What is Sutton doing to help OH-13?  Good question.

Ohio’s unemployment rate is up again.  We are now at 11 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The number of workers reported as unemployed in Ohio in March was 655,000, up from 648,000 in February. The number of unemployed has increased by 77,000 in the past 12 months from 578,000. The March unemployment rate for Ohio was up from 9.6 percent in March 2009.

Just a few short days ago we were reminded of the staggering problems facing the city of  Barberton, Sutton’s home town.  Now we see that the situation isn’t much better for the rest of us.

What is Sutton’s plan? Simple, tax and spend and tax and spend.

The more Betty does to help OH-13, the worse things seem to get.  She talks about saving and creating jobs, but Ohio’s jobs continue to disappear.

Betty, we’ve had enough help for now.  Please stop.

Betty's Magic - 14.7% unemployment!

Betty’s hometown is suffering more than most in the 13th district.  With Barberton’s unemployment rate approaching 15%, (as high as 31% among low income residents) one has to wonder what all the hope and change has done for this once prosperous community.

Announcements of free money for the district pour out of Sutton’s office, but where is the relief for Barberton?  What is Betty’s plan for the people of this city?

It has become painfully obvious that the representative has no effective plan to help Barberton, or any of the struggling communities in OH-13.  The best we can expect is more smoke and mirrors as Sutton avoids the real problems of excessive taxation, and irresponsible spending.

The following editorial was published in the Barberton Herald.

Somebody in the mainstream media forgot to tell the State of Ohio and the City of Barberton that our economy has “turned the corner” during this Great Recession. We have learned this week that the unemployment rate in Ohio now stands at 11% with no end in sight and the unemployment rate in Barberton is a staggering 14.7% (highest in Summit County and Ohio) with no real plan at any level of government on how to bring jobs to this area.

Worse still are the unemployment rates for those Americans in the low income bracket ($15,000/year or less) which at the end of 2009 was almost 31%. That’s more than five points higher than the overall jobless rate at the height of the Great Depression. This income group makes up a substantial portion of the city’s population, as according to City-Data.com, over 72% of all renters in the City of Barberton live at or below the poverty line.

According to Ray Scheppach, who is the executive director of the National Governors Association, the dire situation that many states find themselves in is “almost unprecedented”. The questions everyone should be asking is: Where have all our political leaders gone? Where are the jobs?

“Hope and Change” has come to our community. Unfortunately “Hope” is not a plan and “Change” has come in the form of the worst financial crisis in the history of Barberton. The time has come to look from within us and our fellow citizens (We the People) to find answers to our dilemma since our elected officials have so far let us down. And just maybe, our children and grandchildren can say, as Winston Churchill did in 1940 during another crisis of historic proportions, “This was their finest hour”

Dave Conner

Economic Outlook Unnerving as the Democrats Continue their Job-Killing Campaign

Washington- After weathering the rough economic storm over the past year and with unemployment at an abysmal 9.7 percent, Ohio families are desperate for economic recovery. Rather than working to create jobs and providing relief to struggling middle-class families, Betty Sutton continues to green-light billions in wasteful spending only to stimulate big-government growth at the expense of private sector jobs. Less than two weeks ago, Sutton rubber-stamped a job-killing healthcare takeover that is so politically toxic it has Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Van Hollen predicting “stormy waters” ahead for Democrats.

“’Rep. Chris Van Hollen is seeking both to calm and unify his party as it enters what he calls ‘dangerous waters ahead.’

“With healthcare reform now law, Democratic leaders are shifting into a new phase, reassuring and advising nervous members who have huge targets on their backs.” (Aaron Blake, “Van Hollen warns of ‘dangerous waters,’” The Hill, 3/31/2010)

The Democrats’ job-killing healthcare bill will not only force companies to lay off employees, but will come at a huge financial cost as well:

“Boeing Co. will take a charge of $150 million due to the recent health care overhaul legislation, the aircraft maker said Wednesday. The charge will hurt earnings by 20 cents per share in the first quarter of 2010. In 2013 Boeing will no longer be able to claim an income tax deduction related to certain prescription drug benefits for retirees.” (“Boeing to take charge on health care reform,” Associated Press, 3/31/10)

“On top of AT&T’s $1 billion, the writedown wave so far includes Deere & Co., $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; AK Steel, $31 million; 3M, $90 million; and Valero Energy, up to $20 million. Verizon has also warned its employees about its new higher health-care costs, and there will be many more in the coming days and weeks.” (“The ObamaCare Writedowns,” Wall Street Journal, 3/27/2010)

“The effects of this portion of the health care bill have concerned several of the 35,000 people employed in the lending industry. Phillip Walsh, a senior director at Sallie Mae’s office in Fishers, said the company will lose approximately 2,500 of its 8,500 jobs.” (Holly Heerdink, “Loan providers forced to cut employees,” Indiana Daily Student, 3/25/2010)

Much to the dismay of Ohio families, the few jobs that have been produced since Democrats took control of the White House and Congress have been government jobs with looming expiration dates:

“The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nonfarm payroll data, to be released Friday, include government workers. The addition of workers for the 2010 census is expected to lift federal government payrolls.” (Kathleen Madigan, “Private Payrolls Drop,” Wall Street Journal, 3/31/2010)

“Also, the help from census hiring is a temporary boost, at best. Most census workers will only be employed for a matter of months.” (Ian Swanson, “Positive March jobs figures to bolster Obama, but horizon cloudy,” Politico, 3/30/2010)

While middle-class families in Ohio continue to look for economic recovery on the horizon, Betty Sutton has been busy rubber-stamping a job-killing agenda in Washington,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “By supporting her party’s agenda of higher taxes, fewer jobs, and bigger government, Sutton is on the hook for the country’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate.  After repeatedly neglecting economic solutions in favor of partisan politics, Sutton may have already guaranteed her own unemployment when voters go to the polls on Election Day.”

nrcc.org

Is Betty Sutton The Money Tree?

Our elected representative, Congresswoman Betty Sue Sutton, has been tough to find since the election of 2008.  Perhaps it is because of all the hard work she is doing to save jobs in Ohio’s thirteenth congressional district.  Maybe it is because of all the time she spends reading each and every bill.  Whatever the reason, Sutton should make time to answer a few question.

In the last few months, announcements on the congresswoman’s official website have been coming fast and furious.  Many of these announcements deal with grant money being awarded to organizations within the district.  A read of the headlines on her website makes the her look like the proverbial money tree.

• Rep. Sutton Announces $172 Million for Housing Assistance in Ohio
• Rep. Sutton Announces $3,726,855 SAFER Grant for Elyria Fire Department
• Rep. Sutton Announces $25,878 for the Coventry Township Fire Department
• Rep. Sutton Announces Regional Transit Funding for Northeast Ohio
• Rep. Sutton Announces $45,695 for the Valley City/Liverpool Township Fire Department

Strangely absent from each announcement is mention of the people who tirelessly work to secure these dollars. Sutton is quick to suggest her own hand in the efforts by publishing the announcements, but how much work did she really do?

If the representative had a major role in securing these grant dollars, then I am left wondering why she is playing favorites among organizations within the district.  Furthermore, if Sutton had a major role in securing these grants, why is the federal grant process not based solely on the merit of the applicants?  Are we really handing out tax dollars because the representative likes organization X more than Y and Z?

On the other hand, if the representative had little or nothing to do with the grants, then I must ask why she publishes these announcements on her official website in a way that implies her involvement.  Is our representative attempting to pass off the work of others as her own?

You can expect more on this topic.

Betty Sutton Begs for Cash

Thanks to a reader, we received a copy of Sutton’s recent campaign plea for financial help.  You’ve got to love the opening paragraph (more to come).

“The last election was about hope and change. We worked to elect leaders who would help to fix the economic mess, provide health care for everyone and put our country back on the right track. We won in November but we’ve been faced with obstruction by the Republicans at each turn. It’s been hard to deliver on the change we promised”

Well Betty, as long as you brought it up, we did ask for a solution to the economic mess.  I was just wondering when you were actually going to take care of that? And what about your plan to provide health care to everyone?  Correct me if I am wrong, but you didn’t exactly accomplish that either.

The word failure comes to mind, but you probably feel that way too.  That would explain why you’re blaming the republicans for your inadequacies as a legislator.   If only your party had majority control… wait, never mind.

Betty Sutton - Hypocrite

One of Congresswoman Sutton’s pet projects has been a push to include ‘Buy America’ language in the house Jobs Bill (H.R. 2847).  Through this, Sutton hopes to create and protect American jobs.  For the moment, I’ll leave aside the opinions of experts and historians who disagree with this approach and believe it will ultimately do more harm than good.   Instead, I want to concentrate on our representative’s commitment to this philosophy.

Last year, on NPR, speaking of her Buy American Provisions, Sutton said,

“It just ensures that American tax dollars are supporting American workers doing the work that we need to have done.”

More recently, on December 16, 2009, Sutton published a press release to her official website in which she said the following,

“At a time when unemployment is at 10 percent in this country, it is critical now more than ever that we stand with American workers and businesses.  As we invest in our nation’s infrastructure and manufacturing, the American taxpayers expect that the projects and products made will be produced in America by American workers.”

If, as Sutton believes, keeping federal tax dollars within our national borders is a positive move for American workers, then it would stand to reason that buying goods and services from the 13th district of Ohio would be good for the worker of the district.

Practice What You Preach

It was not long ago that Betty took $118,838 of your tax dollars to produce a pair of self-promoting mailings.  The publishing company chosen by Sutton to complete this controversial task was the Mount Vernon Printing Company.  For those of you following along at home, the Mount Vernon Printing Company is located in Landover, MD (MD-4).

Certainly, with only a small amount of research, Sutton’s staff could have located a printing company within the borders of Ohio’s thirteenth district. Instead, the Congresswoman took nearly $120,000 which had been entrusted to her, as the representative of OH-13, and spent it to support her own campaign and the workers of Maryland’s 4th district.  This was done at a time when Ohio’s unemployment rate has nearly topped 11 percent.

You cannot have it both ways, Betty.  If your ideas are good, then enact them in your own daily work.

Look-At-Me

Knowing how busy you have been I decided to save you some work and have drafted a “Buy OH-13” plan for you:

1. All business transactions completed by your offices will follow a strict “Buy OH-13” policy.
2. If a project or purchase must be completed by a company from outside our district, then you must publish on the Internet within 30 days a detailed, written justification as to why the product or service cannot be completed by an OH-13 business.  It will also be necessary for you to including the amount of tax dollars being spent.
3. For any wavier to this plan, you shall provide, as part of the written justification, a statement detailing the short and long term impacts of the waiver on OH-13 employment.
4. You can request a waiver based on “unavailability/insufficient district source” only if after publishing your request on the Internet for at least 5 business days a sufficient OH-13 source of the material, product, or service does not identify itself during the period.

My plan will slow down the work of your offices, and I understand that it is an inefficient and expensive way to conduct business, however, as my grandmother use to say,

“ What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Betty Sutton assembles expert panel to talk about rust.

Liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent.
- Quinn’s Laws of Liberalism

Thank the heavens, we have Congresswoman Sutton looking after us. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the representative assembled a panel of Ohio experts on Wednesday to describe how preemptive efforts to fix corroded roads, bridges and other infrastructure could create jobs and improve safety.

“When a bridge rusts away and collapses or when water mains break, filling our streets with water, we’ll read about corrosion, but by then it’s too late.” – Betty Sutton.

Betty, who has yet to hold a public town hall, is seeking legislation that will stick the federal government’s grubby hands even deeper into our lives by requiring states to spend money on rust mitigation and prevention plans for public projects before they are completed.

I have to ask, Betty, did you really need to call in a panel of experts to understand that rust destroys metal? Was it difficult to conclude that anti-corrosive products prevent corrosion?

If you don’t mind, when you have finished creating all these new anti-corrosion jobs, could you come up with a plan for the men and woman who currently make their living dealing with the effects of rust.

Good grief.

Betty Sutton, did you notice that Ohio's unemployment numbers are up for the fourth consecutive month?

Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services recently released their December 2009 Unemployment Report.  Our unemployment rate has now reached 10.9 percent, up from 10.6 in November.  This is the ninth straight month of double-digit unemployment in the buckeye state.

Since Congresswoman Betty Sutton (D-OH) voted to pass H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Ohio has lost ten’s of thousands of jobs.

Betty,

Where is the recovery?

When you helped pass this legislation you told us,

“Overall, this legislation seeks to provide short term help to those who have been hurt the most by the economic downturn, and long term solutions to put our economy on solid footing for years to come.” – Sutton

2009 Ohio Unemployment

When exactly will those long term solutions begin to solve the problems facing Ohio?  The solid footing you spoke of seems a little shaky.

“The time to act on strengthening our nation’s economy is now. I am confident that this comprehensive legislation will provide Ohio and our Nation with the opportunity to improve our financial footing for 2009 and beyond.“- Sutton

Your confidence was misplaced.  How is it that your critics could plainly see the outcome of your work, yet you pushed forward blindly?  As predicted, the act has done little or nothing to stop the bleeding of Ohio jobs.  Despite your wishful plans, Ohio was not on an improved financial footing by the end of 2009.”

Your work in Washington has been a failure.

Betty Sutton's Slow Recovery

Ohio’s top CPAs responding to the seventh annual Ohio Business Poll have pushed back their earlier prediction by one year for when a sustainable U.S. economic recovery will begin.

About a third (36%) of respondents to the poll, conducted by The Ohio Society of CPAs (OSCPA), predict a sustainable recovery to start in the second half of 2010, while 26% put the turnaround in the first half of 2011. In the 2008 poll, the overwhelming majority of poll participants forecast a sustainable recovery coming in the last half of 2009 or the first half of 2010 (62%).

In addition, 65% of CPAs responding this year felt Ohio unemployment rates have not yet peaked. Nearly half (48%) believe it could take up to four years for the state to return to pre-recession unemployment  levels of 5.8% recorded in December 2007.

Respondents were ambivalent concerning the effectiveness of the national stimulus packages at creating and retaining jobs in Ohio, with 26% saying the stimulus packages were neither effective nor ineffective and 23% responding that they were somewhat effective.

Betty Sutton, clearly the best choice for a job creation task force.

The economic stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on Feb. 17, 2009.  Betty and her cohorts promised it would help bring about a recovery for the slumping economy.   So, how is this promised help working out for OH-13? Let’s look at two numbers from recovery.gov, a website created by the Obama administration to track the recovery efforts.

Betty Sutton has spent $153,496,938.00 of recovery money in the district.   Her spending spree has created 149.5  jobs.  After a little quick math, that seems to work out to 1.26 million dollars per job.  Well done, Betty!

Back in February Betty had this to say:

“The Recovery and Reinvestment Act is simple – it is about putting our people back to work and reinvigorating our economy. The need for this legislation could not be more important. America’s families are hurting. Last month, our country lost nearly 600,000 jobs and unemployment in our country has reached a staggering 7.2 percent. These are not statistics – these are hardworking Americans who are now struggling to pay their bills, provide for their children and who are wondering how they can afford health insurance. Today’s legislation is aimed squarely at restoring the promise of the middle class to our hard-working families.

Ohio has been hit particularly hard, with a statewide unemployment rate of 7.8%. Today’s legislation is expected to save or create 133,000 jobs throughout Ohio, providing families with the opportunity to regain or obtain wages they need and desire. It also provides our state with necessary resources to help stabilize the local economy and address other challenges. Ohio’s schools will receive approximately $2.7 billion for necessary school improvements and programs for our children. Our state will also receive over $3 billion in federal funding for Medicaid, ensuring that our most vulnerable citizens receive the healthcare they need and deserve.”

This is Congresswoman Sutton from today. Democrats work on multibillion-dollar jobs package L.A. Times

“The stimulus boosted employment but did it in a way that was not as highly visible as a lot of people would like.  It did so in somewhat of a scattershot approach — a job here and a job there, trickled out over time. . . . Far too many Americans are without a job, and far too many more are worried about what tomorrow is going to bring.”

Since the stimulus bill was enacted in February, the United States has lost 2.8 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Job losses increased in 29 states, including Ohio, last month.  Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services reported that the state’s unemployment rate rose to 10.5 percent in October, up from 10.1 percent in September.

Now President Obama, Betty Sutton and the Democratic majority in Congress are assembling a new jobs package that would devote billions of additional dollars to projects meant to put people back on payrolls in 2010 and keep them working.

All of this is proof that Betty Sutton is the perfect choice to co-chair a task force on job creation.  Let’s just hope the other guy knows what he’s doing.