Huffman another big-government lawmaker
What is it about people who seem to understand the limits of government but suffer a severe mental lapse once they reach the halls of power?
State Rep. Matt Huffman at least used to claim a passing distaste for the nanny state and big government. He is, or at least claims to be, a conservative.
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| State Rep. Matt Huffman |
Thank you, Matt Huffman. You have really saved us all. What would we do without your wise control of our daily lives?
The bill of which I speak, House Bill 608, bans credit card marketing activities at state colleges. Apparently, Huffman and his co-conspirator, state Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria and a former TV news pretty face, think they know better how to manage our own finances. In fact, only two other Republicans have signed up to co-sponsor this bill, Rep. Cliff Hite, of Findlay, and Rep. Diana M. Fessler, of New Carlisle.
This is truly a useless piece of legislation to address a nonproblem. What in the world makes Huffman and Lundy think this needs to be addressed?
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Someone please explain economics to Tom Teben, city officials
Tom Tebben sits in his home in this file photo from The Lima News.
Finances on target, city to hire additional firefighter
LIMA - The city is just about on target with its general fund revenue and spending half way through the year, Finance Director Steve Cleaves said Tuesday.
Because of that the city administration is allowing the hiring of an additional firefighter, Cleaves said.
City police and fire forces have been particularly strained during the past few years with a hiring freeze not allowing replacement of citywide staff lost through attrition. Four police officers were hired earlier this year to fill vacant spots and two firefighters are being hired to fill retirements.
Perhaps Steve Cleaves can tell us the secret to having a budget that spends $200,000 more than revenue. I wish I could run my household budget that way!
Seriously, though, what is with Tom Tebben? The city does not even have a balanced budget and he wants to hire more people? That is what is wrong with government. Those tasked with overseeing the public treasury are ignorant of basic economic principals. Well, Mr. Teben, let me explain something to you. It is simply irresponsible to spend more than you make. Private businesses across this country have hiring freezes and they simply do not not ignore their budgets just because it would be nice to have more employees.
Tom Tebben wants ideas for hiring more firefighters and cops? Then stop giving away tax dollars to charitible organizations. Stop spending tax dollars on services beyond the legitimate role of government, i.e., the Civic Center.
That is the only responsible way.
Still, the city doesn't appear to get it. It has a $200,000 deficit and yet, they are still hiring more employees. Simply ridiculous.
Common sense ruling in polygamist raid case
Two members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints hug outside the Tom Green County Courthouse Thursday, May 22, 2008, in San Angelo, Texas. An Austin, Texas, appeals court ruled that the state had no cause to take their children. (AP Photo/San Angelo Standard-Times, Brian Connelly)
Read The New York Times article here.
Finally common sense is beginning to prevail in the raid on the 1,691-acre Yearning for Zion ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Eldorado, Texas. I feel vindicated. After my column on the subject ran, I received a lot of flack here, in the paper and on The Lima News forums for my position that the state was wrong in seizing those children. Some of that opposition even came from lawyers who should have known better.
Now, a Texas appeals court said the state was wrong. This is significant because the appeals court would not generally get involved in such a case unless the state's case was extremely weak.
Also, as I have said all along, officials are finally admitting that the alleged call from a 16-year-old "victim" may have been a hoax. It would not surprise me to ultimately learn that there was no such call at all or that someone from the State Department of Family and Protective Services made the call as a pretense to getting a warrant.
I am also glad that the three-judge panel criticized District Judge Barbara Walther, for approving the children's removal based on such flimsy evidence of abuse.
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County officials betray taxpayers, again
The incompetence displayed by the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center board at its meeting Wednesday evening surprised even me.
The only bright spot was Commissioner Greg Sneary's comments calling for fiscal restraint. Of course, he's just spinning his wheels when the rest of the county government machine wants to spend, spend, spend.
Board members voted 4 to 3 to lease the third floor of the former Schnorf Hardware Store building from the Lima Allen County Chamber of Commerce Foundation, provided the Chamber purchases the building. The Civic Center will pay $42,500 a year for the next 10 years for what will eventually (maybe) be a formal banquet facility, which they hope to rent out as they do other Civic Center rooms.
This was a bad idea for the Civic Center. It does not need any more room to rent. It can't even make a profit with the space it has.
However, putting that aside, members agreed to this abuse of taxpayers KNOWING that more research was needed. Board members and Civic Center Director Brian Keegan admitted they would have liked to have more time to study the marketability of the new space, but deadlines made that impossible. However, it's our money and not theirs so caution be damned. Would Keegan, et al., have made such haste if it were their own money they were investing?
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Not Yours to Give
I have always loved this story. I hope you enjoy it as well:
By Colonel David Crockett;
Compiled by Edward S. Ellis
One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker -- I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.
Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
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Thanks for wasting money
Lima City Council at its meeting Monday continued to abuse the public trust by giving away our tax dollars as though it were their personal checkbook. See the story here.
Some would argue that because it is the hotel/motel tax (a dubious tax that stifle tourism) it is OK because it is money collected from outsiders. Of course, money is fungible so the source of the money is irrelevant. Ideally, every dollar collected from the hotel/motel tax should be one less dollar collected from residents.
Of course, Mayor David Berger and the rest of the tax-and-spend liberals at City Hall and on City Council do not think that way. To them every dollar collected is a dollar they can pass out to groups they like.
That is an irresponsible way to handle tax dollars. These groups that are getting this largesse from the city should earn the money themselves. If they are incapable of raising that kind of money then perhaps their services are not worth the expenditure. That is how a free market works.
This is not the only example of City Council giving away money to groups. It continually, year after year, gives money away to all manner of groups.
This irresponsibility must end. Will we ever get a mayor and other elected officials who take seriously their responsibility to be good stewards of the public treasury? Unlikely.
I must say, I was hoping for more from Council President John Nixon, but apparently he is a go-along-to-get-along liberal like every other member of the Council.
Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'""The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
-- Ronald Wilson Reagan
40th U.S. President
6 February 1911 - 5 June 2004
He got it. Why can't you?
Marc Dann Abusing State's Jet
The Buckeye Institute today named Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann as its Porker of the Month for January and, from its release, the honor seems well-deserved.
Here is what the Buckeye Insitute said:
During 2007 and early 2008, Attorney General Dann flew on the state's Beechcraft King Air 90 twin-engine airplane 13 times. Many of the flights shuttled the attorney general to in-state events. Gov. Ted Strickland has yet to use the aircraft and former Attorney General Jim Petro never used it.
According to media reports, Dann's flights cost taxpayers $22,039. The attorney general could have saved thousands of dollars had he opted for a commercial carrier.
For example, Dann recently used the aircraft to attend a New York City press conference. A quick search on Internet travel services Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com found one day, round-trip flights to New York City priced at $286 and $284 respectively. The state aircraft costs taxpayers $440 per flight hour to operate. Commercial airlines clock a flight from Columbus to New York City at 1:40 each way.
In addition, Dann's preference for departing from his home in Youngstown requires the state-operated aircraft to fly from Columbus to Youngstown before leaving for its primary destination. This adds nearly two additional flight hours to each trip and increases the cost of each excursion by at least $880.
An attorney general spokesman cited Dann's family interests when explaining the high cost of flying from Youngstown. "Marc's kids play sports and he is very committed to his kids and he takes every opportunity he can to get home," Leo Jennings III told the Dayton Daily News.
"The attorney general should look for ways to spend tax dollars more efficiently -- especially in this time of Ohio job losses and tight state budgets," Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said. "We urge Attorney General Dann to exercise fiscal restraint in the future. This type of wasteful spending should and must be avoided."
Does The FBI Have An Alibi?
From The Lima News' Police Calls column:
1500 block of North Grant Street, Lima - On Tuesday night, a man reported someone stole a 59-gallon bucket of pennies from his home.
Did anyone ask where the FBI was Tuesday night?
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