Space wants national referendum on trade deals

Sept. 30, 2010, Chillicothe Gazette

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

U.S. Rep. Zack Space, D-Dover, has waged a war against free-trade deals, blaming them for the mass exodus of Ohio jobs in recent years.

On Wednesday, Space took his campaign to the next level, submitting legislation that even he acknowledged as extreme. Before any new trade deal passes, Space said, there should be a national, up-or-down referendum.

Daniel Chow, a law professor at Ohio State University, laughed when he heard Space’s proposal.

Candidates discuss plans to boost state

Sept. 30, 2010, Lancaster Eagle Gazette

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — As a Democratic candidate for governor, Ted Strickland promised to fix Ohio’s unconstitutional school funding formula.

“If I do not solve this problem if I am elected governor, then I will be a failure, no matter what else I achieve,” he told editorial boards for Gannett’s Central Ohio properties in September 2006.

Fast forward four years. Embroiled in a tough re-election battle, Gov. Strickland appeared in front of CentralOhio.com editors and reporters Wednesday, defending his education reforms and other policies.

Later in the day, his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, appeared in the same setting, arguing Strickland’s policies had failed and his own ideas could breathe life into Ohio’s troubled economy.

Who pays for pickups?

Sept. 26, 2010, Mansfield News Journal

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND LINDA MARTZ

News Journal

MANSFIELD — Bucyrus taxpayers spent $412,214 last year to cover pension contributions that otherwise would have been paid by city employees.

Combined with the city’s mandatory employer contributions, 7.9 percent of all revenues go to the Public Employees Retirement System and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Bucyrus is far from the exception. Often the result of long-standing contracts, many local entities “pick up” — or pay all or some of — their employees’ contributions to the retirement funds.

The practice has continued to grow.

In the past three years, the cities of Coshocton, Lancaster, Chillicothe, Heath and others all agreed to new or increased pickup plans, according to an analysis of public records by CentralOhio.com and the News Journal.

A free retirement

Sept. 26, 2010, Mansfield News Journal

SPECIAL REPORT BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Some see it as a little known perk for public employees that's a growing burden for cash-strapped Ohio governments and schools.

Others, including public employee unions, say they're saving taxpayers money while shortchanging their own retirements.

The same can't be said for a select group of school officials – and a few school unions – that have negotiated deals that give them lucrative pensions without paying a penny for them.

Welcome to the world of Ohio's public pension plans, where confusing terms like “pick-ups” and “pickup-on-the-pickup” have nothing to do with trucks and more to do with decisions that can lead to free retirements.