The Inspired Leadership of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D): Federal Stimulus Dollars Went Overseas to Outsourced Call Centers

If you want another delightful example of Democrat leadership in action, please consider Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's masterful performance spending your great-grandchildrens' money.

It turns out that hundreds of thousands in federal stimulus money that was originally sent to Ohio, ended up funding overseas call centers. Foreign customer service reps were handling thousands of requests for rebates related to that delightful "cash-for-coffee-makers" program. You know, the one meant to replicate the historic success of the "cash for clunkers" program that revived the auto industry.

A Texas company hired to administer Ohio's popular appliance rebate program used hundreds of workers in El Salvador to process applications and to answer customers' calls.

...Parago Inc., based in Lewisville, Texas, never told state officials that it would handle rebates from an offshore call center, she said. But state officials never asked, either.

...Strickland, a Democrat, said Thursday the state will do a better job of vetting companies that get stimulus contracts... President Barack Obama's stimulus package gave Ohio $11 million to provide rebates to consumers who buy energy-efficient appliances, including clothes washers, dishwashers and water heaters.

...Upon learning of the El Salvador call center, Ohio officials immediately contacted Parago and asked the company to process the Ohio calls within the United States, she said... But Parago, which has no domestic call centers, had already grabbed thousands of rebate applications, and disrupting the program would have jeopardized rebates to consumers, Patt-McDaniel said.

Isn't central planning wonderful?

As an aside, Strickland faces a formidable and accomplished fiscal conservative named John Kasich, a former Congressman, this November.

In 1995, when Republicans gained the majority in the United States Congress, Kasich was selected to become Chairman of the House Budget Committee. As Chairman, Kasich worked towards balancing the Federal Budget, and was the chief architect of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. As Chairman of the Budget Committee, Kasich presided over the only U.S. Budget Surplus since 1969.

In 1995, when Kasich assumed the position of Budget Chairman, the U.S. Federal Budget had a deficit of roughly -$163 billion, and upon the conclusion of his tenure as Budget Chairman, the U.S. Federal Budget had a surplus of roughly +$236 billion.

I know that liberals like to claim that Bill Clinton was responsible for the budget surplus -- he wasn't, of course, because who has ever heard of a Democrat trying to cut federal spending on anything besides defense? -- but the person responsible was Rep. John Kasich.

So if you've got five or ten bucks to spare, support Kasich's run against the leftist crank named Ted Strickland. Remember -- Strickland's the guy who used your family's money to staff up call centers in Latin America.

And now he claims he didn't know. Whether it was ignorance or incompetence, the end result was the same. Ted Strickland is a disaster of a governor.

Oh, and Mr. Strickland, if I may offer a word of advice: start researching outplacement services.