David Luberoff, Executive Director of Harvard University’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, talks about an interesting study that I think matters to the Third Frontier ballot issue debate:

Why are some metropolitan areas so much more entrepreneurial than others? Silicon Valley seems almost magically entrepreneurial, with a new startup on every street corner, but in declining Rust Belt cities such startups are far and few between.

In a new Policy Brief published by Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, which is sponsoring a series of talks on geography and entrepreneurship, economists Edward Glaeser and William Kerr report that high levels of entrepreneurship are closely correlated with regional economic growth, which means that local policy makers who are looking for ways to rev the economic engines of their cities often are interested in policies that can generate more entrepreneurship.

Glaeser and Kerr use the presence of small firms as a proxy for entrepreneurship and find, that all else being equal, regional economic growth is highly correlated with an abundance of smaller firms. Specifically, they found that a 10 percent increase in the number of firms per worker in a metropolitan region in 1977 was associated with a nine percent increase in employment growth in that region between 1977 and 2000. Looking more closely at the connection between small independent firms and subsequent growth, they report that a 10 percent increase in average establishment size in 1992 was associated with a 7 percent decline in subsequent employment growth due to new startups. Regions with lots of small firms, in other words, tend to experience faster job growth than those with a few big ones.[...]

Even so, they note, the available evidence does suggest a few tentative policy conclusions. First, investing too much in attracting large, mature firms may not be good policy. These firms may provide an immediate headline associated with new jobs, but encouraging a profusion of small, independent firms is more likely to lead to sustained economic growth

Second, there is little reason to have much faith in the ability of local governments to play venture capitalist through public investment funds. Classic economic research found that Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Investment, which was staffed with Japan’s best minds, generally picked losers. Why should local investment funds be able to do any better?

Interesting, but not surprising results. Private sector investors are more savvy at picking winners, since political considerations are not involved in the investment process.

While “angle investors” are nimble and savvy enough help capitalize promising new businesses, Ohio’s angelic politicians are only concerned with campaign contributions.

And the pressure not to oppose the 3rd Frontier — which would put many Republicans on the outs with various business interests – is so intense that this debate over principles and wasteful spending will only matter if politicians start paying a serious political price for redistributing your money.

But unlike the easy-to-grasp concept of the 39 MPH train, this is a harder sell to Ohio’s MSM, because the waste and inherent abuse in such a program takes actual reporting skills and an education in economics.

Yesterday, I posted a link to the latest endorsement excitement in the Republican Primary for Ohio Auditor, where Dayton Daily News reported that Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Greg Gantt had not actually endorsed Seth Morgan. After that went to print, State Senator Gary Cates sent Morgan a harshly worded letter, which Dave Yost’s campaign circulated to the media.

But in this conference call with supporters of Seth Morgan on January 14, 2010, it sure sounds like Gantt endorsed. Take a listen:

Here is the transcript (emphasis added):

Rep. Seth Morgan: Mr. Greg Gantt, uh and uh, Greg we, we turn it over to you for a few words of wisdom.

Montgomery County Republican Chairman Greg Gantt: Thank you Seth. Uhh, my words of wisdom I guess are not so much in go for it, you can do it because I think, uh, I certainly know you would make an excellent candidate and encourage you to, uh, pursue that option and, and go for it. Umm, I guess my comment is more to everybody on the call, uh, on a personal level, that uh, you have begun a great career in the House and certainly you’re poised to win reelection and to say that, uh, myself and others are gonna stand behind you, uh, and support you and encourage you to go for the Auditor’s position, that uh, we stick with you, uh, and push you as hard as we can because you’re…you’re putting yourself out there….uh…..(unintelligible)..you’d have an easier race in a smaller district and continue on your wonderful work at the house and, uh, shoot for state level later and we’re so appreciative and (it’s) so wonderful that you’re considering doing this and uh, just want to let everybody know the fact that you’re putting yourself out there, that I’m willing and hope that other people are willing to put themselves out as well, and uh, and really stay with you, uh, as you pursue this goal. I’m very excited, and uh, very honored to be a part of this and especially, uh, somewhat uh….uh…weird to be in a almost fatherly figure at, uh, my young age of 43 to see some of my, uh, my first two candidates as chairman to get elected and now moving up to the state level and (I’m) very excited, very thrilled and I’m behind you a hundred percent.

Rep. Seth Morgan: Well thank you Chairman, uh, very much, we appreciate you joining us, and uh, your support is important obviously because we need to build a coalition that is uh, as broad as we can…we can make it. Umm…we look forward to continuing to pick up support from the establishment, if you will, GOP along the way and we very much appreciate you being on the call and for your leadership here in Montgomery County.

To make matters worse, Gantt also said this to the Dayton Daily News:

Gantt, a member of the board of elections, said Friday that he does not endorse candidates. Gantt, who chairs the county board, said that is both personal preference and board policy. He said the county party has not decided whether to endorse Morgan, a former Huber Heights councilman, or Yost for state auditor.

But on January 26, he proudly endorsed Rob Portman for US Senate.

It looks like Gantt Cantt get his story straight, or some other factors helped him change his mind.

And stay tuned for more Republican endorsement drama in the Ohio Auditor’s race!…

From the Steve Christopher for Attorney General Campaign:

As of today, March 12, 2010, Steve Christopher has given his attorney, David Langdon of Cincinnati, photocopies of all of the petitions that were filed with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s office on February 18. Langdon attempted to work with the Secretary of State’s office in an effort to find a resolution to the lost or misplaced petitions. It was Christopher’s intent to have these petitions sent to the proper county Boards of Elections so that the signatures on the petitions could be properly validated.

A fair and equitable agreement could not be reached with the Secretary of State’s Office. Steve Christopher has authorized Langdon to proceed with court action to secure his rightful position on the May Republican primary ballot. Due to the extremely restrictive time restraints regarding election laws, Christopher has no further time to wait for a resolution. Langdon has filed a complaint for writ of mandamus with the Ohio Supreme Court on Christopher’s behalf.

And Dennis Willard has a good column on it today in the Akron Beacon Urinal:

Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Brunner, said the office does not count or check the signatures because that responsibility falls on the local boards.

”Nothing was lost. Nothing was misplaced. Everything was handled according to a proper chain of custody and we can prove it,” Ortega said.

He said an employee asked Christopher how many signatures were collected and, after hesitating, Christopher said ”2,750” and that was the number written down.

Ortega said the 788 total signatures were sent out to be checked and the local election boards reported back to Brunner that Christopher had collected 638 valid signatures and 166 invalid signatures.

Ahem, that’s 804 total signatures. Ortega said he would check on those figures and he responded via e-mail.

Ortega emphasized the focus is on valid signatures.

”Those numbers were double-checked by our office. The number of valid signatures is what is reflected in the letter notifying candidates whether they are or are not on the ballot,” he wrote.

But the numbers don’t add up.

”There may be some discrepancies in some of the numbers sent to us by the counties, but these are minor calculating errors that will be addressed via amended work sheets that counties will submit in the near future,” Ortega wrote.

He noted that ”Medina County reported 96 valid signatures, 18 invalid, adding up to 104. It should have been 96 valid, 8 invalid, which does add up to 104. One other county, Hardin, reported 101 valid, 6 invalid, but added it up as 101. Of course, it should have been 107.”

Of course. Why didn’t I see that in the first place?

”Again, these are minor discrepancies that do not affect the number of valid signatures,” Ortega wrote.[...]

By the end of the day, Christopher did what any self-respecting attorney always does. He sued Brunner.

Rankin succinctly pinpointed the situation now.

”The numerous allegations made by Mr. Christopher and his supporters must now be proved in a court of law, where the party bringing the charges bears the burden to prove them,” Rankin noted.

In other words, this is no longer a ”he said, she said” debate.

Christopher is going to have to prove he was bumped from the ballot either through omission or commission in Brunner’s office.

For Christopher, this is the chance of a political lifetime. By winning, he can show he was wronged and demonstrate he has the skills, an abundance of skills needed, to actually be attorney general.

Relevant documents documents can be found below the fold:

Not only is this a fantastic response, I’m also sure Connie thinks he’s dreamy:

This video is from Monday at the Newport on High Street, immediately across from The Ohio State University.

This entire event is fantastic, but my favorite video is #3. Ohio House Democrats are afraid to have the state reaffirm the constitution? Incredible!

And it is neat to think about a ballot issue to do what the Virgina legislature just did… which is to prohibit the Federal government from inflicting health insurance mandates on the state. (Even though the secession talk is a little out there… since states don’t have that right- we fought a little skirmish called the CIVIL WAR about this- plus no one would have standing to bring that to trial. And if standing was established, then the Federal government would have allow itself to be sued. But I certainly admire a room full of freedom lovers who want to tell the Federal government to take a hike!)

In video 4, I liked that there was more talk about taking over the Republican Party, as the 3rd party effort is a recipe for disaster. But I think Judge Napolitano shouldn’t be so hard on my fellow social conservatives, since there is a huge common ground with the emphasis on respect for human life and the want to keep government out of our lives. There would have been no President Reagan without the efforts of many Protestant leaders. And in the era of Obama with socialized health care and multi-trillion dollar stimulus bills, bickering on the right over blue laws and indecent material seems absurdly trivial.

It’s so cool that Fox News embraces libertarian activism like this. Perhaps freedom and personal responsibility is popular after all?

It is truly a shame that Alicia Healy isn’t on Columbus City Council right now.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Greg Gantt has NOT endorsed Dave Yost or Seth Morgan:

Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Greg Gantt wants state auditor candidate Seth Morgan to stop claiming Gantt’s endorsement.

Gantt said he asked State Rep. Morgan, R-Huber Heights, to remove the claim from campaign materials today, March 12, and was told that it would be taken off of the list of endorsements Morgan has received in his bid for the Republican nomination to run for auditor.

Morgan would not say on Friday why his campaign said Gantt endorsed him.

“I think you need to talk more to Greg Gantt about that,” said Morgan. “I think the story is that the Ohio Tea Party movement has endorsed me. I will not continue to talk about what Greg did say or what he did not say.”

Gantt has made positive and supportive public comments about Morgan, including some when Morgan launched his bid for auditor after Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor became Republican candidate John Kasich’s lieutenant governor running mate.

Gantt stopped short of calling that an endorsement, saying that he supports all the elected Republican officials in the county.

I really like Amy Alkon’s approach:

And with this picture, Progress Ohio reinforces Godwin’s law:

Update: Progress Ohio watches my site like a hawk. Dave Harding may be crazy, but he’s not stupid so he quickly scrubbed the blog. Here is a screen capture from my RSS reader. I guess that makes his post about about Rob Portman here look silly.

Randy Ludlow in the Columbus Dispatch provides the details here.

Rob Nichols of John Kasich’s campaign!:

Strickland’s campaign shot back that Republicans are trying to change the subject on the same day the New York Times published a story outlining how Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers used misleading accounting gimmicks before the bank collapsed in 2008. Kasich is a former managing director of Lehman’s investment banking division in Columbus.

A spokeswoman for Strickland’s campaign defended the governor’s decision to stand with the president, saying Strickland “has been outspoken about the need for comprehensive healthcare throughout his public service career and has refused to accept taxpayer funded healthcare as either Congressman or Governor until all of his constituents have access to quality healthcare.”

“In contrast, Congressman John Kasich- from his 18 year career in Congress through his seven years at Lehman Brothers- has put Ohioans on the backburner and instead focused on enriching Wall Street and the big corporations,” said the spokeswoman, Lis Smith.

UPDATE: Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols responded to the Lehman Brothers report and the Strickland campaign’s efforts to highlight it.

“It’s the same report that can be written about the state of Ohio, but the big difference is that in the state’s case, Ted Strickland has been the executive who’s accountable for it all,” Nichols told CNN.

Ouch! Lissssss Smith is going to feel that one in the morning. And that will only be compounded by that ugly, dry-heaves and hangover due to the random hunky guys who will send excessive drinks to her table tonight at various bars. (She’s got that boom boom pow!)

The technical point here is that Ted Strickland’s votes in Congress to expand credit to unworthy borrowers were not only responsible for the housing collapse and economic downturn, but they are also responsible for the existence of those once-attractive type of government-underwritten financial products that ultimately, in lieu of a bailout, caused Lehman Brothers to die. But in this case, Nichols’ pithiness is perfect.

Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce is so depressed that Chairman Redfern can do nothing to save him from total annihilation at the hands of rising conservative star Josh Mandel that Kevin can’t be bothered with accurate figures and amounts. And why should he? He only manages THE STATE OF OHIO’S MONEY. no biggie:

State Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce says he chopped salaries 10 percent in his office to save taxpayers $1.1 million year. Trouble is, it was really a $900,000 reduction.

Perhaps he was able to keep the salary low simply by not replacing some of the government bureaucrats who followed Rich Cordray for more money at the Attorney General’s office. Perhaps Boyce could have sent out yet another corrected press release with the headline: “Kevin Boyce Saved Taxpayer Money Through Inaction and General Slothfulness.”

Overall, state payroll has only decreased by 1.5%- an astounding number considering what happened to the economy.

Here is the well-known secret that reporters won’t write about but I will: Kevin Boyce has been actively job hunting for months. Hopefully, his next gig doesn’t require math skills.

And he hired a prominent conservative lawyer to make sure she does her job:

Attorney David R. Langdon, representing Christopher, said he has sent Brunner’s office copies of the 140 part-petitions that he says were not sent to county boards and is asking Brunner to forward them.

If Brunner doesn’t respond or refuses to act, Langdon said he will file a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court today seeking an order to force Brunner to send the part-petitions to the counties and to have the counties put Christopher’s name on the ballot in case Christopher is later certified.

Brunner’s office is reviewing what Langdon submitted today, spokesman Kevin Kidder said. But he said the office still stands by its contention that Christopher turned in only 104 part-petitions.

There are more than enough signatures and personal accounts of signature collectors to completely demolish anything Brunner’s office can say. And no matter if this situation is corrected, we already see that Ohio has an incompetent Secretary of State.

Having already given up any hope of any fringe left victories in 2010, Brian Rothenberg uses a few bucks from Peter Lewis to make a web ad and jump into the GOP primary for Ohio Auditor:

After supporting conservative Jennifer Garrison for Secretary of State, it’s nice to know Brian still cares about conservative principles.

Update at 3:20pm- Dave Yost responds on Twitter:

After endorsing Dave Yost on Wednesday, Ken Blackwell endorses Bob Gibbs for Congress today:

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell today announced his endorsement of Bob Gibbs in his bid to unseat Zack Space in Ohio’s 18th Congressional District.

“In Washington, Bob Gibbs will fight against wasteful spending and stand up for our conservative values,” Blackwell said.  “Throughout his public career, Bob has been a staunch defender of the unborn, second amendment rights and fiscally conservative solutions. He has consistently walked the conservative talk. And I proudly support his candidacy for Congress.”

Gibbs co-authored the legislation reducing Ohio’s personal income tax rates by 21%, the largest tax cut in Ohio history.  He also introduced a measure in the Ohio Senate to urge Congress to stop the “Card Check” legislation, the unfair measure of eliminating the secret ballot for employees wishing to recognize an Employees Union.

“Voters in the 18th District have had it with Zack Space,” said Gibbs. “The question now is who we will pit against him in the general election.  I’m the candidate who can draw the strongest contrast to Space, because I’m not just talking about what I will do – I have a record of what I have done to reduce the tax burden on Ohio families, and fighting for the conservative cause.”

Gibbs is also endorsed by Ohio House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, Ohio Congressman John Boehner, and dozens of other conservative legislators, local elected officials, and Republican Party Leaders.

I think Ken Blackwell’s endorsement matters a lot in the conservative movement. Blackwell rarely endorses, but was willing to stick his neck out this week for two conservative Ohio candidates.

BUT, not only was that income tax reduction just retroactively rolled-back by Gov. Strickland, Team Gibbs sounds almost as off message as Jon Husted by implying how principled the GOP was when they controlled the Ohio House and Bob Taft was in office. Ken Blackwell may have a few things to say about that…

Ohio Democrat Party Chairman, MTR Lobbyist, and member of the Ottawa County Board of Health?:

After a lengthy and sometimes contentious annual meeting of the District Advisory Council Thursday night, Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, was appointed the newest member of the Ottawa County Board of Health.

Last month, Redfern sent a letter to the Ottawa County Commissioners and the board of health calling for Ottawa County Health Commissioner Nancy Osborn to resign.

When DAC President Dave Hirt began proceedings Thursday to begin the voting process, trustees motioned to delay the voting until after the annual reports were read and information about the audit discussed.[...]

[Board of Health President Bill] Van Der Giessen said Osborn is a workaholic and puts in about 3,100 hours yearly, but is only compensated for 2,080. Osborn made $94,182.40 in 2009.

In reading a management letter from State Auditor Mary Taylor, Van Der Giessen read information from only the first two of five pages.

The latter three pages contained information about missing and altered payroll records, improper use of executive session by the board and failure of the department to pay Osborn’s Medicare taxes after she retired in 2003 and was subsequently rehired the next day.[...]

When Hirt said Redfern was the only candidate he knew of, Mortus said Arnold Milefchik, the board member whose term expires this month, had contacted he and other Catawba trustees and sought reappointment.

After two members objected to Redfern’s nomination, a full vote was held and Redfern was approved as a candidate by the margin of eight to seven.

“You have to be crazy to want to be on here with this political frenzy right now,” laughed Milefchik, who received applause for his service — and sense of humor. Milefchik has been on the board since 1992.

“I think the meeting went well,” said Osborn afterward.

The meeting went well???? Wow Nancy- You are certainly in a chipper mood right after having Auditor Taylor crawling up your ass for being corrupt.

Maybe Redfern is setting himself up for making an income after a disastrous November election and he is replaced at the ODP?

Big news from the Seth Morgan for Auditor campaign:

The Ohio Tea Party PAC, the newly formed PAC of the Ohio Liberty Council, has endorsed Seth Morgan, CPA for Auditor of State. The Ohio Liberty Council is composed of Ohio’s Tea Party groups, 912 groups, and other grassroots groups throughout Ohio.

Requiring a 7/8th’s majority of the Ohio groups, the Ohio Tea Party PAC voted to endorse Seth Morgan, CPA for Auditor of State. All statewide races were considered, but Seth Morgan, CPA was the only candidate chosen to be endorsed. Additionally, Seth Morgan, CPA is the first Tea Party endorsed statewide candidate of 2010.

“7/8ths of Tea Party and other like minded groups choosing to endorse a candidate is a strong statement. It means they have embraced someone as embodying their values. That does not come easily,” said Chris Littleton, President of the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cincinnati Tea Party.

Residency issues only matter when you are a Republican:

[Democratic candidate Jose Candelari] Candelario’s protest alleged Ramos, who previously worked in Columbus as senior policy analyst to House Speaker Armond Budish and as a legislative aide to Koziura, who holds the seat, did not meet the legal requirement of one-year residency to run for the position. Ramos said he split his time between Lorain and Columbus.

“After hearing all the evidence and me being very familiar with very similar proceedings and based on his answers to all the questions, I am very satisfied and we withdrew the protest,” Candelario said.

Ramos issued a statement following the meeting stating, “It goes to show that my opponent, even after years of being director of the Board of Elections, lacks the basic understanding of Ohio’s elections laws and the Ohio Constitution.

“I am happy to put this baseless accusation behind me. I will continue to do what I have been doing all along, talking to real people about real issues that affect their lives …” Ramos said.

Wightman asked Ramos about where he lives, where he is registered and how much time he has spent in Lorain County since he took his position in the state house as legislative aide and senior policy analyst. Ramos first said he didn’t know where he spent more time, so Wightman said to “take a guess.” Ramos said he has probably spent more time in Franklin County, “at his office, but always considered Lorain my home.”

Cemenska compared Ramos’ situation to that of Ohio Senator Jon Husted, who represented the 37th House District located in Montgomery County from 2001 to 2007. In November 2008, Husted was elected to senate and represents Montgomery County and is registered to vote in that county, but because he had a home elsewhere, his residency was challenged by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

There is no question Ramos still lives in Columbus. It wasn’t too long ago that he was a student at OSU. Dan is spotted throughout the State House on any given work day, and there is no way he commutes because downtown Columbus is 2 and 1/2 hours. And the address he uses in Lorain is his parents’ house.

But it’s hard to blame him- After all, wants to live in Lorain?

The hypocrisy here is that Ohio House Democrat Party Spokesbabe Sarah Bender just today mocked Husted by sending him a Google map to his hometown… so maybe she should a map home to Ramos too?

But I guess we should expect nothing less from a party that attacks Husted for owning a home and paying taxes in Kettering, but have no problem with the homeless registering park benches as their official voting address.

Are Ohio’s residency laws meaningless?

From Stateline.org:

Both parties are taking tea party activists seriously and are wary of offending them – if they are not already actively wooing them. Just look at the governor’s race in Ohio. Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich openly touts his tea party credentials in his bid to defeat incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland. “I think I was in the tea party before there was a tea party,” Kasich famously told a Columbus crowd earlier this year. “This is a real movement with a real message about people’s frustrations by broken promises that leaders on both sides of the aisle would be foolish to ignore,” he went on to write in a blog posting.

For his part, Strickland says he agrees with some of the very same things that upset the tea party folks, including high taxes and inefficient government. “I would ask them to evaluate my performance, and I think there is much they could find positive,” he said while he was in Washington in February, noting that he has cut taxes and reduced state government by more than 5,000 employees.

The 5000 number continues to be a joke, because not only are many of those jobs in question simply positions that Strickland didn’t make appointments to and approximately 11,000 state workers currently qualify for retirement, but payroll costs remained about the same while state spending continued to grow.

And not to mention Strickland has raised about 150 fees to extract about $1.2 billion in fees from taxpayers, while accepting billions in one-time mandate-riddled stimulus money to fund schools and health care and obscene loans to keep state public pension plans afloat. Fees and debt are both forms of taxation.

And Ted Strickland not only RAISE state income taxes by 4.2%, he did so retroactively, so people who plan their tax withholdings woke up on Christmas morning to discover that they owed much more to the state.

And what about the 39 MPH 3-C slow train idea?

Ted Strickland embodies all that TEA Party activists oppose.

From Seth Morgan’s campaign:

Auditor of State candidate Seth Morgan, CPA was endorsed by the Madison County Republican Party on Thursday, March 11. The vote was unanimous for Seth Morgan, CPA for Auditor of State.

“Seth’s qualifications as a certified public accountant coupled with his record inspires many to support him,” said Rob Scott, Friends of Seth Morgan Communications Director. “This endorsement confirms that Seth has a tidal wave of support across Ohio.”