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Strickland vague on some key issues(Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 27--Democrat Ted Strickland has bent over backward to make himself accessible during the campaign for governor. He takes time at public events to answer questions. Last weekend he was available to journalists for hours on his campaign bus. Even when a reporter has a routine inquiry, Strickland often gets on the phone himself to provide the answer. But critics say that on some of the most important issues facing Ohio, including education and taxes, Strickland, enjoying a lead in the polls, has so far avoided providing many specifics. On taxes, for example, Strickland usually talks more about taking enough time to assess the impact of the sweeping tax changes the Republican legislature made last year than what he thinks about those changes. "I think we need to let this reform play out for a period that will provide us with sufficient data to understand its effect on the various sectors of our economy," Strickland said after an Ohio Farm Bureau event last week. And although Strickland singled out public-school funding as the biggest issue facing the state and Ohio's next governor, and he says unequivocally that he thinks the current system is unconstitutional, Strickland often tells voters when asked about the issue that when he takes the oath of office to uphold the state constitution if elected governor, he won't have his fingers crossed. Pressed for details about how the state could move away from its current reliance on local property taxes to fund schools, Strickland talks instead about providing the leadership to bring stakeholders together to find a bipartisan solution. "People may want the i dotted and t crossed, but I don't think that's a way to approach this problem," Strickland said in an interview Friday, arguing that endorsing or opposing certain ideas now could cause the parties involved to harden their positions. "I don't think that's a way to really solve it." John Green, director of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss School of Applied Politics, said it appears that Strickland has been vague on some controversial issues. But Green said it's very common for candidates with leads to avoid being too specific about their proposals because it can be used against them. "In a perfect world, both candidates have thick briefing books," he said. "But there are political costs to having details of plans taken out of context and irritating people you don't want to irritate." Even so, Green said candidates often are forced to flesh out proposals before an election, under pressure from their opponents or the news media. Strickland insists he's not sitting on a lead but rather trying to take a responsible approach to complicated issues. He argues that he has laid out a detailed agenda in his Turnaround Ohio plan, complete with how he would pay for each initiative. But on education funding, an issue Strickland often says he must address or be regarded as a failure as governor, his answer to critics who say bipartisan panels have failed in the past is simply to say he would provide more leadership and not let the issue "drift." He also says there may be more than one path to a solution and that he has been clear about what principles would be used to address the problem: follow the Ohio Supreme Court rulings, reduce the state's reliance on local property taxes and "work to find resources that are more appropriately collected and more equitably distributed to our schools." Still, when asked by a reporter after an Aug. 17 event when he would provide more details, Strickland said, "I will do that if I win this election." That kind of talk prompts J. Kenneth Blackwell, Strickland's Republican opponent in the Nov. 7 race, to say that Strickland isn't being specific because he either doesn't have an answer or plans to raise taxes. "He owes it to the voters to be honest about the fact he won't shrink government and won't cut taxes," Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said. Strickland counters that he has no plans to raise taxes and that he has provided more specifics than Blackwell has on some of his key proposals, including a plan to lease the Ohio Turnpike. Although Blackwell generally is less accessible to reporters than Strickland, there typically isn't much doubt about where he stands, whether it's supporting a flat tax or requiring that all Ohioans carry some kind of health insurance. On education funding, Blackwell agrees with Strickland that the current system is unconstitutional and relies too heavily on property taxes. He proposes taking savings from revamping the state's Medicaid program to increase the amount of state general revenue funding for K-12 education from the current 47 percent annually to about 57 percent. Blackwell also proposes requiring that at least 65 percent of all funding be spent on classroom instruction. Strickland calls that a gimmick and says he is becoming increasingly convinced the problem of school funding can be solved only with a bipartisan, cooperative approach, and not by an ideologically driven governor who has no power to impose a solution. Strickland said that if a bipartisan approach fails, he would bring a school-funding plan to the ballot for the voters to decide. But when asked about such a ballot issue last week, Strickland said he's not going to assume there would be "a dogfight" with the legislature on school funding if he's elected. Dispatch reporter Jim Siegel contributed to this story. [email protected] Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |