Rotunda Rumblings
New Ohio poll: Ohio’s presidential race is tight, Gov. Mike DeWine maintains wide support on his coronavirus response, and reaction to racial justice protests is divided sharply along partisan lines, according to new polling released Thursday. The Baldwin Wallace University Great Lakes Poll found Democratic challenger Joe Biden with substantial leads over President Donald Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin, and up slightly in Ohio and Pennsylvania, though within the margin of error for the latter two states, Rich Exner reports. There’s lots more in the poll, and we’ll be rolling out stories over the next few days. You can find them all at this link.
Bailout block? Attorney General Dave Yost asked a Franklin County judge Wednesday to prevent Energy Harbor, the owner of two nuclear power plants, from receiving any public bailout money under House Bill 6. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Yost’s suit also seeks to prevent Energy Harbor, FirstEnergy Corp., and other figures involved in the HB6 bribery scandal from lobbying for 8 years or becoming involved in this year’s general election.
Bag it: A bill preempting local plastic bag bans is on its way to DeWine’s desk, Andrew Tobias reports. The Ohio House voted 57-34, with most Republicans voting ‘yes’ and most Democrats voting ‘no’ to accept changes to House Bill 242 previously added by the state Senate.
No one likes the ref: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been in the middle of a number of election season fights over Ohio’s voting procedures, and he’s caught criticism from various fronts. As Tobias explains, LaRose sees himself as wearing “the referee’s jersey.” Tobias has a rundown of the controversies and where LaRose has stood. And John Caniglia has the latest on one of the cases, a federal court fight over ballot drop boxes.
Final act: The House and Senate on Wednesday passed a bill allocating $650 million for local governments, the final wave of the state’s share of federal CARES Act coronavirus relief money. Per Tobias, the language allocating the money on a per-capita basis was added to an unrelated bill that changed oversight of the state’s unemployment compensation system. Local governments can only use the money to cover expenses directly related to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and the state must return any unspent money to the federal government. The bill heads to DeWine’s desk for his signature.
I’ll drink to that: The House and Senate on Wednesday also approved House Bill 669, allowing bars and restaurants to sell to-go cocktails, Tobias reports. The bill, if signed by DeWine, would make permanent a temporary order DeWine issued in April. Bill backers say the change is meant to help hospitality businesses that have been severely hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ready to rumble: Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Wednesday predicted that President Donald Trump will propose a Supreme Court justice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg who will vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and said he and other Democrats will “fight like hell” if that’s the kind of nominee Trump picks, Sabrina Eaton reports.
Black women’s health: Brown also announced that his office will host its first-ever Black Women’s Health Symposium online on two consecutive Saturdays – Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 – to highlight inequities in health outcomes and determine ways to eliminate them. “We know the best ideas don’t come out of Washington, they’ll come from people all over the state that talk to us about these issues,” said Brown. Participants can sign up on this website.
Coronavirus deaths: Wednesday’s coronavirus numbers brought down the 21-day average for daily increases below 1,000, but included a significant increase in deaths. The reported 52 deaths is the highest increase since Sept. 15, Emily Bamforth reports.
Current cases: Among the nearly 150,000 coronavirus cases reported by the Ohio Department of Health this year, about 16,400 are believed to be currently active. This is down from about 18,400 on Sept. 14, and down more sharply from an estimated high of 22,400 active cases on July 27, Exner reports.
Loosen up: Grocery-store salad bars, as well as buffets, pinball machines, and dancing in bars and restaurants, will once again be allowed under a new state health order. As Marc Bona reports, the new order also allows all banquet and catering facilities with on-site food and drink consumption to reopen with a maximum capacity of 300 people and a 10-person-per-table limit.
Not picking up the check: Cleveland City Council has approved legislation allowing the city to collect reimbursement from organizers of Tuesday’s presidential debate for security and other essential city services provided for the event. As Robert Higgs writes, “The cost, mostly in the form of overtime, is likely to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Guard returns: The Ohio National Guard, already a familiar sight in Northeast Ohio during a tumultuous 2020, will be back in Cleveland next Tuesday for the debate, Higgs reports. Cleveland Public Safety Director Karrie Howard confirmed the Guard would be present for the debate but didn’t say what role they will play.
Help wanted, really: The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections mistakenly emailed an unknown number of poll-worker applicants that no open positions are available. As Courtney Astolfi writes, “The mistake is significant given concerns over poll worker shortages in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Full Disclosure
Five things we learned from the Feb. 15 financial disclosure form filed by Tom Jackson, this year’s Democratic nominee for Senate District 24:
1. His employer is Leverity Insurance, where he works as an account executive.
2. His investments include two deferred compensation programs.
3. At some point in 2019, Jackson owed at least $1,000 to GMAC Financial, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and Pentagon Federal Credit Union.
4. He holds an Ohio insurance license.
5. He reported receiving no gifts in 2019 worth more than $75 (or at least $25 if given by a lobbyist) from anyone besides his family.
Straight from the Source
“Once you get back into individual component pieces of energy legislation, it’s like a land war in Asia -- I mean, it just never ends.”
- Michael Kurtz of the Ohio Energy Group, testifying before the Ohio House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight on Wednesday that House Bill 6 shouldn’t be fully repealed, then replaced, because negotiations on what to replace it with would quickly get bogged down.
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