A Conservative View

“OBAMATACTICS” – HOW TO BUY OHIO WITH TAXPAYER MONEY!

I just read an article from Townhall.com, written by Tad DeHaven yesterday that upset me deeply. Having spent twenty seven years working on white collar welfare (100% government funded projects), facts like those reported were obvious to me. What prompted me to write this article was wondering if other voters understand how crooked the system actually works.

To explain my concerns, I will use some of the facts reported by Townhall and give credit to the Washington Post and reporters Jerry Markon and Alice Crites. The writers, Tad and the Post deserve accolades for focusing the spotlight on the Obama administration’s use of taxpayer funds to buy votes in the critical battleground state of Ohio.

To be fair this practice is not new and all political parties and individual incumbent politicians screw the tax payer by force funding wasteful projects to buy votes. The difference now is that the Obama team has taken this practice to levels never before experienced to buy votes with your money to be re-elected. Term limits are the only solution to stop the waste.

Let me share these facts that used Ohio as an example. Ohio’s portion of the $2.3 billion in clean-energy manufacturing tax credits was tens of millions of dollars more than what went to other critical swing states.

High speed rail service was another Obama team project to buy votes in Ohio. The White House in 2010 awarded the state $400 million to resume passenger train service between Cincinnati, Cleveland and other Ohio cities. This service had been cancelled over 40 years ago as it was not economically feasible.

Obama personally visited Mansfield, Ohio in August. Local media outlets and Republicans in the state pointed out that he would be flying into an Air National Guard base where Obama’s latest budget would cut a fleet of aircraft and about 800 positions. Local base officials vowed to position the threatened planes so Obama could see them from Air Force One. In less than 24 hours, the White House promised local news outlets that it would “find a mission” for the guard unit. A White House spokesman said yesterday that Obama remains “absolutely” committed to finding that mission.

When Obama made his first visit to Ohio as president in March 2009, Obama came with more than $1 billion in stimulus money. Later with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., he showed up for the Columbus, Ohio police graduation ceremonies and highlighted funding for everything from law enforcement to roads.

Another Obama’s proposal to invest $1 billion to create a network of ‘manufacturing ­innovation institutes,’ Congress declined to approve the funding. Without approval the Obama team provided funding from some slush fund for a pilot program that will focus on digital-based manufacturing. Guess what, the winner of the $30 million pilot grant was a consortium that will base the operation in, guess where, Youngstown, Ohio

The state of Ohio has also been a huge winner in Race to the Top, the Obama administration’s signature education reform initiative. Ohio has received the fourth-highest total in federal grants of any other state.

There are more government agencies that use your tax money to buy votes. The Small Business Administration (SBA) also has been very liberal with subsidies to Ohio businesses:

One example is Mr. Brian Reis, who runs a company making potato chips and other snack food about 100 miles from Cleveland Ohio. Obviously he is grateful for the SBA loans. Reis, a Republican, has received three Small Business Administration loans totaling $3.9 million since Obama took office. He had previously received $2 million SBA loan during the Bush administration. In August 2012, the head of the SBA, Karen Mills, toured this facility for the launch of a kit that allows people to flavor their own gourmet potato chips. Last year, Joe Biden singled Reis out in a fund raising speech near Cleveland.

Next example of vote buying involved Mr. Joe Miceli, who is the head of Miceli Dairy Products in Cleveland. Miceli makes ricotta and other cheeses. Meceli was the first to benefit from a new law that raised the limit for SBA loans for manufacturing from $2.5 million to $5.5 million. Miceli was awarded with SBA loans totaling $5.49 million in December 2010. Two months later, Obama cited the loan at an event with small-business leaders in Cleveland. In 2012 alone the SBA has approved 2,726 loans for Ohio businesses. As an example this is nearly 500 more SBA loans than Florida, a state with 7.3 million more people.

It awes me to believe that Mrs. Obama is totally unaware or would accept the fact that the federal government (SBA) is subsidizing companies that produce potato chips and fatty cheeses? Apparently the SBA did not read the message from the First Lady’s office that we should not eat fatty foods. Where are the loans to produce more green vegetables? Entrepreneurship in this country must be so hard up that Uncle Sam needs to backstop loans to potato chip and cheese manufacturers. One fact is clear; no one can eat the government funded green energy products that friends of Obama have gone belly up trying to manufacture.

Obviously Obama’s salespeople all swear that the flow of federal funds into Ohio had nothing to do with politics. If you believe this and vote for Obama’s re-election you belong in a mental institution. If you are sucking a living off the government teat you will always vote for any democrat. Romney made a similar statement last week and was admonished by the lefties for being honest. Our current national media has no conception of what honesty even means and really don’t care.

Anyone who has ever spent more than a month working for the US government is fully aware that the Obama’s servants earn their keep by making sure they maximize the political benefits of taxpayer handouts.

We are all paying to get Obama re-elected and sadly even most Republican voters do not care. They get bogged down with abortion and religion and fight each other.

C Brewer