Economy Fuels Partisanship In Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio —Mix a worsening economic crisis with emboldened Democratic lawmakers, wary Republicans and a huge spending plan, and the result is the return of partisanship and party-line votes at the Ohio Statehouse.  The House’s foray last week into a $7.6 billion transportation plan saw a tone far removed from the “Kumbayah” moment of two years ago.
   
Back then, a Republican-dominated Legislature approved Democratic Governor Ted Strickland’s spending blueprint, which included an extension of GOP tax reforms, with only one dissenting vote - one of their own.  Fast forward two years to Thursday, when the Democratic-controlled House passed a transportation plan to spend federal economic stimulus money and seek additional federal aid to build a passenger rail line among major cities.
   
Republicans overwhelmingly voted against the transportation bill for multiple reasons, but the recession was a driving factor behind most of them.  “The outside economy - I think it’s the biggest difference,“ said Rep. Bill Batchelder of Medina, who leads House Republicans.  The GOP at first praised Democrats for allowing an open process in crafting the bill, and were even successful in getting their counterparts to compromise on several items.
   
At times, however, the floor debate featured partisan rhetoric that overshadowed the collegial words about an open process.  Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, a Republican from Napoleon, lit into Strickland for supporting so many fee increases, especially a major increase in fees for trucks hauling oversized loads that Strickland’s administration put into effect last October. The transportation budget would implement a fourfold increase in fees on insurance companies when they check motorists’ driving records.  “A governor for a couple of years who inherited a tough economy continues to make it worse and worse with his bad public policy decisions from the executive branch,“ Wachtmann said.
   
Wachtmann’s amendment to the transportation bill to roll back the trucking fee increase failed.  The discussion surrounding the fee increases ignited a back-and-forth that preceded the party line vote.  Rep. John Domenick, a Democrat from Smithfield, gave an impassioned speech in response to Republican complaints about the fees, saying the state’s Commercial Activities Tax was strangling his business.  Domenick didn’t say it directly, but the tax was passed when Republicans controlled both the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature.
   
Another Democrat said that Republicans had overseen an increase in taxes and fees, and questioned how they could be upset now just because it was a Democratic governor who was proposing fee increases.  The rough economic times have only served to heighten Republican concerns about spending, while Democrats generally think spending is more important now than ever.  Some Republicans also complained that the passenger rail line between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati was a waste of money.  Others said the spending would be rushed without proper legislative input.
   
The House bill requires spending to go through the state Controlling Board, controlled by Democrats. Republican efforts to require approval by the full Legislature - where they control the Senate - were unsuccessful.  The debate and vote on the transportation budget may just be a precursor of what’s to come with the full two-year budget, which Republicans have already criticized repeatedly for spending billions in one-time federal money.  “I can’t speak for what the Republicans do,“ said House Speaker Armond Budish of Beachwood. “We have made, I believe, good faith efforts to include their suggestions and we will continue to do so.“

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