The Akron Beacon Journal in an editorial, “Blackwellian Echo,” says Ohio’s Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, at a time when Ohio badly needs additional revenue to maintain its social safety net, is taking an unreasonable and heartless anti-tax stand worthy of the Republican ideologue, Ken Blackwell. Strickland trounced Blackwell in the 2006 governor’s race.
Strickland is proposing a budget with $2.4 billion in additional spending cuts on top of $2 billion already applied. The Journal says these budget cuts fall unfairly and disproportionately “on the needy and vulnerable.”
The Journal ridicules Strickland as saying, ”Some say a tax increase during a recession would help kick start the economy. I believe that tax increases during this recession would only kick Ohioans when they are down, undermining the recovery that we need.” The Journal says that Strickland’s budget does just that — kick poor Ohioans when they are down — by reducing state help to foodbanks, child care, libraries, and mental health services.
The Journal says that Strickland has failed to strike the right balance: “The governor wants to rely more heavily on the disadvantaged, those in need of state services for the essentials in their lives. He has asked practically nothing of the most fortunate Ohioans, who stand in the strongest position to weather the recession. Many wealthier Ohioans have enjoyed a string of tax reductions, first under George W. Bush, then under Gov. Bob Taft and finally, through the expanded homestead exemption of Ted Strickland.”
The Journal says, “The rigidity of Strickland’s stance echos Ken Blackwell.”
