Dayton Daily News:
...To see if Mandel was fulfilling his pledge not to hire political friends the Daily News reviewed personnel files and other records from the treasurer’s office. The review showed that Mandel put qualified, experienced staff members in some top positions, but also hired six campaign workers whose average age is 26 and assigned them duties ranging from debt management to policy-advising to community outreach.
Mandel, who is 34, picked as his new senior policy advisor 27-year-old Michael Lord, who was his campaign manager and, prior to that, legislative aide. Lord, who also served as a paid political consultant, earned $13.95 an hour as Mandel’s aide during his stint in the legislature. His new position has a salary of $100,000....
.....Jacob Dummermuth, 22, worked on the Mandel treasurer campaign as an intern. Mandel then hired him in the treasurer’s office in May 2011 to research and write materials for community outreach events such as financial education conferences. Dummermuth, who had not graduated college when he landed the job, was paid $16.83 an hour plus benefits — a big jump over the $7.50 an hour he made as a part-timer at HoneyBaked Ham as a cashier and stock boy. Dummermuth resigned from Mandel’s office in January 2012.....
Wow! This is the best Mandel could do? At these salaries, Ohio taxpayers don't expect on the job training or we'd all be applying for these jobs in Josh Mandel's office.
* Gov. John Kasich signed another bill into law that creates more required, mandated instruction, which goes along well with his cuts to education. Once again Kasich and his Republicans are pushing for more tests!
MariettaTimes:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has signed into law a bill that requires students in grades 4-12 be taught the original texts of the state and U.S. constitutions, the Declaration of Independence and other documents.
Proponents of the bill signed Friday said it was important for students to study the actual texts and not just summaries and analyses.
The law, which takes effect in three months, would require high school end-of-course examinations in American history and American government, and at least 20 percent of the government exam would relate to the documents by the 2013-2014 school year.....
Nothing in the article indicates any funding for materials for this requirement.
I wrote about this legislation on December 13, 2011 on this blog:
Pushing this type of study, will help Republicans eliminate why certain groups were given rights. Does this mean that there will be no discussion of Women's Rights, Civil Rights, Child Labor, integration, voters rights, etc.?
Alternet suggests that this type of instruction is being supported by right wingers:
....Originalist constitutional theory developed during the Reagan years as a critique of activist judges. Its theorists argued that a jurisprudence focused on the original intent of the Founders would serve as a means of limiting the discretion of judges. This theory proved controversial from the start and was subjected to a number of withering criticisms. One of the many problems with the theory stemmed from its shaky historical foundations. Simply put, the Founders did not speak with a single voice on most constitutional questions......
......“New Originalism” has grown over the last decade, largely spurred by right-wing scholars, judges, and generous support from the Federalist Society, the wealthy conservative legal group that has become a farm team for conservative judges and academics. In contrast to traditional originalism, new originalism emerged at a time when the Supreme Court was dominated by a conservative majority, as it is today. The goal of new originalism is not to constrain judges, but to empower them to further the agenda of conservatives. (A few liberals have embraced a version of this theory, hoping to use it to revive and expand aspects of the Fourteenth Amendment, but this is a small minority within the originalist movement.) For right-wing scholars and judges, new originalism serves as a type of constitutional camouflage. It allows “conservatives” to create their own living constitution and advance a form of judicial activism, while claiming to be simply engaged in an act of constitutional redemption....
Are Republicans trying to push their propaganda on our school children? You betcha! They are trying to make our children into little right wingers who want to adhere to only those laws in the original documents. This is also discussed in an article by conservative Steven Hayward, "After Reagan: Five Challenges for 21st Century Conservatives." Once again, we are confronted with the right wing agenda and an unfunded mandate.
