We should pay 'em more, not less

We should also give massive budget increases to the General Assembly so they can hire a lot more staff, who are hopefully more experienced than the current crop of 19 year old aides.

Maybe then we wouldn't rely so much on lobbyists writing our laws, and only attract lawyers and wealthy bidness people to run for office.

We get the government we pay for.

My question is, will this help or hurt his chances of winning the nomination?

Property Owner Loses Land to Gas Driller on ‘Split Estate’

TPaw edition. Beginning to think all the GOP presidential candidates are nucking futs.

Bill Batchelder, he of the funny eyebrows, thick classes, and political viewpoints so far off the right wing that he probably belongs in the looney bin instead of the Ohio House of Representatives, says that the Ohio Consumer's Counsel has 74 lawyers on staff. He said that to justify cutting their budget. PolitiFact Ohio says...

And it was just an endorsement of some guy running for a Senate seat in Florida.

Apparently Ken's definition of "big news" is a very loose one.

Ken Blackwell decided to new media ninja it up this afternoon with an announcement of an impending announcement. Perhaps he’ll be announcing that Senate run that every Democrat in the state is hoping for.

Also worth mentioning, I noticed a few days ago that Blackwell hack Matt Naugle has scrubbed RightOhio.com.

Oh Jimmy, I never really thought you particularly bright. And you know what? I think I nailed it, or understated it even. That’s the only real explanation for the following statement you made to the Columbus Dispatch, which will surely endear you to your soon-to-be former constituents.

"That's just another lie they're telling about Senate Bill 5. In fact, I'd vote for it again today,"

I don’t think anyone is really claiming Jimmy Stewart wouldn’t vote for Senate Bill 5 again. What we are saying, is that Jimmy Stewart’s constituents wouldn’t have voted for him again.

But hey, enjoy your new job. I’m sure it’ll provide countless more opportunities to rape and pillage the things that make Ohio great.

Tonight, the country's buyer's remorse over the radical GOP majority hit fever pitch, with the victory of Democratic candidate Kathy Hochul in the special election for New York's 26th Congressional District seat. 

This district is the most reliabliy GOP-leaning seat in the state of New York, with both John McCain having won here in 2008, and George W. Bush winning by more than 10 points in 2004. The race became a proxy war on the Paul Ryan-drafted GOP plan to transform Medicare into a voucher program, and with this result, it's pretty clear on whose side the public came down.

The irony and hypocrisy here is rich. The GOP won the 2010 elections in large part by painting President Obama's health care reform bill as an attack on Medicare. I still remember the ad put together by Mike DeWine in the Attorney General's race that had a picture of Rich Cordray and next to it the phrase "Slash Medicare" because Cordray refused to join the GOP's friviolous lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act.

So what does the GOP do? They get into the majority and propose ENDING MEDICARE. Even though vowing to protect Medicare was how they won the majority in the first place. Tonight they GOP got the beginnings of their come-uppence. I suspect they will be getting more in the very near future.

State Senator Jimmy Stewart has announced that he will resign in July to take an unnamed private sector job.

Stewart was almost certain to face a tough re-election after being the key swing vote to pass Senate Bill 5.

Today, Chrysler Group LLC paid the federal government $7.6 billion, representing a full re-payment of the loans it was given as part of the auto industry bailout:

The repayment — expected for weeks — is a huge step in the automaker's unlikely comeback. Chrysler went from a company that almost ran out of cash and survived a 2009 bankruptcy to one that is revamping its aging lineup and last quarter posted its first net profit in five years, a modest $116 million.

"I think this is going to close a painful and necessary chapter in our history," Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday at the opening celebration of a dealership in Detroit.

MSNBC put former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland on the air to discuss the news, and he did what he does best: tell it straight and kick elephant tail: