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There's solid evidence the coal companies wanted Elmaraghy gone:George Elmaraghy, a top watchdog at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, says he was forced to leave his job for running afoul of the coal industry and Gov. John Kasich.Elmaraghy explained the chain of events in an extensive phone interview with TPM. His story -- which the Ohio EPA and Kasich's office declined to comment on -- suggests an administration beholden to the coal industry and willing to push out employees who weren't going to capitulate to its demands.
It started about nine months ago when coal companies came to the state EPA with plans for mining permits that Elmaraghy said would have violated rules set by the U.S. EPA. Elmaraghy reviewed those permits, one of his duties as the head of the surface water division.
In conversations with the companies, he explained that the federal agency would likely reject the proposals because they violated federal law and encouraged the companies to alter their permit applications so they would be approved.
The coal companies didn't like Elmaraghy's response and went straight to the governor's office roughly three months ago, he said. The governor's staff worked alongside the coal companies to craft a permit application that was more to their liking.
Then on Aug. 9, Ohio EPA Director Scott Nally told Elmaraghy that the governor's office wanted Elmaraghy, a 39-year veteran of the agency, gone. He would either resign by Sept. 13 or be fired. - TPM, 9/18/13
This past week hasn't been good for Kasich. Not only did this story break, the latest jobs numbers came out as well. And they're not good:Documents obtained by The Dispatch highlight an ongoing dispute between coal companies and the Ohio EPA over stricter limits in pending water-pollution permits.“The Ohio EPA has completely sabotaged our permit,” wrote Robert Moore, Murray Energy’s chief operating officer, in a July 4 email to Craig Butler, Kasich’s assistant policy director for environment, energy and agriculture.
“This is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate the continued interference by the OEPA staff and director,” he wrote. “We intend to move forward with litigation.”
The email was one of many sent between coal companies, the Ohio EPA and the governor’s office dating back to 2012.
Records show that Butler and other Kasich officials routinely demanded answers from the Ohio EPA about permit problems and that they set up meetings with coal officials to solve them.
The complaints appear to fit with comments the Ohio EPA’s top water-quality official, George Elmaraghy, made in an Aug. 19 email to his staff in which he said Kasich and Ohio EPA Director Scott Nally had asked him to resign over conflicts with coal companies.
The emails between the Kasich staff, Ohio EPA and coal industry don’t include specific complaints about Elmaraghy or demands that he step down.
Elmaraghy wrote about “considerable pressure” from coal companies for permits “that may have a negative impact on Ohio streams and wetlands and violate state and federal laws.” - The Columbus Dispatch, 9/13/13
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Kasich's likely opponent, Ed FitzGerald (D.OH) had this to say about the latest jobs report:Ohio’s unemployment rate inched up to 7.3 percent in August and was higher than a year ago, says data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.The July rate was 7.2 percent, and it also stood at 7.2 percent in August 2012. Ohio’s unemployment rate was at a post-recession low of 6.7 percent in December but has hovered around 7 percent since January.
The stalled unemployment numbers have inspired critics of Republican Gov. John Kasich to question whether his economic development policies, driven by JobsOhio, are working. It’s a topic that will be front and center when Kasich seeks re-election in 2014. - Columbus Business First, 9/20/13
FitzGerald also asked Kasich if he stands with his party when it comes to shutting down the Government:Month by month, the signs are clear that Governor Kasich has squandered the economic recovery he inherited more than two years ago. The Governor's so-called "Ohio Miracle" has morphed into a nightmare, with Ohio shedding 8,200 jobs as our unemployment ticked up to match the national rate for the first time in nearly three years. This report is disturbing, and as a greater percentage of Ohioans give up looking for work than at any point in the past 30 years, it's apparent to everyone but John Kasich that we're headed in the wrong direction.But instead of fighting to put the middle class back to work, Governor Kasich's doubled down on his same policies of handouts favoring the wealthy and well connected. We can do better. - Northeast Ohio Media Group, 9/20/13
FitzGerald's call for changes to the Jobs Ohio program is gaining momentum:FitzGerald called on Kasich to speak out against a shutdown and to urge his friend and Buckeye State ally, House Speaker John Boehner, to work toward averting one."Such a move is likely to have devastating consequences on the economy, and that's the last thing Ohio's middle-class and working families – many of whom are still digging out from the Great Recession – need," said FitzGerald, a Democrat who is angling to unseat Kasich next year. "The fact that we're in this shameful situation in the first place traces back to John Kasich's time in Congress, when he helped to engineer the 1995 federal government shutdown, which he called one of the greatest moments of his career."
FitzGerald's emailed remarks allude to Kasich's 2006 book "Stand for Something." Kasich indeed wrote that the shutdown was "one of the greatest moments of my career." The former chairman of the House Budget Committee said the hard line helped pave the way for a balanced budget deal, which Kasich also cites as a crowning achievement.
Today's shutdown talks have an added layer of nuance for Kasich. Congress must by Sept. 30 pass a bill to keep funding the government. But House Republicans want to strip funding for President Barack Obama's health care program – known widely as Obamacare – from the measure. Such a bill seems likely to pass the GOP-controlled House, but not the Democratic-led Senate. And if the Senate sends back a bill that maintains funding for Obamacare, Boehner and his caucus will face a crossroads.
Obamacare makes possible Medicaid expansion, an initiative Kasich has embraced in Ohio – much to the chagrin of many conservatives and Tea Party activists.
FitzGerald wants Kasich on the record for a reason.
No matter where Kasich comes down, someone is bound to label him a flip-flopper. If the governor publicly opposes a shutdown, he would be deviating from his earlier stance while once again embracing Obamacare. And because of Medicaid expansion, conservatives already are thinking about backing a third-party candidate next year – a dynamic that could harm Kasich and help FitzGerald. If Kasich publicly supports conservatives in their effort to defund the program, it would seemingly contradict his support for Medicaid expansion. And that would give FitzGerald a useful campaign issue. - Northeast Ohio Media Group, 9/19/13
If you would like to donate or get involved with FitzGerald's campaign, you can do so here:The group, including Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio Righetti and State Rep. Ron Gerberry, D-Austintown, are supporting Ed Fitzgerald’s Jobs Ohio Reform Agenda.Fitzgerald is running against Republican Gov. John Kasich in 2014. The democratic candidate is calling for more transparency and oversight to Jobs Ohio, which is a private, non-profit jobs creation group put in place by Kasich.
Fitzgerald’s reform plan also calls for high performance criteria and reports, anti-poaching requirements and strict ethical guidelines. - WKBN, 9/19/13
