Included in the Senate version of the state budget bill is another handout to the NFL. Over the next two years, Ohio will spend $20,000 for the Football Hall of Fame Festival. The budget already contains a provision to subsidize the NFL to the tune of $1.65 million for the Pro Football Hall of [...]

Yesterday, the Ohio Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee released its modifications to Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed budget. Fiscal conservatives who hoped the committee would critically examine the governor’s spending priorities will be sorely disappointed, as senators restored many of the cuts made in the Ohio House and increased the overall budget by $200 [...]

The Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission likes to spend tax dollars on places and institutions that would probably do just fine on their own. The commission has provided funding to the Columbus-based BalletMet ($250,000), the Cincinnati Ballet ($200,000), the NFL Hall of Fame ($1.65 million) and the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center ($300,000).
It [...]

Eye on the Statehouse has written on the Cultural and Sports Facilities Building Fund and its special status as a premier pork repository within the state budget.
Whether it’s $400,000 for ballet, $100,000 for an odd-shaped house in Circleville, or $300,000 for the Hayes Presidential Center, the Cultural Facilities Commission casts a wide net across [...]

Though Eye on the Statehouse is primarily focused on Governor Ted Strickland’s $57 billion budget, we will continue to report on the latest inefficient and wasteful government spending.
As the Buckeye Institute’s 2005 and 2006 Ohio Piglet Books have pointed out, government often funds special interest groups at taxpayers’ expense.
The $1.76 billion capital budget is an [...]

With the huge amount of ethanol subsidies offered by the federal government, is it any wonder why the corn-based fuel is becoming such a big deal across the nation?
Now one Ohio senator wants to provide handouts at the state level.State Senator Eric Kearney is sponsoring Senate Bill 28, which would create an ethanol and [...]