Rotunda Rumblings
Enhanced experience: A new Ohio law directs state officials to offer “enhanced” driver’s licenses and ID cards that can be used in place of a passport to enter Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean nations. Jeremy Pelzer has more on how enhanced licenses work, what it will take to get one, and why civil libertarians aren’t as worried about them as they were a few years ago.
Hub of industry: Columbus will be among five new “Workforce Hubs,” where the Biden administration will partner with state and local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, high schools, and other stakeholders to develop training programs to meet the region’s demands for labor, Sabrina Eaton writes. White House officials described the five areas around the country that will get the designation – which also include Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Augusta, Georgia – as “cities and regions where we’ve seen significant concentration of public and private sector investments, often focused on specific industries.”
So much for home rule: The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a measure by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, a Cincinnati Republican, that would nullify a District of Columbia police reform law that Vance says increases crime and makes “it harder for police officers to do their job,” reports Eaton. The Senate voted 56 to 43 to overturn the DC Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022. It was the first measure sponsored by Vance to get a vote on the U.S. Senate floor. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, voted against it, as did the majority of his party.
Breaking the banks: Executives from a pair of failed banks blamed their collapses on misfortune rather than mismanagement as members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, led by Ohio’s U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, eviscerated them for poor decision making and profiteering, Eaton reports. “Both of your banks prioritized fast growth – but not risk management,” the Cleveland Democrat told the former heads of Silicon Valley and Signature banks.
Voter appeal: Personality rather than policy draws Trump voters to support Brown, a political survivor who, while often seeking to work with Republicans, speaks like a populist, touts his progressive credentials and often votes with President Joe Biden, The Messenger writes .”It’s more how you do your job,” Brown said at a roundtable on his Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. “It’s listening, coming up with legislation, getting it passed and it is follow-up like this.”
No surprise: The National Republican Senate Committee is out with a new attack ad that cites an NBC report that Brown was repeatedly late in paying his property taxes and improperly claimed an owner-occupancy tax credit on two properties. “What a hypocrite,” says the ad. “Tell Sherrod Brown to pay up.” The Plain Dealer previously reported other late property tax payments by Brown.
Sunset on tariff effort: Brown put out a Tuesday statement to decry President Joe Biden’s veto of a congressional resolution that would have overturned his administration’s suspension of tariffs on Chinese solar project importers. Earlier this month, he was among several Democrats who voted to reinstate the tariffs. “The President got this one wrong,” said Brown. “I’ll never stop fighting for fair trade and a level playing field for Ohio manufacturing and Ohio workers – no matter who the president is.”
More probes: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, asked Special Counsel John Durham to testify before the House Judiciary Committee he chairs about a report Durham filed on investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign, a spokesman said. “This report was as tough as you could get,” Jordan told Fox News. He also told the network he plans to investigate the Department of Homeland Security’s funding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work at the southern border and offer free services, including food and transport, to illegal immigrants — amid concerns taxpayer dollars are being wasted and misused.
Cop dollars: A bipartisan group of Ohio Congress members introduced legislation Tuesday that would allow local law enforcement agencies to use money from the Department of Justice’s COPS Hiring Program for recruitment and retention bonuses, and would extend the time when grant applications are valid. Cincinnati Democrat Greg Landsman introduced the Enhancing COPS Hiring Program Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act with Akron Democrat Emilia Sykes, Rocky River Republican Max Miller and Columbus Republican Mike Carey.
Staff attacks: Youths in the Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Massillon attacked three staff members separately, sending two to the hospital. This is the facility where kids started a riot that was livestreamed on Facebook and caused $265,000 in damages, though the Ohio Department of Youth Services says they need more staff members to make the facility safer, the Dispatch’s Laura Bischoff reports.
Loss prevention: The legislature has a bill that is aimed at reducing thefts of catalytic converters, which increased 234% between 2020 and 2022 in Dayton alone, WDTN’s KaJeza Hawkins and Callie Cassick report. House Bill 110 would prohibit people from selling the parts without proof of a vehicle’s purchase and prohibit selling more than one a day.
Appeal action: Matt Borges, the former Ohio GOP chair who was convicted in the House Bill 6 scandal, is asking a judge for extra time to work on an appeal because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two cases that need to be factored into Borges’ case, the Enquirer’s Jessie Balmert reports. A federal jury convicted Borges and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder of racketeering conspiracy.
Full Disclosure
Five things we learned from Gov. Mike DeWine’s May 15 financial disclosure.
1. In addition to his 2022 gubernatorial salary of $167,900, DeWine is partial owner of DeWine Enterprises Inc. and a partial owner of Ohio Twine Co. He said he was a partial owner of some property in Yellow Springs and partial owner of DeWine Seeds- Silver Dollar Baseball LLC, which owns the Asheville (NC) Tourists Baseball Club, a minor league development team of the Houston Astros.
2. DeWine listed nearly 2.5 pages of investments he held in 2022, including in Berkshire Hathaway, Cisco, Coca Cola, Duke Energy, General Electric, Intel, IBM, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Pfizer, Protecter & Gamble, Unilever and Western Union.
3. DeWine received gifts from Cox Enterprises – which owns the Dayton Daily News, among other companies – the Cincinnati Bengals, two custom jerseys worth $361 from the Cincinnati Reds, Intel, the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Foundation, Nita and Vinny Gupta – Vinny works at the Ohio Turnpike Commission – and Umberto and Maryellen Fedeli – Umberto is CEO of the Fedeli Group in Independence, one of the state’s largest privately held risk management and insurance firms.
4. Through the Ohio Twine Co., DeWine owns 3,254 acres in Yellow Springs, his home town of Cedarville and rural parts of Greene and Fayette counties.
5. He owes at least $1,000 to his campaign fund, DeWine Husted for Ohio, and Steven and Alice Dudukovich, his son-in-law and daughter. His daughter ran for Greene County prosecutor in 2020 but lost.
On the Move
Ex-President Donald Trump’s former ambassador to Morocco, David Fischer, has endorsed Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate.
State Sen. Matt Dolan, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, has announced the endorsements of 16 county sheriffs and prosecutors, including Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser and Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno.
Ohio entrepreneurs and business owners Kumar Arora of Trust Foods and David Boone of BledED were among 35 young men of color who met with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House Tuesday to discuss the administration’s work to support entrepreneurial growth.
U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, will host a free May 20 Small Business Expo to connect small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs with resources to help them start and grow their businesses. Constituents can register here to attend the 9 a.m. to noon event at Tri-C’s Jerry Sue Thornton Center.
Birthdays
Megan Sorensen, Ohio House Republicans’ deputy finance director
Straight From The Source
“It’s not about wealth or not. It’s about: is it uniformly applied across the state, and does it have the ability to spur economic growth and activity by putting more money in people’s pockets?”
-State Sen. Matt Dolan, a Chagrin Falls Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which is vetting the state budget bill. Dolan, in an interview with Gongwer News Service, said that tax cuts for high earners is not about giving rich people a handout, but about spurring economic growth. Dolan is from one of Ohio’s wealthiest families, and is running for U.S. Senate.
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