Josh Mandel: Not Ready for Prime-Time

Josh Mandel

Josh and Ilana Mandel

Ohio's Treasurer, Josh Mandel, has set a record. He is the first Ohio Treasurer to never attend a meeting of the Board of Deposits; he has missed 14 in a row. “Josh Mandel's complete and total neglect of his job as Treasurer is a constant reminder of how unfit he is for public office and his obsession with a promotion is evidence of just how little he cares about his obligation to Ohio's taxpayers,” said Justin Barasky, Ohio Democratic Party press secretary, in a statement. “There's not a Treasurer in America more willfully neglecting his responsibilities as a public servant and it's far past time for Josh Mandel to check his out of control political ambition at the door and start putting Ohioans first."

When campaigning for Ohio Treasurer, Mandel promised to serve out the full term as Treasurer, but within 83 days he was running for the U.S Seante against Senator Sherrod Brown.  [AP, 8/30/11]

His travels after the election have been a source of concern:

• Immediately after Josh Mandel took office, he started using leftover campaign funds from his Treasurer’s race to fly around the country to line up donors for his upcoming Senate race.  Federal law clearly states that state campaign funds can’t be used for federal campaign activity.

• Just days after registering with the FEC, donations started pouring in from cities Mandel had visited on the state campaign account’s dime.

• Mandel claimed that the out of state travel was for state business, but the trips never showed up on his official state schedule, a point that proves these early out of state trips were purely political.    ( Toledo Blade, June, 2011, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August, 2011, dscc, March1,2012)

Another matter of concern: Mandel submitted his personal financial disclosure form nearly eight months after it was due.  On November 4, 2011, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that  “Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2012, on Friday released a copy of his delinquent personal financial disclosure report, a 47-page document showing his wife to be a millionaire with extensive investments held in a family trust.. Mandel's personal financial report was due to the Senate clerk on May 15, little more than a month after he signed candidacy papers on April 5. But he said the complexity and structure of his wife's finances presented questions he needed to resolve in order to file the form correctly."


Mandel married Ilana Shafran in Jerusalem in 2008. She is a self-employed fashion consultant and related to the Ratner family who control Forest City Enterprises. (Forest City owns the building in which the casino, Rock Ohio Ceasars, is located) She is worth from $1.9 to $7 million based on investments held in a family trust.


Prior to their marriage, Mandel, served in the U.S. Marine Reserves with a tours in Iraq in 2004 and 2007. He  began running for public office at age 25 winning a seat on Lyndhurst City Council, and he has been running for public office ever since. He received a B.A degree from Ohio State and a law degree from Case Western. He was elected to the Ohio House in 2006, but did not finish his second term in order to become Ohio Treasurer.

Mandel's conservative ideology has been questioned  because of his family's ties and financial contributions to liberal democtrats. Also, as an OSU student Mandel helped organize an Al Gore rally and is seen in a photo cheering for Al Gore. On another occasion he advocated domestic partnerships for gays. (Conservative Outlooks, Carol Greenberg, July 14,2011)


Described as a "cocky frat boy," Josh seems ill-prepared for the U.S. Senate. In an Atlantic interview with Molly Boll (3/5/2012) Mr. Mandel had no opinion on the following issues:
--contraception policy.
--Rush Limbaugh's labeling Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute." 
--a senate vote to allow employer to drop health insurance coverage for religious reasons.
--the President's rescue of the auto industry.
Perhaps, his contributors and handlers had not yet told him what his positions were going to be.


On the other hand, Josh was very clear about his support of Kasich's SB5 which would have stripped teachers, police, and firefighters of their rights to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.  Josh informed us, "Well, I am supportive of Senate Bill 5..." Fortunately, Ohio voters soundly defeated it in the November, 2011, election. (ThinkProgressive, 11/4/2012)


And of course, following Mitt Romney and the other Republicans, Mandel opposed the President's efforts to bring back the American auto industry. He would have preferred to watch the industry go down the tubes.


Since his election to the Treasurer's office, Mandel has been accumulating a large war chest in his attempt to unseat Sherrod Brown, and he easily won the GOP primary on March 6, 2012. It has become quite clear that Josh ran for state office only as a stepping stone to the U.S. Senate, and with conservative Republicans across the country hoping to replace Sherrod Brown, Mandel is the recipent of large amounts out-of-state money.


Since Josh Mandel has shown he is incapable of handling his present job and is not able to take a stand on the issues of the day, why would the voters of Ohio choose to send him to the U.S. Senate? It appears Mr. Mandel is more interested in his own welfare and that of his financial backers rather than the "general welfare" as required by the U.S. Constitution.

Private Prisons in Ohio: a Dangerous Proposal

Governor Kasich came into office with his infamous "school bus" mentality -- either join me on the bus or get run over by it. Since Ohioans decisively defeated his anti-union legislation (SB5), the gov is no longer making references to the bus, but he and his Republican cronies in the legislature are continuing to push forward with the Koch Bros. inspired agenda of privatizing every thing in the state that is not nailed down.

In fact, right now the governor has on his desk a proposal from a corporation named the Corrections Corporation of America. They want to buy and operate the prisons in Ohio  - if the state agrees to keep the prisons at least 90% full. The proposal would allow the Corrections Corporation of America to profit from increased incarcerations. The whole concept of a corrections system is bastardized once the state incentivizes incarceration. The State of Ohio would be promising to incarcerate a fixed number of its citizens at any one time.  One would hope that the state's goal is to lower the number of inmates rather than be obligated to a private corporation to fulfill a quota.

The disaster of privatization came to light last year in Luzerne county Pennsylvania. Judge Mark Ciavarella was convicted of racketeering in connection with the "kids-for-cash" scheme. "A private prison developer was paying him while he sentenced thousands of juveniles to unwarranted jail time." (Anthony D. Romero,3/8/2012)

And then there is the whole issue of oversight. Who is going to have responsibility for prison conditions? Is the governor going to ask our judges to hand our citizens over to this private corporation and blindly trust that a for-profit prison will provide a decent and humane atmosphere? Let us not forget what drives a "for-profit" company, money and greed. Would the for-profit corporation fire the current prison employees? Would they hire non-union workers? Should private companies make money from incarceration? And what are they going to do differently to make a profit?

Democracy has run amuck when a country or a state incentivizes incarceration.

If you would like to share your concerns with the governor, his office's phone number is: 614-466-3555.

(For information on the Pennsylvania judge, cf. Christian Science Monitor, 8/11/2012)

Racism and Anti-Immigration Laws

John Tanton
"Anti-Immigrant Architect"

Apparently it has become quite common for politicians, be they governors or legislators,  to propose legislation written by some unknown person or organization promoting a particlar cause. The anti-labor legislation proposed by John Kasich (OH) and Scott Walker (WI) was drafted by background groups with ties to the Koch brothers.


Another agregious case is that of Arizona's "papers, please" anti-immigrant 2010 law (SB 1070). According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the law "was largely the result of years of groundwork by a network of groups launched by a man - retired Michigan ophthalmologist John Tanton - with longstanding ties to white supremacists." The actual legislation was the work of a lawyer (Kris Kobach) affiliated with Tanton's organization, Federation for Ammerican Immigration Reform (FAIR). SPLC identified FAIR as a hate group in 2007.


"John Tanton is the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement, according to Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC' Intelligence Project. "The organizations he founded have done more to inject fear and bigotry into the immigration debate than any other."


Beirich's research "showed that Tanton was at the heart of the white nationalist scene for decades. In a 1993 letter, Tanton wrote of his fears that "European-American society" was being threatened by non-white immigration. In another memo he warned of the coming "Latino onslaught."


And Arizona was just the beginning. Utah, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana have passed SB 1070 style bills while six other states are considering similar bills. Federal judges have temporarily blocked elements of each state law until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the challenges to Arizona's law.


Most observers realize that racism plays a role in the anti-immigration debate, but didn't realize that white supremacists were writing the legislation that local politicians were approving. Perhaps it's time that,  when legislation is proposed, there be full disclosure as to the actual authors and contributors.


(Above quotations and more detail at: "SPLC Report," February, 2012)

Geek Squad to the Rescue

After years of experience dealing with computer "help centers" in India or wherever our computer companies have found people willing to work for less than minimal wages, I was amazed with my experience today with the Geek Squad at Best Buy.


Last spring after my previous HP computer bit the dust after only three years, I went to Best Buy and purchased a Toshiba laptop at a very attractive price. When the quite knowledgeable salesman suggested that I purchase the Geek Squad assistance package, I was ready. "What are you talking about" I asked. "Why would I buy this computer? Apparently you have no confidence in this or you would not try to sell me insurance. Why do I want a laptop that you are suggesting will need repairs within the first three years? "
      "It's my job," he said, "to make you aware of the possibilities. This is a good laptop and hopefully you will not have any problems for years."
      " I certainly would not buy it," I said,  "if I thought it was a piece of crap that I had to buy your insurance for."
      "No problem, sir. I was just mentioning what was available."


At that point, my wife, Sandy, cleared her throat and said, "Dear, maybe we should discuss this." Immediately, based on past experience, I'm thinking: Damn, she is going to talk me into signing up for the damn Geek Squad. Then she  recalled in great detail how I had spent the larger part of two days on the phone with HP technicians who were charging me for their help before they informed me that my computer was dead. Needless to say, before we left the Best Buy showroom, I had reluctantly and under duress purchased a Geek Squad contract


Yesterday, after I had unsuccessfully tried to download an anti-virus update,  I was unable to open my Quicken account and   turned the computer off. Today when I turned it on, I could not move the cursor and therefore was unable to do anything.


Swearing under my breath with visions of being without my laptop for 5 to 7 days, I loaded it up with the  accompanying paperwork and took it to the nearest Best Buy store located on Monroe St. in Toledo. The store was busy and I had to wait about ten minutes to talk to the first available geek. Actually Andrew did not fit my preconceived stereotype. He was an attractive young man with an athletic build and a pleasant personality. Frankly, I was expecting a couch potato with a pocket protector who refused to make eye contact.


Furthermore I expected Andrew to do some paper work, throw my laptop on the shelf, and inform me they would contact me after they had a chance to look at it, I was surprised when Andrew asked my permission to turn on the laptop at which point he began analyzing it right there on the counter. He soon informed me, "The good news is that's its not a hardware problem. Let me see what I can do about the software problem." He inserted a disc and began working his magic. After about fifteen minutes, he looked up and said, "Okay, you're back in business. Do you have any other issues I could help you with?" I was tempted to ask him to do something about my arthritic shoulder, but instead, I mentioned two other computer-related problems I was having with my anti-virus program. He solved both problems, and I was out of the door at no charge with my functioning laptop in less than an hour. 


I am still wary of purchasing service contracts for mechanical and electronic items, but in this case I am grateful Sandy "convinced" me.

Police and Their Toys

The City of Toledo Police Deapartment with the complicity Toledo City Council is purchasing $914,000 worth of security cameras to place around the city. These are the same people who earlier chose to spend $208,000 on nine Harley-Davidson motorcycles to reinstate a police motorcycle unit that had been discontinued in 2004 because of budgetary constraints.  Apparently, in 2012 the city has no budgetary constraints. We will have fewer police officers on the street in 2012, but we will have our police toys. Also, this is the same police department that needed a mounted police unit,  only to dismantle it a few years later.


Why stop with Harleys and cameras? Perhaps we could purchase a few drone aircraft to keep an eye on the city? And while we're at it, why not get us an aircraft carrier equipped with Blackhawk helicopters for the Maumee River?


As for the motorcycles,  it is interesting that Toledo is purchasing new Harleys while other departments across the country are eliminating motorcycle units. Why not purchase the used ones that are already equipped from the cities getting rid of them? Just a thought. Might cost significantly less. Then, in a few, years when we decide we don't need motorcycles, the loss would not be as significant.


As for the $914,000 cameras, it is more than just a matter of dollars and cents. Anyone who has read and understood George Orwell's 1984 can appreciate the concerns about Big Brother. Even ignoring the issues of privacy, the effectiveness of these cameras is highly suspect.


Defenders of these cameras suggest they are necessary in stopping and solving crime. However, a study of London's widespread use of CCTV cameras found that "for every 1,000 cameras installed, only one crime has been solved." The study also found that the cameras were useful in catching "just 8 of 269 suspected robberies." The report also found " that while cameras could have a marked effect on reducing vehicle crime, there was little evidence they prevented violent crime."


"Meta-analyses from the UK, along with preliminary findings from the US, indicate strongly that video

surveillance has little to no positive impact on crime." (ACLU)  

In addition, some police suspect that the presence of cameras simply moves crime from a camera area to a nearby area. Also, the London study  found that increasing street illumination was more effective than cameras in reducing illegal activities. Perhaps Toledo would get more bang for its  buck if it would replace burnt-out street lights and actually increase street lighting in high-crime areas. Ironically this city cannot keep the lights on one of its signature bridges lit, but wants to spend money on Harleys and cameras.


Personally, I can understand the police department's fascination with toys, but I don't purchase toys when I can't replace the light bulbs in my home.


P.S. Some one will point out that the city may be able to acquire a "grant" to cover the cost of these toys, as though a "grant' is manna from heaven. The last time I checked the "grant' is still taxpayers' money


(The London Report is from the August 14, 2002, Home Office Study. Other detail derived from The Toledo Blade.)