Ohio UPDATED

For a fly-over state, Ohio generates a lot of attention in the areas of politics, taxes, and innovative policies. We've lived in the state for the past three years and find this a state that has turned the corner. Assuming the 'change' continues here, Ohio will be the model that many other depressed states will follow.

John Kasich is our governor. He earned a write-up in the WSJ Opinion page two weeks ago - The Buckeye Budget Lesson:

Mr. Kasich took office this year facing the largest deficit in Ohio history, close to $7.7 billion. His predecessor, Democrat Ted Strickland, had avoided any serious reform in advance of the 2010 election, despite a shrinking economy and tax base, and had concealed fiscal holes with federal stimulus dollars that have now run out. To close the gap with revenue alone, the Ohio tax department estimated that income rates for the average family would need to rise 56%.

Mr. Kasich's budget is bringing Ohio's finances into balance by cutting spending while also cutting taxes, which ought to be a lesson for Washington.

The opinion piece had a paragraph on Medicaid:

A particular achievement is reforming Medicaid, which covers one of seven Ohioans and makes up nearly a third of state spending. The stimulus and ObamaCare imposed severe "maintenance of effort" mandates on states that make the program far less flexible, but Mr. Kasich's plan will slow the program's projected 8% spending growth to 4%, well below the national average. Major savings come from redirecting subsidies to community-based care from the nursing home industry, which is politically powerful in Columbus.

We wonder if Gov. Kasich has seen today's release of James O'Keefe's latest undercover video of Ohio's Medicaid offices. If so, we think he may find some more areas to cut and maybe reduce the state's medicaid funding. From Daily Caller:



Gov. Kasich has done an excellent job in very little time. He has set a precedent in responsible leadership and we therefore expect him to respond immediately and forcefully to today's scandal. Support for drug dealing, illegal immigration, prostitution, and tax-payer theft in Ohio Medicaid offices is wrong. The Governor not only has a duty to respond, he has an opportunity to reverse this cultural rot and set a standard in a very public way.

We'll update this post with developments.

Another hearty U/T to O'Keefe and crew.

UPDATE 7.19

OMG! Thankfully not Ohio. Wounded Irish Republican Army soldiers need medical care in South and North Carolina.

There's a form for that!



O'Keefe's ability to improve on each hit piece is standard-setting.

We have an idea, although it may come across as harsh.

How about every state and local government, and the federal government too, FIRE every employee who sympathize with:

Terrorism,
Prostitution, including child prostitution,
Illegal Immigration,
Drug Smuggling and Dealing.