News Intelligence Analysis
Opposition to Tax Limits Grows
Blackwell sticks by initiative as opposition
grows
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Alan Johnson and Catherine Candisky
[Yurica Report Editor's Note: Biography
of J. Kenneth Blackwell]
Despite rising opposition that includes churches, business organizations and local government officials, Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell is standing by his plan to limit government spending.
Blackwell’s campaign acknowledges feeling the heat two and a half weeks before the primary election but insists he won’t back off the Tax Expenditure Limitation initiative he has championed for the past year.
"We have no intention of doing that," said Blackwell campaign spokesman Gene Pierce. "This is an issue that’s near and dear to Ken’s heart.
"Ken is a true dyed-in-the-wool fiscal conservative. He’s not going to drop it because people are complaining."
But the voices against the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot are growing louder.
Across the state, public universities are opposed, as are numerous municipal and school officials. U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich, both Republicans, have spoken out against the measure, which would sharply limit the ability of state and local governments to increase taxes and spending.
Widespread rumors are circulating that Blackwell’s campaign for governor is taking on water because of the TEL amendment. Consequently, sources said, he is considering withdrawing it, splitting it into two parts, or letting it die at the hands of opponents challenging 20,000 petition signatures.
TEL backers have only 1,107 valid signatures above the minimum 322,899 needed to qualify for the ballot.
If approved, the amendment would limit annual increases in state and local spending to 3.5 percent, or the sum of the rates of inflation and population growth, whichever is higher.
Carlo LoParo, another Blackwell spokesman, said opposition is being drummed up by Attorney General Jim Petro, Blackwell’s May 2 opponent.
"If we are successful in the primary, I suspect that Republican voices will soften on this issue," LoParo said.
But Petro campaign manager Bob Paduchik said the TEL amendment, which Blackwell hoped would act as a sail for his campaign, has become an anchor.
"Jim Petro has traveled across Ohio to talk to voters, and one of their top concerns is Ken Blackwell’s dangerous TEL amendment. It’s a horrible idea. ... Now, people are rising up against him."
Although polls have shown that voters support limiting government spending, Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse said many Republicans are concerned the initiative would undermine local control.
"University officials, community officials are complaining that the TEL would tie their hands," he said. "They are asking, ‘Why are we telling local officials how to operate?’ "
Blackwell backed out of a scheduled appearance before the Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association, which formally opposed the TEL amendment in March but invited the secretary of state to make his case.
Blackwell had agreed to speak April 25 to the group representing 54 Cuyahoga County municipalities, but his scheduler called Wednesday night to cancel, said Deborah Sutherland, mayor of Bay Village and chairwoman of the association.
Sutherland, a Republican, said Blackwell’s unyielding TEL support has cost him favor among municipal leaders across northeastern Ohio.
"I feel it’s a problem for him up here," she said. "Normally, the candidates would be coming to us and asking us to endorse their candidacy. Nobody’s endorsing Blackwell because we could not operate under a TEL."
Curt Steiner, senior vice president of university relations for Ohio State, also acknowledged growing concern.
The Inter-University Council of Ohio, representing the state’s 13 public universities and two medical colleges, passed a resolution against it. Cleveland State University did the same, and the Ohio State University Board of Trustees is considering one.
"It’s pretty obvious that there is a lot of activity around the state at the municipality, township and county level and with many other organizations like local libraries and school districts," Steiner said.
John Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League, expects a serious anti-TEL campaign.
"People don’t want to put dumb ideas in the constitution," he said. "They don’t want to put poorly written ideas in, either."
Whether the issue could be removed from the fall ballot even if Blackwell changes his mind is unclear.
James Lee, spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, said the Ohio Revised Code does not specify procedures for removing proposed constitutional amendments.
"That’s a very complicated legal question," he said yesterday. "We don’t have an answer on that today."
Ironically, Blackwell, as secretary of state, would have to rule on any request to remove the proposal from the ballot.
Lori Viars and Jeff Ledbetter, two of the four members of the committee formed to put the TEL amendment on the ballot, said they had heard of no plans to remove the measure. Rumors that Blackwell is softening his support or working to strike the measure from the ballot are false, Ledbetter said.
David Langdon, an attorney representing the TEL committee against the petition protests, said he has not heard that withdrawal is being considered.
There also is speculation that the Ohio Ballot Board, possibly at Blackwell’s request, could split the proposal into two issues: a state government spending limit, and a separate limit on local spending and taxation.
That way, Blackwell could emphasize the proposed limitations on state spending while downplaying the restrictions on local spending that are drawing harsh opposition.
"It wouldn’t be illogical to me that it could be broken down into two," Langdon said.
But he also said a split could be difficult because some provisions in the amendment are intertwined, such as ones prohibiting the state from imposing unfunded mandates on local governments and another setting a minimum for state funding of local governments.
LoParo insisted that Blackwell’s stance won’t change and that the proposal will appear on the November ballot as is.
"The TEL is the focal point of (Blackwell’s) message to rein in taxes and create an environment that attracts business."
Copyright © 2006, The Columbus Dispatch
Dispatch Statehouse reporters Jim Siegel and James Nash contributed to this story.
ajohnson@dispatch.com
ccandisky@dispatch.com
Send a letter to the editor about this article
Blackwell's Citizens for Tax Reform
Citizens for Tax Reform’s
Tax Expenditure Limitation
(TEL) Amendment limits state and local government
annual spending growth to 3.5 per cent or the sum
of the rate of inflation plus population growth. Any year-
end unspent revenue over 10 per cent of the budget
is to be refunded to taxpayers. Local governments
receive a guaranteed five per cent of the previous
fiscal year’s aggregate state expenditures, and
unfunded mandates are forbidden. The Attorney
General has approved petition language and circulation
has begun. Citizens for Tax Reform will collect the
necessary 322,899 signatures by the state mandated
August 10 deadline to qualify
for the November 8 ballot.
J. Kenneth Blackwell:
There He
Goes Again
By Edith Earle Fonder
(With Apologies to Eudora Welty)
Now just look what’s happenin’
in the great state
of Ohio! Here comes this little pip squeak Ken
Blackwell runnin’ for governor before he’s learned
how to supervise one single honest election in that
state! How do you figure these folks? Now, I don’t
want anyone getting the wrong idea. I am a southerner,
and to me, Ohio will always be southern! They had the
good sense to name Ohio State after the best football
team
in America!
Blackwell’s Un-American Scheme:
Under the Guise of “Character
and Civic
Renewal” Ohio State Foists a Religious
Moral Code upon Its Citizens
by Katherine Yurica
J. Kenneth Blackwell has stepped
to the forefront of
the American culture wars. He has posted his
official endorsement of a 20-point religious moral
code claimed to be “a shared vocabulary of
character-building ethics” on Ohio’s official
Secretary of State web site. Blackwell wrote,
“Character is the cornerstone of American
citizenship. And good citizenship is the foundation
of community. But to a lot of people, civic renewal
means the opportunity to not only religionize our
government, but, as we shall see, to create a new
religion that is decidedly not Christianity. Instead,
it is an opportunity to convert our citizens into
docile followers of a new authoritarian rule.
Includes a linked glossary of definitions of terms
plus parallel columns that compare the text.
Cult of Character
How the 'secular' Character
Training
Institute is working to build evangelist
Bill Gothard's vision of a First-Century
Kingdom of God--one city, one state,
one school board, one police force
and one mind at a time.
By Silja J.A. Talvi January 9, 2006
From the outside the bland, unmarked
exterior of the Character Training Institute's
headquarters blends remarkably well into
its immediate surroundings. This is a
section of Oklahoma City that hasn't yet
benefited from the nearby, upscale urban
development intended to draw both tourism
and business to the area. Both the downtown
Greyhound Station and the county jail are
situated a few blocks from here, which explains
the number of forlorn, transient men and women
wandering down West Main Street. For the most
part these folks seem to have more immediate
priorities than paying attention to the dozens of
foreign-looking visitors entering and exiting the
10-story Character Training Institute (CTI), which
also serves as the headquarters of the International
Association of
Character Cities (IACC).
Can Democracy Be Christian?
An
Interview With Katherine Yurica
Questions
by Terri Murray
Posted October 10, 2005
It depends on how we define “democracy.”
If we
limit it to mean: rule of the majority, then I see
an inherent conflict between democracy and
the great principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition,
because there is such a thing as the
“tyranny
of the majority.”
Read All the Articles
on Dominionism:
Directory
of the Rise of Dominionism
in America
Bloodguilty Churches
Why Bush’s Agenda Is
Immoral
and an Abomination to God
By Katherine Yurica
This is a
stunning major analysis of Mr.
Bush's agenda.
Updated January
25, 2005
Did you know the Bible prohibits:
deregulation;
vote rigging; privatization of Social Security; tax
cuts for the wealthy; invading Iraq; oppressing the
Hispanics who cross our borders; cutting Medicaid
services; cutting Medicare services; hurting the
environment; failing to answer all the questions
from the 9/11 families; Tort Reform; torture; lying
to congress; bribes; tampering with the justice
system; appointing prejudiced nominees to the
bench; tipping the scales of justice to favor big
corporations? Read Bloodguilty Churches.
Don't miss
this hard hitting new report.
Bloodguilty
Churches is now available
in paperback. Click here to see the book.
Dominionist Bill Limits the
Supreme
Court's Jurisdiction
The Constitution Restoration Act
of 2004 and Now 2005
by Katherine Yurica
You read it here first. The Yurica
Report published
articles revealing the intentions of Dominionists to
revamp the American Federal Court system. The first
major attempt has been placed before both houses
of Congress in two nearly identical bills. Drafted by
Herb Titus, the first Dean of Pat Robertson's
School
of Public Policy and a known Dominionist, our
question is: What is actually intended by the
Constitution Restoration Act of 2004? If the bill
passes, the Supreme Court will be placed under the
Dominionists' thumb.
The Despoiling of America
by
Katherine Yurica
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