As previously mentioned here and elsewhere, Gov. Kasich's proposed budget not only halves the funding for the Ohio Consumers Council (who aren't funded by tax dollars anyway), it also contains a sentence prohibiting the OCC from making any derogatory comment about deregulation of the natural gas industry. To impose a gag order on a consumer advocacy group, telling them that essentially they cannot advocate for consumers, is pretty fuckin' outrageous by any measure. But outrageous is just the way our John-Boy rolls.
What's interesting is that nobody can say how that single sentence got into the budget proposal. Who wrote it? Who stuck it in there? It clearly benefits the state's gas retailers. Was it submitted by one of their lobbyists? All the Republicans in the House and Senate think it's a splendid sentence, but not one of them claims authorship. So whodunnit??
It's pretty mysterious. Seems like Ohio's budget can actually write itself. Wow! It's supernatural, or maybe an act of God. Call it the Immaculate Deception.
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