First, an update to last week’s show about voting laws - Democratic state lawmakers say the Republicans who control the Ohio House and Senate are passing bills that make it harder for voters who tend to favor Democrats to cast ballots, but Republicans disagree. Secretary of State Jon Husted has released his survey of voter fraud in Ohio in the 2012 election, which shows it happened, but it’s not rampant. It appears the Senate will vote on its version of the budget in the first week of June, and Democratic Senators say they’ll propose amendments on Medicaid expansion and raising the state severance tax – both proposals that were in Gov. Kasich’s initial budget. State lawmakers passed a proposal to extend Ohio's moratorium on new storefront sweepstakes parlors. As they prepare for next year’s statewide campaigns for governor and other offices, Democrats continue to hammer away at Gov. Kasich’s key accomplishment in office so far, this week proposing a four-point plan they call the JobsOhio Accountability Act.
The scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it targeted conservative groups which applied for tax-exempt status shows no sign of slacking off. Several conservatives in Ohio say they were targeted by the IRS. Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, says he waited for 13 months to get his 501(c)3 certification. Tom Zawistowski is the head of the Portage County Tea Party and is also with the Ohio Liberty Coalition, and has been working with many Tea Party groups affected by the controversy. And Maurice Thompson leads the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, an offshoot of the conservative Buckeye Institute, and is preparing a lawsuit on behalf of the Ohio Liberty Coalition against the IRS.