Plain Dealer: Strickland sinking fast & taking Ohio down with him

Brent Larkin at The Plain Dealer writes:

Ohio has had lots of bad governors, so it's premature to predict how low Ted Strickland's place on that list will be.

But Strickland's trajectory is unmistakable. With breathtaking ineptitude, this governor has almost single-handedly created one of the worst budget crises in the state's 206-year history.

Strickland's papier-mach state budget was based on the premise that he could end-run the Ohio Constitution. The governor and his lawyers, presumably from the firm of Barnum & Bailey, convinced their lemmings in the legislature that they could hand Ohio's seven racetracks a monopoly on slot machines -- all while denying voters their democratic right to resist the slots giveaway in an election.

This legal argument was preposterous on its face. So last week, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled as anyone with a modicum of common sense knew it would -- blowing a $1 billion hole in the governor's budget by declaring the slot machine plan subject to a voter referendum.

When Strickland first hatched this scheme in the spring, Senate President Bill Harris and other Republican legislators repeatedly suggested that the wiser move would be to place the issue before voters this November. Not necessary, replied the governor and his aides, the slot machines are merely an extension of the Ohio Lottery. Voters deserve no say on this issue, they suggested.

Strike One.

Then, a couple weeks ago, the governor reversed an earlier position and asked the Lottery Commission to prohibit anyone under age 21 playing the slot machines. But 18-year-olds can play the lottery. And the foundation of the governor's argument has always been that the slot machine deal is part of the lottery. So, by enacting a slots age limit of 21, Strickland completely undercut his own lottery argument.

Strike Two.

In the wake of last week's beat-down by the court, Strickland hinted he might be able to issue an executive order clearing the way for the racetrack slot machines. But in June, when Republican legislators suggested that the governor could act by executive order, his office said such an action probably would not pass legal muster.

You're out!

(Brent Larkin, The Plain Dealer, 09/27/09)