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Of Democracy, Stick Fights and Cow Tongue. State government today is the home of a whirling dervish of election year politics, as it should be. Partially through our own fault, Ohioans have been treated to years of snore-inducing, uncompetitive campaigns, at the state level. Recent state campaigns make the “Oscars” broadcast seem somehow full of witty repartee and substance. However, this year, both Democrats and Republicans have candidates. In some cases, some would contend, more than they need. Both sides have money, though, as both parties will tell you, never as much as they need. With a few vicious primaries, some candidates have already previewed the battle of 2006. Now this isn’t a battle of WMD’s or bird shot. Rather, in our democracy, we fight with mailers, TV spots, dueling polls, door-to-door work, yard signs and the like. It’s more like the ferocious battles of childhood fought with sticks. But, as your mom always said, such contests are always fun until someone loses an eye. And this is not a year in which candidates alone will be wielding, with withering enthusiasm, their crooked little sticks, full of eye-popping hope. Ohioans may also face a number of statewide issues, which will just add hot peppers to an already boiling pot. Given the tapioca, inartful political diet Ohioans have been on the past few years, this might be just the kind of political fun for which we’re due. But again, as your mom use to say, it may be fun having soup on the stove, but there is only so much you can do with cow tongue. (Well, maybe not your mom, but we’re sure, at least, the mom down the street used to say that.) That, of course, brings us to the cow tongue being recklessly thrust directly at the eyeball of all local government finance, the Tax Expenditure Limit (TEL). First, as we recall, cow tongue was never a legal weapon in a stick fight. Whiffle ball bats or worse, sometimes, but never cow tongue. But, we quibble. Better to ask why cow tongue was always left in the soup and not used in stick fights? Because no one could ever be sure what damage cow tongue would do in such a fray. Oh, maybe your eyes would be safer, but whose to say it might not gross you to death or lead to sissy head gear. The Tax Expenditure Limit has that same sort of unpredictable silliness. The only difference is, our keen political instincts predict, no one will try, at least, this year, to put a cow tongue in the Ohio Constitution. The TEL, on the other hand, is scheduled to be a part of the statewide Ohio ballot as a Constitutional Amendment in November. This is the TEL launched and supported by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, not the one put forth by Attorney General Jim Petro. Both gentlemen are Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for Governor. Though signatures for the Blackwell TEL are being challenged, adequate numbers of signatures have been filed on behalf of the issue, which would be State Issue 1, if it qualifies for the ballot. The Petro proposal, which does not limit local government budgets and operations directly, has been proposed to the General Assembly and is still in the petition gathering stage. Secretary Blackwell continues to tout his issue as something that would put an end to wild, out-of-control state spending and high state taxes. He pretty much told the media last year that he withheld the issue from the statewide 2005 ballot so the GOP could ride the proposal to victory in 2006. That would, of course, be all well and good, if the TEL was not a cow tongue trying, in a sneaky-pete whack weapon way, to bludgeon the budget and operation of every local government in Ohio. While the target of this proposal is to smack around state spending and taxation, local government services take the beating, if this proposal is passed. House Speaker Jon Husted has said state government can live with the restrictions of the TEL, even though supporters of the proposal say the state is full of crazy spenders. We cannot live with those restrictions, even though supporters of the TEL have not and cannot make a case that municipal government spending for the everyday services Ohioans depend on have been anything other than frugal. We have outlined in these pages the many fatal flaws and unknown consequences of the TEL for all local governments (November/December, 2005). We also have expanded on those points on our website at www.omunileague.org and in other mailings to you. TEL Promises to End All Local Emergencies. One point we have not expanded upon is the amendment’s treatment of local emergencies. Despite its indictment against the state’s ability to run its owns budget, the TEL gives the power to declare any local emergency to the state. Under the TEL, all emergencies must be declared by the state, therefore, local emergencies in Ohio no longer exist. While currently you might think it’s sort of normal, should, God forbid, the roof of City or Village Hall cave in to go ahead and fix the roof, under the TEL, you’d have to first ask the Governor if he or she thinks that the roof is an emergency. Otherwise, should your zany spending fixing the roof put your municipality over the expenditure limit, laid down by the TEL, it would be unconstitutional. This, of course, strikes us as odd. Why would we have an amendment that says a government, not capable of running its own budget in Columbus, also say that same government should be put in charge of judging what is and isn’t a threat to public safety, perhaps, a hundred miles away from Columbus? When was the case made that local government was willy-nilly spending too much money on emergency threats to public safety? As a tip on this matter, should the TEL pass, even the governor cannot define something as an emergency for you unless you have to spend money directly related to a threat by an enemy of the United States, fire, flood, drought, storm, civil disorder, earthquake, tornado or epidemic disease. That old chestnut that Hoosiers attacked your village, just won’t fly under the TEL. The roof falls in, blame the drought. Give the Governor a little cover. -JKM |
