WSPD show recap - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012

Here are the links to the topics we discussed during my guest hosting Thursday on 1370 WSPD:

* Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs, and his letter to Mitt Romney about skilled trades and how our nation seems to no longer value hard work.

Link to story

* State Rep. Barbara Sears called in to add to the topic and inform the audience about the state's 21st Century Manufacturing Task Force, which met at Owens-Illinois earlier in the day. This was part of a series of meetings around the state and she said that she's hearing lots of comments about individuals not being ready for today's manufacturing and skilled labor jobs.

She also encouraged people to share their thoughts with her by contacting her office.

Link to task force information

* After being found guilty of violating the Hatch Act which "prohibits federal employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is again hitting the campaign trail for President Barack Obama.

Link to story

* Pres. Obama, after being criticized for missing so many of his intelligence briefings leading up to the terrorist attack on our Libyan embassy, is now attending nearly 100% of them - and sometimes V.P. Biden as well! Imagine that.

Link to story

* University of Chicago professor claims American "overvalues" free speech.

Link to story

* There will be no bacon shortage after all - and there was great rejoicing (but I'm still stockpiling bacon anyway!).

Link to story

* Andrew Marcus, writer and director for the soon-to-be release film Hating Breitbart, was my guest to talk about the movie and why the examination of how the media came to hate the late Andrew Breitbart is so critical to understand, especially now.

Podcast is available here

Friday show:

It's fishing line Friday so be sure to call-in. We will have two guests:

* 3:30 p.m. Matt Mayer from Opportunity Ohio, a free-market think tank, will talk about "Can Romney win Ohio?"

* 4:30 p.m. Bill Weisenberg from the Ohio Bar Association on the organization's opposition to Issue 2, the redistricting proposal.

Mayor Mike Bell's ad in support of Ohio Issue 2

Here is the latest ad in support of Ohio Issue 2 (Senate Bill 5) featuring Toledo Mayor Mike Bell. The ad is from Building a Better Ohio.

An honest look at Issue 2 ad from 'We Are Ohio'

I found this video on YouTube and wanted to share it. It analyzes and debunks the claims of the most recent ad from opponents of Senate Bill 5, which is Issue 2 on the November ballot.

It contains good information for countering the distortions coming from the unions - distortions which would have you believe that if Issue 2 isn't defeated, then all hell will break loose and everyone will die. Yes, that's an exaggeration, but it's fitting considering the union claims.

And in case you're wondering why I keep calling it 'union' claims, it's because all the anti-reform people are unions. The group, called We Are Ohio, claims to be a " citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition." But as that hero points out:

Their populist banner exists to hide the fact that opposition to union reform is driven by the unions – predominantly from D.C. If We Are Ohio is not “a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition,” nothing else they say carries much weight… and not merely because they’ve been proven liars right out of the chute.

There is also a great chart on the linked blog post which shows where all the money for We Are Ohio is coming from. It shows that of the over $6.3 million raised so far, less than 1% (it's actually .6%) comes from individuals. The rest comes from unions and the Ohio Democratic Party.

That, along with this video (courtesy of GOHP blog) puts their ad in a different light.

Ohio taxpayer contributions to public pensions higher than national averages

Press Release from the Buckeye Institute:

For more information, contact:
Matt Mayer, President
E-mail: mmayer@buckeyeinstitute.org
Phone: 614.224.4422

BUCKEYE INSTITUTE STUDY FINDS TAXPAYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO PUBLIC PENSIONS HIGHER THAN NATIONAL AVERAGES

September 2, 2011- Columbus, OH - The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions has released a report that finds that taxpayer funded employer contributions to most of the state pension plans exceeds both the national average and national median for comparable systems in other states.

The report, titled Taxpayers on the Hook, further finds that despite these generous contribution rates, none of the pensions are fully funded. In fact, the best-funded plan only has 75 cents in assets for every dollar in liabilities. This means that, ultimately, taxpayers would be on the hook to pony up additional dollars if pension investment returns decline.

By contrast, if the state were to simply pay a matching rate in line with the national median for the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS), State Teacher Retirement System (STRS) and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) it is estimated that $748 million in taxpayer dollars could be saved annually.

Breaking down the ranking, Ohio ranks 14 out of 50 states with a 14 percent of salary matching rate for its main state employee pension, OPERS. The national median is 11.94 percent and the average 12.17 percent.

For state's with separate teacher pension funds, Ohio ranks 9th in the nation with a 14 percent taxpayer contribution rate compared to a national median of 9.8 percent and an average of 11.85 percent.

For states with a specific state pension for police officers, Ohio ranks 10th in the nation with a 19.5 percent taxpayer contribution rate compared to the national median of 11.36 percent and average of 14.7 percent.

Ohio ranks 6th nationally when it comes to taxpayer funded pension contributions for firefighters, with a rate of 24 percent. The national median is 12 percent and average 15.61 percent.

The report also reaffirms that previous research done by the Buckeye Institute, the Impact of Shifting State Workers to Defined Contribution Plans, on the benefits of shifting from a defined benefit pension plan, as Ohio currently has for all state employees, to a defined contribution plan. Such a shift would eventually remove taxpayers from the hook of contributions above and beyond already high rates.

An appendix that includes all state contribution rates is also available.

###

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions is Ohio's premier free market think tank. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeye Institute has provided the research and solutions to Ohio's toughest public policy challenges in economic freedom and competitiveness, job creation and entrepreneurship, and government transparency and accountability for over 21 years.

www.buckeyeinstitute.org

The balkanization of Toledo

Last night's Toledo City Council meeting gives a glimpse of what could happen in Toledo if we adopt the '9 is Fine' charter amendment proposal (Issue 2 on the primary ballot) and go to all district representation on our council.

Lisa Renee, at Glass City Jungle, has notes from the discussion, but you can listen for yourself here in the discussion over the Kroger store closing resolution.

In trying to be accommodating, council voted to allow comment from some audience members present for the issue. Council does not normally allow comments at their business meetings, as that is usually reserved for committees. And last night shows why.

Instead of addressing the issue of the Kroger store closing, one person from the Lagrange Village Council decided to attack District Councilman Michael Ashford over his representation, or lack thereof, on this issue and in general.

Now, I don't know about Ashford's relationship with the Lagrange Village Council, but I do know I agree with his position on the Kroger store: that it's a logical business decision for the store to make and while he may not like it, he can appreciate the company's position.

But part of the issue that made it into the news coverage of the discussion was that the store was not in Ashford's district.

Now, this wasn't an overwhelming consideration, but it did come up. And it raises the issue of what would happen if Toledo has only district representatives.

I've already spelled out my opposition to the '9 is Fine' charter amendment, including this particular scenario. But here it is - the balkanization of our city - already raising its ugly head...and we haven't even voted on the proposal yet.

I'm in favor of a smaller council and like the idea of an odd number, but I don't want to lose the accountability of seven members of council (my district rep and all at-large members) to have only two (my district rep and the super district rep) or three (add in the other district rep in the super district) directly responsible to me.

The big consideration presented by the supporters is that this measure would provide better geographic representation. While that may be the case - and could be seen as a positive - it is outweighed by the in-fighting we already see over limited capital improvement monies and the attention of city departments to individual district needs. Besides, I'm more interested in attention to issues and diversity of thought than I am in geography. We can mandate people from 1 to 100 districts, but that doesn't give us a balance of perspective, which is what this city so desperately needs.

So remember this when you go to vote in the primary - the problem already exists and Issue 2 will only make it worse.