I generally have avoided talking about myself personally on this site. Many who have learned who I was asked me how I could balance the demands of a legal practice and the demands of blogging. The reality is I couldn’t. The demands of blogging required me to stay up sometimes until 4 a.m. to draft posts that I’d schedule to post throughout the day. It was a labor of love, but it was unsustainable. I’m amazed that I’ve managed as long as I did.

But now the Esquire part has started to overpass Modern. After nearly seven years of practicing and scraping by, I’ve started a new job that fortunately pays well, is intellectually challenging, and is simply too time consuming for me to Modern anymore. It deserves and requires my full attention. Furthermore, I can no longer write a post and not risk a conflict of interest because I simply cannot know all of the potential conflicts anymore. It’s a risk I cannot ethically accept. So, Modern has to go.

I’m sad to pass on the news that Brian Usher has died. I had the pleasure of communicating with Brian a few times over the last few years, and he never ceased to amaze me with his seemingly omnipresent insights.

The sincere condolences of the entire BSB staff, past and present, go out to Mr. Usher’s family.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present to you today the very loosest of cases, based solely of circumstantial evidence and my own unprofessional read of the situation at hand. Nothing I say here should be  taken as fact, unless verified by an outside source

Translation: This is nothing but a theory, and not a very  solid one at that. I’m just throwing it out here in the interest of sparking discussion, not reporting it as fact.

Okay. Now that we have an understanding, I’ll proceed with my case.

Exhibit A: Kasich Calls On Taylor To Testify About Healthcare Exchange

As has been mentioned several times here already, Mary Taylor has been refusing to testify to the House Health and Aging committee about the progress towards setting up a state healthcare exchange.

So if Taylor is unwilling to testify, why did Kasich lead the Columbus Dispatch to believe that he was willing to testify but would prefer for Taylor to do so?

Here’s an excerpt from a December 12th Dispatch article:

Gov. John Kasich hinted that he was willing to share information with Carney and the Ohio House’s Health and Aging Committee. The catch is, the governor said, he’d rather Taylor or his health-care adviser, Greg Moody, go testify instead of him.

“ That’s their issue,” Kasich said, adding later: “I’ve got to think these things through. I’d like to get somebody there that’s working on it all the time.”

Just days later on the 15th, Taylor called the request to testify a “political stunt”.

Exhibit B: Kasich Brings Up Taylor’s Plane Use

In yesterday’s end of the year review, Kasich brought up Taylor’s improper use of state planes. Until I saw a tweet about this remark, I hadn’t heard a thing about this story. Now, because of his mention, the story is getting press coverage.

So why did he bring it up during such a heavily publicized speech?

One could argue that Kasich was trying to head off a potential scandal by announcing a resolution before a story broke through into the public consciousness. The trouble with that theory is that that isn’t how Kasich operates. We have many examples of Kasich’s M.O. dating back to the opening moments of his term, where he attempted to be sworn in during a private midnight ceremony. In this and other cases, Kasich tried to steamroll over opposition until he was finally stopped by bad press and the possibility of a legal challenge. He did the same with his unconstitutional appointment of Mark Kvamme, and his attempts to impose strict limits on press coverage.

Exhibit C: Taylor Did Not Attend Yesterday’s Speech

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Mary Taylor did not attend Kasich’s year end speech. It was claimed that she was off working on CPE training so that she could remain a certified public accountant.

Exhibit D: John Kasich, Control Freak and All-Around Unpleasant Person

And finally, we have the emergence of a pattern. Kasich has finally came out directly and asked for Kevin DeWine to step down as the State Chairman of the Republican Party. This is a fight that has been brewing for a long time, with DeWine now saying Kasich asked him to resign shortly after he was elected.

Kasich tried to do this first through that backchannel ask. When that failed, he used his supporters to try and undermine DeWine’s position. And now he has his supporters out working to state a coup in the central committee.

As much as I hate to say it, the Republicans gave us an ass kicking in the last election. Regardless of the reasons for their success, you wouldn’t expect them to be trying to throw out their chairman. But Kasich is so dead-set of appointing his own man, that he’s willing to risk a major intra-party civil war in a key swing state before a presidential election. Kasich must know that every Democratic strategist in America dreams about stuff like this, and he’s willing to do it anyway.

And now we have Mary Taylor. If Kasich isn’t actively trying to undermine her, he still managing to do a fair job of it.

I don’t know why Kasich would have a reason to turn on Taylor after picking her as a running mate, but there has been speculation that Taylor has her eye on even bigger things. The same has been said about Kasich.

And we all know how Kasich feels about people he perceives as standing in his way…

The Columbus Dispatch has an article up with some remarks from Mary Taylor about the ongoing battle to get her testimony on the progress of setting up a state healthcare exchange. Unfortunately, Taylor seems to view the request as little more than a meaningless "political stunt".

As I mentioned the other day, this is a process that seems to have already been corrupted in another state. I find the unwillingness to treat this as a serious matter by Taylor to be very troubling.

When you also consider that John Kasich has said he would testify but prefers for Taylor to do so, her reluctance becomes downright puzzling.

We all thought that Mary “No Show” Taylor had found the perfect job when she became John Kasich’s Lieutenant Governor. All she had to do was sit around and wait for the day that Kasich got thrown out of the Statehouse, she didn’t even have to make up some story about working in an office in Canton!

But then she ruined it, taking on the second role as Kasich’s Department of Insurance Director.

For almost a month now, House Democrats have been calling on Taylor to update them on the Department of Insurance’s progress towards setting up a state healthcare exchange for Ohio. This state exchange is an option given to the states to bring themselves into compliance with the recently passed healthcare reforms without having to cede control to the Federal Government.

The need for transparency and oversight in this process was recently driven home by the exposure of corruption and waste of Federal grant money by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley while working on their own healthcare exchange.

So far Mary Taylor has ignored requests to appear before the House Health and Aging committee, instead spending her time traveling the state and giving mostly speeches light on policy details and dripping with political rhetoric.

State Representative John Carney has even tried to issue a  subpoena compelling Mary Taylor to testify before the House Health and Aging committee, but Republicans were quick to block the process.

Given all that’s happened in South Carolina and our own redistricting process, one has to wonder if they might have something to hide? Or, more likely, Taylor and her staff have yet to even start on the process.

The State of Ohio has any number of super-mega-big ticket transportation needs on its plate. The Brent Spence Bridge that carries I-71 and I-75 across the Ohio RIver is deteriorating and is going to need a multi-billion dollar replacement. The Innerbelt reconstruction in downtown Cleveland is proceeding with the first step, replacement of the rickety bridges that carry I-90 across the Cuyahoga River valley, under way. In Columbus, re-construction of the interchanges between I-70 and I-71 has commenced, in an $800 million construction project so massive, and with so many lane closures, detours, and orange barrels, that it's referred to as "Crawlumbus." In Toledo, the "Systems" interchange between I-75 and I-475 is in need of re-construction, as is the Central Interchange in downtown Akron between I-77, I-76 and State Route 8.

Meanwhile, the federal gas tax has not increased since 1993, and inflation has eaten up one-third of the State of Ohio's last 6 cent a gallon increase in the gas tax from the Taft administration. Clearly, ODOT faces tremendous challenges garnering the resources to keep our transportation system afloat. 

So, what is Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's beef with ODOT? Well, City Hall's highest proirity transportation project in Cleveland right now is not one that would keep a rickety bridge from falling down, but rather, for asthetic purposes. Mayor Jackson wants to turn the West Shoreway, a 50 MPH freeway that carries US Routes 6 and 20 and State Route 2, into a 35 MPH boulevard, providing pedestrian access, bike paths, and a more pleasant atmosphere to allow Clevelanders to enjoy the lakefront. A worthwhile project, to be sure, and that's why ODOT committed $50 million to it in the middle of the last decade. But now, most of that money will be spent on a single aspect of the project: an underpass under the Norfolk Southern RR tracks to allow residents of the newly rebuilt Battery Park neighborhood access to the lakefront. The cost for this underpass has ballooned from $15 million to $34 million, and now there won't be enough funds left over for the rest of the project. Jackson wants $28 million more from ODOT to finish the job. Given the financial difficulties it faces, ODOT has predictably told the city to go pound sand, leading to a lot of bitching from Cleveland City Hall.

My challenege to Mayor Jackson is this: Quitcherbitchin, and figure out a way between the city and the county to fund this project yourselves. If this region waits for ODOT to solve all of its problems, it'll be waiting a long time. When the City of Columbus wanted improvements made to the interchange between I-71 and Polaris Parkway, it didn't wait for ODOT to fund it, it cut ODOT a check for the cost and told them to go build it. Maybe the City of Cleveland could commit to spending 1/4 of its income tax revenue on capital improvements the way Mike Coleman has? What about Cuyahoga County, with its highest in the state sales tax? Could 1/4 of those revenues be committed to capital improvements?

It's time to get creative, Mr. Mayor. Columbus has plenty of its own troubles. If you wait for them, you'll watch Cleveland's infrastructure deteorirate further. Quitcherbitchin and get to work.

We are constantly bombarded with fundraising messages in this day and age, be it email, Facebook, text messages, or whatever the hot new web service may be at the moment. But something the Obama campaign has starting doing me breach a whole new threshold of annoyance: They’ve started sending out text messages about their fundraising emails.

Not text messages with similar appeals, text messages specifically instructing you to watch out for their latest email.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a ton of respect for the way the Obama campaign staff has changed the process. But this is just ridiculous. I received this message the other day, and it’s the second time they’ve tried this.

This does not make me inclined to open my wallet for a donation (which would enter me in a drawing for such a dinner), it makes me want to smack a campaign intern and ask what they were thinking. I’m already going to see the email (three times over actually, on three different accounts), the text message does nothing except annoy me. If a person didn’t have a texting plan, they were just annoyed and had to pay $0.20 for the privilege. That’s not going to make you any friends. It’s much more likely to drive them to finally figure out how to get these messages to stop.

Remember when John Kasich promised that his administration would move at the speed of business? Remember when he raked Ted Strickland over the coals repeatedly about NCR leaving for Atlanta?

Well the same thing has happened on Kasich's watch. Chiquita is leaving Cincinnati for Charlotte, NC. Does Kasich take responsilibty for this failure, the way he condescendingly demanded Strickland do?

Of course not. 

"We're not going to be irresponsible and give away the store to try and keep a company that fundamentally doesn't want to be here or which has already made up its mind to leave," said Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols.

Um, really? What about the $93 million you gave to American Greetings when they didn't have any other serious offers? That's not giving away the store? Really?

Maybe Kasich could have worked more on keeping Chiquita here if he hadn't trapsed all over the state despereately trying to save Senate Bill 5. 

A long time ago in a place far, far, away, Jennifer Brunner ran in the U.S. Senate primary in 2010 against Lee Fisher, billing herself as the progressive alternative to Fisher. She started the "Courage PAC" to further her fight for progressive values after that candidacy failed. If memory serves, this blogger was villifed for his support of Fisher.

Fast forward to present day. Jennifer Brunner will be in Youngstown this Friday night, attending a fundraisrer for 7th District Court of Appeals Judge Mary DeGenaro. Who is Mary DeGenaro? Don't worry, I've got a picture!

Wait, who's that guy standing next to her? Could it be...Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine?

Why in the world is Jennifer Brunner attending a fundraiser for a GOP judge? A GOP judge who took $2,000 from Massey Energy's PAC in 2007, shortly after an explosion at the firm's Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah left six miners emtombed in the mine forever. It's beyond me. I've asked her on Twitter, if I get a reply I will post it here.

First, I want to say that my fellow bloggers over at Plunderbund, Ohio Daily Blog, and others have done a fantastic job in covering the various political battles in Ohio regarding SB 5 and the Republican attempts to run the State of Ohio back to the Stone Age. Certainly I voted No on Issues 1, 2, and 3 but I have been so disengaged in many of these fights because I knew that in many ways Ohioans would reject these ridiculous plans to punish teachers, firefighters, police officers, and public employees simply to score political points with a national GOP that has lurched so far to the right as to be unrecognizable.

By any measure of presidential politics, (and certainly comparing this election to other presidential contests throughout our history) President Barack Obama would be a one term president. To say this as a progressive makes me incredibly sad but as a realist, it is absolutely the truth. We have not seen this level of economic instability since the Great Depression and I do not think that it is even over yet. I have serious concerns about the EU and how that could affect our economy. Now, most of this is not the President's fault. I would have liked to see a bigger stimulus but that is in the past. What is absolutely shocking to me is that President Obama is currently beating all of his potential Republican opponents and running even with Mitt Romney. The only reason I can come up with is that the Republican Party's policies and their candidates for president are so off-putting that the American people simply refuse to consider supporting them. I thought with this post we would take a look at the GOP candidates and I would share why I think they don't have a chance.

Mitt Romney - This guy is like the weather in Columbus. If you don't like his position, wait 5 minutes. He has never met a position he could not change. This does not even take into account the fact that Romney's Mormonism is looked upon so poorly by evangelicals that were he the nominee I think Barack Obama could actually play in states like Georgia.

Herman Cain - Have you seen the signs being carried by Tea Party supporters? Have you heard of the Bradley Effect? That is all I have to say about that.

Rick Perry - He makes President George W. Bush look like a member of Mensa. Rick Perry could possibly get the nomination but he would lose badly to President Obama - especially in the debates.

The rest of the field has no chance - with one exception. Jon Huntsman is an attractive candidate for President and I could see many people supporting him because of his intelligence and his positions. He represents the Republican Party of old - nice, smart, great ideas, conservative, and not crazy. If Jon Huntsman weren't at 1% I think he could have a shot.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts!

A state representative in Tennessee proposing legislation to legalize firearms in establishments serving alcohol was arrested recently.

The crime? Driving while intoxicated. He’s also facing charges for having a loaded handgun at the time.

I'm sure you'll all be heartbroken over this, but Sarah Palin has decided not to run for President in 2012.

As of Friday, it became legal for a person in Ohio  with a CCW permit to carry a concealed weapon into an establishment serving  alcohol. This is a direct result of a law rammed through by the, then newly elected, Republican majority and Governor John Kasich. This change in the law was forced through despite police opposition and with very little input from the owners of the establishments in question.

I consider myself pretty lenient when it comes to the issue of firearms. I live in an area where hunting is prevalent, and I spend a lot of time dodging an uncontrolled (at least not naturally controlled) deer population on winding country roads. I support people’s right to own a gun as long as they take proper steps to demonstrate they know how to properly store, maintain, and use one. Much like a person must pass a written and skills test before obtaining a drivers license.

And, like driving, I believe guns clearly have no place around alcohol.

Unfortunately, our legislature seems willfully ignorant of the dangers this will pose to employees and patrons of establishments where alcohol is served. Thankfully, many owners of such establishments have taken it upon themselves to exercise their right to impose their own ban on handguns.

Mark my words, this will end badly. And when it does, I highly doubt that the people who made this situation possible will accept their share of the blame.

We all know that Athen’s is liberal hotbed because of Ohio University students, so I was surprised to hear that members of the student government down there are absolutely refusing to even consider a resolution proposed on the controversial Senate Bill 5.

There appears to be plenty of support for the measure, and even the College Republicans haven’t came out in support of SB 5. The hold up seems to be the refusal of Senate President Kyle Triplett, on the grounds that SB 5 is outside the Senate’s role.

That’s where it get’s interesting.

You see, the resolution was written by State and Federal Affairs Commissioner Taylor Abbott. If such things were beyond the scope of the Student Senate, one has to ask why a position titled “State and Federal Affairs Commissioner” exists in the first place?

And then there’s this gem from The Post, a campus newspaper:

Triplett spoke with Abbott about the resolution Sunday and said he decided not to include it on tonight’s agenda for discussion or a vote because he does not believe it directly affects students.

As if the benefits and pay offered to attract and retain good teachers wasn’t important enough to students, it should be doubly important when your campus is so near the state border.

Perhaps it has more to do with political party leanings? Kyle Triplett has a public Facebook page listing his major as political science and “likes” of pages such as “John McCain”, “Mike Huckabee”, and “conservative”.

I’m not saying Mr. Triplett is putting his personal ideology above his responsibility to represent the student body, I’m just saying it really looks that way…