Dispatch: Strickland Administration "Dysfunctional"

The editors of The Columbus Dispatch write:

Despite a promising start, the Strickland administration has turned out to be one of the most dysfunctional in Ohio history. The advice and counsel the governor is receiving has been abysmal, most obviously from his budget chief, Pari Sabety, who has handed him one embarrassment after another by overestimating state revenues and committing political gaffes, such as raiding a fund to prevent blindness.

His political advisers are no better. Someone should have warned him of the peril of going against the express wishes of Ohioans who have repeatedly voted against casino-style gambling. This error was compounded by the arrogant attempt to put the slots plan off-limits to a statewide vote. And if he was going to sell out, his advisers should have insisted that he not do so cheaply. ...

Saddest of all is that a governor who entered office as man of principle, opposed to expanded gambling, ended up caving when the going got tough.

Fearing that his political career and his party's power would be jeopardized if he raised taxes, he instead opted to make drastic cuts in services to Ohio's poor and disadvantaged, while trying to cut a deal with the gambling devil to make ends meet.

He diminished himself and he diminished Ohio, only to find himself forced to do what principle should have dictated that he do from the start: make the hard choices that a leader is supposed to make.

(Source: Editorial, The Columbus Dispatch, 10/01/09)