Each Friday, Eye on the Statehouse will announce its “Porker of the Week.” It’s our way of calling attention to a particularly big or wasteful spender.

This week we had several options. Two egregious examples of government officials’ irresponsibility received notable attention. Early in the week, Ohio’s major newspapers began uncovering a scandal involving a prominent member of Governor Ted Strickland’s transition team. The individual, who is also the wife of Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman, stands accused of billing state government for non-existent work hours.

Then it was revealed that Ohio taxpayers paid over $75,000 for political appointees in the administration of former Governor Bob Taft to receive professional help with their resume-writing and job-seeking skills.

These two situations demonstrate a fundamental disregard for the privilege of serving Ohioans as a public official. Both have captured the public’s attention and generated considerable outrage.

We believe these two examples will serve as a model of what not to do for other public officials and their staffs.

That is why we choose another recipient for this dubious award. This week’s Porker is the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD).

At yesterday’s Senate Finance and Financial Institutions committee meeting, Lt. Governor and Development Director Lee Fisher told Senators he was extremely unhappy over cuts the Ohio House made to the Department of Development’s budget. He asked that the Senate increase the budget to the levels originally found in Governor Strickland’s proposal.

He argued that ODOD needed the additional funding to “retain, create, expand, and attract jobs and to grow and expand Ohio’s economy.”

Lt. Governor Fisher doesn’t seem to understand – nor did his Republican predecessors – that every dollar government spends is money taken away from taxpayers, businesses and the overall free market. Government only spends tax dollars to create and enforce laws and regulations. It does not create jobs.

The Senate should hold the line on funding these programs. The less government spends, the less it will tax. As the budget shrinks and government spending decreases, taxes can be cut. Ohio can then correct its ranking as a high tax state – it is ranked fifth highest in combined state and local tax burden. It can also improve its business tax climate – currently rated the second worst in the nation.

For its wrong-headed belief that spending tax dollars will improve the economy, the Ohio Department of Development is this Eye on the Statehouse’s Porker of the Week.

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