Republican lawmakers are rushing to pass a series of major, novel policy items before their summer break next week.
That includes a $3.7 billion capital budget, a package that was privately negotiated by Statehouse Republicans, publicly introduced on Monday, and passed by the Senate Wednesday.
Party leaders are also pushing to enshrine a new constitutional amendment requiring voters to present photo identification in order to vote. The Senate passed its 16-day-old resolution on Wednesday. It would still require approval in the House and from statewide voters in November, which could help shape the turnout of Ohio’s midterm election. Read more here.
On the executive side, state officials appointed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine awarded a $42 million sales tax exemption on Monday to Cologix as it builds two data centers in Central Ohio. DeWine’s temporary ban on future sales tax exemptions for data centers began after the Cologix tax break was awarded.
And running parallel with all the official business, a self-described communist blogger and political critic was arrested and charged with telecommunications harassment and spent a night in jail. It’s a long story, but it all has something to do with gonzo Substacker D.J. Byrnes, GOP state Sen. Jerry Cirino, and a digitally altered, “pornographic” image of Shrek. Read more here.
Money for schools, the Rock Hall and East Cleveland
The capital budget, passed in even-numbered years, finances most of the capital projects in lawmakers’ home districts. The Senate passed its version Wednesday. House lawmakers have introduced their own version.
The Senate’s bill totals $3.7 billion, down from past years, when federal pandemic-era money sloshed around.
The capital budget includes:
- $600 million for building new schools
- $510 million for the Public Works Commission, which handles infrastructure
- $345 million for the Department for Behavioral Health
- $236 million for prison renovation
- $208 million for Department of Developmental Disabilities facilities
Then there’s the splashy stuff (figuratively, although several pools do get some money in the bill). In Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gets $2 million and Playhouse Square gets $1 million. Ohio’s Supercomputer Center in Columbus gets $10 million to “upgrade/replace an aging supercomputer and modernize data storage and protection systems,” per a state budget office spokesman. East Cleveland gets $10 million as well.
Then there’s $200 million for pickleball courts, pools, bike paths and state parks.
There’s more to the budget than can fit here. If you want to know what your county gets, the Legislative Service Commission made a nice list of it all here.
A ‘well funded misinformation campaign’ from the coast against data centers?
Ohio Senate Republicans foreshadowed the energy of the looming public hearing on data centers with a blog post.
It said data centers are being “politically targeted with a well funded misinformation campaign from coastal special interests that want to make sure your data is stored in communist China.”
Ohioans spent four hours on Monday trashing the facilities and tussling with defensive Republican lawmakers, as the Select Committee on Data Centers invited members of the public to testify. The hearing was combative, most notably from Sen. Brian Chavez, a Republican co-chair from Washington County.
“Are you being paid for this in any way?” Chavez asked Stephen Petty, an engineer and the first witness who testified on Monday and characterized the facilities as an environmental nuisance. (He said he was not.)
But the real action was taking place outside across the street from the Statehouse. There, the Tax Credit Authority was voting to approve a $42 million sales tax exemption for Cologix, a major data center developer.
DeWine last week announced he’d pause new issuances of sales tax exemptions to data centers, in light of new data showing the ballooning cost to the state. But that pause lasts only as long as the Select Committee on Data Centers convenes. And, as DeWine noted, it only begins after the Joint Committee on Taxation’s meeting on Monday.
And since we’re on the subject, you should read Jake’s story about the Ohio data center industry’s $10,000 in new PR spending and accumulated fleet of more than 50 Statehouse lobbyists in Columbus.
Rooster caged
D.J. Byrnes, the author behind The Rooster political newsletter, was charged with telecommunications harassment.
Byrnes was arrested outside the legislature’s data center committee meeting Monday and held overnight in Franklin County on behalf of Kirtland police in Lake County. He was released Tuesday after nearly 24 hours. Public records we obtained Wednesday night from Kirtland show Byrnes’ and his associates’ suspicions about what led to his arrest were correct.
Byrnes was charged for sending Lake County GOP Senator Jerry Cirino in a May 6 text message an image of Shrek, the 2001 children’s movie character, holding his erect penis. In accompanying messages — which Byrnes shared at the time on social media — Byrnes references his newsletter and Cirino’s failed inside campaign to serve as Senate president. He called Cirino “young Mussolini.”
“I don’t know who this is but I am certain you are a moron,” Cirino responded, according to the image Byrnes posted.
Cirino, in an interview with Signal Statewide, declined to comment but said he didn’t ask that Byrnes be arrested.
Records show Cirino reported the messages to Kirtland Police Chief Jamey Fisher two days later. “I would like this harassment to stop immediately and I would like charges against the individual,” Cirino wrote, calling the image of Shrek “disgusting” and “pornographic.”
While often tasteless, Byrnes commands a dedicated Substack following and acts as a prominent critic of Republican political power. The underlying facts of the alleged harassment are humorous, but the maximum sentence it carries of six months in prison is no joke for a crime related to, arguably, political speech.
2006 campaign vibes
Sherrod Brown got elected to the U.S. Senate 20 years ago while campaigning against an unpopular war in the Middle East.
He’s running that same playbook back in his attempt to return to the Senate after getting voted out of office two years ago.
Andrew highlighted the historical parallel in this article about Brown’s race against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in the November election. He also interviewed Husted, who’s repeatedly shared his hope that President Donald Trump’s war in Iran is “brief and successful.”
Husted speaks on anti-weaponization fund
In his interview with Andrew, Husted also briefly weighed in on Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund,” saying he had “strong concerns” about the idea.
The president had hoped to use the $1.776 billion he extracted from the IRS in a legal settlement to pay people he deems to have been the subject of political persecution. But Trump’s Justice Department reportedly dropped the idea on Tuesday in the face of bipartisan opposition, including from the Republican-controlled Senate.
On Monday, Husted said he had “strong concerns” about the fund. He wouldn’t elaborate, although some have speculated the fund could make payouts to people who assaulted Capitol Hill police on Jan. 6, 2021. They later received presidential pardons from Trump.
“I just have strong concerns about it. I’m going to be asking more questions about it this week, trying to get answers so they can understand it better, but I’ll just leave it at that,” Husted said.
In the news
Will adding women’s flag football help save Wittenberg University? Small, tuition-dependent private colleges like the Southwestern Ohio campus are increasingly turning to athletics to help bolster their bottom lines. Read more from Amy Morona.
From Laura Bischoff/USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau: In a case closely watched by domestic violence groups, the Ohio Supreme Court on June 2 said a man with a criminal history of domestic violence can petition a state court to get his gun rights restored. Read more.
Privatizing public schools: Ohio federal waiver could close or privatize low-performing public schools by Laura Hancock/Cleveland.com
