Lynn Walsh

An article written for The Buckeye Institute:

Federal Money to the Rescue
Thursday, July 30th, 2009 By Lynn Walsh

The City of Columbus Police Department is the recipient of a $12.7 million federal grant to hire or retain police officers.

The grant is supposed to pay the salary and benefits for 50 entry level officers for three years. $12.7 million averages out to $4.23 million every year for three years.

The combined base salary of the 247 most recently hired officers working for the Columbus Police Department totals $11.5 million. That averages out to an individual base salary of $46,559 each year.

If the federal grant covers just the base salary of a new officer the City of Columbus could afford to employee 90 officers for a three year period. The proposal says it will cover salary and benefits for just 50 entry level officers. If salary and benefits are paid for with $4.23 million dollars, each of those officers will take home on average $84,600 in salary and benefits pay each year.

In this scenario, the average officer is earning about $38,000 a year in benefits. That is equivalent to 81.7% of their annual income and just $8,500 less than their yearly base salary.

An article written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD has $17mill surplus but says lack of federal stimulus funds could leave budget hole
Fri Feb 26 15:38:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston ISD may be fearing the worst when it comes to their 2010-11 budget, but they are currently sitting on a $17 million surplus, according to HISD’s chief financial officer, Melinda Garrett.

The district has recently painted a grim picture of what their budget may look like for the 2010-2011 school year. The River Oaks Examiner reported earlier this week that HISD could have a $57 million budget hole after federal stimulus money runs out and if other tax revenue does not increase to make up the difference. That represents less than 4 percent of the overall $1.5 billion operating budget for the Houston Independent School District for 2009-10.

According to a report presented on June 8, HISD had more than $50 million in surplus funds. Garrett said that just 10 days later the amount of surplus dropped to around $17 million after a state-mandated teacher salary increase.

Garrett said she has recommended the Board of Trustees maintain the $17 million surplus for now and carry at least that much over to the next school year, so the district can pay for rising expenses such as a potential water rate increase.

The district’s potential budget woes, which were also discussed here by the Houston Press, stem from the use of federal stimulus money by the state of Texas to pay for education, David Thompson, a contract attorney for the district, told the Examiner:

“The stimulus money is one-time money, at least officially,” continued Thompson. “If those funds disappear next session, we have artificially created a hole in the funding of public education. The impact of that on HISD will be at least $57 million, if not more than that. We hope the state can resolve the issue by 2011.

If the state cannot bring education funding levels back to where they were before stimulus dollars were used to prop them up, the district will need to reduce spending, Garrett said.

“The question is, at the end of the two years when the stimulus money goes away, is the state going to be in good enough shape to bring us back our $57 million?” asked Garrett. “We don’t know that yet. If that money doesn’t come back to us in the regular budget, for us and for the other districts in the Texas, we’re in for some big budget cuts.”

Article written for Ohio Watchdog:

Ohio Congressman Urging Strickland to Establish Stimulus Oversight Board
Posted by Lynn Walsh on November 20, 2009

After several media reports detailing inaccurate reporting and wasteful spending surrounding federal stimulus money in Ohio, eight congressman in Ohio are asking that an independent oversight board be established. Republicans John Boehner, Pat Tiberi, Jim Jordan, Bob Latta, Steve Austria, Jean Schmidt, Michael Turner, and Steven LaTourette sent this letter to Governor Ted Strickland yesterday.

Boehner said, “Only an independent, bipartisan panel can assure Ohioans that federal ‘stimulus’ dollars are being spent effectively to provide relief to our state’s struggling economy.” Currently Winston Ford, from the Ohio Inspector General’s Office is repsonsible for overseeing all stimulus money coming into the State of Ohio.

“We’ve called for a stimulus board to oversee the stimulus projects in Ohio, exactly for this reason,” said Congressman Tiberi. On March 4, 2009 a similiar letter was sent to Govornor Strickland, urging once again for the development of an oversight board. The suggestion at that time was for the board to be made up one elected official from both the Republican and Democratic parties, a Certified Public Accountant, and auditors.

Congressman Austria referenced the reporting error of www.recover.gov as a main reason for the development of an oversight committee. “It is an egregious misuse of taxpayer dollars to pay people to create phantom districts, giving the illusion that the stimulus dollars are creating real jobs,” Austria said.

Governor Strickland has not yet responded to the letter.

Written for Ohio Watchdog:

Matt Burke, a student in Colerain, Ohio is now a contender for Congress. Burke is running for a seat in Ohio’s 21st Congressional District.

Where is the 21st Congressional District? The district is one of ten phantom districts named by www.recovery.gov as having received federal stimulus money. The website has since moved the phantom congressional districts into an “unassigned congressional district” category.

The phantom 21st congressional district is not the only district gaining political interest in Ohio; Harald Zieger is also running for office in Ohio’s 56th Congressional District. Zieger is an immigrant from Russia and Burke is a minor, who has received permission from his parents to run for office.

Justin Binik-Thomas, Vice President of National Affairs and Strategy for Cincinnati Tea Party said, “I think these are very expensive jobs we are creating. Clearly the costs are not in line with the actual response. You do not have a job with a salary of $3 million.” Binik-Thomas is referring to the average cost per job created or retained due to stimulus money in the 1st Congressional District in Ohio.

Burke will not begin campaigning until January, but according to his campaign site, “he’s too small to fail!” Binik-Thomas knows both Burke and Zieger and said they are running more to make a point than to get elected; “this is not something that can be slipped under the radar. You cannot misplace or misappropriate tens of millions of dollars and call it transparency.”

Buckeye Institute Investigative Reporter Lynn Walsh uncovered 10 brand new Congressional Districts in Ohio via the www.recovery.org website’s newest state and territory summary for Ohio. Walsh exposed the mistake on the Buckeye Institute affiliated OhioWatchdog.org and the story was picked up today by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Article.

Read More: Stimulus Works-Even in Districts That Don’t Exist

While working as an Investigative Reporter for the Ohio Watchdog, spoke with 610 WTVN’s Bob Connors this morning about the phantom congressional districts posted on www.recovery.gov. 10 districts in Ohio, that do not exist, received more than $5.3 million in stimulus funds, creating/retaining 11 jobs. Ohio only has 18 congressional districts.

Listen Here.

Read the complete story: Stimulus Money Sent to Phantom Congressional Districts in Ohio

And the award goes to, drum roll please…The Ohio Department of Development!! Check out April’s “Porker of the Month.”

Mark Barbash and the Department of Development: Buckeye Institute’s April 2009 Porker of the Month

Sitting in front of the “tube” is a favorite past time for some here in Ohio; and thanks to the Ohio Controlling Board, the Department of Development, and tax dollars from you, people across the country will now have one more channel to flip through. The Guardian Enterprise Group is proud to welcome Dot Two Entertainment, Inc. to Columbus, Ohio; and we are happy to award April 2009′s Porker of the Month to Mark Barbash and the Department of Development for this new television enterprise.

So what will new “family-friendly” television programming cost the taxpayers of Ohio? How about $25,000 to start. The State of Ohio Controlling Board under the recommendation of the Department of Development and Lt. Governor Lee Fischer, approved the $25,000 “Rapid Outreach Grant” to Dot Two Entertainmentfor costs associated with purchasing new equipment. In return Dot Two has promised to create and retain jobs. A key point though: a majority of the jobs retained are non-at-risk positions within the company.

It seems that by saying “new jobs” the company got another sweetheart deal: a $1.1 million loan that will also help with the purchasing of new equipment. The over one million dollar Innovation Ohio loan bears an interest rate of six percent for the next six years. Dot Two is a privately-owned company founded not even a year ago in July 2008. It is an expansion project by Guardian Studios, which produces commercials.

What exactly can you expect to see when you are flipping through the channels? Well, according to their website, www.dot2network.com, lots of movies. The new network will premiere major motion pictures like “Gridiron Gang” and “Stranger than Fiction.” So what happened to their “family-friendly” programming? A look at their website seems to hint that it may not be their top priority. Out of the 20 shows listed on their on-air schedule, only four of them are focused on children’s programming. The other 16 are themed around cooking, traveling, and home improvements. So what does the company say to all of this? Well, a call to the stations manager left us talking to his voicemail. The company who started this expansion, Guardian Enterprise Group, is based here in Columbus but was not able to provide any answers.

The justification in providing the grant and low-interest loan was easy, according to the operating request made to the controlling board; “Ohio is in competition with multiple states for this project due to attractive tax credits and rebates. State incentives are needed to keep Dot Two in Ohio and create and retain jobs.” Dot Two has not even been around for a year, so what evidence does the state have that this company will even be around to retain jobs?

Guardian Television Network brought in more than nine million dollars in revenue in 2006 and 2007 that is before selling its main broadcast license last year. Guardian operated WSFJ, Channel 51 beginning in 1975, but the company has recently sold the station to another broadcast group in the hope of “restructuring” their company. Does a company that is in the process of “restructuring” deserve taxpayers’ funds?

This new television venture will distribute their content via satellite on digital sub-channels. A main reason Guardian decided to expand in this way was to help the company “share ad revenue.” Does this mean with the birth of digital television less than 60 days away, more and more television stations will be asking for state funding in order to take advantage of more stations and more content? Hopefully this is the end of grants and loan-breaks for television stations offering programs you could get free at your local library. Until then, sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy your tax dollars transmitting across the screen!

Award Winning Journalist Jon Entine shares his story of Henry Fischer and Fischer Homes. A case involving current and past immigration policies, prosecutors going too far, and an American company almost destroyed. Listen here for an inside look into the Fischer Homes case and the story of Henry Fischer.

The Henry Fischer Story

We may not be in Boston but that didn’t stop more than 7,000 people from crowding the Statehouse steps April 15, 2009 for a “Columbus Tea Party.” Tea Party protests popped up all over the country on tax day and the one here in Columbus was not that different. What was different here though was the reasoning behind the protest. Traditionally Tea Party protests on tax day are used to protest just that, taxes. Here in Columbus people were less concerned about taxes and more concerned about government spending. The crowd was angry, scared, and most of all passionate. Most expressed their anger over the various stimulus bills passed by both President Bush and President Obama. Others were angry about other issues including the bailout and an Obama Presidency.

Columbus, OH Tea Party