Recordpub.com - OUR VIEW: Bully pulpit time: State budget cuts threatening libraries as nursing homes do better make us wonder

The prospect of three library branches slated for closing in Portage County because of reductions in the state budget brings home the pain of budget cuts. Coupled with the revelation that Ohio's nursing homes may improve their support from the budget, it makes us wonder about how evenly the pain is being distributed.

The likelihood of the closing of the library branches was announced by Cecelia Swanson, director of the Portage County District Library. The libraries in Streetsboro, Randolph and Windham would be affected.

Libraries across the state, most of which historically depend on state support, are already coping with a 20 percent reduction in funding and are now being asked to take an addition 30 percent reduction. In other words, the state is signaling it may be getting out of the library business or at least shifting responsibility for their funding to local library districts.

In the meantime, the nursing home industry is doing better than ever. Originally slated for $12.5 billion in support over a two-year period by Gov. Ted Strickland, the nursing home industry emerged with a proposed allocation of $13.7 billion after the budget made its way through the Ohio Senate. On top of that, the nursing home industry was given an inflation factor that will boost its funding accordingly. All this, despite statistics showing that home health care, supported by Medicaid, is far less expensive.

The nursing home lobby obviously has more muscle than those who speak on behalf of libraries. Even the hospitals, which have been fighting a revised formula for Medicaid reimbursement, have not fared as well and, across the state, will collectively take a multi-million dollar hit if the present formula remains in tact.

Part of the frustration is due to the fact that the governor's approach to the budget was based partly on a reluctance to face up to the severity of the recession, which has affected states in the Rust Belt more than others. The governor was too hopeful of a short-term economic decline and built his budget on hopes rather than reality.

Now that reality has struck, the governor still has the weapon of the bully pulpit at his disposal. If he could pick his priorities and fight for them, he could still have a major impact on the way the money is allocated in Ohio and a more equitable sharing of pain ought to be part of that fight.

The governor has been challenged to clear the way for slots at the race tracks on his own by executive order. Why not accept the challenge? The race tracks are already sites of legalized gambling in the state and the installation of slot machines at those locations will be less offensive than the introduction of any other form of gambling in Ohio. The introduction of slots, it is projected, will generate in excess of $600 million, surely enough to help fund state needs that are getting shortchanged.

Rather than letting himself be controlled by events, the governor needs to stand up, take charge and speak up for what he believes in. Not doing so ensures him the status of single-term governor.

2.	Posted by Nanny_Society June 29, 2009
	Oh, again with the same old heap of baloney! Such a shame, The first seven paragraphs actually made some sense, then came the glittering generalities, weasel words, and variable numbers. So again with a dissection: "The race tracks are already sites of legalized gambling in the state and the installation of slot machines at those locations will be less offensive than the introduction of any other form of gambling in Ohio." This also would place the source of our "salvation" in the hands of the race track owners. Our government is corrupt enough. So are too many of our citizens, including newspaper editors whose principles can be purchased for a price. The rationale that it would be less offensive presumes that deceiving the citizen about the slots will remove the evil consequences. It furthers the nanny society concept that it is much to complex for the average citizen to comprehend. "The introduction of slots, it is projected, will generate in excess of $600 million, surely enough to help fund state needs that are getting shortchanged." What an abundance of weasel words! "is projected ... surely enough to help...". And why $600 million when last time it was $700 million? http://www.recordpub.com/news/no_byline_article/4613683 And again with generating money. Money generators are commonly known as printing presses while wealth generators are commonly know as hard-working citizens, not gamblers. If money generation is what is being considered, why should Ohio not just take up counterfeiting? Less harm would result. As for "state needs that are getting shortchanged", by whom, the citizen? Those tight-fisted wealth generators that oddly feel they should be entitled to the same comforts as the rest? Are they denying the state its rightful booty? Sharing the pain? That make about as much sense as sawing apart the lifeboats on the Titanic and giving each passenger their share would have made. It is time to be honest and admit that not all will fit into the lifeboats. If proper care had been taken to avoid running the ship into the iceberg, none would now have to perish. The governor is not controlled by events nor, as we now see clearly, is he controlled by principles. He, like a Browns player, is controlled by his owners. He will believe whatever they tell him to believe. What is the next great source of plunder? Marijuana fields in closed state parks? Meth labs? What is it that the governor won't do for the almighty dollar?