Following up on some AFSCME business, I came across a hysterical letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal:
In each of our states, the sudden and precipitous decline in economic activity caused by the Great Recession led to a sharp decline in revenues. We struggled with the difficult and often agonizing decisions that were necessary to balance our budgets. Yet balance them we did, without depriving our workers and their unions of a voice.
Signed, Ted Strickland and three other past Democrat governors. Such bold, confident vision! Such leadership! “Yet balance them we did,” says Strickland. That statement should have been followed by an asterisk:
Strickland’s budget relies on an expected $3.4 billion in federal stimulus money.
Hey, at least Ted didn’t “[deprive] our workers and their unions of a voice” while he was papering over the problems with Ohio’s government. The governors’ letter closes with the usual boilerplate about Democratic values, which in this case amount to toeing the line of a constituency that gives Democrats bags and bags of cash.
Ted’s a busy man these days! He’s working on plans for giving us our Obamacare medicine, as head of the D.C. Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Project. He’s helping fellow leftists found Innovation Ohio, a think-tank whose name combines the best of buzzwords and everyone’s favorite corporate welfare program. And he’s using the same multitasking prowess that helped him balance Ohio’s budget to work on his stand-up routine.