CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Both the Wall Street Journal and the non-partisan Buckeye Institute for Public Policy printed articles in the not so distant past that advocated in favor of Ken Blackwell's plan to cap taxes and spending in Ohio -- a plan that was called TEL. But there are records in Ohio showing that an economic consulting firm in Washington got a $41,500 payment from the TEL committee, and a partner in the firm was Blackwell's co-author on the Journal piece that the Buckeye Institute is still distributing on its Web site.
The payment shows up in Ohio campaign finance records filed last year in Columbus. The article was written in 2005 and remains online and effusive about TEL: "The proposed TEL would be terrific for Ohio's prosperity."
The article is HERE, and Blackwell and economist Dr. Arthur Laffer contended TEL was a needed reform. The independent, non-partisan and conservative leaning Buckeye Institute also published this piece by its president, David Hansen, that found benefits in TEL.
However, the Ohio Secretary of State's campaign finance Web site shows that a $41,500 payment went from the group sponsoring TEL to Laffer's firm last June. The payment from Citizens for Tax Reform to Arduin, Laffer & Moore was listed as reimbursement for consulting work.
Details about the economics consulting firm are HERE , and show that Laffer, who grew up in the Cleveland area, is a partner.
Blackwell is now a senior fellow at the Buckeye Institute. But how independent is the conservative think-tank? Blackwell helped fund Citizens for Tax Reform with his own money, Citizens for Tax Reform pushed TEL, Blackwell and Laffer together wrote an article praising TEL, the Buckeye Institute still is distributing the article online, and Laffer's firm got $41,500 from Citizens for Tax Reform, which, again, was partly funded by Blackwell.
Why is there still no public disclosure by the Buckeye Institute that Citizens for Tax Reform had a financial arrangement with Laffer's firm?
Showing posts with label Citizens for Tax Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citizens for Tax Reform. Show all posts
Monday, March 05, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Internet Tycoon Sent $100,000 To Blackwell's Tax-Cut Group
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Internet tycoon Patrick Byrne, the chairman and CEO of Overstock.com and a passionate proponent of school-choice vouchers, gave $100,000 to Ken Blackwell's Citizens for Tax Reform last year, recently filed state campaign finance records show. Citizens for Tax Reform was a group pushing the so-called TEL amendment to the Ohio Constitution that was withdrawn. TEL was a pet project of Blackwell's, and it would have have placed hard caps on government spending and taxes.
Byrne made his donation in August, after the proposed amendment was pulled from the ballot at the urging of state GOP leaders who feared a massacre at the polls. The massacre happened anyway. Some of Byrne's donation was used by Citizens for Tax Reform to repay Blackwell, who received $15,000 back on a personal loan he made to the group, the campaign finance records indicate. The committee still owes Blackwell money.
While most people think TEL is dead, the group that collected petitions to place the issue on the ballot appears very much alive. Citizen for Tax Reforms filed an end-of-year campaign finance report, and it is engaged in litigation against Ohio in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where a recently adopted state law that governs how signatures are gathered on initiative petitions is under review. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's office has to file a brief next month.
Byrne thinks 65 percent of public school budgets should be funnelled into classrooms, and Blackwell picked up on the idea in 2005. The concept has been attacked by some public school administrators and teacher union officials, but others think it might actually improve student performance. Byrne told Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Chris Seper last July that he and Blackwell "shared a passion for vouchers," the program that allows public funds to pay student tuition at private and parochial schools.
The campaign finance report showing Byrne's donation is HERE and HERE.
You can look at Byrne's Overstock.com Web site HERE. Byrne is highly educated and appears to have serious ideas about school reform. He went to Dartmouth, Cambridge and Stanford University, where he received a Ph.D.
Perhaps somebody in state government ought to invite him to Columbus to hear what he has to say. If British PM Tony Blair's ex-education advisor can get time to appear before the Ohio Board of Education, why not Byrne?
Byrne made his donation in August, after the proposed amendment was pulled from the ballot at the urging of state GOP leaders who feared a massacre at the polls. The massacre happened anyway. Some of Byrne's donation was used by Citizens for Tax Reform to repay Blackwell, who received $15,000 back on a personal loan he made to the group, the campaign finance records indicate. The committee still owes Blackwell money.
While most people think TEL is dead, the group that collected petitions to place the issue on the ballot appears very much alive. Citizen for Tax Reforms filed an end-of-year campaign finance report, and it is engaged in litigation against Ohio in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where a recently adopted state law that governs how signatures are gathered on initiative petitions is under review. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's office has to file a brief next month.
Byrne thinks 65 percent of public school budgets should be funnelled into classrooms, and Blackwell picked up on the idea in 2005. The concept has been attacked by some public school administrators and teacher union officials, but others think it might actually improve student performance. Byrne told Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Chris Seper last July that he and Blackwell "shared a passion for vouchers," the program that allows public funds to pay student tuition at private and parochial schools.
The campaign finance report showing Byrne's donation is HERE and HERE.
You can look at Byrne's Overstock.com Web site HERE. Byrne is highly educated and appears to have serious ideas about school reform. He went to Dartmouth, Cambridge and Stanford University, where he received a Ph.D.
Perhaps somebody in state government ought to invite him to Columbus to hear what he has to say. If British PM Tony Blair's ex-education advisor can get time to appear before the Ohio Board of Education, why not Byrne?
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