Today, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page weighed in on Attorney General Marc Dann’s apparent coordination with a teachers’ union to attack Ohio’s charter schools. The issue was first uncovered by the Columbus Dispatch. Dann’s actions drew immediate criticism from education reform groups. Read our previous post here.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
October [...]

This morning’s Wall Street Journal focuses attention on Ohio’s hyper-aggressive new attorney general. In the story, Buckeye Institute President David Hansen points out that an anti-business environment is the last thing Ohioans need.
“The big problem is that we have a dismal economy,” says David Hansen, president of the conservative think tank the Buckeye Institute, [...]

As the debate heats up over Gov. Ted Strickland’s energy plan, Ohio’s largest utility has doubts. However, some trade associations and organized labor groups are supportive.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Friday, October 5, 2007 4:17 AM
Utilities rip Strickland’s plan
Biggest companies say competition exists for energy deregulation
By Paul Wilson
Electricity customers in Ohio could face much higher [...]

After a recent exposé in the Columbus Dispatch, the Center for Education Reform and the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools expressed concern over Attorney General Marc Dann’s coordination with the politically powerful Ohio Education Association (OEA) in shutting down charter schools.
From the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools:
Ohio Alliance files public records [...]

Lawyers’ paperwork on limiting campaign contributions arrives late
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Julie Carr Smyth
Associated Press
Columbus- Well over half the lawyers required to limit their campaign contributions to Attorney General Marc Dann in order to qualify for state work didn’t fill out the required paperwork until this month, long after the office began doling out contracts, according [...]

After receiving an annoying or threatening telephone call, most government officials would get an unlisted home telephone number. Marc Dann’s staffer, Brian Laliberte, got an expensive taxpayer funded security system.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated Mr. Laliberte’s call and concluded it was unfounded. Nonetheless, Mr. Dann set an imprudent precedent. [...]

The following video offers State Senator Kevin Coughlin’s perspective on the $52.4 billion state budget. We encourage all legislators who have produced similar videos to send a link to Eye on the Statehouse.
The Buckeye Institute recently recognized Sen. Coughlin for his leadership on the special needs voucher provision passed by the Ohio House [...]

The Dispatch’s Ann Fisher had a piece last week detailing spending out of public coffers by Attorney General Marc Dann and his predecessors, Republican and Democrat, for a booth, sponsorship and a parade slot in Columbus’s Fourth of July festivities.
Good stuff, but what puts Fisher in the running for our Pistol of the Week award [...]

Each Friday, Eye on the Statehouse announces its “Porker of the Week.” It’s our way of calling attention to a particularly big or wasteful spender.
Over the next biennium, the state of Ohio will spend $52.37 billion, including millions of dollars in pork.
Ohioans, through the state budget, will continue to provide corporate welfare to [...]

The Associated Press is reporting the state budget could be completed by tomorrow.
Here is the story:

The Associated Press
6/26/2007, 5:34 p.m. EDT
State lawmakers make final budget push
By JOHN McCARTHY
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State lawmakers put the finishing touches Tuesday on a budget bill that freezes college tuition, increases dollars for children’s health care and gives seniors [...]