From the Plunderbund Blog Site:

 

JobsOhio Legislative Analysis, Pt. 4: At Culture of Corruption, Inc., you can lobby WHILE you work…

by ModernEsquire on January 25, 2011 · View Comments

 

JobsOhio employees can lobby JobsOhio legally while they work (and be lobbied secretly.)

 

Section 187.03(B)(2) of the bill explicitly states that the Governor’s ethics reporting requirements do not change, but the rest of JobsOhio’s directors, executives, and staff have different requirements.  The bill specifically states that they do not need to report:

 

Income in the ranges specified as required to otherwise be filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission (R.C. 102.02(A)(2));

 

Gifts worth $75 or more paid by someone lobbying the agency (R.C. 102.02(A)(7));

Any free food, beverage, or travel paid for by someone other than the agency or the individual… such as someone lobbying the agency (R.C. 102.02(A)(8-9);

 

Instead, they only need to report income or gifts over $500 (R.C. 102.022.)

Full post at:

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/01/25/jobsohio-legislative-analysis-pt-4-at-culture-of-corruption-inc-you-can-lobby-while-you-work/

Ohio House takes up Kasich's JobsOhio plan

House Bill 1 riding fast track to passage

Tuesday, January 25, 2011  01:39 PM

By Jim Siegel

 

The Columbus Dispatch

 

Details of Gov. John Kasich's plan to privatize Ohio's job-creation efforts will emerge this afternoon in a House committee, where supporters will highlight why it's the best way to draw businesses to Ohio, and critics will raise questions about transparency and ethical conflicts.

 

House Bill 1 clearly spells out that JobsOhio, the proposed private economic-development organization, is not a state agency and its employees are not public workers. It would be exempt from Ohio's existing public-records and open-meetings laws, although the bill instead redefines those transparency provisions to apply specifically to the new group.

 

JobsOhio would be run by a nine-member board, with the governor serving as chairman and sole member of the new nonprofit corporation. Board members, who serve terms of up to four years, would be compensated only for expenses.

 

Full story at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/25/jobsohio-kasich-plan-hearing.html?sid=101

 

Full text of bill: http://blog.dispatch.com/know/HB%201%20Sub%20Bill_129_LB_0033_6.pdf

Would Kasich terminate the Ohio Department of Development?

Would Kasich terminate the Ohio Department of Development?

 

It looks like he will at least downsize it in favor of this board.

Gov. John Kasich's new economic development corporation, JobsOhio, exempt from state laws for transparency and oversight

Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 5:00 AM    Updated: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 7:32 AM

By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer

Joe Guillen and Aaron Marshall / Plain Dealer Reporters

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Gov. John Kasich's new nonprofit corporation to attract jobs would operate largely in private while relying on public funding, according to legislation introduced Tuesday.

 

The corporation -- called JobsOhio, a privatized version of the Ohio Department of Development -- would be exempt from state laws governing public records, public meetings, ethics and oversight.

 

Quarterly public meetings could be closed to discuss "business strategy," for example, and any records of failed negotiations to attract businesses would be indefinitely confidential. The Ohio inspector general would not have the authority to investigate JobsOhio.

 

Full story at: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/01/gov_kasichs_new_economic_devel.html

Good grief--everything I hear about this makes me like it less.  (Talk about a prime target for an independent social hacker a la Julian Assange, too.)

Not perfect, but a step in the right direction...

 

Revision beefs up JobsOhio oversight

Inspector general would get power to investigate

 

Thursday, January 27, 2011  02:55 AM

By Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Business officials continued to praise Gov. John Kasich's plan to privatize Ohio's economic-development efforts yesterday, but government watchdogs and Democrats sounded alarms about the lack of oversight and transparency.

 

Some of those calls led majority Republicans to grant the state inspector general the power to investigate JobsOhio, the new nonprofit corporation that Kasich plans to create as a replacement for the Ohio Department of Development. A probe could be initiated if a complaint is filed.

 

For a second day of hearings on House Bill 1, which authorizes creation of JobsOhio, many questions focused on whether it would be subject to enough oversight to ensure public money is safeguarded and deals are aboveboard.

 

Full story at: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/27/copy/revision-beefs-up-jobsohio-oversight.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

 

Florida bid to undo privatization cited by Dems as reason to delay Kasich’s JobsOhio plan

Business First - by Jeff Bell

Date: Monday, January 31, 2011, 2:39pm ES

 

Jeff Bell

Reporter

Email: [email protected]

 

There is an element of irony to the fact that Gov. John Kasich’s pet plan to privatize the Ohio Department of Development is drawing fire because of the reported shortcomings of a similar approach in Florida.

 

Kasich has often cited Florida as a shining example of a state that has swiped Ohio companies and residents with a friendlier business climate and lower tax rates (not to mention those 70-degree days in mid-January!).

 

Now Ohio House Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, is holding up Florida as the poster child for what can go wrong when a state turns over its economic development functions to a private entity. Citing stories about new Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to undo the privatization structure, Budish is asking House Republicans to hold off on a scheduled vote Tuesday on House Bill 1.

 

Full story at: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/01/florida-bid-to-undo-privatization.html?s=print

Editorial: Kasich needs deal-makers acting in public

By the Dayton Daily News | Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 06:00 AM

 

The chances that a new kind of department of development will dramatically improve Ohio’s economy are slim to none.

 

Of all people, Gov. John Kasich, who’s proposing a different animal, knows that a state government’s ability to influence the private sector in the broad sense is limited. He built his campaign on being a fan of markets, not government, controlling and advancing economies.

 

Still, if Ohio is going to try to woo businesses, and if it’s going to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives, loans, credits and abatements to private companies in pursuit of job creation, of course, the governor wants the effort to be successful. So should Ohioans.

 

Full editorial at: http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/opinion/entries/2011/02/02/editorial_kasich_needs_dealmak.html?cxtype=feedbot

^

The DDN should talk, since they support the Dayton Development Coalition, which is a similar quango, similar to what Kaisch is proposing...

 

If Kaisich was truley radical he would get rid of ED altogether, and let a package of low taxes and deregulation act as an incentive, without a quango specifically set up to do ED.

 

 

 

 

Gov. John Kasich's new corporation, JobsOhio, would be subject to public records laws under House Democrat's plan

Published: Monday, February 07, 2011, 12:46 PM    Updated: Monday, February 07, 2011, 1:25 PM

By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Republican Gov. John Kasich's new, publicly funded corporation designed to improve Ohio's economy would be subject to the state's public records and open meetings laws under a bill introduced today in the Ohio House of Representatives.

 

The bill, introduced by Rep. Matt Lundy, a Democrat from Elyria, is another attempt from Democrats to inject transparency into the new corporation, called JobsOhio.

 

So far Republicans have rejected those attempts at every turn, and it's unlikely they'll support Lundy's bill, called the Taxpayer's Right to Know Act.

 

Full story at: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/gov_john_kasichs_new_corporati.html

^you would think that the PD with its alledged "transparacy" agenda (look how they attack the new county government if they fart in the wrong direction on this issue) would be reporting about this on the front page day after day.

 

Florida bid to undo privatization cited by Dems as reason to delay Kasich’s JobsOhio plan...

Kasich has often cited Florida as a shining example of a state that has swiped Ohio companies and residents with a friendlier business climate and lower tax rates ...

 

Nearly two-thirds of the nation’s 372 metropolitan areas finished 2010 with lower unemployment rates than they posted a year earlier. However, South Florida was not among them.

 

A total of 238 metro areas registered improvements in their jobless rates last year, according to a Business First analysis of new data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nineteen metro areas were unchanged, while the remaining 115 areas suffered increases in unemployment.

 

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan statistical area saw unemployment go up 0.7 percent – to 11.8 percent from 11.1 percent – between December 2009 and December 2010.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/02/07/jobless-rate-improves-in-two-thirds-of.html

 

Click here for a database with year-to-year unemployment comparisons for all 372 metro areas. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/datacenter/metro-unemploy-dec2010.html

 

Home sweet home: Unemployment rate in Dec 2010, decrease in 12 months, city

 

8.5% - 0.4% Cleveland, Ohio

9.0% - 0.9% Cincinnati, Ohio

7.8% - 1.3% Columbus, Ohio

An interesting commentary in last Sunday's Columbus Dispatch about HB-1 (aka JobsOhio):

 

Kasich's jobs plan might face court challenge

Sunday, February 6, 2011 

By Thomas Suddes, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Since before the Civil War, the Ohio Constitution has forbidden state government from directly investing in private businesses.  When, as a young state, Ohio tried that, it nearly went broke.  And Statehouse lobbies always want to hijack public money for private profits.  Those facts of constitutional life should spice debate on Republican Gov. John Kasich's JobsOhio plan, but Republicans seem to wish the questions would go away.

 

The GOP-run House passed the JobsOhio bill last week in a party-line vote.  JobsOhio would be a nonprofit corporation - with the governor its only member.  The corporation would take over the Development Department's job-creation duties.  The administration argues that JobsOhio would be leaner and meaner than Development and could better lure businesses.

 

The counterargument is that other states have tried - then discarded - JobsOhio-like setups, so Ohio shouldn't reinvent a broken wheel.  But the message of November's election, which made Kasich governor and gave Republicans the Ohio House, is that voters think "can't do" or "won't try" should be dirty words in Columbus.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2011/02/06/kasichs-jobs-plan-might-face-court-challenge.html?sid=101

BILL IN SENATE

Supporters filling in details of JobsOhio in Senate

Wednesday, February 9, 2011 

By Jim Siegel, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said he has "huge reservations" about parts of a House-passed bill that would allow Gov. John Kasich to privatize Ohio's economic-development efforts, but he is optimistic that his panel can work out the issues.  "We are working on a lot of language to tighten up the transparency, the ethics, the constitutionality concerns, and the administration has said they are supportive of every one of those efforts," Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, said after his committee's first hearing on House Bill 1.

 

An Ohio Ethics Commission analysis of the proposal made public yesterday noted that the structure of the new private, nonprofit corporation lacks a number of details.  Those include disclosure of travel paid for by private businesses, definitions of terms such as "transaction" and "incentive," and exactly who would conduct periodic reviews of the entity, when reviews will occur, whether the review results must be made public, and what constitutes an "excessive" private benefit.

 

Questions about transparency and oversight dominated the JobsOhio debate in the House, which passed the bill over objections from Democrats.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/09/copy/supporters-filling-in-details-of-jobsohio-in-senate.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

". . .working on a lot of language to tighten up the transparency, the ethics, the constitutionality concerns"

 

Little, minor things like that, then were good.

". . .working on a lot of language to tighten up the transparency, the ethics, the constitutionality concerns"

 

Little, minor things like that, then were good.

Now - with those "minor details" taken care of - the bill passed the senate and house and will be signed by the governor on Friday: 

 

Here's the article in today's Columbus Dispatch: 

 

JobsOhio bill goes to Kasich to sign

Senate, House approve it after transparency added

Thursday, February 17, 2011  - 2:53 AM

By Jim Siegel, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Gov. John Kasich will set in motion one of his key campaign promises when he signs a bill Friday allowing him to privatize Ohio's economic-development efforts.  Swift action by state lawmakers culminated yesterday in a bipartisan vote in the Senate and another contentious debate in the House over whether JobsOhio, the new nonprofit corporation, would be constitutionally sound and transparent enough to avoid scandal.

 

JobsOhio changes: The changes to House Bill 1 approved yesterday by the Senate and House:

◦ Require the JobsOhio board to issue public-meeting notices and compile meeting minutes that also must be made public.

◦ Mandate that JobsOhio create a records-retention policy.

◦ Alter the required board makeup by increasing the number of Ohio residents from five to six and deletes the requirement that the other board members be from out of state.

◦ Add more-specific language to conflict-of-interest language when an arrangement could benefit a director or officer of the board. Also creates a penalty when a conflict of interest occurs.

◦ Prohibit JobsOhio from comingling public and private funds.

◦ Require JobsOhio directors, officers and certain employees to file financial-disclosure statements with the Ethics Commission, similar to those filed by university trustees. The filings are not public record.

◦ Prohibit bribery of JobsOhio board members and staff. (The prior version of the bill exempted employees from that part of law.)

◦ Permit JobsOhio to ask for advisory opinions from the Ohio Ethics Commission.

◦ No longer say the governor is the sole member of the corporation.

Source: Senate Republicans

 

MORE: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/17/copy/jobsohio-bill-goes-to-kasich-to-sign.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Is it possible for Gov. Kasich to do anything without some screw-up controversy being involved?

 

Kasich signs JobsOhio bill

Democrats say governor's pick for post can't serve

Friday, February 18, 2011 - 12:47 PM

Updated: Friday, February 18, 2011 - 2:03 PM

By Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Less than six weeks after taking office, Gov. John Kasich scored his first legislative victory today, signing into law a bill that allows him to privatize Ohio's economic-development efforts.

 

But even before the new GOP governor inked his signature, Democrats were raising questions about the man Kasich wants to transform the agency, California venture capitalist Mark Kvamme.

 

Kvamme does not intend to become an Ohio resident, which Democrats say violates the Ohio Constitution.

 

In a letter to Kasich, House Democratic Leader Armond Budish pointed to a provision in the Constitution that says "no one may be appointed to any public office in Ohio unless the person has the qualifications of an elector."  And Kvamme can't be an elector if he stays a resident of another state.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/18/jobsohio-bill-signed.html?sid=101

Follow-up articles to yesterday's JobsOhio bill signing which allows Kasich to privatize Ohio's economic development efforts:

 

Kasich completes creation of JobsOhio, but his pick to lead it hits snag: But residency status of Mark Kvamme, the governor's pick to lead the nonprofit, might keep him out of the cabinet

 

Q & A: Kvamme lays out his vision

Group's lawsuit seeks ouster of Ohio's out-of-state jobs chief

Wednesday, March 9, 2011  12:33 PM

 

A liberal policy group has filed legal action against Ohio Gov. John Kasich  seeking to force the removal of his development director because the official lives outside the state.

 

Venture capitalist Mark Kvamme  is the Republican governor's point person on economic development, and Kasich has stood by his work and qualifications. But ProgressOhio.org claims in a lawsuit filed in a state appeals court today that Kvamme is not eligible to serve because he's a California resident and not a qualified Ohio elector.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/03/09/09-jobs-chief-suit.html?sid=101

"Kvamme"?  Sounds foreign to me... perhaps Kenyan.  Has anybody checked this guy's birth certificate?

Mark Kvamme shifts development role for state of Ohio

By CHUCK SODER

3:17 pm, March 18, 2011

 

Mark Kvamme no longer leads the Ohio Department of Development.

 

Instead, the venture capitalist from Silicon Valley will serve as Gov. John Kasich's director of job creation. Jim Leftwich, formerly president and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition, will replace him as director of the Ohio Department of Development.

 

In a statement released by the governor's office, Gov. Kasich made reference to questions raised about whether Mr. Kvamme could legally lead the department because he lives outside Ohio.

Read more at: http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110318/FREE/110319847

(clears throat).  Dear Mr. Kasich, government bureaucrats don't create jobs.  Rich people do.  Please redirect Mr. Kvamme's salary to lowering taxes for the 'real' job creators.  No czars here in Ohio please.  Sincerely, the Center for GOP Talking Points.

Hmmm.  A Friday afternoon press release/media dump about the controversial Californian Kvamme.  Nothing unconstitutional about Kasich's previous appointment of Kvamme.  Nothing to see here.  Move along folks.  Move along.  :roll:

 

Kvamme replaced as development director

Friday, March 18, 2011 - 02:49 PM

By Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Mark Kvamme is out as Ohio's chief economic development officer, according to a press release from Gov. John Kasich's office.  According to the release, Kvamme, who was Kasich's pick for the cabinet position of development director, has been appointed to serve as the governor's director of job creation. He is being replaced as development director by James Leftwich.  Leftwich spent the past six years with the Dayton Development Coalition, including the past three as its president and chief executive officer.

 

Kasich was sued last week by a liberal policy group over Kvamme's appointment as development director because Kvamme is a California resident.  The lawsuit claimed that cabinet appointments must be eligible to vote in Ohio under the state constitution.

 

According to the news release, assistant director of development Kristi Tanner is focusing on the transition to JobsOhio Kasich's public-private nonprofit entity created to replace the state Department of Development.  Scott Millburn, Kasich's communications director, said the yet-to-be-appointed board of directors for JobsOhio would select its chief officer.  When JobsOhio is up and running, the state will no longer have a development director position.  It's unknown what Leftwich's future in the Kasich administration will be.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/03/18/kvamme-out-economic-development.html

Kasich's director of job creation Kvamme to undergo surgery after motocross accident

Monday, April 11, 2011 - 01:00 PM

By Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Mark Kvamme will have surgery Wednesday to repair a facial injury suffered Saturday morning in a motocross accident, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said today.

 

Kvamme, Kasich's director of job creation, is still recovering at the Ohio State University Medical Center from what the governor and Kasich administration officials described as a "serious" crash.

 

Kasich said Kvamme will undergo surgery to repair the ocular bone under his eye.  The governor said Kvamme suffered no paralysis or loss of eyesight.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/11/kasichs-director-of-job-creation-kvamme-to-undergo-surgery-for-motocross-accident.html

Resource-depleting hobby

Right there with NASCAR and snowmobiling

Is state's jobs entity really needed?

Without JobsOhio, Kasich keeps companies in state

Sunday, April 17, 2011  03:15 AM

By Joe Vardon and Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

When Republican Gov. John Kasich approached the lectern last week to announce his signing of a bill that increased the number of snow days for Ohio's schools, the first words from his lips were about economic development.

 

Kasich, in a move he repeated the next day in Cincinnati, reiterated news from earlier in the week that multinational technology company Diebold had accepted Ohio's $56 million incentives package to stay here and build its new world headquarters in the Canton area instead of North Carolina.

 

Kasich said Diebold's decision saved 2,000 jobs for Ohio - the number of employees Diebold has in the state. The governor has been involved in similar announcements with American Greetings and Bob Evans, two other Ohio companies that considered heading for other pastures.

Read more at: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/17/copy/is-jobs-entity-really-needed.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Democrats, liberal policy group to sue Kasich over JobsOhio

Monday, April 18, 2011  12:12 PM

By Joe Vardon

 

The Columbus Dispatch

Democrats in the General Assembly are teaming with a liberal policy group to sue Ohio Gov. John Kasich over JobsOhio, his privatized economic development department.

 

State Sen. Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, and Rep. Dennis Murray, D-Sandusky, scheduled a 3:30 p.m. news conference today to discuss their legal challenge of House Bill 1, which gave the authority to Kasich to create JobsOhio in January.

 

They will argue in the Ohio Supreme Court that creation of the program was unconstitutional on seven counts, according to a source, including creating a second position for Kasich that equates to chairman of the JobsOhio board.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/18/democrats-liberal-policy-group-to-sue-kasich-over-jobsohio.html?sid=101

I have not analyzed the constitutional questions, but if they are even close, where do they think they are going to get with this Republican Supreme Court?  Of course, it should not be this way, but we are slowly losing our independent judiciary (unfortunately even at the US Supreme Court level) and every thing is becoming partisan politics.

Kasich's Senate-budget amendments strip him of JobsOhio powers

Monday, June 6, 2011 - 02:18 PM

By Joe Vardon and Jim Siegel

The Columbus Dispatch

 

Gov. John Kasich would no longer serve as the chairman of JobsOhio's board of directors if a budget amendment he submitted is approved by the Senate.  The 10 amendments related to the governor's privatized economic development entity, which came from Kasich's office on Friday to be included in the Senate's consideration of the state budget, would also remove the governor from the board of directors entirely and shift the chief investment officer from the purview of Kasich to the board of directors.

 

. . .

 

JobsOhio, Kasich's economic development project that is effectively replacing the state's public development department and would be funded by leasing of Ohio's liquor profits, is still being constructed and is not yet in business.

 

The amendments submitted by the Kasich administration would strip Kasich of many of the powers he had over JobsOhio.  They also address at least some of the complaints in a lawsuit filed by liberal policy group ProgressOhio in April, which said that several components of JobsOhio are unconstitutional.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/06/amendments-kasich-submitted-to-senate-budget-strip-him-of-jobsohio-powers.html?sid=101

JobsOhio may give Kvamme new role in Kasich administration

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - 03:03 PM

Updated: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - 03:22 PM

By Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Mark Kvamme could be switching jobs within the Kasich administration again, this time to become the interim chief investment officer for JobsOhio.

 

Kvamme, currently Gov. John Kasich's director of job creation and previously the Department of Development director, said today that he would take over the day-to-day operations for Kasich's privatized development agency if asked by the agency's nine-member board.

 

Kvamme has been largely responsible for putting the pieces together for JobsOhio and said the board would be announced next month.  Kasich selects the board members.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/22/jobsohio-may-give-kvamme-new-role-in-kasich-administration.html?sid=101

The above article was partly based on a speech Mark Kvamme gave at last Wednesday's Columbus Metropolitan Club luncheon.  The CMC videotapes and publishes their speeches online at http://blip.tv/cmc-tv.  Below is the direct link to Kvamme's CMC speech:

 

Mark Kvamme Gung-ho on Ohio

I presented to him last week in Cleveland.  Good guy.

 

He loved University Circle and the biotech/Medical area (Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University)

Kasich fills out JobsOhio board with industry heavy-hitters

Business First - by Jeff Bell

Date: Monday, July 11, 2011, 11:05am EDT

 

Gov. John Kasich has tapped some big hitters from Ohio’s corporate scene to serve as board members for JobsOhio, the new private, nonprofit entity that will direct state government’s economic development efforts.

 

• James Boland, retired vice chairman of Ernst & Young LLP and former CEO of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Gund Arena Co.  He will serve as the board’s chairman.

 

• Bob McDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble

 

• Gary Heminger, CEO of Marathon Petroleum

 

• Steven Davis, CEO, Bob Evans

 

• Dr. Martin Harris, chief information officer of the Cleveland Clinic .

 

• Pam Springer, CEO of Manta Media Inc., a Columbus-based provider of online business listings.

 

• Gordon Gee, Ohio State University President

 

• Mark Kvamme, partner, Sequoia Capital, and Kasich’s director of jobs creation.

 

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/07/kasich-fills-out-jobsohio-board-with.html

More about the newly appointed JobsOhio board from The Columbus Dispatch:

 

JobsOhio board members share links to governor

 

Here's an interesting excerpt from the article:  'Kvamme also will serve as JobsOhio's interim chief investment officer, and Boland was named the board's chairman.  Kvamme declined a salary to serve as the interim day-to-day chief for the agency. Boland had suggested a $300,000 salary and bonuses for Kvamme while a committee studies an appropriate salary range for a permanent executive.  The board will conduct a search for a permanent CIO.  Kvamme said he told the board he "would be happy to be a candidate." It was unclear whether he would take a salary if he gets the post.'

 

Want to make a bet that he'll take the salary?

 

And a Kasich article wouldn't be complete without some Kasich hyperbole:  'Yesterday, Kasich said Gee was the "Babe Ruth of academia."'

 

I'm an Ohio State grad and even I think that's bunk.

The fossil fuel industry is well represented:

Gordon Gee was a board member at Massey Coal, and

Gary Heminger, CEO of Marathon Petroleum.

 

JobsOhio will mean fewer state workers  

Business First

Date: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 2:05pm EDT

 

Formation of JobsOhio, the private initiative that will steer the state’s job-creation efforts, will mean at least 200 fewer jobs at the Ohio Department of Development  Ohio Department of Development Latest from The Business Journals Ohio goes on offensive to boost development effortsJobsOhio will mean fewer state workers JobsOhio to lead to 200 fewer state jobs Follow this company  , which will be renamed, a report revealed Thursday.

 

Read more at: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2011/08/18/jobsohio-will-mean-fewer-state-workers.html

Looks like Don Plusquellic isn't such a fan of how JobsOhio is structuring things. He doesn't like having Team NEO in charge of economic development for Akron.

 

Governor's JobsOhio plan 'appalls' Akron

Mayor fears economic development blueprint ignores city's interests

By JAY MILLER

4:30 am, August 15, 2011

 

It's not that Don Plusquellic doesn't like his city being a part of the region called Northeast Ohio. It's just that Akron's mayor believes strongly that Gov. John Kasich's plan for a new nonprofit job creation agency, which lumps the Rubber City in with Cleveland, Youngstown and Ashtabula, will hamper his ability to attract business investment to his community.

 

“We are appalled at what's happened,” Mayor Plusquellic said in a telephone interview last Thursday, Aug 11.

 

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110815/SUB1/308159979

 

Regional agencies will feed leads to JobsOhio

State development agency will still provide oversight

By Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - 4:45 AM

 

DAYTON — Gov. John Kasich’s privatized development agency will have some public components and will rely on its regional in-state partners to initiate many job-creating deals.  But according to Mark Kvamme, JobsOhio board member and interim chief investment officer, the new setup will rely on six regional partners to identify many of the leads and initiate many of the deals to retain or attract businesses to Ohio.

 

Those agencies — Columbus 2020, the Dayton Development Coalition, Cincinnati USA Partnership, the Appalachian Business Council, Team NEO and the Toledo Regional Growth Partnership — will get public money from a $24 million pool (over two years) from the Ohio Third Frontier Commission to staff and coordinate development activities with JobsOhio.

 

After one of the regional partners initiates a deal with a company, it would hand off the process to JobsOhio, which would prepare an incentives package and make an official recruitment or retention offer.  The administration is due to deliver a report to the General Assembly by Thursday on how JobsOhio will operate and what will become of the Department of Development, the state’s traditional economic-development arm that Kasich created JobsOhio to replace.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/17/regional-agencies-will-feed-leads-to-jobsohio.html

JobsOhio will cost 211 jobs

Development unit positions will be cut in power transfer to governor’s new job-creating agency

By Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

Friday, August 19, 2011 - 4:25 AM

 

The transfer of job-creating power to JobsOhio will cost Ohio more than 200 jobs, according to a Kasich administration report released yesterday.

 

In siphoning off key economic-development functions from state government to Gov. John Kasich’s privatized, nonprofit development agency, the Department of Development will whack 211 jobs from its rolls by January.

 

The cuts were included in a report delivered to the General Assembly by the Kasich administration yesterday that outlines future roles for JobsOhio and the state’s development department, which soon will be known as the Development Services Agency.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/19/jobsohio-will-cost-211-jobs.html

When do they start the 'Kasich didn't get the jobs done [old man solemnly shaking his head]' commericals?

AG's report on success of DOD work not too great

47.6 percent include businesses  did not create the promised number of jobs in exchange for their tax credits.

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/local-firms-break-job-promises-1307891.html

FWIW, Seepex, who has complied & created jobs, gave up on state assistance under the current administration due to red tape. Ironically, they make pumping equipment that could benefit the natural gas extraction the current administration is pursuing.

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/50-new-jobs-sign-of-firms-steady-growth-1285701.html

 

 

 

Two recent articles from the Columbus Dispatch about how JobsOhio will be funded:

 

Plan funds JobsOhio with state liquor profits

 

JobsOhio set to pay state $1.4 billion for rights to liquor profits

How much public money will be paid to Wall Street professionals to create these new bonds? 

But that deal won’t close until JobsOhio raises cash via the bond market. Kvamme and Kasich’s budget director, Tim Keen, said a closing is expected later this quarter.

JobsOhio gets state panel's approval despite legislators' questions

 

The Kasich administration’s decision to keep secret how it will determine whether Ohioans are getting a good deal from the $100 million a year that JobsOhio will spend on economic development did not stop the state Controlling Board today from approving the contracts to formally get the privatized entity going.

 

“Today we’re taking the next big step in a pretty significant change in how we’ve been dealing with economic development here in the state,” said Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark. “Everyone agrees the status quo just clearly wasn’t sufficient.”

 

But Hottinger and his fellow legislators on the bipartisan spending-oversight board questioned the heads of the state Development and Commerce departments for nearly an hour today about JobsOhio.  When members of the panel asked what kind of results are expected, the answers were not clear.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/30/JobsOhio-Controlling-Board-approval-legislators-questions.html

Unlikely Allies Push Ahead On Legal Challenge Of JobsOhio

By Karen Kasler, Statehouse Bureau Chief

Ohio Public Radio and Television

July 31, 2012

 

A coalition of progressive groups and a pair of Democratic state representatives are going back to the Ohio Supreme Court over the state’s job creation agency JobsOhio.  But this time they’re getting help from an unlikely ally.

 

Progress Ohio and Democratic state Sen. Michael Skindell and Rep. Dennis Murray filed lawsuits claiming Gov. John Kasich’s public-private entity JobsOhio was an unconstitutional corporation with minimal transparency. ... And they’re getting help from Maurice Thompson at the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a Tea Party-backed offshoot of the conservative think tank the Buckeye Institute.

 

READ MORE: http://beta.wosu.org/news/2012/07/31/unlikely-allies-push-ahead-on-legal-challenge-of-jobsohio/

Say farewell to the California Kid . . .

 

 

Columbus Business First: Mark Kvamme leaving JobsOhio post

 

Columbus Dispatch: Kvamme to step down as leader of JobsOhio

National Report Criticizes JobsOhio, Other Privatized Agencies

Good Jobs First says privatized agencies create scandals, not jobs

 

JobsOhio and other privatized development agencies have created scandals and potential conflicts of interests instead of jobs, claims an Oct. 23 report from Good Jobs First, a research center founded in 1998 that scrutinizes deals between businesses and governments.

The report looked at privatized development agencies in seven states, including Ohio, and found that many of the same problems and scandals appear from state to state.

 

http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-5174-national_report_criticizes_jobsohio_other_privatiz.html

JobsOhio tax credits mostly go to Columbus

Franklin County dominates rest of state - and Southwest Ohio combined - in landing job-creation tax credits

 

charts & story here:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131118/NEWS/311180015/JobsOhio-tax-credits-mostly-go-Columbus?nclick_check=1

Let's do away with the farce and change the name to KickbacksColumbus. Has more of a ring to it, anyway, with the alliterative aspect.