Dispatch (R-Columbus) Has Some Explaining to Do on JobsOhio

Yesterday's Dispatch editorial on JobsOhio caught my eye, for all the wrong reasons. While I agree with the basic premise that HB1 needs to be amended to provide for greater transparency as to how Ohioans tax dollars will be spent on economic development, the editorial contains some falsehoods that are worth mentioning. First of all, it claims that "Ohioans know the state needs a new approach to promoting economic development."

Really? Is that why Ohio won Site Selection magazine's Governor's Cup for having the best economic development program all 4 years that Gov. Strickland was in office, is because it needed a new approach to economic development? And who says that privatizing the state's development department was the right approach? Isn't the state of Florida, which also has an ideological GOPer as its governor, un-privatizing it's development department? Did Gov. Kasich or the Dispatch take that into consideration before writing this editorial?

The Dispatch also claims that "Few Ohio statesmen have earned the wide respect accorded House Speaker William G. Batchelder." Oh really? Is this the same House Speaker that has no less than 6 bills on the floor of his chamber attacking a woman's right to choose, while currently having Zero bills that will actually create jobs in Ohio? Is that what makes him a widely respected Statesman, Dispatch?

 Get Real.

If Batchelder were really a "statesman" he would refuse to bring a single one of these 6 bills up for a vote until the budget has been passed and at least 6 bills that generate jobs that Ohioans desperately need have been passed. Instead, Batchelder is throwing red meat to the far right culture warriors who have been salivating for years and without whom the GOP would not exist.