What they’re saying…
Bits ‘n Pieces
By Bob Robinson
Twelve years ago when the tobacco companies agreed to be blackmailed by the 50 states, I predicted that the money would never be used for the purpose for which it was intended.
States said they are forced to pay the tab for smoking-related medical bills racked up by smokers without insurance and they wanted payback. It was big news in 1998 when tobacco companies coughed up hundreds of billions of dollars to be divvied up by the states.
Of course, it was never used for smoker health care since it was viewed from the beginning as a “free” pot of gold by politicians. The price of a pack of cigarettes jumped from $1 to $2 that year, and now (at least in Ohio) it is $5. More taxes on top of taxes.
Here’s yet one more example of how this tobacco windfall is being used…
According to an editorial by the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio’s politicians have raided the last of the “tobacco funds” to help solve its budget shortfalls. The tobacco foundation sued.
“Two years after Gov. Ted Strickland and legislative leaders moved to drain most of the money from the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation, the state's highest court took up the question of whether elected officials could treat the foundation like any other pot of money under their control.”
The majority of Ohio’s $10.6 billion share has gone to build new schools. Of the $260 million left, $230 million has been hijacked toward “expanding Medicaid coverage for low-income children; adult Medicaid services involving oxygen and wheelchairs; child, family and adult protective services; and breast- and cervical-cancer screenings.”
Because of the lawsuit, the money has been frozen and the state is now complaining that 20,000 Ohio children have no health coverage. Attorneys for the foundation argue that if the state can raid this specifically designated fund, what’s next? The state pension systems?
It will be several months before the court rules.
It’s one-time money and a drop in the bucket for our uncontrolled state spending. It’s a band-aid for Ohio’s anticipated $8 billion shortfall in next year’s budget. Rasmussen says 75 percent of voters nationwide want government to cut spending.
However our reps still aren’t listening…
While most tidbits come from ORP News Clips, we have an interesting side note from Townhall.com. It seems Majority Senate leader Harry Reid has attached a little-known Police and Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill (S 3194) that unionizes every firefighter and police officer in the country.
Rush Limbaugh refers to it as a Dem payback, being pushed through now because they see the “handwriting on the wall” in November. He also notes it is the first step toward federal legislation to unionize all public employees.
Townhall gives examples of what’s in store for us if this happens…
California is facing a budget deficit of over $19 billion thanks to out-of-control government union bosses and their outrageous demands.
Illinois is facing a $13 billion shortfall, half the state’s budget.
Dropping down a level, the city of Vallejo, California, actually went bankrupt after nearly 75 percent of its budget was spent on satisfying the demands of the union agreement covering police and firefighters.
And the Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently stated that struggling cities are “handcuffed” by public sector monopoly bargaining.
Sound familiar? While no one will speak on the record, there has been a lot of chatter about budget problems being exasperated by our own local unions. Finally, once again from ORP News Clips, the feds have checked out the efficiency of state bureaucrats and aren’t too happy they are paying heating aid funds to dead people, prison inmates and ineligible federal employees.
Stephen Koff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that two Cleveland area veterans affairs officials earning $58,000 and $38,000 respectively got $300 each to help pay their heating bills.
“Additionally, another Cleveland-area applicant used the identity of a dead person to get $400 worth of benefits. And a Cleveland-area person got $400 for home heating aid even though he or she was either in prison or using the identity of an inmate.”
The GAO spotted more extensive problems in other states such as Illinois, and said that in the seven states it reviewed, about 9 percent of households receiving home heating benefits had invalid identity information, such as Social Security numbers, names, or dates of birth. This accounted for $116 million in federal spending.
The names of more than 11,000 dead people turned up as applicants, as did hundreds of people in state prisons.
And more than 1,000 federal employees were getting the assistance in the seven states audited, even though their incomes should have made them ineligible, the GAO said.
The audit covered Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Virginia.
Have a great day and feel safe and secure. Big Brother watches over us.
Watch for more Bits ‘n Pieces as they occur. Good stuff? Bad stuff? You decide.
Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive notification of his comments, opinions and reports when they are posted, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.
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