Strickland "Folds on Principles" & Becomes "the State's Top Bookie."

Plain Dealer columnist Phillip Morris writes: 

Ohio voters have listened attentively and overwhelmingly turned down every casino proposal presented them.

But now that hard budget times have hit Ohio, Strickland is looking for magic. Now that he's desperate for cash and recognizes the folly of raising taxes in a recession, he has turned to the one financing option that he has long demonized.

He's touting vice as a budget-saving virtue.

And by compromising his own principles, he shows himself to be a hypocrite, which isn't the worst thing you can call a budget-strapped politician. He's also become the state's top bookie.

But by trotting out an ill-conceived, third-rate casino proposal, a proposal that will be shoved down the throats of 11 million Ohioans without a vote, he has shown himself to be surprisingly short-sighted.