ProgressOhio is a left-wing attack group that seems to be getting more and more desperate in their assault on Governor Kasich.
These are the same jokers who sued in an attempt to prevent Ohioans from making their own choice as to whether citizens can be forced to join a health care system, which is what Obamacare does. They tried to invalidate thousands of Ohioans’ signatures and have Issue 3 pulled from the ballot. In their world, the federal government should be free to dictate that you must purchase a product, regardless of whether Congress is granted such power. The Ohio Supreme Court recognized the frivelousness of the effort and unanimously rejected their suit.
Now, they are out with a new smear.
The leader of a liberal policy group levied harsh claims against Gov. John Kasich and the governor’s intentions to use Third Frontier dollars for JobsOhio this morning.
…
Rothenberg said Kasich’s intentions to divide $24 million in Third Frontier dollars between six regional economic development agencies for the purposes of working with JobsOhio was a “laundering scheme” to award campaign donors for supporting him and Senate Bill 5. Throughout a monring (sic) news conference, Rothenberg said the Third Frontier dollars were slated to go to “local and regional” chambers of commerce, and said those chambers and their board members have donated more than $430,000 to “Kasich, pro-SB5 lawmakers, and Republican Party campaign committees” since June, 2007…
Rothenberg is being so dishonest, and the accusations are so ridiculous, that the Dispatch article already disproves what he is claiming.
First off, most of the donations he refers to were made before Kasich took office, and before Senate Bill 5 was ever introduced. So, there is no possibility that the donors were looking for a “reward” for supporting SB5.
Furthermore, no Third Frontier money is actually going to any chambers of commerce. Rothenberg lied about that throughout his entire press conference. The money is actually slated to go to development agencies.
In some cases, they highlighted donations to Kasich and Republicans, but ignored donations to Democrats and anti-SB5 politicians made by the same people.
Rothenberg also cited $3,858 in contributions to Kasich and GOP causes made by Team NEO chief executive officer Thomas Waltermire. But Waltermire also donated $1,500 to Democratic House Minority Leader Armond Budish and gave to other Democratic causes during the same time frame.
Normally, I would say, “duh”, but Rothenberg knew this detail full well. He just chose not to disclose it because it completely undermines his foolish argument.
And here’s the biggest whopper from ProgressOhio. Of the $430,000 in donations that they identified, the overwhelming majority of that money, $372,000, came from members of an agency known as the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Guess how much Third Frontier money the GCP is due to receive to work with JobsOhio?
Zero.
So, 87% of the donations they are complaining about came from a group who isn’t even going to see Third Frontier money. So, how is GCP being somehow rewarded?
Finally, even if Rothenberg’s accusation had merit and was true, which it isn’t, it would be the height of hyprocrisy.
Using his logic, isn’t the relationship between labor unions and the Ohio Democratic Party a “laundering scheme”? Union dues are collected from taxpayer-funded salaries and the vast majority of those funds are directly funneled to Democrats, who reward the union bosses by keeping the forcibly-taken money flowing. If anything is a laundering scheme to use tax dollars to benefit a special interest group, it would be “We Are Ohio”.
These folks will do anything, say anything, and straight out lie to the public to defeat Senate Bill 5 and maintain the status quo. Don’t let them fool you. Vote Yes on Issue 2.
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