A new Ohio Senate tactic to force Jerry Cirino’s anti-free speech rules into Ohio colleges: Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Before the Ohio Senate passed its budget, it added a sweeping package of higher education reforms designed to tamp down perceived liberal bias on college campuses.

We’re talking about the plan to tamp down on free speech and the millions of dollars planned for independent centers on campus on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

Here’s what we’re asking about today:

We’ve talked a good bit about State Senator Jerry Cirino’s Orwellian bill that will clamp down on free speech in colleges, which the Senate has passed but the house has not. What’s the latest tactic by the Senate to force this bad proposal into law?

The full Senate did vote out its version of the budget, and it is very different from the House version, and from Mike DeWine’s proposal. What will they have to reconcile?

As part of its effort to hire more officers, much needed in a recent spate of violence, Cleveland is looking to women. What percentage of the department does Cleveland want to be female?

JD Vance and Sherrod Brown, the two senators from Ohio, were vocal as possible in demanding that railroad companies institute safety measures and put what they wanted into a bill they cosponsored. Since they made all that noise, though, they’ve weakened the bill. Reason for outrage, or do the changes make sense?

The Ohio Legislature’s work to heavily regulate transgender issues has wound up in a mega bill that soon will head to the House floor. What would the bill do?

Cuyahoga County has met its goal of finding unpolluted land for a new county jail, in Garfield Heights. Is it paying a fair price? Who owns it now?

How much has Ohio congressman Jim Jordan made from his memoir?

Three Republicans seeking to oppose Sherrod Brown in next year’s Senate race in Ohio have very reactions to the indictment of Donald Trump in federal court over the secret records he took with him when he left office. How are they different?

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne announced a bunch of new hires Thursday. Who are they and what will they be doing?

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

[00:00:00] Chris: It’s another cool Friday morning on today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Hope everybody is heading into a beautiful weekend. We’ve got to get through some news before we get there. Let’s begin. I’m Chris Quinn. I’m here with Lisa Garvin, Layla Tassi, and Laura Johnston and Laura’s up first.

We’ve talked a good bit. About State Senator Jerry Serena’s or Ian Bill that will clamp down on free speech in colleges. I mean, it’s right out of Vladimir Putin’s head. The Senate has passed it, but the house is not what is the latest tactic by the Senate to force this terrible proposal. Into law.

[00:00:38] Laura: Well, they added it to the budget.

So that was the Senate’s Finance, sorry, Senate Finance Committee that added it to the budget on Wednesday and that bill passed the Senate, um, last month. That was the original passing, but they just put it in the. Budget, just to make sure, I guess. And, uh, now the house will have to take a look at it cuz now the, the house and the Senate are going to have to [00:01:00] reconcile budgets.

And that Senate bill, which was senate bill 83, has not moved in the house. These tentacles are far reaching. We’re talking about outlawing the ability of college faculty and staff to strike banning mandated diversity training, requiring annual faculty performance evaluations based on student, um, reviews and post-tenure.

Reviews and students get to say whether they believe that professors showed bias in their teaching. It’s gonna make all college kids take a basic government class where they have to read the Declaration of Independence. And I think the Constitution, they have to put all the syllabi online. This is gonna cost colleges hundreds of thousands of dollars to comply.

And that’s just the immediate financial rep, uh, replications, I can’t even think about. Everything that would come with it. All the people that would not want to come to Ohio, not believe in Ohio education anymore. And let’s point out that this big brother takeover of higher education has nothing to do with the state finances, yet Republicans put it in the budget, also put an unrelated bill sort [00:02:00] of, well, it was, it was unrelated.

I think it was Senate Bill one 13. Inserted millions of dollars in funding to create independent academic units at Ohio State and the University of Toledo with their own bylaws, hiring tenure authority and report basically directly to the president.

[00:02:18] Chris: I, uh, was on a, in a conversation yesterday with colleagues in the Ohio News Association and a whole different wrinkle came up in that conversation about this, which is, will employers wanna hire college students from Ohio knowing that they’re not being exposed to any kind of conversations there?

There was a. Professor on the call and he, he said, you know, I teach journalism, but based on what this law is, there are concepts I probably can no longer discuss. So, so if you know that, that Ohio students are no longer being exposed to thoughtful discussion, do you want them or are you gonna go get smart people that have [00:03:00] had the.

The exercise of their brain and, and who are exposed to all these thoughts. It’s not just what the law says, right? It’s how the faculty reacts. No one wants to get charged with a crime for violating Jerry Serena’s Nutball law, right? So do they all self-censor. Meaning that the education in Ohio colleges just becomes a

[00:03:19] Laura: joke.

Well, and and that’s a really good point. Not just hiring though, but what about anyone who wants to go to law school, med school, uh, get your business, um, mba, go to any kind of graduate school liberal arts where they, they wanna see your thinking. I mean, that’s the entire part of. Going to get your master’s degree or a PhD is an expansion of thought.

So if you’re coming from a place where it’s very rigid and this is what you’re allowed to be taught and it feels very, I. Orwellian is a really good word. Then are, are you gonna get accepted to good liberal arts schools or higher education? Well, what’s

[00:03:55] Chris: Orwellian is he says it’s about free speech when it’s about the opposite.

[00:03:58] Laura: It’s just the flat enough. [00:04:00] Right. And then did you see the email that Serena said yesterday? Yeah, it was like self congratulatory, but we hadn’t even talked. About these, um, centers at Ohio State and University of Toledo, which we’re talking something like, you know, up to 10 million probably total, where they wanna create these independent centers.

And Serena, huge proponent of these two saying that it’s, there’s one line of thought in our universities today, and this is supposed to as assist universities in moving forward with more intellectual diversity. There’s your double speak and this would. I mean, I, this doesn’t make sense. Well, where you’re gonna put a center in university just to teach conservative

[00:04:36] Chris: thought.

Yeah. It, the other thing is, look, let’s face it, there’s, there’s fewer students available. So we all know there’s gonna be a shakeout. Yeah. There’s going to be a reduction of academic institutions. So if I’m an academic institution in another state, and I’m competing for students, I’m gonna use this. Say you don’t wanna go to an Ohio school because they won’t.

Let you have a discussion. They have clamped so far down that it’s like [00:05:00] living in Russia. Come here cuz we welcome freedom of expression and

[00:05:04] Laura: thought, you know, this is just state schools we’re talking about the private schools don’t have to comply, so it’s gonna hurt. The public colleges. Maybe you do wanna go to school in Ohio, or you wanna stay in Ohio, you’re gonna look at Denison and Kenyon in case you’re not gonna wanna go to Ohio State.

Um, and sorry, that bill that I was just talking about is one 17, not one

13.

[00:05:24] Chris: If this passes, I have no doubt that they’ll then, Expand it to say any private school that gets any state money has to follow these rules. Right? This is a, a terrible direction that the state is headed in and good for the house for not moving it so far, hopefully in reconciliation, the house is gonna say, Hey, Matt Huffman.

No way. This isn’t Russia you’re listening to today in Ohio. The full Senate did vote out its version of the budget and it is very different from the House version and from Mike De Wine’s original proposal. What will they have to reconcile, Lisa, or at least what are some of the [00:06:00] highlights, cuz it’s probably too much to talk about.

[00:06:03] Lisa: Yes. As a matter of fact, the article that’s in The Plain Dealer in cleveland.com lists over a dozen things that need to be reconciled between the House and Senate versions. The Senate passed an 85.8 billion budget yesterday. On a 24 to seven party line vote, Republican Senators praised it saying it will stimulate the Ohio economy, improve education and return money to taxpayers.

Democrats say it doesn’t do enough to help. Poor people and its extreme changes to education policy. So, um, some of the highlights, uh, we kind of touched on one, the liberal bias thing in the academic institution centers. The big one is expanding school vouchers. We’ve been talking about this a lot in recent weeks, both.

Uh, versions call for expanding eligibility to families that make $135,000 a year family of four. The Senate would extend it to all K12 students regardless of [00:07:00] income, and that that would increase spending though by 372 million over two years and 1 billion by 2025. Also, um, Cleveland Scholarship Program, charter and private schools will no longer have to waive tuition beyond what the value.

Pays, um, the Cut Patterson Fair School funding bill, the next phase is funded for the next two years. The Senate version is 1.3 billion, but that’s 541 million less than the house version of the, of the bill. So teacher pay, the Senate budget has no increase in minimum teacher salaries. The house is calling for $10,000 more a year for bachelor’s degrees that that would be up to $40,000 and those with master’s degrees.

And 11 years of experience, uh, their minimum salary would go up more than $16,000 to $64,900 Tax cuts, both plans cut state income taxes, but the [00:08:00] Senate is seeking 1.65 billion in cuts, especially to the wealthy. It eliminates two tax brackets as well. The house is only calling for 930 million in cuts, mostly for low and middle income families.

Um, uh, the Senate would also basically eliminate the commercial activity tax. So currently the c a t is assessed on gross receipts over $150,000. That would increase to $6 million. So that would mean 90% of Ohio businesses would no longer have to pay the, the C A t. I’ll stop there. There’s a lot more to talk about, but,

[00:08:38] Chris: well, what, what I’m gonna be interested to see, the Senate has gone too far and I, you suspect that they did that as a negotiating tactic.

Some of the things they’re doing don’t work. And I’ll be interested to see if Mike DeWine. Who has shown no willingness to oppose anything the legislature does. Since he was reelected, vetoes any of this, he has a line item veto on the budget. He could actually [00:09:00] veto if the, if the house put in Jerry Serena’s lunatic Bill, he could veto that.

And I’m not sure in the house they could override that veto because of the fracturing of the Republican party and the way Jason Stevens took it over. So the, the Senate. Needs to be somewhat careful in the reconciliation of these things because Mike DeWine does have the power to say no, he can’t add stuff back in.

That’s the, the, the sad thing is, is if they don’t reconcile this and put some of this money back into daycare and the things where we need it, he can’t just unilaterally put that in with his veto pen, but he can strike crazy stuff out.

[00:09:40] Lisa: But will he though? I, I mean, I think that’s the question. Now I, I, you know, I think that, as you said, he’s just willing to go along and I don’t know that he’s really exercised his veto power recently.

[00:09:52] Chris: I. No, I, I mean if, if it goes the way it’s gone since he got reelected, he’ll just rubber stamp everything. I mean, the guy is [00:10:00] almost non-existent in the governor’s office since he was reelected. It’s very disappointing. Uh, it would’ve been nice to hear him say something about Jerry Serena’s bill. He says he stands for education.

This is going to seriously harm education and he cares about kids. So with the Senate version of this out, Why doesn’t he speak up a little bit so that the house knows that he’s in favor of their version to give the house a little more power in this reconciliation. He’s remained silent and we’ll have to see where it goes.

What are some of the other things?

[00:10:32] Lisa: Um, let’s see. We talked about liberal bias. Um, they’re gonna overhaul the. State Board of Education, the Senate has stripped, uh, most of the powers away from the State Board of Education. There’s been no vote on this in the house yet. And then the social safety net, there are various cuts to food, housing, childcare, and healthcare programs which, uh, you know, affect the poorest in Ohio.

Uh, let’s see. I think those are the big ones, but I do wanna [00:11:00] point out this little detail. Um, revenues. Are expected to pass projections by 840 million or more. So it’s not like we’re, you know, poor here. There’s a lot of money here. So you look at that money and we’re not even talking about the unspent, covid relief money.

So we’ve got. Revenues above projections, but yet we’re cutting programs

[00:11:24] Chris: well and with the vouchers. This is the Republican plan to pretty much destroy public schools. They’re taking all that money and pumping again into vouchers. And 10 years from now, we’ll be talking about the condition of public schools.

It’s not going to be pretty, you’re listening to today in Ohio. As part of its effort to hire more officers, much needed in a recent spade of violence, Cleveland is looking to women. So Layla, what percentage of the department does Cleveland want to be female?

[00:11:53] Leila: Well, so the the 30 by 30 initiative, which is this national push to bring more women into law enforcement and police [00:12:00] administration.

They’re seeking to have women make up 30% of sworn officers by 2030. And there are departments across the state that have signed onto to that goal. Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, they’ve all done it. The Ohio State Highway Patrol and the r t A police force here in, uh, in our area. And 30 by 30 says that only 12% of sworn officers and 3% of top leaders in police are women.

Cleveland has. 216 female officers and that makes up 17% of, of the police force, which frankly is higher than I expected to, to, for it to be. But that’s below other police forces. For instance, Madison, Wisconsin has, uh, 28% women. Very close to that 30% goal. It, it’s unclear if Cleveland has signed onto this particular initiative or not, but having more women on the force would obviously be good for Cleveland.

The 30 by 30 initiative says female officers use less [00:13:00] force and arrests generally, they’re more honest and compassionate and, and are less often the target of complaints. Dorothy, Annie Todd, the Deputy Chief of Staff for for Cleveland, told for the Cleveland police told. Olivia Mitchell that in her experience, victims are often more likely to open up to a woman officer than a man.

Olivia interviewed a lot of women in, in local police departments, and they shared with her their experiences of discrimination through the years and how difficult they have found it to climb the ranks. She did a great job with the story. It’s, it’s worth a read on cleveland.com.

[00:13:34] Chris: We have a couple of recent examples where women officers were trying to do the right thing at a scene and then got overruled in the wrong way by male officers.

I, I think it would be terrific to, to get this done because I do think it would bring some more humanity to the police departments. I agree. Also, look, you’re not getting any men. You know, they can’t get candidates, so turn to women and see if you could do some recruiting there. This would be a wonderful step forward.

I agree. [00:14:00] It’s a terrific story. People should check it out and, and a very laudable goal, uh, to, to make the department whole and and more humane.

[00:14:09] Leila: Yeah. You know what, reading though about the experiences that, that some of the women in her story have had, how. Discriminatory, uh, some of the police ranks have been toward them.

Uh, uh, they really need to to make a serious cultural change in police departments if they want to get anywhere close to this

[00:14:29] Chris: goal. Well, one of the ways yeah, you change that culture is to just increase the numbers. I mean, you get more women in, it’s gonna be harder and harder to,

[00:14:37] Leila: but, you know, if you hear about women getting treated like that, who’s gonna sign up for that?

Laura

[00:14:43] Laura: and the union, right. Would have to, you’d think that they’d want to change the culture. I don’t see that happening yet. That feels more like the old boys club, even if the administration is trying to make changes.

[00:14:54] Chris: You’re listening to today in Ohio, JD Vance and Sheard Brown, two senators from Ohio were [00:15:00] as vocal as possible and demanding that railroad companies institute safety measures and put what they were wanting into the building, co-sponsored.

But since they made all the noise. They’ve weakened the bill. Laura, is that reason for outrage or do these changes make sense?

[00:15:17] Laura: I think we can be reasonable here. So they originally wanted to upgrade all rail cars by 2025 as part of the Railway Safety Act of 2023. That was the original language. Obviously this all happened after the East Palestine derailment, but that apparently is really tough to do.

Tank car manufacturers told Congress they wouldn’t be able to meet that deadline because their orders for the next two years are already finalized. So they compromised on this new 2027 date that. The industry had pushed for 2029, and so she brown Democrat, he likened it to the auto industry saying, you know, when they get to these fuel economy standards and they’re trying to compromise, Congress wants it faster than the industry says it’s [00:16:00] possible, and eventually they get to an agreement.

And he says that the rail industry is one of the most powerful kind of top three in the country. And for there to be movement here, he’s taking this as a

[00:16:10] Chris: win. Yeah, I think being reasonable makes sense. It, it, it does feel like the lobbyists are always fighting unreasonably, but I. Because this was a bipartisan agreement.

Both of them came to it. I don’t think it’s, it’s probably the wrong way to go. It sounds bad on the front end. They’ve weakened what they proposed, but they do have a pretty good

[00:16:32] Laura: explanation, but they’re not weakening what they’re gonna require, which is nice. It’s not like they’re like, okay, well we’ll go lax on these safety standards.

They’re pushing back the deadline, but they’re still holding to. That what they say they want, you know, to make this safer for the tank cars. And so this is the, the senate version there. Obviously there’s a house version. Bill Johnson is working on that. Um, so I’m guessing that the same thing is gonna happen

[00:16:56] Chris: there.

Okay. You’re listening to today in Ohio. [00:17:00] The Ohio legislators work to heavily regulate transgender issues has wound up in a mega bill that will soon head to the house floor. Lisa, what would this bill

[00:17:10] Lisa: do? The House Public Health Policy Committee merged two transgender bills into one, so House Bill six, which bans transgender athletes and females.

Sports, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act and House Bill 68, which bans minors from undergoing gender reassignment procedures, even with percent parental consent, also known as the Safe Act, or save adolescents from AIR experimentation. So now this is all under the, what’s called the New House Bill 68 House speaker Jason Stevens says it will go to the house floor for a vote next week.

He says that there are similar issues and that. These bills have been around a few years, and now it’s time for the house to vote on them. So Ohio, if they sign this, we’ll join 22 states. States that have sports bans and 19 states that have medical [00:18:00] treatment bans. Uh, the public policy director for a Equality Ohio, Catherine Poe says it’s one big.

Terrible mega bill and she’s urging action from supporters. Uh, in a TikTok video that she posted, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association also opposes house bill 68. It was also amended. It removes a provision that banned counselors providing mental health services to affirm a child’s perception of their gender, which I had to read that two or three times to figure out what that meant.

But anyway, so they’re just mashing it all together into one big. Anti transgender bill.

[00:18:38] Chris: Well, all of this has been controversial and by putting it into one bill, it’s a single vote. Mm-hmm. So it’s almost an effort. They’re gonna take flack, they’re gonna get support from people that believe in this stuff, but they only have to do it once by putting it all together.

Uh, it, I guess you could argue it’s a single subject bill transgender, but it is [00:19:00] a multi warhead bill with all sorts of elements to it. Um, a little bit cowardly to. To avoid having discussions individually, but you could see they just don’t feel like dealing with the protestors. You are listening to today in Ohio, Cuyahoga County has met its goal of finding unpolluted land for a new county jail in Garfield Heights.

Layla, is it paying a fair price and who owns it now?

[00:19:25] Leila: Well, whether they’d be paying a fair price is a little undetermined. Ronna submitted legislation to county council this week to purchase three parcels that total, 72.1 acres at Granger Road in Transportation Boulevard, in in Garfield Heights for 38.7 million.

The the second choice site. For the jail is on Kirby Avenue in Cleveland. That site is expected to to, to have to sell it around, I don’t know, eight and a half to 15 million depending on how many of those seven parcels that comprise that site. The county would actually buy for the [00:20:00] jail, but it’s likely to require a lot of remediation to make it.

Environmentally friendly for a jail. There are potentially a lot of contaminants on that site. Cleaning it up would cost between 14 and a half and 23.6 million. Then you factor in cost of demo and construction, so you’re looking at. About 870 million total for that Kirby Avenue site. The Garfield Heights property doesn’t require any remediation and only $850,000 for demolition and construction readiness.

So add that in to the purchase price and the jail bill, and you’re looking at 790 million. The, the new purchase price for Garfield Ice, it’s significantly more than what the county was quoted last year when it was named the county’s third choice for a jail location. Back then, the county said that the owners, which are Craig Realty Group and and de Geronimo companies, were seeking 22 million.

Though that price only included 40.4 acres, if you break it down [00:21:00] per acre. It’s $550,000. And if you apply that to the full 72 acres that the county seeking, that would be more than what they’re trying to seek. Uh, what they’re, what they’re trying to seek for today, 39.6. Uh, or it would’ve been 39.6, which would’ve been more than what they’re currently asking.

But there’s a water detention area that’s, that you can’t develop. So it’s really hard to tell if this is a good deal or not at this point. And then there’s one more wrinkle in the story. And it’s the fact that the de Geronimo is either through businesses or as individuals, or in some cases through their employees, had contributed quite a bit of money to Chris Ron’s campaign, at least $37,000.

Most of those donations came during a fundraising event back in May of 2022. That raised a total of 40 Grand Fornes campaign. Of course, you know, county spokeswoman. Denied that those contributions had any bearing whatsoever on the site’s election process or the asking price. But it’s important [00:22:00] to, for the public to know when those connections exist.

[00:22:03] Chris: Yeah, it is. I, uh, I, I keep falling back on the, this is a perfect site for the jail that it. Transportation wise and that it’s clean and that the room, they’re gonna have to put other offices out there like the sheriff. It just makes huge sense and I know that families like the Geronimo’s have been contributing to campaigns for, for quite some time.

You hope. You hope that’s not why they’re, they’re looking at that site, but the argument is very strong for why to build a jail there. Um, we, we did wonder yesterday why they’re going for a 40 year increase in the sales tax and whether they were trying to generate extra money for things like sports stadiums.

And it has been pointed out to us that whatever their motive is, county council has been adamant. That whatever money is raised, that’s extra for the jail must go into mm-hmm. Their [00:23:00] courthouse, project, whatever that is. Renovation, replacement. So it, the, the haslams wouldn’t, right now, would not be able to get their hands on it for a stadium.

Right. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. All right. Laura, how much has Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan made from his memoir? More than a

[00:23:20] Laura: dollar. We don’t have an exact number thanks to, you don’t have to disclose it in the, um, official financial disclosure reports from 2022, so it’s somewhere between a hundred thousand and $1 million.

That’s a really big gamut. But that’s what the report says. This is the book. Do you do what you said you would do? Fighting for Freedom in the Swamp that went on sale in November, 2021. I think Sabrina Eaton bought it and read it for all of us, so we didn’t have to. So there’s one sale, but uh, he also made some money from a past book from 1994, A sports nutrition book.

Uh, Victory at the training table, a guide to [00:24:00] Sports nutrition.

[00:24:01] Chris: You, I what you don’t like to hear about this kind of thing and why the disclosure is important. What if I wanted to put money in his pocket, I could buy dozens and dozens of these books to distribute. And he profits from that and that, well, they that,

[00:24:17] Laura: and that’s what’s happening for, I mean, I don’t know about like businesses, but a bunch of G O P people are doing that.

Washington State candidates, Leslie French, is offering free copies of the book to donors that give 50 bucks. People get a hundred dollars, can get an autographed copy. The National Republican Congressional Committee is offering signed copies to donors who give $35 or more. So yeah, spend your $35, the National Republican Congressional Committee, I mean, that’s only usually like what, 10?

10 or 15 bucks more than a hard back book cost. And then you’ll get this signed copy of Jordan’s book and you’ll be donating to the committee in the meantime. Yeah, it’s

[00:24:52] Chris: a, it’s a dangerous thing. That’s why it should be fully disclosed if somebody bought cartons and cartons of these books, not really wanting [00:25:00] the books, but to get cash to him.

It’s a, it’s a legal way to give him money and that. That’s not good for the way America is governed. I mean,

[00:25:08] Laura: you could just create a dark money 5 0 1 c4, right? And then we’ll never know. But that’s not,

[00:25:13] Chris: but that doesn’t go into his pocket. This is money. True. That goes good point into his pocket, and that’s where you get into danger.

You’re listening to store those books at Mar-a-Lago. Well, yeah. Three Republicans seeking to oppose she brown in next year’s Senate race in Ohio have had very different reactions to the indictment of Donald Trump in federal court over the secrets, the secret records he took with them when he left office.

Lisa, how are

[00:25:40] Lisa: they different? Well, we all know where Bernie Moreno lands. He’s been angling for the Trump endorsement in this race. The Cleveland businessman was actually in attendance at Trump’s Bedminster New Jersey Resort Tuesday when Trump spoke after his arraignment there, uh, marina was there for a previously planned candlelight dinner [00:26:00] fundraiser.

Um, and his quote, he said, it isn’t just blatant in election interference from Biden’s D O J, it’s. The miscarriage of Justice Ohio. Senator Matt Dolan was much more circumspect. He says, I’m working hard on the Ohio budget in Columbus, and of course, he’s trying to appeal to moderate and traditional Republicans.

He had a tweet on Tuesday that reinforced his theme that he’s focused on Ohio issues working hard on a budget that benefits all Ohioans. Frank LaRose, not an official candidate yet, but were expecting Tim to announce any time. But he had no mention about Trump’s arrest and arraignment on social media.

His spokesman Rob Nichols, issued a statement that said, I had to laugh cuz he qualified him to say, well, you know, secretary LaRose is a. Former Green Beret with a security clearance who knows all about national security. But then the statement went on to say that he, he was disappointed that leaders of both parties have been accused of mishandling classified information, [00:27:00] and it’s a troubling double standard on how Feds pursue these matters.

[00:27:05] Chris: It, it is very, very different approach and one, one thing we know is Matt Dolan is No Trumper. I think he’s an old style kind of politician that looks at the shenanigans and things that Trumps have done, you know, with scorn. So I’m not surprised that he’s stayed away from it.

[00:27:20] Lisa: I had to laugh though. The Ohio Democratic Party issued a statement and their response was, Frank Larose’s, primary problems spiral out of control.

[00:27:30] Chris: Well, yeah, he’s too busy trying to destroy democracy in Ohio with the issue one you’re listening to today in Ohio, Lela Cuka County executive Chris RNA, announced a bunch of new hires Thursday. Who are they and what will they be doing, and are the people they replacing losing their jobs or we just.

Adding more people to the

[00:27:48] Leila: payroll. Oh, adding more people to the payroll. Let’s just get to, let’s just get that out there now. He nominated, uh, Debbie Barry as the county’s first deputy chief of Integrated Development at [00:28:00] Kelly Woodard as his new director of communications. Barry would be responsible for the county’s vision for long-term integrated development.

Housing, mobility, transportation and public work strategies to, you know, quote, invigorate the region. That’s quite a big job. She currently serves as greater Cleveland Partnerships, senior Vice president of major projects and real estate development. There. She has been responsible for driving major initiatives, which include the lakefront, riverfront, and downtown redevelopment.

She’s. An engineer with a, a bunch of experience in the public sector, including a lot of experience working with with Ron. They go back to his time with the city of Cleveland and his time with University Circle Inc. And then Kelly Woodard is going to replace Mary Louise Madigan as the new face of the county.

She’s currently the director of marketing at Cleveland Public Library. She, she previously held leadership roles in broadcast news for cities including Dallas, New York City, Hartford, Connecticut, rich Richmond, Virginia, and Cleveland. [00:29:00]

[00:29:01] Chris: Okay. Well, he, he does need some help with his media relations, so maybe that’s a good thing.

Yes. But because he has not been good at the messaging at all.

[00:29:10] Leila: Absolutely. And, and to answer that question that you have, Mary Louise Madigan is staying on the payroll, they’re gonna find something else for her to do. So it seems like the payroll is growing. Uh, On account of appointments.

[00:29:22] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio.

Wanna clear up something we discussed yesterday? We were wondering who wrote the advertisement for pro and con against Issue one that will be in many newspapers, courtesy of the taxpayers. Andrew Tobias listens to this podcast, sent me a note saying, Hey, I wrote about this and I remembered the story, but I didn’t remember it yesterday.

And actually there’s a rigor to it. The Republicans wrote why it’s a good thing. Democrats wrote very pointedly and very accurately why it’s a bad thing. So Frank LaRose had nothing to do with this. Wanted to clear that up. Thank you, Andrew Tobias, and thank you, Andrew for listening. [00:30:00] That’s it. Happy Father’s Day weekend.

Thanks, Lisa. Thanks Laura. Thanks Layla. Thanks to everybody who listens and

[00:30:05] Laura: Monday’s Juneteenth, so we won’t have

[00:30:07] Chris: a podcast. Oh, that’s right, right. That’s right. We will not be what Laura wants to make sure of that now, so that, just to make sure I’m not looking for a Monday morning. Okay. Or

[00:30:15] Laura: that nobody else is looking for this podcast either.

[00:30:18] Chris: Okay. Thanks very much. We’ll be back Tuesday.