Licking County Pro-Active Citizens

REFERN: DEMOCRATS ORGANIZED TO WIN

  Licking County today officially opened a state Democratic Party campaign office on Church St., one of 40 now spread across the state as part of the party's drive to continue its winning ways at the polls this November.

Speaking at the opening, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said he expects this number of coordinated campaign hubs to double by election day. That would be approaching the scale of the ground game put together by the state party in 2008 which was critical in sweeping Barack Obama into the White House.

ODP is the largest state Democratic Party organization in the country, with total staffing expected to reach 250 by this fall, said Redfern. Three state party workers are already based in Newark helping to coordinate local, state and federal campaign activities.

Addressing an overflow crowd of volunteers at the local Democratic office, Redfern said despite press reports of gloomy Democratic prospects this November, he expects a combination of better candidates and a much superior on-the-ground organization will serve the party well just as it did in 2006 and 2008.

Redfern acknowledged that the Ohio economy is in bad shape, as shown by the 17 per cent jobless rate in his home county of Ottawa. But it's the Democratic ticket, headed by Governor Ted Strickland, that is pulling us out of the ditch, he said.

By comparison, it's the Republican team, John Kasich for governor and Rob Portman for Senate, who were among the architects of this recession, Redfern charged. Kasich was a former managing partner at the Lehman Brothers brokerage house whose bankruptcy was instrumental in the Wall Street collapse. Portman, as former President George Bush's former U.S. trade representative, is blamed by Democrats for trade agreements which resulted in the outsourcing of millions of U.S. jobs to other countries.

But the chairman also signaled that the party this year will also be focusing on returning Congressman Zack Space (18th District) and Mary Jo Kilroy (15th District) to Washington and replacing 12th District Republican Pat Tiberi with the Democratic challenger, Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks.

It was unconscionable, Redfern said, for Tiberi -- or any Ohio congressman for that matter -- to have opposed the Obama administration's rescue of General Motors given how much the auto industry - both in terms of assembly plants and parts suppliers - means to the Ohio economy.
Redfern also strongly urged Ohio voters to re-elect State Rep. Dan Dodd, who was present at the rally.

While the statewide and federal races get most of the attention, it's the state legislative contests which will decide which party controls the mapping of new congressional districts following the 2010 census.

"That's why we say the 2010 election is really about who controls Ohio for the next 10 years," the chairman said.

-- David Lore

JON HUSTED: VOTED "NO," PREACHES "YES"

Those of us who worked for passage five years ago of State Issue 4, the gerrymandering reform amendment, are getting a bit weary of Republican Jon Husted's hand-wringing on the issue.

Husted, a state senator from Kettering currently running for Ohio Secretary of State, is quoted in today's Dispatch as lamenting -- once again -- that "there just doesn't seem to be the will from enough Democrats and Republicans to get this done."

Husted became a born-again believer in gerrymandering reform beginning in 2006 - after doing everything he could to defeat a proposed fix placed the ballot by public interest groups in November, 2005.  At that time, he explained he was all for leveling the partisan playing field when it comes to the drawing of legislative districts.  He just didn't like how the Issue 4 plan went about it.

"'I can agree to drawing districts in a more fair and balanced manner. I just don't agree with the way this amendment attempts to do that,'' said Ohio House Speaker Jon A. Husted , a Kettering Republican.
This month, Husted went to Washington to confer with Ohio's 12-member GOP House delegation and the Republican National Committee, but he denied planning campaign and fund-raising strategies to defeat the amendment."
(Dispatch June 26, 2005)

LICOPAC, which had just organized that spring, worked hard with other public interest groups around the state to gather hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to put Issue 4 and several companion amendments before the voters.  But intense Republican opposition -- combined with Democratic Party disinterest -- resulted in a one-sided  "Vote No" campaign and voter rejection that November.

Husted, opposed to the citizen initiative, was under the impression the Ohio General Assembly could do a better job.  He was wrong in 2006.  And 2007.  And 2008. And 2009.

And now, according to today's report, redistricting reform is once again dead in the assembly for 2010.

"Another year of talking and removing politics from the processing of drawing congressional and legislative districts has come and gone," reports the Dispatch.  "Once again, nothing has changed."

The Dispatch, it should be noted, has likewise been championing gerrymandering reform (and Husted) since 2006 - after opposing Issue 4 editorially in 2005.

As Sarah Bear would say, "Gerrymandering reform by the Ohio General Assembly - How's that workin' out for Ya!"

-- David Lore

 

Lawmakers Skip, Problems persist

If you think Washington D.C. is the source of all our political problems, you're watching too much TV.

Over the past weekend, it's the Statehouse follies in Columbus that have been drawing fire from Ohio newspapers.

YOUR Ohio General Assembly has just recessed for the summer and the state's newspaper editorialists and columnists are none too happy with its performance.  When a kid in high school messes up all year and doesn't complete his homework, he faces 10 weeks of summer school.  When state legislators do the same, it's vacation time until September, a three-month recess to hit up the home folks for money, votes and campaign contributions so they can go back next January and do more of the same.

The only possible way they can screw up this cozy deal, it appears, is to vote against expanded gun rights.  Quoted in today's Dispatch, "veteran lobbyist" McKenzie Davis said only Big Pharma rivals the National Rifle Association in striking terror in solons' souls.

"Legislators don't seem to be granted the ability by the NRA to say, 'I'm pro-gun, but I think guns in bars might be a step too far' and expect to get that endorsement," he said.

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/13/copy/under-the-gun.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

But don't look for a quick draw on the rest of the state's unfinished legislative agenda.

Here's what some of Ohio's leading newspapers are saying about our Adios Assembly, with thanks to the the Dispatch and the America Votes Ohio News Service:

Election defeat: Lawmakers fumble at the chance to improve the way Ohio votes.
Akron Beacon-Journal Editorial
After votes were tallied in 2008, much effort was aimed at finding ways to improve Ohio elections. Jennifer Brunner, the secretary of state, pulled together panel discussions. The House and Senate passed bills addressing significant problems. In the final weeks before the legislature recessed for the summer, discussions continued, with room for compromise in time for balloting this fall. Sadly, adjournment came last week with no action. Last-minute negotiations brought together officials from legislative caucuses, Brunner's office, the League of Women Voters and the Ohio Association of Election Officials. These key players came close to an agreement that would ease access to the ballot for many voters and reduce the likelihood of confidence-sapping lawsuits in close elections.
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/95933194.html

Much work left undone
Toledo Blade Editorial
State lawmakers stuck around long enough last week to choose Ohio's official frog. They even hung in until about 4 a.m. last Friday to complete industry-friendly rules for the four casinos voters approved last November. But they couldn't find time to deal with other important issues before they took off on summer vacation.
http://toledoblade.com/article/20100609/OPINION02/6090309/-1/OPINION

Ohio lawmakers say they're ready to pick up the pace on budget work
Aaron Marshall, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Nearly a year after state lawmakers named a special work group to start looking for solutions to what could be the biggest budget crisis in Ohio's history, the group has yet to meet.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/06/ohio_lawmakers_say_theyre_read.html

Proposed solutions to prison crowding problem would undo old laws
Tom Beyerlein, Dayton Daily News
Tough-on-crime laws have left prisons bursting at the seams, causing state officials and lawmakers to rethink the way justice is meted out in Ohio. Some reform proposals would undo laws that caused prison rolls to explode since the 1980s.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/proposed-solutions-to-prison-crowding-problem-would-undo-old-laws-755052.html

When will Ohio stop the ripoff
Editorial, Dayton Daily News
The payday lending sharks bought themselves more time. Ohio senators went home for the summer without doing anything to stop them from ripping off people. Specifically, they didn’t vote on good controls the House has approved.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/opinion/entries/2010/06/10/editorial_when_will_ohio_stop.html?cxtype=feedbot

Redistricting reform falls victim again to drams of power

Joe Hallett, Columbus Dispatch

Lawmakers have gone home to campaign for their mostly slam-dunk re-elections, living large in a preponderance of districts drawn to ensure the party they represent can't lose.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2010/06/13/redistricting-reform-falls-victim-again-to-dreams-of-power.html?sid=101

There were complaints earlier in the legislative session that the Ohio House and Senate didn't seem to be getting anything done.

There were assurances that despite a slow start, the pace would quicken come 2010.

But unless you own a casino, you should be disappointed at the failure of Ohio lawmakers to deal with host of problems confronting the state. It's hard to believe, but compared to this bunch, Congress looks pretty good right now.

-- David Lore

 

STRICKLAND: "I NEVER FORGOT WHERE I CAME FROM"

Ohio's "nice-guy" governor bared his teeth last night in  looking ahead to his up-coming re-election battle with Republican John Kasich.

"This race is about Ohio values versus Wall Street values," Ted Strickland said during a campaign stop in downtown Newark, pumping up more than 200 area Democrats gathered for the party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner.

Kasich grew up the son of a mailman while he grew up the son of a steelworker, the governor said.  But these humble beginnings is where the comparison ended.  "I never forgot where I came from.  But John Kasich went to Wall Street and forgot where he came from."

The governor pounced on Kasich's disclosure this week that as a managing director he collected $182,692 in salary from the now-bankrupt Lehman Bros. Wall Street investment house during 2008 --  along with a $432,000 bonus.  The Lehman collapse last fall, Strickland said, "was the straw that broke the camel's back" in the ensuing nationwide and worldwide financial crisis.

Now, Strickland continued, Kasich is running for governor on a platform which includes phasing out the state income tax, source of 46 percent of all state revenues.

"This guy is reckless, and he's wrong," said Strickland.

There's nothing parochial about the Ohio elections this year, the governor said.  What happens here in 2010 sets the table for the national presidential race in 2012.

"Ohio is one of nine states that went from Red (Republican) to Blue (Democratic) in 2008" with the election of Barack Obama.  Some of those states, notably Virginia and Indiana, now seem to be slipping back into the Republican column, he said.  "But if Obama loses eight of those nine states but still holds Ohio, he'll be re-elected."

"You know Karl Rove knows that," said Strickland.  "So controlling Ohio this year is critical to winning in 2012."

The event, at the Place Off The Square Hotel, also featured remarks from two other statewide Democratic candidates: Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, running for Ohio Secretary of State, and David Pepper, running for State Auditor.

In addition, Congressman Zack Space, D-18, was on hand to address why he decided last month to vote against the Obama administration's health care insurance reform bill.

The bill passed, but Space has drawn strong criticism from some Democrats for being the only member of his party from Ohio voting NO on the landmark measure.

Space emphasized that he has always supported health care reform but voted NO on the final version because he thought the Democratic-controlled Congress could - and would - do better if the Senate version failed when it came back before the House in March.  "I do not believe that if the health care bill had failed, that would have been the end of health care reform," he said.

Space said he had supported an earlier House-passed version in late 2009 but opposed the Senate version because "it didn't keep the insurance companies honest" and it didn't do enough to make coverage affordable for low-income Ohioans.

"I thought we could and should have done better," he said.

Earlier, during an informal pre-dinner meeting with about 30 local Democrats, Space asked for support in his re-election bid this year based on his overall record in Congress, which included not only his earlier vote for health care reform but also his support for administration-backed energy legislation hotly contested by coal interests in his 16-county eastern Ohio district.

The evening ended with a special tribute to longtime Democratic activist Ray McKenna of Granville.  McKenna, former director of the Denison University Book Store, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Strickland for his decades of work here on behalf of party organizations and candidates.

-- David Lore

DINING WITH THE GOV

(Guest Column in the Newark Advocate, March 28, 2010)

 

Ted Strickland will be in Newark this Saturday to chew politics and over-priced chicken with several hundred supporters rallying at The Place on the Square.

 

Count me in, although the last time I broke bread with a governor the arrangements were more Spartan than crisp draped tables in a hotel dining room.  It was some 40 years ago and the banquet of cold cuts was served up by former Gov. James A. Rhodes on the hood of a patrol car hard by the Ohio River.

 

I’m hazy as to the when, where and why, but I do recall that Rhodes, a Republican from Jackson County, was in his element that day, taking charge of lunch arrangements for a small band of traveling pressmen crammed into a two-cruiser convoy heading down Rt. 52 towards Cincinnati.

 

Rhodes was a snacker, too impatient to actually stop at a restaurant.  So when mid-day came, he detoured us into a convenience store lot and swept up heaping portions of greasy munchies.

“Here boys, eat up,” he barked, plopping down the food on the sun-baked hood of the lead cruiser, the butcher paper serving as the tablecloth.

 

We grabbed what we could as fast as we could, knowing that Rhodes, who ate little himself, would have us back on the road within a matter of minutes.

 

In some ways, Strickland reminds me of Rhodes, maybe because he also came out of Ohio Appalachia (Scioto County).

 

Politically, Strickland and Rhodes had far different appetites.  Still, both brought to their office a restless hunger for action, Rhodes in terms of bricks and mortar (airports, campuses in every county!) and Strickland with his sweeping promises for energy alternatives and school reform.

Reporters, however cynical, prized Jim Rhodes for his passions – even (and especially) the half-cocked ones – because the guy made great copy.

 

Rhodes, for example, framed one bad winter as Armageddon, declaring during the great snowstorm of January 1977 that “what we are talking about is the survival of Ohio – and the preservation of human life in this state.”

 

And then when the weather emergency gave way to a statewide natural gas crisis, Rhodes provided leadership missing amidst the dithering of regulators, utility executives and school officials.  “It’s all going to be me before this gets through,” he accurately predicted.

 

And who can forget his over-the-top bid to bridge Lake Erie or his unflagging enthusiasm for vocational education, clean-coal technology and the Ohio State Fair?

 

Rhodes, who died nine years ago this month, is best known for tragically over-reacting to the student riots at Kent State.

 

But he’s also remembered for his tireless pursuit of “jobs and progress,” a campaign Strickland must now take up with the same vigor to bring Ohio out of the recession.  Maybe it takes growing up hungry to make a governor feel that mission in his gut.

 

Gov. Strickland’s address is open to the public.  Contact the Licking County Democratic Party at 349-8273 for ticket information.

 

David Lore, a retired journalist, lives in McKean Township.

STATEHOUSE CON GAME

Where, in the midst of Ohio's ever-deepening "recession," can a down-and-out citizen be guaranteed not only room and board but free medical care, recreational opportunities and maybe even educational classes and/or psychological counseling?

In prison, of course.

And there are tens of thousands of Ohio inmates who are "beneficiaries" of this kind of jailhouse welfare, miscreants on short-term sentences for non-violent crimes who even prison officials say don't really need to remain incarcerated. 

Taxpayers in these hard times are coughing up an average of $24,000 a year to keep these (mostly) men behind bars as the state's prison population approves an all-time high of more than 51,000 felons.  And so far, Ohio legislators don't seem to mind: reform legislation has been stuck in the Senate for months, even as the state's financial situation plummets from bad to worse.

Gary Daniels, associate director of ACLU-Ohio, told Licking County Democrats last night that his organization used to lobby for prison and sentencing reform by citing the need for things like judicial equity, humane treatment and rehabilitation.  Now, he said, ACLU lobbyists just tells legislators that the bills have come due for all those "tough-on-crime" laws the assembly so enthusiastically approved in better times.

"The State of Ohio is broke - there's no other way to put it," he told members of the county Democratic Club.  "So now we just say, 'You just can't afford to do this anymore.' "

Daniels said nobody is promoting the release of thousands of blood-thirsty killers.  Take a closer look, he said, at the demographics of Ohio's prison population:

• Ohio's 32 prisons are badly overcrowded, currently at 132 percent of capacity.
• About half of Ohio inmates are serving sentences of one year or less.  Rather than being dangerous felons, most of these short-termers are just "people we're basically mad at." 
• The largest percentage of non-violent offenders are in for drug-related offenses.
• About 7,000 of all state inmates are older than age 50.
• About 1,700 are in state prison because of parole violations.
• About 800 are in state prison for failure to pay child support.

Last spring, Governor Strickland in his budget recommended measures to reduce the state's prison population by some 6,700 inmates, for an estimated annual saving of $30 million.  When the governor's proposal ran into a buzz saw of opposition from prosecutors and Republican lawmakers, it was removed from the budget and recast and resubmitted as S.B. 22 (Seitz).

S.B. 22 among other things would divert lesser offenders (such as child support cases and parole violators) from state prison, use "good time" credits to shorten sentences for good behavior and bring more equity to drug laws (which penalize "crack" users more harshly than up-scale cocaine users, for example).

"Senate Bill 22 offers solutions that save money, ease crowding in a way that doesn't require building new prisons and might even cut down on repeat offenses," the Dispatch editorialized last April. "Reform is not being soft on crime but being smarter in managing it. This year, the prisons will return about 29,000 convicts to their communities, and the public is better protected if those inmates are better equipped to live within the law."

The bill made it out of a Senate committee but now, according to Daniels, is stuck again because Senate  Republican leaders don't want to risk a controversial floor vote without assurance the bill will be approved by the Democratic House as well. 

But in the House, Democratic Speaker Armond Budish seems ready only to support yet another study of the prison situation, Daniels said.

As for Strickland, he remains "fairly supportive" of reform "but so far has failed to use his bully pulpit to solve the problem,"  said Daniels.

So like it or not, every Ohio taxpayer is contributing to an "Adopt-a-Con" program (without those heart-warming pictures!) which wardens and prison officials admit is not really necessary or effective. 

Meanwhile, reform legislation which could save tens of millions of dollars without eroding public safety remains locked up in the Statehouse because of Ohio's dysfunctional politics.  Really, who's getting "conned" here?

-- David Lore

HOTTINGER'S CHEAP SHOT

State Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, would no doubt have been a big disappointment to former State Sen. Jay Hottinger.

Seems our hometown boy, who campaigns every two years as "watchdog of the treasury," is now playing the same sort of irresponsible political games he decried as a state senator only four years ago.

Rep. Hottinger, chairman of the Ohio House Finance and Appropriations Committee, was first out of the box on Wednesday to take a partisan swing at Governor Strickland for delaying  a scheduled 4.2 percent cut in state income tax rates to plug a $851 million hole in the state budget.  According to the Dispatch,

"The political fallout was instantaneous.  Almost at the exact moment that Strickland announced his plan... state Rep. Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican, e-mailed a statement blistering the governor for advocating a tax increase."

As it turned out, this didn't sit well with the Dispatch's normally Republican-leaning editorial board which for weeks has been calling for bipartisan cooperation between the governor and legislature to resolve the budget problem.  In its lead editorial today, headlined "Political Games," the newspaper said:

"The budget can be balanced only by cutting spending or increasing revenue. Strickland and legislators already have cut spending drastically, eliminating $2.4 billion, much of it in programs and services on which needy Ohioans depend. Balancing the budget shouldn't fall any harder on the backs of those who can least bear it.

Republicans ought to know this, and that includes Newark Rep. Jay Hottinger, who wasted no time Wednesday cranking out an e-mail blasting Strickland for his "tax increase." That's an easy charge to make, but what would Hottinger and those who agree with him do instead? What else would they cut from the budget?

They aren't saying, but that's no surprise. They're playing politics instead of being statesmen. But Ohio can't afford their gamesmanship."

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2009/10/02/taxted.ART_ART_10-02-09_A14_PMF82IL.html?sid=101

If this all sounds like familiar criticism to Hottinger, it should since he accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell of the same tactic back in 2005.

To quote this time from the April 29, 2005 Newark Advocate:

"Blackwell, who addressed the Newark Rotary Club Tuesday...criticized state legislators for the growth in spending in recent years.  During his remarks, Blackwell...said the budget state leaders are currently considering contains $4.2 billion in tax increases and only $1.9 billion in cuts over four years.  It's a claim with which Hottinger takes issue.

"It's a net tax cut," Hottinger said.  "The facts are we're cutting $4.2 billion.  Taxes are being raised $3.3 billion.  I would say to Mr. Blackwell, "You do the math."

(Strickland and Democrats today argue that, likewise, the governor's plan is not a tax increase since state income tax rates are just being frozen at 2008 levels and many families will still see a small net decrease in their income tax because personal exemptions are being raised.)

Hottinger, in 2005, then went on to criticize Blackwell for skewing facts "in order to score points with voters" and for his "rhetoric and recklessness with the facts."

"I think it's irresponsible of a government leader to criticize without offering solutions," Hottinger said, according to the Advocate.  "I think it is incumbent on him as a candidate for governor to spell out where we should have those cuts."

Which is kind of the same cheap shot Rep. Hottinger is being accused of today.  Again, from today's Dispatch:

"Those rapping Strickland's tax plan should offer own solution to budget crisis."

Bottom line: What a difference four years and a switch from the Senate to the House (not to mention the election of a Democrat  as governor) have made in Hottinger's view in what constitutes responsible politics. 

Sure it's all a game, but it's up to the voters to be the umpire and bench those politicians who don't behave.

-- David Lore 

 

 

PUTTING STATE MONEY TO WORK

When I was a Statehouse reporter three decades ago, the role of the state treasurer was pretty much what you'd expect: scoop up the tax money collected by the Department of Taxation and deposit it in "friendly" banks and investment houses.  Unless an investment went scandalously sour, the office was a backwater in state government as far as the media and the public were concerned.

Although I consider myself well informed, I didn't anticipate that much had changed when I went down to Heath last night to hear our new State Treasurer, Kevin Boyce, address Licking County Democrats.

Not what I expected.

"We've got to invest in people, not in banks," said Boyce, who took office last January when former Treasurer Richard Cordray moved over to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.  That's why Boyce is retooling his office, making it less of a counting house and more of a department of economic development.

Having been recently scolded by my daughter for hanging on to a houseful of old, energy inefficient appliances, I was especially interested in Boyce's newest innovation, called ECO-Link.  To quote from his website:

"The Energy Conservation for Ohioans (ECO-Link) program is designed to provide reduced rate financing through partnering banks for Ohioans completing “whole home” weatherization and energy efficient improvements in their homes. ECO-Link provides the powerful lending resources needed to allow homeowners to enjoy a more comfortable home, realize the saving from energy efficient products, and develop Ohio as a leader in the developing green economy."

The details are at http://www.ohiotreasurer.org/ForYou/Default.aspx?Section=ECO

But basically, Boyce directs state deposits to those banks who agree to offer lower interest rates to those consumers borrowing money for home energy conservation projects.

Similar "linked deposit" programs have been started to encourage bank lending at reasonable rates to farmers and small business persons.

Currently, Boyce said his office has $600 million in state cash invested in various economic development programs.  That, out of a total investment portfolio of more than $15 billion, is a good start but obviously there's more that could be done to make sure Ohio's bank account is working for the benefit of Ohioans - not just banks.

"Ohio needs leaders" to get the state out of its current economic doldrums, he said.

In Boyce, it looks like we've got one.

-- David Lore

WHY YOU'RE READING PD STORIES IN THE DISPATCH

Hard times in the newspaper business are forcing old foes to cooperate, a trend that will only increase in coming years, Dispatch Editor Ben Marrison told a local journalism group last night.

If you wondered, for example, why the Dispatch these days is using - and crediting - articles from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and six other Ohio newspapers so frequently in its columns, it's because the kind of cut-throat competition which has been an historic feature of journalism (think Front Page) is now being redefined in the face of cut-throat economics.

The Buckeye papers came together as the Ohio Newspaper Organization (ONO) to share copy and give members an alternative to the Associated Press in terms of statewide coverage, Marrison explained.  AP remains a valuable news source, he said, but member newspapers were unhappy about several aspects of the relationship, including AP's rising subscription costs and the tendency of the news service to distribute newspaper stories without giving credit.

Some called the ONO "the Ohio revolution" and newspapers around the country began to consider such collaborative agreements as well.  AP, Marrison said, has now responded to its member complaints but that doesn't mean the ONO idea has gone away.

"The ONO model is no fad," he told members of the Central Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, meeting at OSU's Fawcett Center.  "It's real and it's here to stay."

Member newspapers are now considering collaboration in other areas as well, including printing and production, he said.

Although this is all still very speculative, Marrison said the possibilities include each newspaper supplementing its local coverage with feature sections published and distributed statewide.

These type of cooperative ventures do not eliminate competition, Marrison said, but they could reduce those instances where member newspapers all feel the need to staff and publish nearly identical stories on the same event.  Instead, he suggested, the presence of a "pool" journalist or journalists at the scene of, let's say a prison riot or bridge collapse, could free up other publications to develop and exploit other angles to the story for the benefit of their readers.

And these are just a few of the many ideas newspaper executives are floating these days to put the industry back on a firm financial shore.  Most, of course, involve news consumers agreeing to pay more for accurate, in-depth and well-edited information.

"If Americans want dime-store information, they'll get it," Marrison said.  If what newspapers have provided is no longer what Americans are willing to pay for, the risk is they'll down-scale to "the quick, the easy and the cheap."

In closing, Marrison described the news-gathering business in terms many use these days for the overall economy.

"I believe newspapers will survive.  They'll get smaller, but rebound, I believe, within two years."

(Gray Hunter) 

MORE ON BRUNNER & KENNEDY

(www.licopac.org broke the news last Sunday that Ohio SOS Jennifer Brunner was courting support from Caroline Kennedy in her bid for the U.S. Senate. Thanks to Dave Harding at www.progressohio.org for this follow-up)

"New York - One of America's most respected citizens, Caroline Kennedy, along with her husband, Ed Schlossberg, held a fundraiser at their home for Ohio Secretary of State and United States Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner Thursday evening.

Kennedy noted that this was the first time she had held a political fund raising event for someone who is not a member of her family. She said that endorsing Brunner and helping her get elected is of importance to Democrats and the nation.

"After the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded Jennifer Brunner a Profile in Courage Award last year, I watched as she stood up for Ohio voters and reformed Ohio's election system.  The whole country would benefit from Jennifer's approach to public service, and that's why I am supporting her for the U.S. Senate."

Brunner was elected twice as a judge, and won an open seat for Ohio Secretary of State with a 15-point lead over 3 other candidates in the general election.  After serving as Ohio's Secretary of State for just over a year, she was awarded the Profile in Courage award for fighting for needed election reforms related to voting machine reliability and security.  The Profile in Courage Award is considered the nation's most prestigious honor for elected public servants.

"The Kennedy heritage of public service is superb, and the support of Caroline Kennedy at this early stage is gratifying.  She contacted our campaign and generously offered to host this event at her home," the 52-year-old Brunner said.  "Caroline understands that the people of our nation deserve so much more than the results of the last eight years.  And she shares my determination to restore prosperity and jobs in new and progressive ways to improve the lives of Ohioans and all Americans," she said.

Brunner is running in the May 2010 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Senator George Voinovich. A recent Quinnipiac University press release on its March poll of the race called it "a wide-open affair".