Wal-Mart, KFC And McDonald's Workers: So Poor Ohio Taxpayers Pay Their Health Care Costs

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank, reports the state government is paying more for the health care costs of the working poor who qualify for Medicaid: "The three employers with the most workers enrolled in Medicaid on average in Ohio were Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Yum! Brands, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." Altogether, there were 50 employers with about 111,000 people whose medical benefits were subsidized by Medicaid, a welfare program.

"The state of Ohio paid an estimated $111.5 million in 2007 to cover Medicaid costs for workers and their dependents at the 50 Ohio employers that appeared most frequently in data collected by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Altogether, 111,046 participants in family and children’s Medicaid worked at these employers or were family members of workers.

"The total approximate cost to Ohio of workers and their dependents using Medicaid at employers for whom a four-year comparison was possible increased 29 percent, to $107.6 million last year from $83.4 million in 2004, in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars.

"Enrollment in Medicaid and food stamp programs continued to grow at these employers between 2004 and 2007, increasing by 14.6 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, over that time. Employee and dependent participation in cash assistance declined 21.6percent during the same period."

Who's Been Creating New Jobs In Columbus, Ohio? Wal-Mart And OSU's Hospital

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Nearly 5,100 government jobs have disappeared in the Columbus area, including 997 that were directly tied to the state government. Who added the most new workers between March 2001-March 2007? The Ohio State University Medical Center was No. 1. with 3,742 additional jobs, and Wal-Mart was No. 2, with 2,499. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., the grocery chain that competes with Wal-Mart, cut 1,682 workers.

An economic study published today by the Columbus Chamber of Commerce shows that four of the metro area's largest employers are now health care organizations. It shows Wal-Mart is responsible for a huge chunk of the region's employment gain. Of the 7,500 new jobs added in the 8-county Central Ohio area, the discount retailer was responsible for 1/3 of the total.

The complete text of the chamber study is available here (pdf). And without hospitals or Wal-Mart, the data shows Columbus would have a pretty grim job market:

"In total, the health care industry, which includes social services, records a net employment grown of 16,500 new jobs between February 2001 and December 2007, which represents a net grown of 20.7 percent in health care specifically. But comparison, regional employment was only up 1.3 percent over that same period."

Top 20 employers who shaved workers: AT&T down 100; City of Columbus down 262; State of Ohio down 997; Columbus Public Schools down ,1389; U.S. Government down 1,500; OSU non-medical 1,912.

Uncouth Cash Drawers: Big Retailer Markets 'Money Pot' Panties To Teenybopper Girls

[UPDATE: 8:34 pm, 12/13/07 10 -- Wal-Mart is pulling the money pot pink panties from its stores. Jill Zimon Miller reports that FOX News jumped on the story and gave the chain a wedgie. Parents were complaining. JMZ's report is curious about the fate of the undies: Will they wind up someplace where people can't read the words?]

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Jill Miller Zimon has the lowdown on the low down discount chain that is selling pink panties with "Who needs credit cards" emblazoned over the nether region. Outraged or offended? She has links to file complaints at the chain's corporate headquarters.

Jill says the panties are rude and crude and flash an inappropriate message for young females and agrees: "There's nothing quite like telling adolescent girls that they don't need to worry about finances since they have their very own moneypot between their legs."

Wal-Mart Has A Big-Name Ohio Lawyer: Otto Beatty III, Dem House Leader's Stepson

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Otto Beatty III is defending Wal-Mart in a federal lawsuit filed by a Bellefontaine contractor who claims the discount chain owes nearly $1.3 million. Beatty's stepmother, Joyce, is the Democratic leader of the Ohio House of Representatives. Wal-Mart's business practices are frequently a target of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which runs a Web site devoted to critiquing the Arkansas-based chain. Democrats generally side with organized labor, and many have spoken out against Wal-Mart for coming up short in the corporate responsibility department.

Over the years, there have been complaints that it squeezes suppliers. In this instance, Wal-Mart says the Ohio contractor is trying to shift responsibility for its own poor performance.

The Dem leader's stepson is a parter at Baker & Hostetler. The lawsuit pending before U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose in Dayton is a breach of contract case involving construction of a supercenter in Springfield. Joyce Beatty has no involvement in the dispute, but some probably would find it interesting that a member of her family has a business relationship with the retailer.

Thomas & Marker, the company in court against Wal-Mart, claims it had a $9.61 million deal as general contractor on the new supercenter. It contends it was required to perform unanticipated rock excavation at the site, which required a change order because costs increased due to the unforeseen circumstances.

"In according with the terms and provisions of the contract documents, Thomas & Marker has requested and attempted to obtain payment for all costs incurred in connection with the rock excavation, but Wal-Mart has refused to pay same. Wal-Mart does not have a contractual basis to deny payment to Thomas & Marker."

The contractor said it relied upon geotechnical reports supplied by Wal-Mart when bidding the job, and the reports were inaccurate. It said Wal-Mart made an offer of about $750,000 -- not enough to cover costs -- but that another "official or employee of Wal-Mart denied knowledge of the offer."

Wal-Mart responded to the lawsuit by saying by asserting it has acted in good faith. Beatty III wrote that the contractor screwed up installation of utility lines for the store. No trial date has been set.

Ohio Is Wally's World: Wal-Mart Now State's Largest Employer

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Not long before Gov. Ted Strickland was sworn into office in January, outgoing Republicans compiled data that ranked Ohio's biggest private sector employers. Wal-Mart finished way atop the list. With some 50,000 Ohioans on its payroll, the discount chain now dwarfs every other enterprise operating in the state.

"Wal-Mart (1) with approximately 160 retail operations and multiple distribution centers has the largest employment headcount (50,000) of Ohio's Pirvate Sector Employers. While many of its employees are part time, Wal-Mart's presence is felt in every community across the state."

That is the word from the Ohio Department of Development's office of strategic research, which filed its report last December. Nothing in Ohio approaches the size of Wal-Mart. To get an idea of its sheer enormity: Add everybody working at Honda, the Japanese automaker with extensive operations across the state, to everybody working at the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and the total about equals Wal-Mart's. Tokyo-based Honda is Ohio's 12th largest employer; the Clinic is No. 2.

The state report is HERE. What is interesting about Ohio now is that not a single manufacturer remains in the top five in a state that prospered on a smokestack economy. Ohio State University, No. 5, has more employees than any automaker, including General Motors Corp, No. 7; Honda, No. 12, and Ford, No. 18.

Here are the Top 10:

1.Wal-Mart, 50,000, Bentonville, Ark., retail general merchandise.
2. Cleveland Clinic Health System 34,800, Cleveland, health.
3. Kroger Co., 34,130, Cincinnati, retail food stores.
4. University Hospitals Health System, 25,000, Cleveland, health.
5. Ohio State University, 24,400, Columbus, education and health.
6. Catholic Healthcare Partners, 23,000, Cincinnati, health.
7. General Motors Corp., 19,300, Detroit, manufacture motor vehicles.
8. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 18,250, Dayton, government Air Force base.
9. General Electric Co., 17,000, Fairfield, Conn., manufacture electrical/aerospace equipment.
9. JP Morgan Case & Co., 17,000, New York, finance bank.
11. Meijer Inc., 16,500, Grand Rapids, Mi., retail general merchandise.

Wal-Mart In Cleveland: We'll Help Small Business

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- The attached Wal-Mart press release is being distributed around the nation right now about the discount chain's arrival in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, and apparently is part of the giant retailer's charm offensive to convince Americans its not a corporate predator but a good neighbor. There are eight other job and opportunity zone communities. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is quoted below calling this a good thing for the city. Read on:

"Wal-Mart Announces Jobs and Opportunity Zone in Cleveland
Initiative Aims to Bolster Economic Opportunities on Near West Side
Surrounding the Upcoming Supercenter

CLEVELAND, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With the impending opening
of a Supercenter in the Tremont neighborhood, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:
WMT) Regional General Manager Jerry Spencer today announced the selection
of Cleveland as a "Wal-Mart Jobs and Opportunity Zone." The program will
provide support to local businesses by offering advertising inside
Wal-Mart's store and in local newspapers, as well as presenting additional
funding for local chambers of commerce.

The company also announced eight other Jobs and Opportunity Zones:
- Landover Hills, Maryland - Portsmouth, Virginia
- Richmond, California - El Mirage, Arizona
- East Hills, Pennsylvania - Sanger, California
- Indianapolis, Indiana - Decatur, Georgia

"It's about creating opportunity beyond the four walls of our stores,"
said Spencer. "And it's about making unique contributions to the
communities we serve, the millions of customers who rely on us and the
thousands of associates we employ in communities just like this one."

The Jobs and Opportunities Zone initiative was launched by Wal-Mart CEO
Lee Scott last year at the first store within the Chicago city limits. In
addition to creating hundreds of jobs and generating substantial tax
revenue, the company worked with local businesses and organizations to spur
job creation and economic development around the store.

"The Wal-Mart Jobs and Opportunity Zone project is another important
factor in the ongoing revitalization of the Steelyard Commons neighborhood.
We look forward to working with Wal-Mart to continue to spur economic
development in our great city of Cleveland," said Mayor Frank G. Jackson.
The Wal-Mart Supercenter at Steelyard Commons is part of a $120 million
commercial redevelopment project that is transforming 125 acres of
abandoned industrial land into the largest open-air retail center ever to
be built in Cuyahoga County.

The Zone will be anchored by the Wal-Mart Supercenter and engage local
businesses and organizations to increase economic opportunities in
surrounding neighborhoods. This initiative will create more opportunities
for small businesses to capitalize on the benefits of having a Wal-Mart in
their community.

Wal-Mart will partner with local chambers of commerce, business groups,
minority chambers of commerce and minority and women-owned businesses
within these zones to direct hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to
these communities.

"The Greater Cleveland Partnership, which seeks to create jobs and
wealth in the region, sees the investment by Wal-Mart in a Cleveland
neighborhood as an opportunity for small and large businesses to work
together to succeed," said Joe Roman, president of the Greater Cleveland
Partnership. "At the same time, Wal-Mart's commitment to assisting minority
and women-owned businesses will help ensure that all Clevelanders take part
in the region's economic recovery."

Other aspects of the program include Wal-Mart choosing five small
businesses in each zone for "Small Business Spotlights" and funding local
newspaper advertising and offering free advertising on our in-store radio
network. The company will also produce an annual "Wal-Mart Trends Report"
that it will share exclusively with the small business community."

Ohio Lotto Outlets Dwindle: Wal-Mart Blamed

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- A new state audit of the Ohio Lottery reveals the gambling monopoly paid schools just 29 cents of every dollar it took in, the lowest percentage of ticket sales used to subsidize education in recent history. The audit also reports the lottery's retail base fell to 8,400 outlets ''down from a peak of 9,800" and blamed Wal-Mart.

But it didn't mention the discount retailer by name. It used a euphemism -- ''national big box retailers" -- to describe the disappearance of Ohio's mom and pop shops.

''Many factors in the national and state economy have a direct impact on revenue generation at the Lottery. As smaller retail outlets close, national big box retailers and bulk consumer product warehouse clubs open in their place. Lottery revenues are negatively impacted by this national and statewide trend because these retailers do not consider lottery products as part of their business model. From 2005 through 2006, the Lottery's retail base hit a low point of 8,400 retailers, down from a peak of 9,800 due in part to this trend," the lottery reports.

Another disturbing number shows up in the lengthy document. Operating expenses were $109.8 million, the highest in the past decade. Payments to education were $646.3 million, up slightly from the previous year. But they were way down from 1997, when $748.5 million was turned over to Ohio's schools.

But the worst trend to show up in the audit is that the percentage of total ticket sales going to education -- the pot of money left after expenses -- has started to erode steadily during this decade. In 1997, 32.5% of the total lottery take went to schools; 33% in 1998; 32.5% in 1999; 31.9% in 2000; 33.2% in 2001; 32% in 2002; 30.9% in 2003; 30.4% in 2004; 29.9% in 2005 and 29.1% last year.

As for the outlets selling tickets, the Lottery said it plans to wage a continuing "struggle to maintain its retailer base. As urban sprawl continues and consumer shopping and spending patterns shift, the Lottery is challenged by how to capitalize in a shifting market environment."

Ohio Town Plans Wal-Mart Vote; Chain Vows Fight

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A citizens' group in a small SW Ohio city near the Indiana border has won permission to hold a referendum about Wal-Mart's efforts to build a huge new store. Wal-Mart is planning a court fight challenging the decision by the Hamilton County Board of Elections, which voted 3-0 Friday to allow the vote in Harrison. Information about the city is HERE.

Barring an unfavorable legal ruling, the vote is expected to take place in May, but could be set back to November. Wal-Mart's lawyers could be in court next week. The dispute over the supercenter has been percolating for months.

Harrison has agreed to allow a 185,000 square foot store. Wal-Mart orginally wanted a 205,000 square foot site, but settled a zoning dispute that included an agreement it would donate 20 acres for a park and help fund a bridge over Interstate 74 to ease expected traffic congestion. A citizens' group challenged the deal and collected 311 names for a referendum. If the courts stay out of the flap, this could turn into a showdown between those who see Wal-Mart as a positive force in the economy, and those who view the nation's largest company as a discount retailer who presence snuffs out competitors and kills local mom and pop enterprises.