Sen. Portman finds fault with high court editorial

Sen. Portman finds fault with high court editorial

I’m writing in response to your recent editorial on the Supreme Court vacancy. Reasonable people can certainly disagree on this issue, and I understand that the editorial board disagrees with my belief that the American people deserve the opportunity to weigh in on this matter through the presidential election that is well underway. That said, I would like to correct a few factual errors in the editorial.

First, the editorial suggests that I have joined other Republicans in calling for President Obama’s impeachment – this is simply untrue. I have never called for President Obama’s impeachment. In fact, I have consistently urged both parties to work together for the benefit of the country. That bipartisan spirit is one reason that 45 of my bills have been signed into law by President Obama over the last five years, including measures to create more jobs and strengthen our economy, stop human trafficking, increase energy efficiency and improve the environment.

Second, you write that I, along with other Republicans, are “demanding that Obama ignore the Constitution” in urging him not to nominate someone to fill the vacancy. This is also untrue. The president has every right to choose a nominee. But the Senate, as the Constitution outlines, has every right to reject that nominee. Just ask then-Sen. Joe Biden, who delivered a forceful speech arguing against filling a Supreme Court vacancy in 1992, a presidential election year. Just like Biden and other Democrats, I have said is that it is common practice for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term. Instead, I believe the American people should get to weigh in.

Lastly, you write that Republicans believe the president shouldn’t do anything of substance this year. On the contrary, I have been urging the president to work with Congress on the most critical issues facing the country, including jobs, terrorism and the drug epidemics gripping our state. I am actively working with both sides of the aisle on these and other issues, and I stand ready to work with the president.

As Ohioans we know all too well that we are in the midst of a presidential election that is only eight and a half months away. This lifetime appointment could reshape the Supreme Court for generations. I continue to believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on this matter in November. The credibility of the process, the nominee, and the court, will be enhanced if the American people have their say.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, Washington, D.C.

Rob Portman is Ohio’s Republican U.S. senator.

Don’t run Mill Creek Park as a business enterprise

As always, I appre- ciate Sunday columnist Todd Franko’s voice of reason and sense of fairness for both sides of a story. However, when it comes to the matter of the Mill Creek MetroParks’ recent firings, my feelings are not so sanguine.

I do not believe the park should be run like the private sector. The business plan du jour in America today is to terminate any employee who makes a decent wage or, God forbid, has benefits. This is never the best plan. This is the business plan that is destroying America. Of course, the guy at the top supports the plan because he is being paid to implement it.

The employees who work for Mill Creek Park put their hearts into their jobs. They were not there to turn a profit. They were there to share their knowledge, love and respect of the beauty, wildlife and serenity the park offers. They did not consider it a “business.”

I understand and agree that the park needs some new infrastructure. The most important being the sewage. That is why I voted for the park levy. I expected improvements to be made, not employees to lose their jobs.

What is next? Snow-cone and souvenir stands on every bend? Maybe some rap tunes played at the Ford Nature Center would draw in the younger crowd. How about snowmobile racing on the park trails?

Those “improvements” might raise income while teaching the next generation to respect nature and wildlife.

Seriously: Shame on the new guy. My suggestion is to fire him and use the savings to help pay for a new sewage system.

Kathy Aaron, Youngstown

Man lists contributions to Austintown Senior Center

Austintown Township Trustee Jim Davis referred to me by name in a Vindicator article and asked: “What did you provide?” to the Austintown Senior Center. Jim, I’m glad you asked. I provided one free year of my time, money and effort from the day I brought the idea for a center to former Trustee Lisa Oles.

I developed the original plan for the center, chaired the first public meeting, researched and printed 20 pages of handouts about other Ohio senior centers, developed a nonprofit named Austintown Generational Enrichment Inc. to start a senior center and served as its first president, paid my own way while traveling to Columbus for the state senior center convention to research how to start up a center, visited and talked with staff in other counties, gained a free van for transportation to and from the Austintown center and for day trips, gained 50 free daily hot lunches from a federal meal program for the senior center, obtained $15,000 in free staffing for the center through a federal senior employment program, worked for one month every day as an unpaid senior center director, helping with meals and activities, working to secure computer training, cleaning the center, taking out the trash, promoting the center via the TV show “Senior Focus” I hosted on Channel 19, also as a volunteer.

Finally, I also provided Austintown with an additional tenant at the Westchester building by contacting the Mahoning County Board of Health adult day care program which had been housed in the run-down South Side Annex building. Its subsequent move brought in thousands of dollars in additional revenue for the township.

So let me ask you, “what did you provide?” You provided a $25,000 van purchased out of senior levy funds to replace the free van service I had obtained. You invested thousands of dollars into the senior center kitchen so seniors could pay $3 to $5 a day for lunch. This replaced the free daily lunch program I had gained for the township. You took nearly half of the senior levy money designated as solely for senior services and put it into a fund often used for non-senior spending.

This whole mess could be straightened out if the trustees would simply take the actual costs of the senior center’s use of the Westchester building out of senior levy funds rather than the huge amount of rent. Since the rent collected for the building is about double what the actual building costs are, the senior center’s building costs should run about $70,000 per year rather than the $140,000 being charged as rent. Taking this $70,000 amount from senior levy funds is fair and would free up an additional $70,000 per year for actual senior services.

Bill Adams, Austintown