Dems, GOP trade blame for inactivity at capitol
The Republican House speaker blames Strickland, the governor blames the speaker.
COLUMBUS (AP) — Things are numbingly slow at the Statehouse these days and politics can help explain why.
Why wouldn’t House Speaker Jon Husted, an ambitious young Republican, be packing the House calendar with favorite policy initiatives he wants to see completed before he is forced from his post in 2008?
Officially, Husted blames Gov. Ted Strickland.
He says Strickland, a Democrat, aspires to be the next vice president and accuses him of spending too much time on national politics and too little time bettering Ohio.
“Right now we’re at a point in Ohio where we’ve got about six more months to do important things before we’re dominated by the presidential election, which just makes it very difficult to ac complish things,” Husted recently said.
Strickland, who denies any interest in the vice presidency, blames Husted.
Insisting he has no interest in the vice presidency, Strickland says it is Husted who’s holding up the state’s policy progress — particularly on an energy bill the governor wanted to see pass by year’s end.
“Is the House going to deal with it in a timely manner, or are they going to drag their feet and so weaken the bill that it is ineffective? They need to go to work,” he said during a visit last week to Youngstown.
In reality, with six weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, neither politician wants to make a misstep in this politically pivotal state.
For Husted and the Republicans that means keeping Strickland’s policy victories in perspective.
Much of the success of the new governor’s $52 billion, two-year operating budget, for example, is thanks to the cooperation he enjoyed from the GOP-controlled Legislature, Husted emphasized during his newspaper visit.
And Strickland’s energy bill will not be such a political slam dunk, Husted said. He questioned the bill’s constitutionality and called it “salvageable.”
For Strickland’s part, passing the energy bill would represent more than bragging rights. It would also stop the steady flow of donations to the Republican caucuses at the Statehouse, whose majority his party has visions of overtaking in 2008.
Utility companies seeking to influence the future of electricity regulation in the state are pouring money into Republican campaign funds.