OH-18: Taxn' Trustee Galloway's Chance Just Got a Little Worse

Sen. Grendell Smacks Down Taxn' Trustee Galloway; this article describes the memorandum written by Grendell to the State Senate Republican Caucus.

Bwa ha ha ha!

Taxn' Trustee Chris Galloway, as we've noted, wants to be the person to get appointed to the OH-18 Senate Seat vacated by Sen. Tim Grendell if he were take the OH-98 House seat.

In Grendell;s own words he wants a "real fiscally conservative, family values republican" to replace him. That's Sen. Grendell's words precisely.

So, that means that he considers the applicants: Bob Gardner, David Fiebig, and Jaimie Callender to be less than Conservative...or, "RINO's" as it is referred to.  Grendell also MUST believe that Taxn' Trustee Galloway is a RINO too...c'mon, Galloway has been proven to work for democrats (e.g. paid Ohio Democrat Party Consultant).

OH-62 and OH-63

Anyone wonder why NO paid media has been running in Ohio's 62nd and 63rd House Districts?

Getting tired of seeing ads for Candidates and/or incumbents from Summit and Lorain Counties you have never heard of?

Easy to explain:

In OH-62 The House Caucuses (Democrat and Republican) view the race to be a poor investment.  Lorraine Fende wins 60-40 no matter how much money is thrown at her (e.g. Taxn' Trustee Galloway got $500, 000 handed to him and still got stomped).  Now, Taxn' Trustee Galloway is busy trying to get appointed to the Senate Seat held by Tim Grendell (Grendell will vacate the seat once he runs away with OH-98 necessitating the Ohio Senate Caucus to pick a replacement ).  Oooops. We forgot to mention Councilman-at-Large Dave Fiebig.  Seems like a nice guy.  Moving along....  Since Lorraine Fende uses her "relationship" with Judge Larry Allen to intimidate elected officials she has been able to hold a death grip on OH-62.

Bottom line: Fende doesn't even have or need a website to win....  So, why advertise?

Note:  We wonder if a paid Ohio Democrat Party Consultant with ties to State Sen. Tom Patton (former democrat) can really get appointed to a Senate Seat by the Ohio Senate Republican Caucus.

More on OH-63...tonight....

The $8 Billion Mess: Lake County State Rep. Candidates Need to Pound Fende and Schneider for Tax and Fee Increases

Last week the Cleveland Plain Dealer reminded us that the State of Ohio is staring at an $8 billion projected hole in the next budget.  Click here to see the Plain Dealer's reminder.  The budget shortfall is by no means new news.  In fact, the article reminds us that eleven months ago a bi-partisan commission was appointed to recommend possible remedies to the budget maladies caused by democrats in the Ohio House and the democrat Governor Ted Strickland.  That's right!  Elebudgven months of in action by the Ohio Budget and Planning Commission created by the House Democrats.  Eleven months...no meetings.  A meeting is finally scheduled for June 29th, 2010.

How did we get in this mess?  Well, well.  The House Democrats proposed a budget, House Bill 1, with a paltry 1.7% cut to the budget.  Unfortunately, Senate President Bill Harris and a couple Senate Republicans went along with the tiny budget cut.  House Bill 1 was a doozy as we have pointed out earlier in the year.  Among the many many many fees increases Ohio residents have been subjected to increased professional licensure, increased automobile registration fees, ..., and the band marches on.

All these fee increases and we were still $8 billion short--Obama to the rescue!  $4 billion in one time stimulus money was used in combination with raids on the tobacco settlement money, Ohio Library Commission fund, and State School Facilities Commission fund AND---AND--GET THIS: a TAX INCREASE!  That's right.  In the wee hours of December 18th 2009 House Democrats conspired with five Ohio Sentate Republican traitors to raise $851 million by raising the State Income Tax.  This crime against Ohio residents was passed as House Bill 318.

Let's recap: $ 4 billion in Obama funny money + $ 4 billion stolen from State Funds +$851 million in income tax increases to plug the State Budget hole.

Yep, Both Liberal Lorraine Fende (D, OH-62) and Mark Schneider (D, OH-63) voted for the State Budget, House Bill 1, and the income tax increase passed last December 2009.

So, how does this $8 billion mess get cleaned up?  Is there going to be $ 8 billion in cuts to the 2012-2013 State Budget?

Message to Councilman-at-Large Dave Fiebig (Candidate for OH-62): pound Lorraine Fende hard on her tax and fee increasing ways, and come up with a sound plan to plug the budget hole without raising taxes.

UPDATE: Legislative Committee Finances: A lot of money will be spent in Lake County

The Ohio House Democrat Caucus will spend at least a million dollars in Lake County.

Pretty consistent pattern with the legislative committee fundd; the party in power has a lot more money--about $2 million more!

Short and sweet: The House Democrat Caucus will spend more than a million dollars to defend Rep. Lorraine Fende (D, OH-62) and Rep. Mark Schneider (D, OH-63).

Rep. Ron Young stands a chance at keeping up with Rep. Schneider's fund raising, but it will be tough. Councilman Fiebig, however, will not be able to keep up with Rep. Fende's fundraising. Instead, Councilman Fiebig MUST fight the ground war against Rep. Fende; which, he seems to have started doing.

Mayor Weger has a Revelation: The Economy is Bad

Below we told you that Willoughby Hills City Council is tripling down: A third reading of the proposed income tax increase, change, whatever ... is set to happen and will be followed by a vote.

Hours before Willoughby Hills City Council's vote on whether or not to increase pay roll taxes Mayor Wegar seems to have had an relvelation.

Mayor Weger explained to the News-Herald

Weger had explained this meant people who work in other communities with a 2 percent tax or greater will actually be paying less, while those who work in Willoughby Hills but live elsewhere will be paying more to the city, increasing revenues.

Hmmmmmmm.  Sounds like a bait and switch, or a cleverly crafted plan to raise taxes.  What do we mean?  Well from the looks of the Mayor's words the legislation would lower income taxes on some residents and raise taxes on some people who work in the City; what resident would not vote YES on the proposed legislation?  Essentially Willoughby Hills City Council would bribe voters for their YES vote by giving them a lower tax rate (via a credit) and raising taxes on workers.

Slick.

All of sudden we have Mayor Weger doubling back hours before the City Council meeting.  Mayor Wegar said to the News-Herald, and reported this afternoon

However, upon mulling the legislation over a bit more, he decided it wasn’t the right time for it.

Mulling over?  What?  Is this an election year?

Mayor Weger went  onto say

“The whole economic situation of the city, the county the state, everybody’s in the same situation and we’ve just gotta try to be smarter and come up with different ways to save money ... like self conservation,” he said. “The storm’s not over yet, but everybody’s going to weather it together. It’s just hard for everyone.”

Let's make a bet: Willoughby Hills City Council stalls this proposal.  Why?

Councilman-at-Large Dave Fiebig is running against the more conservative Mike Zuren for the republican party primary. would have a lot of explaining to do this fall when he faces Rep. Loraine Fende.  Now Councilman Fiebig can say he is against tax hikes...Rep Fende is a tax hiking democrat...I will lower taxes, etc.  (We are hypothesizing here, none of this has been said yet).

WE ARE WATCHING CLOSELY!

OH-62 (House District): The Field is Shrinking

Sure: Mike Zuren (R Eastlake) was a long shot.  For those of you who have not heard Mike Zuren withdrew his candidacy for Republican Party nomination for OH-62; The Lake County Board of Elections accepted his withdrawal.  That means, you guessed it, no primary! The News-Herald makes mention of here and here.  


Our interpretation is that someone or something encouraged Mike Zuren to leave the primary race.

Zuren may have seemed a distraction for Councilman Dave Fiebig, but also served to force the Councilman to the right.

All in all, despite Loraine Fende being an inept, weak, embarrassment as a legislator Fiebig needs every second and every penny to even stand a chance.  This is NOT an indictment of Councilman Fiebig, rather the hard reality that Loraine Fende is an entrenched political entity in Western Lake County who will have between $500, 000 and $800, 000 in combined resources spent to hold this seat.  Thankfuly, she is term limited out after this election, and does not stand a chance for her party's nomination when OH-18 Senate Seat becomes available (insert Dan Troy).

Councilman Fiebig needs to get serious about his campaign, tough, unafraid to HIT Fende where it hurts, and for the love GOD drop any talk of an income tax increase in Willoughby Hills.

Councilman Fiebig: You were given a pass in the primary, please use it as an opportunity to stop any conversation about tax increases in your city, go raise a boat of cash, and make this a good election.

Loraine Fende's Candidate Committee Filing and Some Thoughts on OH-62

Rep. Loraine Fende does not have a primary opponent this Spring, but she will have one in this Falls General Election for Ohio's 62nd House District Seat.

The House Democrat caucus MUST hold OH-62.  There is no room for a loss in OH-62.  The House Democrat cuacus will spend better than $500, 000 to defend the OH-62 seat; but, we are wondering how much Loraine Fende will bring to the table.

The January Candidate Committee filing for her Loraine Fende reported $17, 639.34 on-hand.  Not so much!  Rest assured: the $$$$$$$$$$ will start dumping into her coffers this Spring.  Fende will have a six-figure campaign committee account soon.  Here is Loraine Fende's report summary and contributions followed by the expenditures:
Fende Candidate Committee Filing

Fende Expenditures
 
Bottom line: Fende will raise big bucks, and the House Democrat Caucus will spend big bucks, let's sayshe raises $150, 000 and they (the caucus) spends $600, 000. That brings the total spent to $750, 000. There is no way either Dave Fiebig or Michael Zuren can raise that much cash, and using "no way" 
is generous.

Hypothetically, IF Dave Fiebig were to win this May's primary he may be able to round up $50, 000

(that is nothing to sneeze at), however the House Republican Caucus still will not come up with the rest of the money needed to win.

The problem is that Fende has won each of the last three elections by roughly 60-40 margins (note: ChrisGalloway did a little better); with these numbers in mind the House Republican Caucus will not spend 

the necessary money. The necessarry money, say $500,000 - $600,000, is need to by T.V time and

BEAT UP Fende's pro-tax record. However, we know that Dave Fiebig might have a hard time calling Loraine Fende the tax-and-spend liberal that has shown us. Sigh. Two more years of Loraine unless 

the money rains down on Dave Fiebig, when we say rain we mean dump, pour, flood. Dave Fiebig 

would also have to do anything necessary to delay an income tax increase of any sort in Willoughby 

Hills.

Campaign Websites: OH-62 and OH-63

A Google search of each announced candidate for OH-62 and OH-63 only turns up Councilman-at-Large Dave Fiebig as having a campaign website.

Click here to see Councilman Fiebig's Website.

Did we miss the campaign website for Mike Zuren, Lorraine Fende, Ron Young, or Mark Schneider?

We know Lorraine Fende is lazy, so we did not expect her to have one up yet.  We expect Ron Young to put one up soon.  But, Mark Schnieder missing one too?

Why announce campaigns but not have websites up?  That's poor planning.

If we missed a site, let us know!

OH-62 (House District): The Field is Growing

The OH-62 race is going to be an interesting one.  As you know former State Rep. Jamie Callender was pondering a run for the Republican Party's nomination.  For a variety of reasons already discussed Mr. Callender decided not to run.

It is a forgone conclusion that Loraine Fende WILL run again.  Fende filed a few weeks ago and issued a statement.  Based on the facts we know about Fende she SHOULD be vunerable.  Fende has never seen a tax increase she did not like...well maybe she has...she could have wanted a larger tax increase last year.  Remember that Loraine Fende voted to raise your income tax 4.2% retroactive for 2009 and for 2010; Ohio H.B. 318.

Michael Zuren, an Eastlake resident, HAS filed his nominating petitions and is seeking the Republican Party's nomination.  Michael Zuren ran for City Council in Eastlake this past fall.  Mr. Zuren finished fourth on a crowded ballot of six people seeking Council-at-Large seats in Eastlake.  Based on reports Mr. Zuren is a conservative who does not care one iota about the support of the establishment.  Good for him; the establishment should take heed of the mood around the country (i.e. Scott Brown and the Governor's races AND the TEA Party movement).

Dave Fiebig, Councilman-at-Large, is circulating petitions and is expected to file.  Counilman Fiebig will be seeking the Republican Party's nomination.  Councilman Fiebig has served Willoughby Hills for two terms and is on several committees; Fiebig is the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, a member of Finance Committee and a member of the Safety Committee.  There is a lot more data on Fiebig because of his website and voting record.

Fiebig's facebook fan page describes him as having "moderate" political views.  It seems likely that Councilman Fiebig will be supporting an income tax increase this May.  Fiebig, a member of the Finance Committee, MUST have had some say in the legislation read at last week's council meeting which introduced an income tax increase on those working in Willoughby Hills.  A closer read shows that some residents may actually get an income tax decrease, though, depending on what City they work in.

Doesn't matter though.  A tax increase is a tax increase is a tax increase.

If Councilman Fiebig supports this tax increase Zuren will be able to use it to his advantage in the Republican Party Primary.  In the event, Fiebig gets the nomination of the Republican Party he will NOT be able to paint Fende as the tax loving democrat many know her as if he wrongly supports an income tax increase.

This primary will be fun.

OH-62 (House District): Dave Fiebig is Circulating Petitions

The Lake County BOE told our sources that Councilman-at-large Dave Fiebig (R, Willoughby Hills) signed out nominating petitions which means he will be seeking the Republican Party of Lake County's endorsement for the the 62nd House District in Lake County.  This development comes about a week after former Rep. Jamie Callender decided to not run for OH-62.

Dave Fiebig is a real estate developer.

We will keep you posted.

Word has it Loraine Fende is very, very worried.  Fiebig is a credible candidate that will get the Ohio House Republican Caucus' backing (i.e. money).