One of Ted Strickland’s so-called accomplishments, per his campaign website, is the following:
Coordinates resources from the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The Department monitors resources flowing from the U. S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs to Ohio and consults with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on program development and implementation.
So you’re in charge of making sure Ohio’s veterans obtain the funding they are due from the federal government, eh?
Well, perhaps the Governor should have paid closer attention to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Maybe then he could explain this front page article in the Columbus Dispatch:
I quote:
A state program intended to help disabled veterans re-enter the work force saw its funding slashed by more than $500,000 this year because state officials fell short of a federal requirement to hire and retain vocational counselors.
[…]
The reduction means that Ohio – which has the nation’s sixth-largest population of veterans – will continue to shortchange veterans with disabilities who are trying to transition back into civilian life, according to Terry L. Janke, a state official who had administered the program.
Amazing. Yet another example of the Governor’s ineptitude costing Ohioans. And not just any Ohioans, veterans who served proudly in our military.
And yet, the malfeasance doesn’t end there.
When Janke tried to repeatedly warn his superiors of the risk of losing the funding for veterans, the Governor found it necessary to demote him, despite a glowing record of performance.
Janke was demoted and saw his pay cut from $40 an hour to $26 on March 26, three days after he sent a “report of wrongdoing” to his superiors and three weeks after the U.S. Department of Labor informed his bosses that they were cutting the state’s grant. Up to that point, Janke had been receiving favorable performance reviews, documents in his personnel file show.
This is abuse of office, plain and simple. Can’t Strickland’s team accept criticism and consider recommendations without punishing the messenger?
Strickland has gone too far.
Again.
