committee unveiled what will amount to a $1.4 billion tax cut through the initiation of the flat tax, which would instill the same tax percentage on someone making $26,001 a year as someone making $3,000,0000 (or more).
They’ll attempt to claw some of that money back on the backs of poor people, by ending longtime sales tax breaks on everything from newspaper subscriptions (thanks to Senate Finance Chairman Young Moussolini being upset about their coverage of SB-1) to jukebox songs.
Maybe this is the General Assembly where the wealth will finally trickle down to the rest of us, and Ohio will stop its slide in education, healthcare and infrastructure rankings. Until then, I’m skeptical.
As for McColley, he is indeed campaigning to be Ramaswamy’s running mate, and what better mating call to a notorious conman like Ramaswamy than showing his deep subserviance to the ultrawealthy by driving another regressive tax cut through the State Legislature?
But McColley is keeping at least one alternative option open. According to one federal Republican source, McColley has met with the Ohio National Congressional Committee about potentially running in the soon-to-be-redrawn Ninth District, which Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur currently holds.
McColley is considered the premier recruitment, according to the source. And although he didn’t “take the bite,” at the meeting… he didn’t rule it out entirely, either.
God, I hate the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Chief Operating Officer David Jenkins met with Senate President McColley on June 18. And frankly, I’m still sick with myself that I missed The Bust Up of The Century.
According to a source, Haslam and Jenkins “left happy.” And it’s easy to see why, because less than a week later, Statehouse Republicans announced they’ll follow the Senate’s plan to loot the Unclaimed Property Fund for $1.7 billion(!).
The Browns would get $600 million for their disgusting new arena boondoggle in Brook Park, which Cleveland is still fighting tooth-and-nail against.
Another $400 million would go into a Sports Arena Fund, as originally proposed by Governor DeWine, albeit one he wanted created through raising taxes on sports betting.
If you’re good at math, you might realize that leaves another $700 million in the proposed pot. And Statehouse Republicans are refusing to say what they would do with that money, which almost assuredly will be used to ease the tax burden on the wealthiest Ohioans.
The nonpartisan Ohio Legislative Service Commission wrote a memo, explaining that it reached the conclusion that the looting of the Unclaimed Property Fund would likely be challenged on Constitutional grounds, given that no state had ever tried this move on such a grand scale with such little notice.
Senator Young Moussolini reponded as only he could.
From Michelle Jarboe of news5cleveland.com:
“We think we are within our rights as a legislature to be able to do what we’re talking about doing here,” [Senate Finance chairman Jerry Cirino] told reporters in Columbus last week.
“I’ve only heard some things from people who really aren’t experts at this sort of thing,” he added. “And perhaps they think they are.”
Well, he’s nothing without his charm, folks.
According to Jim Provance of The Toledo Blade, former Attorney General Marc Dann and former Attorney General candidate Jeff Crossman plan to file a class action lawsuit against the plan as well given that there is no state statute that ordains the repossession and unilateral spending of the Unclaimed Property Tax Fund.
On the new Democratic Leadership team
It’s a new era for the Ohio House Democrats, after a floor vote yesterday cemented its newest leadership team:
Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (Cincinnati)
Assistant Minority Leader Phil Robinson (Solon)
Whip Baryl Brown Piccolantonio (Gahanna)
Assistant Whip Desiree Times (Dayton).
I was skeptical of Isaacsohn when I first encountered him in the Statehouse, though to no fault of his own. I am just naturally bigoted against tall, dark, and well-spoken handsome men.
But that distrust was misplaced. And I wasn’t surprised to see him win the unanimous vote after reporting he’d be the next Minority Leader last week. Isaacsohn, to put it bluntly, has the juice.
Rep. Robinson as Assistant Minority Leader was a bit of a surprise. Robinson, according to two sources, didn’t pay his Democratic Caucus dues in the past two General Assemblies. And he confirmed to me yesterday that he indeed carries three phones, which is a baffling number to me, as I assumed only drug dealers and affair-havers needed two phones.
But Robinson can raise money, which is no small thing for a superminority caucus. Still, it’s a position that, had you asked me last week, I probably would have guessed would go to State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells.
Jarrells has a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder, which I can respect. And though I bare him no personal animus, I don’t think his tweet about “stepping down” from leadership was on the ball.
According to multiple sources in the room, Jarrells lost the trust of a large swath of his colleagues during his time as Assistant Minority Leader under former House Minority Leader Allison Russo.
Russo relied on Jarrells to deliver bad news to the caucus, and Jarrells, being a good soldier, did his duty. But he also rubbed a lot of colleagues the wrong way with his naked ambition, petty power-plays and unfulfilled promises.
And so, it wasn’t Jarrells stepping down so much as not having the votes to retain his position in leadership.
Jarrells isn’t the type to go quietly into the night. His ambition in life and politics is p
no secret. And while there is some chatter about Jarrells running statewide, I continue to think he has his eyes on becoming a Franklin County Commissioner should Erica Crawley or, God forbid, Kevin Boyce replace Congresswoman Joyce Beatty.
And I wouldn’t blame him. The Franklin County Commission is the best landing spot for Democrats in Ohio, bar none. The pay and benefits are great, as is the workload. Plus, you don’t have to schlep back and forth between Washington D.C. and routinely rub shoulders with some of the worst people alive.
But that, as always, is just one man’s opinion.
THOSE WMDs. How Trump shifted on Iran under pressure from Israel… How a dark reiminaging of Dumbo the Elephant shaped the business dealings of an Irish drug lord… The rise, fall and contested future of Hizbullah… Amelia Earhart’s reckless final flights… The convictions of Lucy Letby: Should they be overturned?
Cuomo = Unrepenting sex pest - 😂
Typo....That's Desiree Tims