Best Money Ohio Ever Spent? $8,400 To Remove Bob Taft's Name From Welcome Signs

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio highway officials say they have shelled out $8,400 this year updating welcome signs along the state's border, and the changes eliminate all mention of former Gov. Bob Taft.

The two-term Cincinnati Republican left office in January with polls showing he was the most unpopular governor in the United States. His name, perhaps, frightened people away.

The signs now carry the names of Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, and they keep alive the tradition of having Ohio's top two officials welcome people into the state. The signs are on the major interstates and highways that cross into Ohio from Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Matt Naugle at Right Angle Blog has a post about ODOT budget shortfalls and notes that the 34 large border signs have been changed at taxpayer's expense. He questions whether it is a worthwhile investment of government funds to put a governor's name on a highway sign.

He has a point. But it definitely was worth the dollars to erase Taft's name. Having him there was like posting a sign that said: Toxic Governor Zone, Enter At Your Own Peril.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner: Campaign Lit Now Scrubbed From Her Official Web Site

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- The links have been severed that led from Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's official state Web site to her campaign committee. Brunner, the state's top election official, had the links functioning as recently as March 25, a questionable activity first disclosed HERE. If you try the links today, they no longer function.

However, Right Angle Blog captured the campaign literature off the state portal and has them posted. In other words, you can check out the scrubbed material.

Obviously, Democratic Secretary of State Brunner did the proper thing to pull down any ties to her campaign. She came into office as a reformer, and so far has been as good as her word.