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Spisak quits 60th District Race, will run for Congress instead!
Mahoning Valley Green Dennis Spisak, one of the first elected Greens in Ohio has filed papers to run as a write-in
for Ohio’s 6th District Congressional seat. Dennis previously submitted sufficient petition signatures to qualify as
a candidate for the 60th District Ohio House seat but was disqualified on a petition form technicality and thusly barred from
running for any other Ohio office as a write-in in the upcoming November election. More details on Dennis’ campaign
will be forthcoming. New Campaign Website: http://www.votespisak.org/electspisak.tripod.com/
I want to thank the 323 voters who signed our peititions to tun against Bob Hagan this November.
We will now begin working hard on our run for Congress. I hope you can join us in this campaign!!!!
Dyes Could Turn Windows Into Powerful Solar Panels. By Alok Jha, Guardian (UK), July 10, 2008. "Windows could be used as powerful solar panels thanks to a clever new technology that concentrates the sun's rays. The
technique uses transparent dyes to capture, concentrate and redirect light along the surface of the glass to photovoltaic
(PV) cells in the frame, which convert the light into electricity. The breakthrough means that there is a tenfold increase
in power output compared to use of the PV cell alone. The team, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), claims
the technology could slash the cost of generating electricity from sunlight, making it more competitive with standard grid
power. This is because the expensive PV cells only need to be installed at the sides of the panels, rather than across the
whole surface... Marc Baldo, an electrical engineer at MIT [said,] 'The concentrator collects light over its whole front surface,
but the solar cells need only cover the area of the edges.' As the edges of a glass panel can often be 100 times smaller in
area than the surface itself, he added, solar panels would need 100 times fewer PV cells to collect the same energy. 'So we
can save money. Since industry can't produce enough solar cells to satisfy demand, this might also be a good way to stretch
production.'"
Dennis Spisak-Green Party Candidate
Why Not A National Single-Payer Health Plan?
July 13, 2008
Why Not Single Payer? Part 6: New "Health Care For America Now" Coalition May Reflect Divisions in the
Movement for Universal Healthcare By Miles Mogulescu Huffington Post July 10, 2008 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/why-not-single-payer- part_b_111718.html In the past two days, Huffington Post blogs by Roger Hickey of the Campaign For America's
Future and Gerald McEntee of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union have proclaimed
the creation of "Health Care for America Now!", a new coalition to fight for universal healthcare. On the face,
this seems like an exciting new development. It is certainly a good thing, to the extent that it places universal healthcare
at the top of the agenda for the next president and Congress. Its first proposed TV ad is a powerful critique of the private
insurance industry. (See http://youtube.com/watch?v=tirU5qpmFK4) However, if you scratch beneath the surface, the new coalition reflects significant divisions among progressives
about how best to achieve universal healthcare. Many progressives support HR 676, the legislation sponsored by
Rep. John Conyers and co-sponsored by 90 House members to create a universal single payer healthcare system in America
similar to that in most other advanced capitalist countries. That's not what the "Health Care For America Now!" coalition
supports. According to its Statement of Common Purpose, its plan will provide "a choice of a private insurance plan, including
keeping the insurance you have" along with "a public insurance plan without a private insurer middleman." HCAN's plan
would also give government a "watchdog role." Supporters of HR 676 want to abolish the wasteful private insurance system
under which approximately 30% of every insurance dollar goes not to providing health care, but to administrative costs, executive
salaries and shareholder profits; and replace it with a single national system, similar to Medicare, in which every
American is covered from cradle to grave, every patient can choose his or her own Doctor, and treatment is determined
between patient and doctor. HCAN wants to reform the present private insurance system, albeit with a strong commitment
to providing a public alternative that consumers and businesses can buy into and which it hopes will compete in the marketplace
with private insurance. Even the name of the new coalition, "Health Care For America Now," is confusingly similar
to an existing coalition called "Healthcare-Now" which has been working for several years to unite community organizations,
labor unions, churches and business groups in support of HR 676. The single payer bill has been endorsed by 394 Local
Unions, 99 Central Labor Councils, 33 state AFL-CIO's and 14 national and international labor organizations including
the United Auto Workers, the National Education Association, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. HR 676 has
also been endorsed by hundreds of community organizations and such national organizations as the NAACP, League of Independent Voters,
Physicians for National Health Care Program, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society, and 32 City Councils including Baltimore, Louisville, Indianapolis, Detroit and Boston. (For more information
on HR 676 and Healthcare-Now see: http://www.healthcare-now.org and http://www.pnhp.org) So the new HCAN coalition in many ways represents the division of the progressive movement for universal healthcare
into competing coalitions with competing plans for healthcare reform, one supporting the reform of the current private
insurance system and the other supporting the creation of a single universal public system. Leaders of both coalitions
are dedicated progressives who truly believe their approach is best -- indeed, although I'm an active supporter of single payer,
some of the founders of HCAN are close friends. One wonders, however, if many of the organizational sponsors of the
new HCAN coalition, which includes such prominent groups as MoveOn, AFSCME, NEA, Planned Parenthood and the AFL-CIO,
clearly understand the differences. For example, the NEA is a sponsor of both coalitions. The AFL-CIO is a sponsor of
HCAN, but 33 State AFL-CIO's have endorsed HR 676. I'm a member of Move On, but as far as I know, MoveOn has never polled its
members to determine whether they support universal single payer health care or a reformed hybrid private insurance/public
system. If Mov On is going to throw its support to one side or the other of this key debate, it should ask its members'
opinions, just as it did in deciding which Democratic candidate to support in the primaries. This division in
the progressive healthcare movement into competing coalitions could endanger healthcare reform, as was the case recently
in California. Last year the California Legislature, under pressure from a progressive coalition of community organizations
and labor unions, passed a bill which would have created a state single payer system, had it not been vetoed by Gov.
Schwarzenegger. This year some liberal Democratic legislators, with support from the SEIU, tried to forge a compromise
with Schwarzenegger for a private health insurance mandate. It was defeated in the State Senate after being opposed
by a majority of the progressive health care movement in California who support a single payer system. Why is
a single payer system more likely to bring affordable universal healthcare than reforming the current private insurance
system? I've written about this in great detail in this "Why Not Single Payer" series on the Huffington Post and the
links to the other articles in this series are given at the bottom of this post. To quote from Part 5, "Any healthcare reform
plan that's based on private insurance is fatally flawed. The incentive of private insurance is upside down. The less
care a private insurance company provides for the same premiums, the higher their profits. Most of us saw the cases
in Sicko of insurance companies paying bonuses to employees who rejected healthcare claims from the sick. With hundreds
or thousands of different private health insurance plans, it's impossible to negotiate consistently lower costs with
health care providers and drug companies. A single payer system has the market clout to reign in costs. Most important,
private insurance is a colossal waste of money. Administrative costs for Medicare are 2-3%. Approximately 30% of private
insurance premiums go to overhead, profits, and executive salaries...Overall the administrative costs of private insurance
exceed $400 billion a year. That's enough to cover all of the uninsured without raising taxes." (For a more detailed critique
of HCAN's plan see: http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2008/07/09/a-policy-response-to-health-care- for-america-now/) Most progressive supporters of incremental reform based on a private/public hybrid will admit
that in an ideal world, they would prefer a single payer system. They will argue, however, that the insurance and drug
lobby is so powerful that single payer would never pass -- a compromise which maintains the private insurance system but
regulates it and provides a competing public alternative is more "pragmatic." I think this argument is misplaced. The
private insurance industry will no sooner accept intrusive government regulation which limits its profits, and a public
alternative which is truly competitive, than it would a single payer system. Incrementalists will also argue that most
Americans won't accept single payer because they want to keep their present employer-based insurance, even though most
Americans are seeing their share of premiums rise, their deductibles increase, their choice of doctors reduced, and
their insurance claims often denied. But polls show that a majority of American voters will support a single payer system,
a majority that is only likely to increase with a mass citizens' movement for single payer and further public education
on the alternatives. A recent CBS News poll asked "Which do you think would be better for the country: having one health
insurance program covering all Americans that would be administered by the government and paid for by taxpayers, or
keeping the current system where many people get their insurance from private employers and some have no insurance?"
55% chose "One Program for All" and only 29% chose "The Current System." HCAN is right that the only thing that
can overcome the power of the insurance and drug lobby is a massive citizens' movement for universal healthcare. Where they're
mistaken, in my opinion, is in trying to divert that movement to a compromise that will never work, rather than focusing
that movement on forcing a Democratic Congress and a President Obama to pass and sign HR 676 and bring a truly universal
healthcare system to America.
Developing an US Energy Plan to Deliver 75% of US Electricity by 2050
July 12, 2008
In January, Scientific American writers unleashed an ambitious plan to halt global warming, eliminate our dependence
on petroleum and the substantial trade deficit, boost the economy and create 3 million jobs, and brighten the dismal forecasts
for the mid twenty-first century. The plan is conceptually simple but would be substantial to implement: Construct
a 30,000 square mile array of solar panels in the Southwest, along with concentrated solar power arrays and, a massive
direct-current power transmission backbone to distribute electricity throughout the country. Excess power produced
by the photovoltaic arrays would be distributed and stored as compressed air in below-ground caverns. Development
of such a system could provide almost three-quarters of the nation’s electricity by 2050.
If this sounds like
fantasy-land, it’s not. The technology is already here, and even if it wasn’t the need for renewable power is
very real. Some scientists are calling for an all-out Manhattan-Project-style focus on developing alternative energy sources.
One thing is almost certain: if we can’t move beyond coal as our (worldwide) primary energy source, we’re in for
a rocky future.
There have been Several posts lately about plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and their need
for renewable energy charging sources. PHEVs are a stepping stone as the future of transportation heads toward electric vehicles
powered either by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Solar power would be the ultimate source of clean energy for either type
of electric vehicle.
The authors of the Scientific American article think all of this energy can come from solar power.
Here are some excerpts:
Utilizing only 2.5% of the sun’s energy falling onto the 250,000 square miles in the
Southwest suitable for constructing solar power plants could match the total power used in the US in 2006.
With a
massive investment in solar power plants and infrastructure, solar could provide 69% of US electricity and 35% of total energy
(including transportation) by 2050.
If wind, biomass, and geothermal power sources were also developed, the US could
produce 100% of its electricity and 90% of its transportation energy (in the form of hydrogen) from renewable sources.
To
make this happen, the US would have to invest $10 billion per year for the next 40 years. For comparison, the US is now spending
$12 billion per month for military involvement Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
The entire solar array would cost approximately 15% of the total bill for both of these operations. $420 billion is also less
than the tax subsidies paid for the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure in the last 35 years.
A conversion
to renewable energy of this scale would displace 300 coal and 300 natural gas-fired power plants, and eliminate all imported
oil. Even better, greenhouse-gas emissions would be reduced to 62% below 2005 levels.
In sum, the potential is there,
but it’s going to take some work. As the authors conclude:
The greatest obstacle to implementing a renewable
U.S. energy system is not technology or money, however. It is the lack of public awareness that solar power is a practical
alternative—and one that can fuel transportation as well. Forward-looking thinkers should try to inspire U.S. citizens,
and their political and scientific leaders, about solar power’s incredible potential. Once Americans realize that potential,
we believe the desire for energy self-sufficiency and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will prompt them to adopt
a national solar plan.
As the Green Party Candidate for the 60th district, it's time we have lawmakers in
Columbus and Washington stand up and declare that we will be non-dependent on foreign fossil fuel by 2050. I am ready
to make that stand. Will Bob Hagan? Will Tim Gordon? Or will they still be making speeches about firecrackers and puppymills? Dennis
Spisak- Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Ohio and America’s problems in the 21st Century
July 7, 2008
* America is losing jobs.
The private sector has lost more than 400,000 jobs in the last six months. Over the past seven years, 3.4 million
manufacturing jobs—one out of every five—has been shipped overseas. Today, a smaller percentage of Americans have
jobs than at the beginning of the Bush administration.
* Basic costs are skyrocketing. The price of gasoline has increased
by more than $2.50 per gallon since George W. Bush took office and the average household will spend $2300 more on gas this
year than in 2001. The cost of health insurance has nearly doubled during the Bush Administration. Tuition and fees at public
four-year colleges are up 46 percent since 2001. And now food prices have begun to rise.
* American incomes are stagnant. Adjusting for inflation, American
workers haven’t made any salary gains since Bush took office. In fact, real median household income dropped nearly $1000
from 2000 to 2006. The number of Americans in poverty increased from 31.5 to 36.5 million from 2000 to 2006. Now, one out
of every eight Americans is considered poor.
* We’re mired in debt. Sixteen percent of mortgaged homes
are now “underwater”; that is, the mortgage owed equals or exceeds the value of the house. It is estimated that
by June 2009, nearly one in four homes will be underwater. At least two-thirds of college students graduate with some debt
and the average debt among graduates exceeds $19,000. More than 850,000 families filed for bankruptcy last year, a 38 percent
increase over 2006.
Progressive solutions:
For heaven’s sake, let’s stop squandering $340 million dollars per day
on the war in Iraq; let’s put that money to work here in the U.S. instead. For example, to soften the blow of the current
recession, state and local governments need federal aid so they can continue providing critical community services. To restore
America’s economy, we need to invest in ourselves. That means fixing our nation’s bridges and roads, expanding
mass transit and broadband access, becoming energy independent, developing new “green” technologies, and ensuring
that every child receives a high-quality education. To redirect spending to where it’s needed, we need to eliminate
tax breaks for wealthy corporations, especially those that reward companies for sending jobs overseas.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Visit our links
to Progressive Job Programs and Healthcare for All Ohioans Act
Ohio Needs A Green Communities Act
July 4, 2008 Beth Daily of the Boston Globe reported
yesterday that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the Green Communities Act that will do away with long-standing
obstacles to building renewable energy power projects in the state and to make homes and businesses more energy efficient. The
law will provide rebates to homeowners and businesses to install insulating windows and more efficient boilers. Homeowners
and businesses will also be able to rent solar panels from utilities to avoid expensive upfront costs as well as wind turbines.
They will also be allowed to sell surplus energy back to the utility companies. The new law could help save millions of dollars
through energy efficiency and hold down consumers’ electric bills. Governor Patrick also has set an aggressive goal
to increase solar power in the state by 600 percent in four years.
As the Green Party Candidate for State Representative
for the 60th district, I believe we need a state representative who is willing to work with other leaders in the house and
senate in Ohio to make the same kind of commitment here in the Buckeye state.
Dennis Spisak Campaign Site;
Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Renewable Energy Pioneers -- Right in Northwest Ohio-Why Not Youngstown?
July 3, 2008 According
to an article from James Canterbury from Toledo he reports this week that Ohio is becoming a leader in alternative energy
research and development. For example, the Sunlight Corporation in Toledo has been making flexible solar panels for years
and is now expanding to become one of the largest manufacturers in the country. But that's not unusual, according to Sunlight's
vice president. "Even though people might think there is not much sunshine in this area, actually there are quite a
lot of manufacturing and research efforts in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan," says Liwei Xu, Ph.D. Much of that
research, which is done at the University of Toledo, is resulting in some surprising uses for alternative, renewable energy.
The technology exists today that could help you recharge your dead cell phone with your own personal solar panel. While
Sunlight Corp. tries to harness the power of the sun, one local school district is roping the wind -- or hopes to in about
a year. Archbold Schools District is raising a wind study tower with help from Green Energy Ohio. "Basically,
what results we will get from that is what size wind turbine would benefit our school district the most and provide us with
the most energy to help offset our electric and utility bills," explains Laura Bickel, science teacher. These alternative
energy pioneers are doing what it takes to become future power players. Again, we see other areas of Ohio jumping
on the renewable energy bandwagon, while the Mahoning Valley political leaders stay mum on the subject and refuse to act. Even
the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the city of Houston, Texas is giving wind power a try. The heart of the U.S.
oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price
than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said. The move shows how renewable energy's
prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving
closer to the mainstream. As the Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I again point
out the high tech and blue-collar jobs that can be brought to the valley if we turn our attention to renewable energy manufacturing
jobs for this area. Why is incumbent Bob Hagan failed to speak up on this subject? Why has Republican candidate Tim Gordon
failed to speak up on this issue? Do they not want new jobs and neighborhoods for our poor, working, and middle class of the
60th district?
Dennis Spisak-Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our links to progressive job programs
Finally, US House Introduces Feed-In-Tariffs
July 2, 2008
U.S. Representatives Jay Inslee
(D-WA), Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced landmark legislation last Thursday that
will provide security for investments in the renewable-energy sector by guaranteeing rates for renewable-energy generation.
This policy mechanism, also known as a national feed-in tariff, may be the single most effective tool to expand renewable
energy development that we know of.
International Energy Agency,
the European Commission and the United Kingdom’s Stern Review have determined that feed-in tariff policies in Germany,
Spain, France and other European Union countries have achieved larger renewable energy deployment at lower costs, compared
with policies in other European Union countries.
The legislation has two principle
titles. The first would streamline interconnection standards and the patchwork of policies currently governing interconnection.
The second title addresses the actual process of setting of renewable energy tariffs, and what would qualify. This bill would
not only apply to the mom and pop backyard wind turbines, and rooftop solar - the tariff extends to projects as large as 20
megawatts!
As it is currently written,
the tariff would be revisited no later than one year after it is enacted and every two years thereafter, thus incorporating
a ratcheting mechanism that allows the rate-setters to adjust for technological advances, bottlenecks in supply chains, changes
in demand, and other unforeseen stimuli that might necessitate a rate revision.
According to a statement released
by the bill’s co-sponsors:
“Enacting a federal renewable-energy payments policy would streamline what could become a patchwork regulatory
structure and an unstable investment climate for the U.S. domestic renewable energy market. It also would complement incentives
for renewable-energy deployment, such as existing federal-tax credits as well as proposed plans to cap carbon emissions and
set federal renewable-electricity requirements, among others.”
Rep. Inslee added:
“With hundreds of billions of dollars in capital slated for investment in the clean-energy sector in coming
decades, we’d be fools if we didn’t ensure American manufacturers would be on the receiving end of this rapidly
growing market.”
Rep. Delahunt continued:
“It is time for the United States to take a leadership role in the new ‘clean energy’ economy.
By giving our own consumers access to proven financial incentives and boosting demand for clean energy technology we can position
the United States to become a world leader in this emerging sector of the global economy that has the potential to create
thousands of new ‘green-collar’ jobs here at home.
As the
Green party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district, It is about time the US House recognizes
that feed-in-tariffs have helped renewable energy grow in Europe. We will also need such tariffs here on a state-wide basis
to help renewable energy production to grow here in the 60th District. This
is an important piece of legislation needed for the poor, working, and middle class of the valley.
Dennis
Spisak-Green party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Check out
our links to renewable energy and progressive job programs
New Jersey’s Solar Success-Why
not Ohio?
July 1, 2008
Last week in the New York Times,
Anthony DePalma wrote about New Jersey’s booming solar power success.
With oil prices skyrocketing, demand for solar power is booming. And New Jersey, which has used a rebate program to help install more solar panels than any other
state but California, is getting burned by its own success.
Skip to next paragraphThere is a backlog of more than 700 applications for the rebates, and property
owners have to wait months, even years, to get solar panels installed. The program, which is paid for by surcharges on all
utility bills, has been shut down several times over the last three years because applications far outpaced rebate money.
Some solar installation companies have had to lay off workers while they waited for rebate checks to be sent.
All this has convinced New Jersey regulators
that it is time to wean solar energy from public subsidies altogether. The state plans to replace rebates with energy credits
that can be bought and sold on the open market.
As it works out the details of the transition, New
Jersey — not the place most people associate with solar innovations — finds itself at the forefront of a growing
national debate about the role of government in helping stimulate this sector of the energy economy.
Under a state energy master plan, solar power
should account for 2.12 percent of New Jersey’s electricity by 2020. But even though more than 3,100 residential and
commercial solar systems have been installed during the six years the state has offered rebates; they generate only 0.07 percent
of current energy needs.
The state is planning to turn
to a program it started several years ago that issues energy credits. The concept is simple: Solar projects generate energy
credits every year, and the state requires utility companies to buy them to offset carbon emissions from their power plants
and to help meet renewable-energy targets. By purchasing credits, the utilities do not actually
generate solar power, but they offset the cost of installing and operating solar equipment.
New Jersey plans to greatly expand the program
by allowing the credits to be bought and sold like commodities, with long-term contracts and prices set by the open market.
Regulators say that will be fairer to ratepayers
and help the state reach its renewable-energy goals faster. They also say the plan provides safeguards for small installers
and ensures competition by prohibiting any company from capturing more than 20 percent of a utility’s yearly credits.
SunEdison, based in Maryland, has already made
inroads in New Jersey using a new approach — called power purchase agreements — that smaller companies do not
have the capital to duplicate.
Under those agreements, which the state first
allowed in 2004, property owners do not have to buy or operate their solar projects, or handle the sale of energy credits.
Instead, they avoid all up-front costs by contracting with SunEdison or other large companies, and bill property owners at
fixed rates that are lower than utility company rates.
SunEdison has put up more than 22 solar systems
in New Jersey, along with dozens in others states, mostly for large retail companies like Kohl’s.
Experts say these purchase agreements can promote
the move to solar power. And regulators hope that a vibrant market for energy credits will speed that growth to the point
where solar power can compete with conventionally generated electricity.
Again, we see another state moving ahead
of Ohio in providing renewable energy jobs and savings to the poor, working, and middle class.
As the Green Party Candidate for State
Representative, I would work to bring Ohio and the 60th district the same type of renewable energy choices other
Americans are being offered today. Dennis Spisak- Campaign web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
U.S. Mayors Endorse Single Payer Health Care! Bob Hagan Did, But Bob Now is Silent
June 30, 2008 The
U.S. Conference of Mayors, meeting in Miami, adopted a resolution this morning in support of single-payer national health
insurance. The assembly, in unanimous vote, backed a resolution calling for the enactment of the "United States
National Health Insurance Act," H.R. 676. The bill, which is also known as the "Improved and Expanded Medicare for
All Act," is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan And 90 other members of Congress. "This is a major achievement,
a qualitative change in the movement for genuine health care reform," said Dr. David Prensky, a retired dentist from
Palm Beach, Fla., who helped promote the resolution. Prensky is a member of the Chicago-based Physicians for a National
Health Program (PNHP). "It shows that our country’s mayors now support the kind of approach that every
other industrialized country has — an approach that guarantees health care for everyone at an affordable cost," he
said. "Mayors, in a very real sense, are closer to the people than most elected officials," Prensky continued. "They
are closer to the grassroots, where their communities and constituents are suffering. Meanwhile their city budgets are
being shattered by health costs for their own employees." Conyers’ bill would guarantee everyone care for
all medically Necessary services, contain costs by slashing the administrative waste and bureaucracy associated with
the private insurance industry and assure patients their choice of doctor and hospital. The resolution was introduced
by Mayor Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, Fla., and six other mayors from Baltimore to Santa Cruz, Calif. Frankel worked
in cooperation with the statewide advocacy group Floridians For Health Care and the national group Healthcare-Now. "By
taking this action," said Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of PNHP, "the mayors have put, in the boldest way, single-payer
national health insurance on top of the domestic agenda, squarely in the middle of the legislative and presidential
elections." The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan organization of mayors representing cities with a population
of 30,000 or more. It currently has about 1,100 members. Text of Resolution adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
June 23: Resolution in support of the United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676 Submitted By: The
Honorable Lois J. Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla. The Honorable Wayne J. Hall Sr., Mayor of Hempstead, N.Y. The
Honorable Carolyn K. Peterson, Mayor of Ithaca, N.Y. The Honorable John E. Marks III, Mayor of Tallahassee, Fla. The
Honorable Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore, Md. The Honorable Becky Tooley, Mayor of Coconut Creek, Fla. The
Honorable Ryan Coonerty, Mayor of Santa Cruz, Calif. WHEREAS, every person deserves access to affordable quality health care;
and WHEREAS, the number of Americans without health insurance now exceeds 47 million; and WHEREAS, millions
with insurance have coverage so inadequate that a major illness would lead to financial ruin, and medical illness and bills
contribute to one-half of all bankruptcies; and WHEREAS, proposals for "consumer directed health care" such as Health Savings
Accounts or Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) would only worsen this situation by penalizing the sick, discouraging
prevention and saddling many working families with huge medical bills; and WHEREAS, managed care and other market-based
reforms have failed to contain health care costs, which now threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers;
and WHEREAS, administrative waste stemming from our reliance on private insurers consumes one-third of private health
spending while the single payer Medicare system has administrative costs of less than 5 percent; and WHEREAS,
U.S. hospitals spend 24.3 percent of their budgets on billing and administration while hospitals under Canada’s
single payer system spend only 12.9 percent; and WHEREAS, Harvard researchers estimate that more than $300 billion could be
recovered by replacing private insurance companies with a single public payer, enough to cover the uninsured and to improve
coverage for all those who now have only partial coverage; and WHEREAS, entrusting care to profit-oriented firms
diverts billions of dollars to outrageous incomes for CEOs and threatens the quality of care; and WHEREAS, The
United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) would assure universal coverage of all medically necessary services, contain
costs by slashing bureaucracy, protect the doctor patient relationship, assure patients a completely free choice of doctors, and allow
physicians a free choice of practice settings; and WHEREAS, most polls show that the majority of Americans support universal
health care; and WHEREAS, as of the date of this resolution, the majority of American physicians (59 percent) believe
that Single Payer is the best method of securing universal health care; and WHEREAS, The United States National
Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) will guarantee every mayor that all residents and employees of his/her city will
be fully covered for health care and save millions of taxpayer dollars now spent on premiums to provide less than full
health insurance coverage for government employees; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference
of Mayors expresses its support for The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R.676), and calls upon federal legislators
to work towards its immediate enactment and further urges the adoption of a process to insure that health care providers justify
any increase in health care costs. Are you resolved? Current State Representative Bob Hagan was involved at the
beginning. Now Bob Hagan remains silent on the Single-Payer Health Care as he takes Lobbyist and Corporate PAC monies from
Medical Mutual and other Health Care providers.
Seriously... any organization you belong to... any labor group, religious
group, social or community organization that you belong to can do an endorsement.
Also you can check to see if your
congressperson has signed on as a co-sponsor.
Ask your congressperson to sign-up as a co-sponsor of HR-676!
Get
any organization you belong to -- civic, religious, labor,
community, etc. to pass an HR-676 endorsement resolution: Here
is how
to do that via a non-physician group.
OH Single-Payer Action Network: http://www.spanohio.org/
OH PNHP Ohio http://www.pnhpohio.org/
OH Health Care for All Ohio http://healthcareforallohio.org/
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I support Payer-Health Care
and the Health Care for All Ohioans Act!
Dennis Spisak-Independent Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Http:votespisak.tripod.com
Check
out our links page on health care……
Cutting Solar Power Costs
June 28, 2008 The costs of generating solar power will be
on par with the costs of power made from fossil fuels like natural gas and coal within a decade, according to clean-tech research
and publishing firm Clean Edge and green-economy nonprofit Co-op America. The two groups collaborated on a new report, the
Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, to provide a roadmap for utilities, solar companies, and regulators to work together
so the nation can derive 10 percent or more of its power from the sun by 2025. In related news, the Financial Times
reported last week that the U.S. is set to overtake Germany as the world’s largest wind market in 2009. American wind
energy is riding the wave of an investment boom accounting for a 45 percent jump in capacity last year alone. As the
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative, I will work in Columbus to help continue to cut renewable energy
costs so it can be made more affordable to the poor, working, and middle class. Now is a pivotal moment for renewable energy
in the United States. There is a real opportunity here for companies to stake a major claim in the market because there has
been a pent-up demand. Dennis Spisak- Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Check our links to renewable energy programs
Youngstown Could Get 1.3 Million
Dollars From Public Transportation Act of 2008
June 27, 2008
As I have posted information regarding
improving mass transportation for the Youngstown area this week, the negative response to mass transit is that only those
who use mass transit should pay for it.
Yesterday I attended the WRTA Mass
Transit Board of Directors Meeting and it was noted NO mass transit service can operate solely on user fees.
Thus, either local, state, or federal
aid must be provided.
The following is information regarding
H.R. 6052, which could give the Youngstown area 1.3 million dollars for Public Transportation. The Act reads as follows:
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
H.R.
6052, THE “SAVING
ENERGY THROUGH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 2008”
June 12, 2008
BACKGROUND
In 2007, Americans took more
than 10.3 billion trips on public transportation, the highest level in 50 years. Public transportation use is up 32 percent
since 1995, a figure that is more than double the growth rate of the population and up substantially over the growth rate
for vehicle miles traveled on our nation’s highways for that same period. Public transportation use saves fuel, reduces
emissions, and saves money. Public transportation use saves the United States the equivalent of 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline
annually, or more than 11 million gallons of gasoline per day. Public transportation use is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions by 37 million metric tons annually. A commuter who switches from driving to work alone to public transportation
can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 pounds per day, or more than 4,800 pounds in a year. Public transportation use provides
an affordable alternative to driving, as households that use public transportation save an average of $6,251 every year. As
such, increasing public transportation use is a priority of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
A primary objective of H.R.
6052, the “Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008”, is to reduce the United States dependence
on foreign oil by encouraging more people to use public transportation. According to a recent study, if Americans used public
transit at the same rate as Europeans – for roughly 10 percent of their daily travel needs – the United States
could reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent, nearly equal to the 550 million barrels of crude oil
that we import from Saudi Arabia each year.
H.R.
6052, THE “SAVING
ENERGY THROUGH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 2008”
To increase public transportation
use across the United States, H.R. 6052, the “Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008”:
Authorizes
$1.7 Billion of Capital and Operating Funds for Transit Agencies to Reduce Fares and Expand Transit Services. This section
authorizes $850 million (General Fund) for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to allow public transit agencies to reduce transit
fares and expand transit services. These funds will allow transit agencies to provide incentives for commuters to choose transit
options, thereby reducing our nation’s transportation-related energy consumption and reliance on foreign oil, as well
as decreasing its greenhouse gas emissions. These funds will be distributed under current law urban and rural transit formulas
(49 U.S.C. 5307 and 49 U.S.C. 5311, respectively). The Federal share for these grants is 100 percent and funds will only be
available for a two-year period.
Increases the Federal Share for Clean Fuel and Alternative Fuel Transit Bus, Ferry,
or Locomotive-related Equipment and Facilities from 90 percent to 100 percent. Under current law, the Federal share of
the portion of transit buses, ferries, or locomotives that is for clean fuel or alternative fuel-related equipment or facilities
for compliance with the Clean Air Act is 90 percent. Under the Federal Transit Administration’s interpretation of current
law, the total Federal share for alternative fuel buses only increases from 80 percent to 83 percent. The bill increases the
Federal share for the alternative fuel vehicle-related equipment from 90 percent to 100 percent of the net project cost for
fiscal years 2008 and 2009. As a result, the total Federal share for such buses will be more than 90 percent.
Extends Transit Benefits to All Federal
Employees. Under current law, all Federal agencies within the National Capital Region are required to establish a transit
pass benefits program and offer transit passes to Federal employees. The bill establishes a nationwide Federal transit pass
benefits program and requires all Federal agencies in the United States to offer transit passes to Federal employees. The
bill also requires that the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) to establish specific guidance for implementing
the nationwide transit pass benefits program. The guidance will ensure that Federal agencies have the necessary administrative
procedures to ensure that Federal employees properly use the program.
The current law requirement
originated with Executive Order 13150, signed by President Clinton on April 21, 2000. The Executive Order required that all
Federal agencies within the National Capital Region offer transit passes to Federal employees. It also required the Department
of Transportation (“DOT”), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy to implement a nationwide
three-year pilot transit pass benefit program for all qualified Federal employees of those agencies.
The Department of Transportation has determined
that both the National Capital Region program and the nationwide pilot program are a success, and recommends that the transit
pass benefits program be extended to all Federal employees nationwide.
Extends Transit Benefits to All Federal Employees. Under current law, all Federal
agencies within the National Capital Region are required to establish a transit pass benefits program and offer transit passes
to Federal employees. The bill establishes a nationwide Federal transit pass benefits program and requires all Federal agencies
in the United States to offer transit passes to Federal employees. The bill also requires that the Department of Transportation
(“DOT”) to establish specific guidance for implementing the nationwide transit pass benefits program. The guidance
will ensure that Federal agencies have the necessary administrative procedures to ensure that Federal employees properly use
the program.
The current law requirement
originated with Executive Order 13150, signed by President Clinton on April 21, 2000. The Executive Order required that all
Federal agencies within the National Capital Region offer transit passes to Federal employees. It also required the Department
of Transportation (“DOT”), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy to implement a nationwide
three-year pilot transit pass benefit program for all qualified Federal employees of those agencies.
The Department of Transportation
has determined that both the National Capital Region program and the nationwide pilot program are a success, and recommends
that the transit pass benefits program be extended to all Federal employees nationwide.
Establishes
a Vanpool Pilot Program. The bill establishes a two-year pilot program to allow the amount expended by private providers
of public transportation by vanpool for the acquisition of vans to be used as the non-Federal share for matching Federal transit
funds in five communities. Under current law, only local public funds may be used as local match, and this pilot program allows
private funds to be used in limited circumstances. The provision requires the private providers of vanpool services to use
revenues they receive in providing public transportation, in excess of its operating costs, for the purpose of acquiring vans,
excluding any amounts the providers may have received in Federal, State, or local government assistance for such acquisition.
The Department of Transportation will implement and oversee the vanpool pilot projects, and will report back to Congress on
the costs, benefits, and efficiencies of the vanpool demonstration projects.
Increases the Federal Share for Additional Parking Facilities at End-Of-Line
Fixed Guideway Stations. The bill increases the Federal share for additional parking facilities at end-of-line fixed guideway
stations to increase the total number of transit commuters who have access to those stations. The bill increases the Federal
share from 80 percent to 100 percent for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
If local and state funding is not available,
it’s time for Tim Ryan to step forward and work to see that the Transportation
Act of 2008 is passed.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District
Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Your Economic Stimulus Check just went to Saudi Arabia and Exxon
June 26, 2008 The
Ohio Public Interest Research Group Education Fund released a report yesterday that showed in just 19 weeks the Economic Stimulus
Check that President Bush and Congress gave to you went to pay for the increase in gasoline prices since February 2008. The
Ohio PIRG Summary follows:America’s dependence on oil has become increasingly painful. Two thirds of oil
in the United States goes to transportation, with the largest share consumed by cars and trucks. As the rising price of gasoline
makes driving more expensive, Americans have sought alternatives by driving a little less and riding public transportation
more. Unfortunately, government policy does too little to help Americans drive less. Energy experts generally agree
that the era of cheap gas is over. Scientists likewise agree that road-based global warming pollution must be reduced. But
lawmakers have not taken enough steps to help Americans consume less at the pump. On the contrary, overall government policies
continue to encourage more driving at the expense of alternatives, leaving Americans poorer, stuck in worsening traffic, and
emitting dangerous levels of global-warming pollution. Nothing illustrates how the lack of transportation options
hurts consumers and our economy more than the fact that, since approval of the tax rebates in February, Americans on average
have already spent the amount of their stimulus checks at the pump. The standard stimulus rebate check for American families
with a joint filing couple and a child is $1,500. As of this week, the average family household will have already spent over
$1,500 at the gas pump since February 13th when President Bush signed the tax rebate checks into law.
The situation
is akin to families signing over their rebate checks to big oil companies like Exxon Mobil or sending them to oil-producing
countries like Saudi Arabia.We can reduce our crippling dependence on oil through long-term solutions that will
make it easier for Americans to drive less. Modern buses, light rail, commuter rail and other forms of transit more efficiently
move passengers with less fuel. Transit also reduces traffic congestion and encourages more compact development patterns that,
in turn, further reduce the amount Americans must drive. Existing public transportation already reduces America’s
oil dependence. Analysis by Ohio PIRG shows that net oil savings from public transportation totaled 3.4 billion gallons in
2006, the last year for which full data on transit agency and ridership is currently available. These oil savings are enough
to fuel 5.8 million cars for an entire year and to save about $13.6 billion in gasoline at today’s prices. In metro
Columbus, public transit saved 1.6 million gallons, the equivalent of $6.5 million at today’s gas prices. Comparing
spending on transportation in neighborhoods with different access to rail and bus routes underscores the gas-saving benefits
of public transit, according to newly released analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) as part of a Brookings
Institution project. Based on analysis of 2000 Census data in 52 metro areas, neighborhoods with the best access to transit
routes spent an average of $728 monthly on all transportation costs, including gas, insurance, upkeep, and transit fares.
Households in communities with the least access to transit, by contrast, spent an average of $925 per month. America’s
crippling dependence on oil is a long-term problem that requires long-term solutions. Only a minority of Americans currently
has satisfactory access to public transit. The lack of convenient alternatives to driving means that Americans are more
vulnerable to high gas prices and that future attempts to jumpstart consumer spending will be diluted.
The tax rebate
program will cost the Treasury $168 billion. By contrast, the four-year total of federal spending on new public transportation
projects through 2009 is only $6.6 billion. Helping Americans to drive less will require more aggressive investment in public
transportation.Public transit solutions can do far more. At present, under funded transit agencies are struggling
to keep up with the record volume of riders. Despite the success of new rail lines and bus routes around the country, a long
line of new transit projects remains stuck on the drawing board due to lack of funding. Federal, state, and local governments
must invest in solutions to oil dependence through more and better public transportation. All of these investments
will require far-looking commitments by lawmakers. But we cannot afford to continue to squander spending in ways that do not
address the long-term problem. As the Independent Green Party candidate for State Representative for the 60th District,
I will work with bringing renewable energy resources to our homes and vehicles, work on improving mass transit, and making
the 60th district less dependent on fossil fuels.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Candidate for State Representative-60th
district
Campaign web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
War stops US Renewable Energy Plans
June 25, 2008 I was reading an article by Jonathan
Rynn last week who reported that when New York City wanted to make the biggest purchase of subway cars in US history in the
late 1990s, more than US $3 billion worth, the only companies that were able to bid on the contract were foreign. The same
problem applies to high-speed rail today: only European or Japanese companies could build any of the proposed rail networks
in the United States. The US has also ceded the high ground to Europe and Japan in a broad range of other sustainable
technologies. For instance, 11 companies produce 96% of medium to large wind turbines; only one, GE, is based in the United
States, with a 16% share of the global market. The differences in market penetration come down to two factors: European
and Japanese companies have become more competent producers for these markets, and their governments have helped them to develop
both this competence and the markets themselves. Take Germany as an example. Even though the sun is not so shiny in
that part of Europe (like Youngstown), Germany has put up 88% of the photovoltaics for solar power in Europe. Partly,
this was the result of a feed-in tariff; that is, Germany guarantees that it will pay about 0.10 euro (15 US cents) per kilowatt/hour
of electricity to whoever produces wind or solar electricity. The average for electricity that is paid for nonrenewable sources
is about 0.05 euro per kwh, so Germany is effectively paying double for its renewable electricity in a successful effort to
encourage its production. Every year, the guaranteed price is lowered, so that the renewable sector can eventually compete
on its own, having gotten over the hump of introducing new technology. Germany's other advantage is that it is a world
leader in manufacturing renewable technology equipment - 32% of the solar equipment manufacturers in the world are located
in Germany. In addition, almost 30% of global wind turbine manufacturing capacity is German. In Denmark we can see
the advantages of good policy plus competence in building machinery. The world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas,
is Danish. According to the Earth Policy Institute, "Denmark's 3,100 megawatts of wind capacity meet 20% of its electricity
needs, the largest share in any country." The Danes have created a fascinating experiment in democracy by building most of
their wind turbines through the agency of wind cooperatives, which may be joined by individuals and families. Spain
has undertaken one of the most ambitious programs in wind, solar, and high-speed trains. The Gamesa Corporation is the second-largest
wind turbine manufacturer, and Acciona Energy is the largest wind-park developer. The Spanish government has very ambitious
plans for wind production, and occasionally wind power provides as much as 30% of the country's electrical power. Spain
is also the world's fourth-largest producer of solar energy equipment and is a leader in the development of concentrated solar
power - a form of solar power obtained by using a very large quantity of mirrors, typically, to concentrate solar rays onto
a tower that produces steam, which then turns a turbine, generating electricity. They are often built in deserts and can spread
over several acres. These new solar technologies will probably result in lower-cost electricity for long-distance applications
than photovoltaics. Asia is an important producer of renewable energy and train equipment as well. As of 2006, Japan
produced about 39% of the solar cells in the world and has encouraged solar energy in Japan with subsidies for purchasing
the equipment as well as generous research budgets. Japan's Shinkansen high-speed rail network covers much of the country.
China is set to take off as one of the world’s biggest producers of solar and wind equipment owing to its rise as a
manufacturing nation. Europe sets the pace But Europe and Japan's dominance in renewable technologies is really
based in a broader domain of competitive competence. They dominate the most fundamental sector of the economy, namely the
production of machinery for manufacturing industries in general (often referred to as the mechanical engineering sector).
The European Union produces almost twice as much industrial equipment overall as the United States, according to data
compiled by the EU, Japan produces almost as much as the US, with about half the population. The split among the EU, US, and
Japan, which together produce most of the world's machinery, is 52%, 27% and 21%, respectively. A robust industrial
sector is the infrastructure we need for building the tools that will help us to avert climate catastrophe. Think of the industrial
sector of an economy as an ecosystem. Instead of the grass and leaves that feed the plant-eaters that feed the meat eaters,
a modern economic ecosystem contains industrial equipment that makes production technology that creates the goods and services
that people consume. The different niches of an economic ecosystem, such as the various machinery and equipment sectors,
thrive as a self-reinforcing web of engineers, high-skill production workers, operational managers and factories. As of 2003,
Europe's manufacturing sector made up 32% of its nonfinancial economy, while the manufacturing sector of the United States
comprised only 13% of its nonfinancial sectors. The decline of American machinery and manufacturing sectors, in conjunction
with the on-again/off-again nature of American renewable energy policy, explains why Europe and Japan are so far ahead of
the United States in the transition to a more sustainable economy. And America's decline can be traced to one overriding
factor: a military budget that comprises nearly half of the world's military spending. For decades, as the late Professor
Seymour Melman showed in many books (such as After Capitalism) and in numerous articles, the Pentagon has been draining not
just money but also the engineering, scientific and business talent that Europe and Japan have been using for civilian production.
As Melman often pointed out, the US military budget is a capital fund, and American citizens can use that fund to help finance
the construction of the trains, wind and solar power, and other green technologies that will help us to avoid economic and
environmental collapse. That economic collapse, if it comes, will be caused by two major factors: the end of the era
of cheap oil, coal and natural gas; and the decline of the manufacturing and machinery base of the economy. As the
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I believe both problems can be addressed
simultaneously, as Europe and Japan are showing, by moving the economy from one based on military and fossil fuel production
to one based on electric transportation and the generation of renewable electricity. I will work in Columbus to see
that we bring renewable energy jobs to the poor, working, and middle class of this valley. Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative for 60th district. Campaign web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our links to Progressive Works Programs
Geothermal Energy: Power from the Earth…NOW!
June 24, 2008
Geothermal energy is not glamorous—its
plants look more like coal-fired power plants than sleek, modern wind turbines or space-age solar mirrors in the desert.
But don't judge geothermal by its
steam stacks.
Geothermal is used commercially in
more than 20 countries (more than 70 if you count ground source heat pumps) and generates more than a quarter of the total
electricity used in Iceland and the Philippines.
The U.S. is the world's leading geothermal
energy producer, though geothermal generates less than one percent of America's total electricity output.
The Promise
Geothermal has one main advantage
over today's leading renewables: it is not dependent on a sunny or a windy day. It is available virtually 100 percent of the
time and therefore doesn't require a back-up fossil fuel power plant or energy storage capacity.
Geothermal is clean and safe. At
facilities like the Geysers, where wastewater is reinjected back into the ground to replace the extracted steam, it is also
sustainable. And it can be scaled up to generate power for major metropolitan areas.
Geothermal's potential is enormous.
The amount of heat within 10,000 meters (about 33,000 feet) of Earth's surface contains 50,000 times more energy than all
the oil and natural gas resources in the world.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory
estimates that geothermal could provide between 4 and 20 percent of current U.S. electricity needs by 2025. It is already
price competitive with coal-fired power plants in many places.
The Challenge
While geothermal heat occurs everywhere,
the most easily accessible geothermal resources are naturally occurring hot springs at or near the Earth's surface. These
geological features are found on less than 10 percent of Earth's land area.
Today, there are three ways to harness
geothermal energy, all of which require access to a hot springs or hot wastewater.
- If the
hot water reaches the surface as steam, it can be harnessed to drive an electric turbine. This is called a "dry steam" system.
- If the
hot water remains a liquid at a high enough temperature, it can be "flashed" into steam and then used to drive the electric
turbine. This is called a "flash steam" system.
- If the
hot water is not hot enough to be flashed directly into steam, it can be used to flash another liquid with a lower boiling
point—such as ammonia—and the resulting steam is then captured in turbines. This is called a "binary" system.
Advancements in binary systems have
opened new opportunities to access "moderate temperature" geothermal resources, which are far more common than high temperature
resources.
The Chena Hot Springs power plant
near Fairbanks, Alaska, is the lowest temperature geothermal resource to be used for commercial power production in the world.
Thanks to breakthroughs at Chena,
the cost of power production from these moderate temperature resources has been reduced from 30¢ to less than 7¢ per kWh.
That low price opens up the option of using waste heat resources, like the water that comes up at oil wells, as free fuel.
Researchers are also studying ways
to capture heat in dry areas, know as "hot dry rock." This involves drilling deep into the earth's surface using technologies
developed by the oil industry, then injecting water down to the hot rocks and bringing the hot water back to the surface to
drive turbines and generate energy.
Several projects using this technology—called
enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) or heat mining—are under development in France, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and
the U.S. The race is on to establish the world's first commercial hot dry rock power plant.
Many geologists are concerned about
possible seismic consequences connected to drilling through the earth's surface to access hot dry rock resources. In 2007,
a geothermal power plant in Switzerland triggered an earthquake that registered 3.4 on the Richter scale.
Another major barrier is the cost
involved in finding viable geothermal resources. The only current way to test for geothermal properties is to drill deep holes.
This is expensive and increases investment risk.
The Future
There are several areas of research
that could soon make geothermal energy a more widely available and efficient resource.
Researchers are working to:
- Make
testing a potential geothermal location more economical, reducing
the risk of investing money in "dry holes."
- Make
the current binary geothermal systems more efficient to tap cooler
hot springs where direct and flash steam plants are not possible. Breakthroughs at the Chena Hot Springs location offer tremendous
promise in this area.
- Make
the energy grid more efficient and develop transmission capacity
to open up remote, and currently "stranded", geothermal resources.
Some analysts believe the big breakthrough
in geothermal energy could come when enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) become economically competitive, allowing "heat mining"
close to centers of demand, like big cities.
A 2006 study by MIT researchers found
that "none of the known technical and economic barriers limiting widespread development of EGS as a domestic energy source
are considered to be insurmountable."
The study concluded that EGS could
generate 100 gigawatts or more in the U.S. by 2050. And it calculated the world's total EGS resources to be sufficient to
provide all the world's energy needs for thousands of years.
As with all renewable energy resources,
setting a cap on global warming pollution and pricing carbon emissions into the market is the key to creating economic incentives
to finance and mainstream geothermal energy production.
As the Green Party Candidate
for State representative for the 60th District, my goal is to go to Columbus and work with private industry and
state leaders to let them know that geothermal energy will be a cost
competitive within their planning horizons and that poor, working, and middle class want to get serious about planning for
large scale geothermal deployment now.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Solar Power is Growing Fast
June 23, 2008 The use of solar power is growing fast, averaging 40
percent growth per year since 2000, with nearly 3000 MW of power (the equivalent of three conventional power plants) installed
globally in the last five years alone. The even better news is that solar shows no sign of slowing down,
and it's entirely realistic to expect that solar power will represent 10 percent of total US electricity generation by 2025!
And with the growing scale of solar, it is becoming increasingly affordable – cost competitive with other forms of electricity
generation in some areas of the country today. It will be cost competitive in most areas of the country no later than
2015. That's the major conclusion of a new report produced by Co-op America in partnership with Clean Edge, a leading
clean-tech research firm. The new report, the Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, shows how clean, green solar power
will be the boon electric utilities will need in the coming years, as they face nationwide carbon caps, state-level regulation,
and the increased expenses of working with conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power. When the Solar Electric
Industries Association trade group issued its Solar PV Roadmap in 2004, it projected solar producing 7 percent of total electricity
by 2030. And in a January 2008 Scientific American article, authors Ken Zweibel, James Mason, and Vasilis Fthenakis
outlined how the US could get a whopping 69 percent of its electricity from solar by 2050. As the Green Party Candidate
for State representative for the 60th District, my goal is to go to Columbus and work with private industry and state leaders
to let them know that solar will be a cost competitive within their planning horizons and that you want to get serious about
planning for large scale solar deployment now. The single most important thing you can do is get serious about energy
efficiency. With lower energy bills, you can save up for solar – and then, as solar prices come down, you can
go solar sooner. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign
site: Http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Ride The WRTA With A Friend Day
Join Us This
Tuesday, June 24
Bring Someone To Town On The WRTA Bus System
Arrive At The Bus Station By 11:30 a.m.
Eat Lunch
At A Downtown Restaurant
Support The Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant
June 20, 2008 With
gas prices climbing every day, there's no shortage of people here and in Washington talking about renewable sources of energy.
Right now, Members of Congress are about to decide whether to fund job-training programs that would prepare American
workers to build and maintain clean, new sources of energy for our country. We need Congress to support full funding
for two vital initiatives -- the Green Jobs Act and the Green Block Grant Program: Together, these programs would invest
over $1.1 billion to provide critical training for green-collar jobs, help lift people out of poverty, and build cleaner,
more sustainable communities around the country. Today marks the beginning of a critical time in the house and senate
as appropriations sub-committees decide the fate of two key green-collar jobs programs. We chalked up a major victory last
fall when the Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program were approved as part of the energy
bill. However, that achievement will mean very little if the programs do not receive funding in the 2009 Appropriations Bill.
Last year, with your support, the community program Green For All helped ensure that the 2007 Energy Bill included
two critical provisions: the Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. Once they are
fully funded, these two provisions will dramatically boost the prospects for green-collar job development in the United States. The
Energy Bill authorized funding levels for both of these provisions. Now Congress needs to appropriate the money for them.
As soon as two weeks from now, Appropriations committees in Congress will vote whether or not to fund these two vital programs. A
fully funded Green Jobs Act will distribute $125 million per year to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and
train workers for jobs in a range of green industries. That's enough money to train 30,000 people in green trades - every
year. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but it has a special focus on creating "green pathways out
of poverty." In other words, this Act can connect the people who MOST need work - to the work that MOST needs to get done. A
fully funded Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program will distribute $2 billion per year to cities and local
governments for energy conservation, energy audits, fuel conservation programs, and the use of renewable energy. These "Green"
block grants could create tens of thousands of green-collar jobs - accessible to low-income city residents who most need opportunities
and careers. We must work hard to make sure that Congress understands the importance of funding these green-collar
jobs programs. The budget submitted to Congress by the Bush Administration eliminates and under-funds a broad range of worthy
programs. Therefore, Congress must wrestle with many competing priorities as its members attempt to make up for this shortfall
and pass an Appropriations Bill for 2009. The Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block
Grant Program are essential investments in green-collar job creation and job training. These programs will be fundamental
to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. As the Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district, I support this bill and I ask that you write to your member of Congress
to see that this bill is passed to help bring renewable energy jobs and programs to the poor, working, and middle class of
Ohio and America. Dennis Spisak- Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comPlease check our links page for renewable energy programs.
If the Mahoning Valley Won’t Support Mass Transit, Would they Support Van Transit?
June
19, 2008 The Mahoning Valley Green Party and other environmental groups are promoting a Ride the WRTA With A Friend
Day next Tuesday, June 24, 2008. The objective is to bring someone downtown on the WRTA Bus System. We would like those participating
to arrive downtown by around 11:30am and have lunch at a downtown restaurant. As we have been promoting this idea,
we have receive some negative response that the greater Mahoning Valley will never support mass transit even if gas reaches
six or seven dollars a gallon. So my next question is, would the Mahoning Valley support a Van Transit system that
is currently in place in Fort Worth, Texas? The vanpooling group -- car-pooling in a van -- was formed two years ago
under a program administered by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. In Tarrant County, 166 vans are now on the
roads, an increase from 144 last April, with a waiting list of additional riders needing vans. Dallas Area Rapid Transit is
maxed out at 145 vans with a waiting list of more than 20 would-be vanpools. Local transportation agencies typically
provide the van, insurance and gas to a group of riders who live and work near each other. The group provides a primary vanpool
manager and drivers. Collectively, each group estimates it saves more than $25,000 a year on gas, parking and insurance
by taking the van to work. That's in addition to the air quality benefits, shorter commute times and, of course, camaraderie. Of
course, there are inconveniences: waking up earlier than usual, rigid time schedules that don't allow for staying late at
work, and getting left behind if you're not punctual. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative
for the 60th District, I believe we should invest in mass transit, or look at alternatives as Van Transit. We can no longer
support higher and higher gas prices for the poor, working, and middle class. Dennis Spisak- Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Number of Underinsured American Adults Rising
June 17, 2008 The number of underinsured
U.S. adults—that is, people who have health coverage that does not adequately protect them from high medical expenses—has
risen dramatically, a Commonwealth Fund study finds. As of 2007, there were an estimated 25 million underinsured adults in
the United States, up 60 percent from 2003. Much of this growth comes from the ranks of the middle class. While low-income
people remain vulnerable, middle-income families have been hit hardest. For adults with incomes above 200 percent of the federal
poverty level (about $40,000 per year for a family), the underinsured rates nearly tripled since 2003. Middle-Income
Uninsured Rate RisingInsurance erosion has spread up the income distribution well in to the middle-income range.
For those with annual incomes of $40,000 to $59,000, the underinsured percentage rate reached double digits in 2007. Barely
half of those with incomes of 200 percent to 299 percent of the poverty level were insured all year with adequate coverage. Underinsured
Go Without Needed CareIn terms of access problems and financial stress, underinsured people—even though
they have coverage all year—report experiences similar to the uninsured. More than half of the underinsured (53%) and
two-thirds of the uninsured (68%) went without needed care—including not seeing a doctor when sick, not filling prescriptions,
and not following up on recommended tests or treatment. Only 31 percent of insured adults went without such care. About
half of the underinsured (45%) and uninsured (51%) reported difficulty paying bills, being contacted by collection agencies
for unpaid bills, or changing their way of life to pay medical bills. Many reported that they took on a loan, a mortgage against
their home, or credit card debt to pay their bills, suggesting, "that these financial difficulties had the potential to linger
into the future." In contrast, only 21 percent of insured adults reported financial stress related to medical bills. Benefit
Design MattersThe sharp increase in the number of underinsured adults is partly due to design changes in insurance
benefits that leave individuals financially vulnerable. Underinsured adults were more likely than those with adequate insurance
to report benefit limits—for example, restrictions on the total amount a plan would pay for medical care or on the number
of physicians' visits allowed. They were also far more likely to report high deductibles: one-quarter had annual per-person
deductibles of $1,000 or more. Despite benefit limits and higher deductibles, underinsured adults often reported high annual
premium costs, in line with those reported by more adequately insured people. "Benefit design matters," the researchers
conclude. Having a policy with substantial cost sharing relative to income can undermine access to care and erode family finances.
While improving insurance coverage is a worthy goal, it is important for policymakers to consider cost-sharing provisions,
scope of benefits, and income when exploring coverage mandates, they say. Single-Payer Health Coverage such as the Health
Care for All Ohioans Act would help. The goal is high-quality care and improved outcomes—not just coverage,
There is growing recognition of the need for coherent strategies that combine coverage with payment and other policies to
change directions and move toward a more inclusive and higher-performing, high-value health system. Yesterday, I received
an e-mail from a professor from Case Western Reserve University who shared the following information: “In my
view, there are a few other absolutely critical facts that are not mentioned by Mr. Spisak and generally overlooked by most
healthcare activists. 1. The insured do not know what their insurance covers until they get an expensive
disease. Most voters are insured, and they do not understand how bad their situation may become when they develop widespread
cancer. Their premiums may be increased because they are sick (everyone buys insurance so as to be insured while they
are healthy, don't they?). The insurance company may find ways not to pay for some needed diagnostic tests and/or treatments. 2.
Physicians sometimes change what is done for expensive diseases based on what insurance companies cover. 3. Insurance
companies can and do change what they are willing to pay for without the knowledge of their insured. 4. Some physicians,
hospitals, etc. collaborate with insurance companies to make these companies more profitable. In my opinion, we shall
not solve our problem until (a) the insured become very concerned and (b) there is universal monitoring of (1) quality of
care and (2) who got paid for what. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th
District, I believe we nee to pass the Health Care for All Ohioans Act. Current State Rep Bob Hagan said on WKBN radio on
December 31, 2007 the biggest crisis facing Ohioans today was health care, and the problem to fixing health care was insurance
companies. What Bob Hagan forget to tell the radio listeners he has taken political donations from insurance companies like
Medical Mutual within the past year. So who do you represent in Columbus, Bob? People who need insurance or the insurance
companies?Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Rep-60th District Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comSee our links page to the Health Care Reforms
Why We Don't Have Universal Access To Health Care
June 16,2008 I read an article last
week by Michael L. Millenson , a health care consultant and the author of "Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability
in the Information Age." Here's a cold truth: Despite much media hand-wringing on the subject, most of us give about
as much thought to those who lack health coverage as we do to soybean subsidies. The major obstacle to change? Those of us
with insurance simply don't care very much about those without it. It's only when health care costs spike sharply, the economy
totters or private employers begin to cut back on benefits that the lack of universal health care comes into focus. Noticing
the steadily growing ranks of the uninsured, the broad American public -- "us" -- begins to worry that we'll soon be joining
the ranks of "them." The reality, however, is that only a minority of the uninsured are either the typical Redbook
reader or that nice shopkeeper down the street. Two-thirds of those without health insurance are poor or near poor, and there
are clear disparities in how different racial and ethnic groups are affected. Only 13 percent of non-Hispanic white Americans
are uninsured, compared with 36 percent of Hispanics, 33 percent of Native Americans, 22 percent of blacks and 17 percent
of Asians/Pacific Islanders. Politicians understand what this means in practical terms. If a lack of health insurance
were truly a white middle-class crisis, then conservatives and liberals would long ago have joined together, carved out a
compromise and done something. Instead, we're served a constantly recycled set of excuses for legislative stalemate. The
unofficial Republican attitude toward universal health care can be boiled down to the three "nots": not our voters, not our
kind of solution and not our priority. None of the Republican presidential candidates even pretended to present a serious
plan for universal coverage, nor did Republican primary voters demand one. Meanwhile, Democrats play their own "us
vs. them" games. Although high-profile party leaders are loudly calling for universal coverage -- recall the Barack Obama-Hillary
Clinton slugfest over their respective plans -- they reassure the middle class that the cost of compassion will be covered
by repealing tax cuts for the wealthy. This "free lunch" approach may tax credulity, but it does avoid the need for discussing
other taxes. There are glimmers of hope. A growing number of insured families are struggling with higher co-payments
and deductibles and skimpier coverage. These uneasy "underinsured" may yet join forces with the uninsured to demand protection
from a situation that places them, "One paycheck from poverty/One illness or injury from misery." A survey last year
by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that more than two thirds of Americans were willing to pay 1 percent more
in federal income taxes to make sure that everyone had health insurance. This counts as progress, as does the bipartisan Healthy
Americans Act, a significant step toward universal coverage proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)and Bob Bennett (R-Utah). Over
the years, our society has gradually provided a medical safety net for the elderly and disabled (Medicare), the poor (Medicaid)
and veterans. At one time, these commitments were controversial, and there's no doubt that they're expensive. Yet Americans
from all walks of life understand that the true value of these programs must be weighed on a moral scale as well as a financial
one. It's our willingness to be our brothers' keepers that in part defines who we are as Americans. It has been nearly
a century since Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican running unsuccessfully on the Bull Moose Party ticket, boldly became the
first presidential candidate to promise universal health coverage. That was in 1912. Nearly a century later, we're still waiting
for a leader with the courage and skill to break through our fears and successfully lead the charge up that particular hill. As
the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, I believe it is time for Ohio to have
a single-payer Health Care for All Ohioans Act. I am ready to fight and climb that mountain.
Dennis Spisak- Campaign
Web site: Http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our links to Single-Payer and Universal Health Care
Take Back the Bulbs
Sometimes, recycling isn't just a good idea... it's the law.
Seven states
- California, Maine, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Indiana - now prohibit disposing of the corkscrew-shaped
compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL) with regular household waste. Those twirly little energy-savers contain a tiny amount
of mercury, and while it poses little danger in the home even if the bulb breaks, it still doesn?t belong in the landfill. One
place to take your dead bulbs is home décor giant IKEA, whose U.S. locations all accept discarded CFLs for recycling and have
done so since 2001. Find a store near you at www.ikea.com. More information about CFL recycling is available http://earth911.org, which can help you find a recycling center near you; and www.lightbulbrecycling.com/regulations.html, which provides state-by-state links to recycling regulations and centers near you. Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Let’s Build the Canal! Could Kirwin’s Folly save the Mahoning Valley in the 21st Century?
June
14, 2008 I was reading according to the Syracuse Post-Standard: Rising fuel prices are pushing shippers
to take a new look at an old way to deliver their goods - the Erie Canal. "Our inquiries are definitely up," said Capt. Rob
Goldman, of New York State Marine Highway Transportation Co., the largest shipper on the state's 524-mile canal system. There
is a good reason: " According to the federal transportation department, shipping by water is far more energy-efficient. In
a tractor-trailer, one gallon of fuel is needed to transport one ton of freight 59 miles. On a barge, the same load will go
514 miles on a gallon of fuel." The tide may be turning for the canal’s commercial use, said Carmella Mantello,
director of the state’s Canal Corp. “The canal is slower, but it’s fuel-efficient and it’s
greener,” Mantello said. “One barge can carry the equivalent of 60 tractor-trailers.” The Standard
concluded: The point many times before: in a world without oil, the place to be is near the water and near the customers.
"Its time to get back to planting those cabbages in upper New York State and to get HJ Heinz back processing tomatoes and
use that railway and Erie Canal to bring local food to that enormous Northeast Market.... That is where the future is." That
got me to thinking today where would the Mahoning Valley be today if former Congressman Michael Kirwin’s Lake Erie and
Ohio River Canal was actually built? What would it mean today for the valley with diesel at over $4 dollars a gallon today? According
to the 1948 Pennsylvania Railroad Board of Directors Inspection Trip of Physical Property, the canal would have flowed from
the mouth of the Beaver River at Rochester, Pa. to a point near Ashtabula, Ohio on Lake Erie. The canalization of a
part of this route from Rochester, Pa. via the Beaver and Mahoning Rivers to Struthers, Ohio, six miles south of the center
of Youngstown, Ohio, has also been considered and vigorously supported by Youngstown interests. This is known as the stub
or dead end canal, and efforts to have its construction approved by the U. S. Senate failed in December 1944. The annual prospective
tonnage for the canal is estimated at 36,714,000 tons, consisting chiefly of coal, coke, iron ore and stone, with average
annual savings to shippers of $24,455,000. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative
for the 60th district, I see the challenge now is to do what the New Deal did-create institutions that will support and sustain
a decent society. Let’s finally build that canal, save transportation fossil fuel, and vindicate Kirwin’s Folly. Dennis
Spisak- Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
School Funding Petition Drive Fails, State House Leaders Must Try to Fix School Funding…Again
June
13, 2008 After more than fifteen months of an all-volunteer effort to collect petition signatures and qualify a comprehensive
school funding constitutional amendment for the statewide ballot, the Getting It Right Consortium is suspending its signature
gathering campaign. In so doing, the Consortium points out that its volunteers collected approximately 200,000 signatures,
significantly more than any other all-volunteer petition campaign in recent Ohio history. Once again students, teachers,
parents, and citizens must look to the state house leaders to try and find a formula to fix state school funding. We
all know what State Representative Bob Hagan told the Youngstown Vindicator’s 2006 Voter’s Guide about his
duties to fix school funding: VOTER INFORMATION GUIDE 2006 Join the League in Supporting Positive Campaigning! Ohio
House of Representatives Question: What role does the legislature play in protecting the access of every child
in Ohio to a quality public education? 60th District Robert F. Hagan (D) 562 Madera Ave. Youngstown, OH
44504 Age: 57 Education: Ursuline High School Occupation: Locomotive Engineer/State Senator Qualifications
for Office: Served in the Legislature for 20 years/Raising 5 kids Answer: The Ohio Constitution is clear on what
responsibility the legislature has to provide a fair and equitable education for all the 1.3 million children. I signed
a friend of the court document on supporting the 550 school districts that sued the state of Ohio for its failure
to provide the fair and accessible education for this state. What has Bob Hagan done since then? Nothing. Having
been a teacher and principal in Ohio for the past 20 years and having served on the Struthers City School Board of Education
the past three years I know Bob Hagan and company have done nothing to fix the school funding issue in Ohio. As a school board
member, I have to put a band-aid on every state-funding cut we receive each year from Bob Hagan and the Ohio Legislature. Can
we afford to send Bob Hagan back to Columbus to try and fix Education AGAIN? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative- 60th District Campaign Web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Green Careers Can Reinvent the Mahoning Valley
June 12, 2008 This week I read an article
by Marilyn Gardner from the Christian Science Monitor that reported Americans were putting themselves on the path
to green careers and job openings grow in a variety of eco-friendly fields. After reading this article it did become clearer
to me that Green careers can help reinvent the Mahoning Valley. "It’s an exploding field,” says Matthew
Wheeland, managing director of GreenBiz.com. “It can be anything from a very technical job of manufacturing solar panels
to the sustainability officer of a Fortune 500 company.” Yet defining just what constitutes a green job remains
a challenge. “A lot of groups around the country are thinking about green jobs, but there's no clear consensus
about what they are,” says Julian Alssid, executive director of the Workforce Strategy Center in New York. Some
eco-friendly jobs are newly created. Others require new skills for existing jobs. “I kind of chuckle when people talk
about green jobs,” says Richard Stuebi, a fellow at The Cleveland Foundation in Ohio. “In many ways they look
like traditional jobs, just repositioned to sustainable products and services.” As one example, he points to
the burgeoning demand for machinists, fabricators, and welders associated with wind turbines. “That’s now being
called a green job,” Mr. Stuebi says. “But the job itself doesn’t look a whole lot different from those
in the auto industry 20 years ago. Solar-panel installers are doing a lot of the same things electricians and roofers have
done – running wire, drilling holes in roofs. And people who can operate cranes and do onsite pouring of concrete can
erect and install wind turbines.” Some eco-friendly positions deal with energy efficiency in residential and
commercial buildings and in transportation. Others involve energy generation, such as wind turbines and solar power. Industries
offering green careers range from utilities and construction to manufacturing. Energy auditors and air-quality auditors
represent key emerging occupations. Energy auditors identify cost-effective investments that owners and tenants can make to
reduce heating and air-conditioning bills. Legal services offer other green opportunities. These range from helping
companies create voluntary carbon programs to assisting with contracts for green real estate developments, says Larry Ostema,
an attorney with Horack Talley in Charlotte, N.C. “In the last 12 months, there has been an explosion of firms
advertising the abilities of their lawyers to assist clients with issues associated with climate change,” says Mr. Ostema,
who heads his firm’s Green Initiatives group. Universities, business schools, law schools, and technical institutes
offer degrees with green components. “Our goal is to develop graduates who can bring creative solutions to environmental
problems,” says Robert Krueger, director of environmental studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. As
the Independent Green Party Candidate for state representative for the 60th district, I see the future in making renewable
energy manufacturing jobs and green careers the solutions to mega-problems. We are already seeing growth in this industry,
there is no end to this. It's going to affect everything. It's the work of our time and the future. That's why we need
to send a new state representative to Columbus this November to bring green careers back to the 60th district. We can not
afford to send Bob Hagan back to Columbus with his dinosaur economic and work plan that has failed to produce any jobs in
the last 20 years. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our links to progressive job programs
Ohio Now Lags Behind Pennsylvania in Wind Energy Use
June
11, 2008
While members of the Ohio House and Senate
spend more time out of session than in session, more and more states are working towards bringing renewable energy and manufacturing
jobs to their people. Pennsylvania is the latest example.
While Ted Strickland is out campaigning
for Clinton and now Obama, The Rendell administration has made alternative energy sources a priority, including industrial
wind turbines. Pennsylvania has made the following tangible progress toward wind energy.
Some examples:
--In 2006, Gov. Ed Rendell's Energy Development Authority
awarded a $193,000 grant to Arizona-based Southwest Windpower to place 15 small wind turbines in highly visible locations
across the state to get people thinking about alternative energy sources for their homes and businesses.
--By 2007, school districts in Monroe and Pike counties
were using 35-foot wind turbines and generating 1.8 kilowatts of electricity. Estimates are that the school buildings' energy
bills were cut by 5 percent to 10 percent.
--Also that year, Prince Gallitzin State Park near Patton
in Cambria County received a 120-foot tall turbine, funded through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The system has been generating electricity for the park office, and has been used for educational programs to spur interest
in wind energy.
--Under a state grant, St. Francis University's Renewable
Energy Center in Loretto is using an anemometer to take wind measurements, factoring in that wind blows stronger the higher
the tower and other considerations.
--Small wind turbine systems also were built at Yellow
Creek State Park in Indiana County, and at Promised Land, Pymatuning, Presque Isle and Tuscarora state parks.
In that sense Pennsylvania is in the forefront of alternative
energy with wind farms and solar farms.
As the
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I pledge to work day and night
in helping bring renewable energy manufacturing jobs and companies to the poor, working, and middle class of the 60th
district. While the Democrats and Republicans take days off for tanning and campaigning, I will stay in the office and work
to bringing a manufacturing base back to this valley.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Visit our links to Progressive Works Programs.
GAS PRICES FUEL INCREASE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
June 10,2008
As gas prices hit record high amounts and continue to rise, US citizens are finally turning to public transportation for daily commutes and vacations. Multiple sources are reporting a surge in the use of public transportation. As scores of people jump on the “bus” public transit officials nationwide are continuously determining how to
accommodate their new riders.
The American Public Transportation Authority reports 35% more travelers will use public transportation this summer. Needless to say in a country where each household owns an average of
2.28 vehicles, this surge in use of public transportation is coming with growing pains. The increase in gas prices is effecting public transportation providers, which will be reflected in the expected increase
in fares. Many companies are finding it necessary to increase their fleets and routes. The cost of expanding their operations coupled with the high fuel prices are a concern. Some companies that provide public
transportation are making cut backs while others are pressing forward. Overall, it seems those involved in the public transit
industry are looking at this increased need for their services as positive.
One of the benefits of living in a free capitalist society is the ability to choose where we spend our money. As Americans we know, money talks! Bus, train, subway or bike….as
a society we are joining together and saying no to the rising cost of fuel.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I will work hand in hand with
local officials and WRTA to see that we can provide funding for a more user friendly mass transit system in the Mahoning Valley.
Dennis Spisak Campaign site Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Landfill Gas to Energy: A Growing Alternative Energy Resource
June
9, 2008
Many Americans
are increasingly turning to alternative forms of energy, and one exciting source that has seen recent resurgence in use is
landfill gas. This rise in the use of landfill gas can be attributed to a variety of factors. Higher energy prices make landfill
gas cost-competitive, especially compared to other sources of renewable energy. Second, utilities are looking for new sources
of renewable energy to meet renewable portfolio standards, and landfill gas is especially valuable to them because it provides
base load power. There’s also a real demand from consumers for greener energy and many of them are taking part in voluntary
programs and are willing to pay more for power derived from renewable sources.
What exactly
is landfill gas? Landfill gas is produced when microorganisms break down organic material in the landfill, and is comprised
of approximately 50-60 percent methane and 40-50 percent carbon dioxide. At most landfills in the United States, these greenhouse
gases are simply burned off, or “flared.”
However, Waste
Management (WM) has over 100 sites that have landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) facilities – and they plan to build another
60 plants by 2012 - that collect methane and use it to fuel onsite engines or turbines, generating electricity to power surrounding
homes and neighborhoods. By building LFGTE facilities, WM further reduces greenhouse gases by offsetting the use of fossil
fuel at the utility power plants.
According to
EPA data, there are currently 425 landfills with LFGTE projects in the U.S. that power more than 1 million homes. They estimate
that there are about 570 landfills that have the potential to develop LFGTE projects in the future, more than doubling the
current amount of energy produced from 1,180 megawatts to more than 2,500 megawatts. Hence, there is a large supply of renewable
energy across the country, literally at our doorstep.
For the landfills
that Waste Management operates, they expect viable gas streams to run for up to 20 years. With evolving technology and increasing
extraction efficiencies, we may be able to extend the lives of our facilities beyond that. The EPA requires landfill operators
to collect the methane produced on site, so where it is not being used for energy production it is, and will be, flared to
prevent the release of greenhouse gas. WM is currently exploring alternative ways of using landfill gas at sites where it
is not practical or the best use to install an LFGTE plant, including a new project to convert landfill gas to liquefied natural
gas (LNG).
Waste Management
along with Linde, a leading global gases and engineering company, are building a landfill gas to LNG facility, which will
covert landfill gas into clean vehicle fuel. This will be the largest plant of its kind in the world and we hope to break
new ground by producing commercial quantities. The facility will purify and liquefy the landfill gas Waste Management collects
from the natural decomposition of organic waste in the landfill. When the facility begins operating in 2009 it is expected
to produce up to 13,000 gallons a day of LNG and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30,000 tons per year. The
project offers a unique opportunity to “close the loop” by fueling hundreds of collection trucks with clean fuel
produced from garbage.
This project
has the potential to allow WM to tap into a valuable source of clean energy while greatly reducing our dependence on fossil
fuels.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate
for the 60th
district,
I will work everyday to bring renewable
energy manufacturing back to the valley
to help our poor, working, and middle class.
Dennis
Spisak- Independent Green Party Candidate- web site Http://votespisak.tripod.com Visit our links
to Progressive Job Programs
Green Renewable Energy Jobs Will Save the Mahoning Valley
June 7, 2008
Job Opportunities
for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments is a new report from the Political
Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Since I have started my campaign as the Independent
Green Party Candidate for the 60th district, I have stated my number one mission when elected to Columbus will be to bring
renewable energy manufacturing jobs to the 60th district to help our poor, working, and middle class of the valley.
How
can renewable energy jobs help our valley? Train operators who currently deliver furniture may one day deliver wind
turbine component parts, meaning that their work will be contributing to building a green economy, and that a green economy
is creating new employment in rail transportation.
By examining the number of people who are employed in each of the
occupations that will be affected by these six green economy strategies, and the average wages in each state for each of these
job types, it becomes clear that millions of U.S. workers, across a wide range of occupations, states, and income levels,
will all benefit from defeating global warming and transforming the United States into a green economy.
A push to dramatically
increase America's clean-energy supply will mean increased demand for these workers, and rising demand could also lead to
rising wages.
Solving global warming will require all kinds of workers with a wide range of skills. Tens of thousands
of Ohioans have good-paying job skills2 that are representative of a broad range of skills needed to build clean energy solutions:
Carpenters
will be needed to make buildings more energy efficient. There are nearly 30,000 carpenters in Ohio, paid an average of over
$17 per hour.
Electricians are essential to expanding mass transit solutions. There are nearly 26,000 electricians
in Ohio, paid an average of over $22 per hour.
Operations managers are needed to manufacture of energy-efficient
automobiles. There are over 47,000 operations managers in Ohio, paid an average of over $41 per hour.
Machinists
craft essential components for wind power. There are nearly 30,000 machinists in Ohio, paid an average of over $16 per hour.
Welders
are vital to solar power manufacturing. There are nearly 16,000 welders in Ohio, paid an average of over $15 per hour.
Industrial
truck drivers transport supplies and fuels for the cellulosic biofuels sector. There are nearly 31,000 industrial truck drivers
in Ohio, paid an average of nearly $14 per hour.
While current State Representative Bob Hagan is trying to pass bills
to stop puppy mills in Ohio, we need a new state representative who will spend time bringing renewable energy jobs to the
valley and Ohio.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
NEW REPORT: JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE GREEN ECONOMY IN OHIO
June 6, 2008 Job Opportunities
for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments is a new report from the Political
Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The report examines 12 states and the people employed in
occupations affected by six green economic strategies: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles,
wind power, solar power and cellulosic biofuels. It also looks at what the average wages are in each state for these jobs.
Job Opportunities for the Green Economy makes clear that millions of U.S. workers—across a wide range of occupations,
states, and income and skill levels—will benefit from a movement to defeat global warming and transform the United States
into a green economy. Job Opportunities in a Green Economy: Ohio Can Gain from Fighting Global Warming:Curbing
global warming is the work of a generation; specifically, the work of millions of people, performing the jobs needed to
build the green economy. Clean energy investments will create opportunities for welders, sheet metal workers, machinists,
truck drivers, and others. In Ohio, there are more than 551,000 jobs in a representative group of job areas that could
see job growth or wage increases by putting global warming solutions to work. And the benefits of those new jobs would
spread to a much wider swath of the economy. Clean-Energy Strategies Can Generate Job GrowthA new
study by economists at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst examines
the types of jobs that are needed to create a clean-energy economy and pinpoints six specific energy strategies that reduce
pollution and can lead to job growth: Building retrofitting Mass transit Energy-efficient automobiles Wind power Solar
power Cellulosic biofuels New jobs will certainly be needed for building a green economy, but the vast majority
of jobs associated with these six green strategies are in the same areas of employment that people already work in today,
in every region and state of the country. For example, constructing wind farms creates jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists,
and truck drivers, among many others. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting relies, among others,
on roofers, insulators, and building inspectors. Expanding mass transit systems employs civil engineers, electricians, and
dispatchers. What makes these entirely familiar occupations “green jobs” is that the people working in them are
contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative of Ohio, I will work to bring these types of jobs back to the valley to help our poor, working, and middle
class. Dennis Spisak- Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative- 60th
District
Campaign
Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our links to progressive job programs
Support the SINGLE-PAYER solution -- Vote Green! How to solve the US health crisis by enacting
a Single-Payer National Health PlanJune 5, 2008 Dennis Spisak, Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th District (campaign site Http://votespisak.tripod.com and the U.S. and Ohio Green Party a single-payer health plan.A Single-Payer National Health Plan (also called
Medicare For All-In Ohio, the state plan is Health Care for All Ohioans Act)) will provide guaranteed quality health care
to all Americans, regardless of employment status, income, residence, ability to pay, age, or prior medical condition.
Single-Payer will also allow full choice of medical provider. Single-Payer payer will be less expensive
for working Americans and for business, because we won't have to pay for HMO-insurance company profits, big CEO salaries and
bonuses, and administrative waste. Single-Payer makes it easier for your doctor to get paid, and
it doesn't require your boss to provide health coverage. Single Payer is an investment in preventive
medicine -- it creates an incentive for keeping Americans healthy! The GREEN PARTY is the only national US party that
supports Single-Payer. The Green Party and Green candidates don't take contributions from HMOs, insurance companies, or any
other corporations. If you want Single-Payer, help elect Greens to Congress and to your state legislature! Support Green presidential
candidates! When Democrats and Republicans have to compete with Greens in elections and work with Greens in public office,
they'll be more likely to support Single-Payer. Millions of Americans have seen 'Sicko'. Nearly everyone has a horror
story about trying to get health care, or knows someone with a horror story: denial of treatment, lack of coverage, HMO and
insurance bureaucracy and paperwork, huge fees, loss of life savings because of illness or injury. As 'Sicko' shows, corporate
HMOs and insurance companies make their profits by denying and restricting health care to people who already have coverage,
and by refusing to cover people who need health care the most. We're paying for health care, but we're not getting it! 80
cents of every health care dollar pays for private health insurance profits, paperwork, and bureaucracy. (Cost of Medicare
administration: 3%. Cost of private insurance administration: 30%) That's why more and more physicians and employers are endorsing
Single-Payer. Don't believe the lies! HMO and insurance lobbies are in a panic over 'Sicko' and are trying to discredit
Single-Payer. They're dumping millions into ads and campaign contributions to make sure that the media don't discuss Single-Payer
and politicians don't support it. That's why nearly all Democratic and Republican candidates for President favor plans that
leave corporate HMOs and insurance firms in charge of our health care! (Hillary Clinton is one of the top recipients of HMO-insurance
lobby money.) Real reform means eliminating the health insurance racket, not expanding it as the Democratic candidates
propose. Beware of phony 'universal health care' plans! The US has some of the best health care technology... and some of
the worst access to health care in the world. Every other western nation has a national health care system. Why can't
the US? Accept the only real solution to the health care crisis -- Single-Payer / Medicare For All! What
would happen if our Fire Departments were privatized and run like our Health Care system? If your house catches
fire, you wouldn't call 911 for the nearest neighborhood Fire Department. You'd call whatever Fire Department is in your insurance
plan -- even if it's across town or miles away. You might have to call your 'Fire Insurance Company' or 'Fire Management Organization'
for approval. Depending on your coverage, the Fire Department might tell you they can only fight the
fire in your living room and bedroom, but not the kitchen or the garage... unless you pay an additional out-of-pocket fee. Your
insurance company might tell you that, even though your house is on fire, they won't pay for the Fire Department to put it
out, because your house had a 'prior condition.' If you don't have coverage, the Fire Department
will only come if you pay an expensive fee. Many uninsured people would try to put out the fire themselves, or just let their
house burn. Fires would then spread to other houses in the neighborhood. Democratic and Republican
politicians would tell you that we can't have Fire Departments that are publicly owned and paid for with our tax dollars,
even though it would be cheaper and would save lives and property... because that would be 'socialism'! Insurance companies
would spend millions of dollars on ads and political contributions to make sure that Fire Departments remain under the control
of insurance companies. Insurance company profits would be more important than the lives and property lost because of
fires. Americans would never tolerate Fire Departments that were under the control of insurance corporations! Why do we tolerate
our current corporate-controlled health care system? Demand Single-Payer / Medicare For All! Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Rep-60th district http://votespisak.tripod.comsee our links to Better Health Care! 
Indiana Jumps on Wind Energy Bandwagon, Why Not Ohio?
June 4, 2008 Indiana is learning
from its fellow “I” state to the west — Illinois — that there are big money and green jobs in wind
energy. The Windiana 2008 conference will be held in Indianapolis June 17th and 18th. Said Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, in
an article in Inside Indiana Business: “Indiana is on the verge of explosive growth in wind energy…. There
is not one single energy issue or technology that has fostered more interest and discussion among Hoosiers. As these turbines
begin sprouting on Indiana farmland there is a huge appetite for information about them, which is why we're bringing all these
people together.” The conference has been put together partly by the Indiana Wind Working Group, among other
entities. Along with the Indiana Renewable Energy Association, they are advocating what has worked to build renewables in
other states: a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). RPS’s assure investment in renewable technologies by requiring that
a state have a certain portion of its energy generated by renewable sources. Given the need for jobs in Indiana and the potential
for wind in the state, we can expect more support for a state RPS going forward. Here we see another state moving ahead
of Ohio in developing wind energy that will not only produce energy but will add blue and white collar jobs to
the Hoosier state. According to an analysis by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, Mahoning County could expect to
bring in $93 million dollars in investments and over 593 jobs. Why Not Mahoning County, If not now, when? Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comCheck our links to renewable energy programs
Bob Hagan: On Education Funding: No Action, No Solutions, But Only Adds To The Problem
June 3,
2008 In the Youngstown Vindicator's Voters Guide from November 2006, Bob Hagan was asked the following question regarding
education: VOTER INFORMATION GUIDE 2006 Join the League in Supporting Positive Campaigning! Ohio House of
Representatives Question: What role does the legislature play in protecting the access of every child in Ohio to a
quality public education? 60th District Robert F. Hagan (D) 562 Madera Ave. Youngstown, OH 44504 Age: 57 Education:
Ursuline High School Occupation: Locomotive Engineer/State Senator Qualifications for Office: Served in the Legislature
for 20 years/Raising 5 kids Answer: The Ohio Constitution is clear on what responsibility the legislature has to
provide a fair and equitable education for all the 1.3 million children. I signed a friend of the court document on
supporting the 550 school districts that sued the state of Ohio for its failure to provide the fair and accessible
education for this state. What has Bob Hagan done since then? Nothing. Bob's Democratic Governor Ted Strickland
in 2007 recognized a number of problems with the current system of funding primary and secondary education, including: •
The rules of property taxation, the way state funding mechanisms work, and the assumptions made about growth in local resources
do not provide much stability or assurances about inflationary cost growth; • The complexity of property tax
laws and the difficulties in passing levies suggest that greater reliance on sales or income taxes to support schools is preferable
but might lead to a greater erosion of local control; • There is no Right state/local mix of revenues that characterizes
good school funding systems; however, by increasing the state share, there would be greater resource equalization, since state
distribution mechanisms are designed to give more money to the poorest districts; • State taxes must be raised
by more than the amount required to offset property tax reductions in order to result in an actual increase in available funding
for schools; • It is easy, but not correct, to conclude that, by simply adding additional financial resources,
better student results will be achieved; how money is used must also be addressed; bad instruction, regardless of how much
is spent on it, does not lead to improved results; • The rules of property taxation in Ohio, and its complexities,
is a major contributor to the school funding problem; • Budgeting for education has resulted in a patchwork
quilt of restrictive and prescriptive grant programs that force districts to operate in certain ways simply in order to meet
grant criteria; and • How effectively dollars are spent in the interest of student achievement is difficult
to measure. Little was done with the report by the governor or the legislature. What can we expect
from Bob Hagan and the Democrats if they are reelected?What is clear from all past efforts at education reform,”
is that the state will be asked to make an additional commitment of resources. This time, it is likely that school accountability
will be required as the cost of increased state support, whatever form it takes. From a purely budgetary standpoint,
the big question is the source of any additional funding. The state's current budget is still out of whack.” The next
budget promises to be even more difficult and the state has already made commitments for the use of new money that it will
not have absent a significant tax increase. And tax increases seem to be the name of the game when it comes to educational
reform.” As suggested in the April issue of State Budgeting Matters, a substantial state tax increase would be a very
likely source of funding for all these new initiatives. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative
for the 60th District, I will work to see that funding for education is fair and equal. I would: support Senator Scouring's
Education Funding Proposal that would Establish an independent budget and dedicated revenues to fund it to ensure that there
is structural integrity in school funding and give the people of Ohio the confidence of knowing that their education tax dollars
are indeed being spent on nothing else but education. It also will provide a steady and reliable source of revenue to fund
education. Between 1986 and 2006 Ohio's income tax collections have grown by over 200% and sales tax collections have grown
by over 300%. Future collections will increase the state share of funding and reduce the share from local school districts.
Therefore, it will also reduce the reliance on local property taxes and the constant need to go to the ballot. That concept
paper has the support of the following organizations: the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Farm Bureau, the Buckeye Association
of School Administrators (BASA), the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO), the Ohio School Boards Association
(OSBA), and the Ohio Education Association (OEA). Always Remember, Bob Hagan has been all talk and no action in
the state legislature for the past 20 years.Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
District Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comCheck out our links page to school funding
Why we need the Health Care For All Ohioans Act
June 2, 2008
In the state of Ohio alone, more than 1.4 million people were uninsured in 2005.i Some seem
to believe that the uninsured are lazy and would rather not work. Others believe that people are uninsured because they would
rather use their money to pay for other items. According to a June 2004 report from Families USA, four out of five persons
without health insurance are employed or belong to a family in which at least one adult is working. In fact there are many
reasons that people go without health insurance. Often, these reasons are not the fault of the individual. For instance, people
are not always able to afford coverage that is offered by an employer or their employer cannot afford to offer health coverage
to their employees. Also, some people have lost their jobs or earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford
private insurance. We Are the Uninsured aims to bust the negative myths that are associated with being uninsured, and advocate
that Health Care is a right, not a privilege.
Uninsured people rarely receive health care when they need it and approximately
half of all uninsured adults with chronic conditions (such as diabetes or asthma) go without the medical care or medication
they need because they cannot afford the cost. Uninsured adults are also 3 to 4 times more likely to go without health care
services like breast cancer or high blood pressure screening. Each year in the United States the deaths of 18,000 people can
be linked to the fact that they did not have health insurance.
When a person's health becomes so bad that they can no longer delay seeing a doctor, who pays for their
care? The person pays what they can out of their own pocket. The hospital or clinic also pays by absorbing the cost that a
patient cannot pay. This can be done by offering patients care at a reduced cost, or by writing off the payments that are
not collected. The state government also has some monies to pay for the health care of the uninsured, yet this is a very small
amount compared to the cost of care. These state monies are partially funded by taxpayers. Society pays in other ways as well.
Preventative care would allow an individual the chance to maintain a healthy lifestyle, avoiding lengthy hospital stays or
worse.
Uninsured adults are four times more likely to use emergency rooms as their regular source of care -
the most expensive setting. Part of the cost for this care is shifted to those with insurance, in the form of higher insurance
premiums. The rest is absorbed by the clinic or hospital - limiting health care services for everyone.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, I
support passage of the Health Care for All Ohioans Act. When elected to the State
House, I will work with Green Party State Senator Tim Kettler to pass The Health Care for All Ohioans Act that covers every Ohioan
for any necessary procedure their doctor orders without exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site:
Http://votespisak.tripod.com Visit our link to the
Health Care for All Ohioans Act!
Youngstown Citywide Cleanup
Saturday, May 31
8:30 a.m. - Meet at the Chevrolet Center, 229
East Front Street.
Trash bags and gloves will be distributed.
9:00 a.m. - Citizens will go to neighborhoods to clean
along the
roadways.
The Mahoning Valley Green Party will be participating!
Green Jobs Can Provide Careers and Education to Mahoning County's Most Disadvantaged Communities
May
29, 2008 All across the nation, progressive liberal candidates are calling on state legislatures to invest in bills
and programs that would create jobs in clean energy industries and provide pathways for green career and education for the
most disadvantaged communities in many states. Progressive State Representatives all across America are saying it's
time NOW to create green-collar jobs that fight both poverty and pollution. Progressive State Representatives
all across America all calling for states to create a Green-Collar Jobs Council and invests in green job training programs
for at-risk youth and adults with barriers to employment. Progressive State Representatives all across America are
calling for “Green Jobs Not Jails.” In California, the 'Green Jobs/Career Tech Education Bond' will
create a 2.25 billion dollar fund to provide grants and loans to state, regional, and local partnerships for career technical
education and job training; to support green business growth and job creation; to create meaningful employment and green pathways
out of poverty; and to promote high school completion. The fund has the capacity to stimulate the state and regional economies,
creating clean, green jobs for Californians who live in low-income and polluted communities. SB 1672 will create many
benefits for California's communities, environment, and economy by: : Fighting global warming and pollution by growing
the green, clean economy; : Stimulating the green economy and create jobs; : Helping people lift themselves
out of poverty through green-collar career opportunities; : Promoting high school graduation. SB 1672 is a
powerful statement about the values of the people of California, and a critically needed investment in our future that protects
our environment and empowers low-income Californians with the education to training they'll need to succeed in the growing
green economy. As the Progressive State Representative Independent Candidate of the Green Party for the 60th District
seat, I will work everyday in Columbus to see that we can bring such jobs and programs to the Machining Valley. While
current State Rep Bob Hagan collects over 100 donations from lobbyists, corporate PACS, a $10,000 Donation from “Corrupt”
Marc Dann, and $2,500 from John Carfaro, I will spend my time working to bring green manufacturing jobs to the poor, working,
and middle class citizens of the 60th district. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
District Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comCheck out our links page on progressive renewable job programs for the 60th district
U.S. & Ohio Missing Opportunity to Recycle Vast Amounts of Energy
May 28, 2008 Last
Wednesday an event on Green Technology sponsored by the Midwest Council of the American Electronics Association, Vincent Albanese,
SVP of Air Pollution Control at Fuel Tech, a company that produces air pollution control devices for large power generators
and heavy industry, shared some startling information and insight: · Congress
is missing opportunities to save energy because of its narrow focus on achieving carbon-emission goals thirty years in the
future. · Older manufacturing companies have no incentive
to clean up their plants because the EPA’s New Source Review rule requires that with any physical changes made, companies
have to add all new technology. New source review sounds good to us environmentalists, but in practice it makes rust
belt companies avoid upgrades in their current operations that would save vast amounts of energy, because of the expense involved
in completely revamping their entire operations. The next day NPR aired a story on waste heat capture. ArcolorMittal,
a European-based steel company with a plant in East Chicago, Indiana, has placed boilers above its coke ovens to capture the
intense heat generated by them — heat which used to be entirely lost. The heat is used to generate steam which turns
turbines that create electricity. Further, the NPR story quotes Tom Riley, ArcelorMittal’s manager of utilities: “‘We
can produce almost a hundred megawatts of electrical generation out of the steam that’s produced off the waste heat
that we’re capturing here today.’ That's enough electricity to power more than 60,000 homes, according to Department
of Energy Statistics. Recent EPA and DOE studies suggest U.S. industries waste enough heat to generate an estimated 200,000
megawatts of power — nearly 20 percent of what this nation uses. That's enough electricity to replace up to 400 coalfield
power plants.” In this, as in so many areas, we are behind our friends in Europe and Japan. According to NPR,
Denmark generates nearly 55 percent of its electricity through heat recovery; in the Netherlands and Finland the figure is
nearly 40 percent, and in Germany 35 percent. In the U.S. figure is only 8 percent. according to the Department of Energy.
While we are pressuring Congress for laws providing incentives for renewable energy, let's not forget the impact of waste
heat recycling, and the legislation that needs to occur to make it more widespread. As the Independent Green Party
Candidate for State Representative, we have to begin exploring all options to recycle our vast amounts of energy resources.
We need state representatives to work on these problems instead of collecting lobbyists and PAC contributions like Bob Hagan
did last year and then proceeded to do nothing to help save energy costs for the consumers of the 60th District. Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our links to Progressive Energy programs
Green-Collar Jobs: the Future of the Mahoning Valley and AmericaMay 27, 2008 When
people talk about green-collar jobs, two questions always pop up. What is it? And how many are there? The first is easy to
answer. You'd think there'd be an easy answer for the second question, too. But there isn't.” Green, defines the term
this way: A job qualifies as green-collar if it provides high enough wages and good benefits to support a family, opportunity
to advance and build a career, and reduces waste, pollution, and other environmental risks. The Apollo Alliance also
describes a green-collar job as doing the sort of high wage skilled work that can't be outsourced. Among the green-collar
jobs that are gaining in number and popularity are machinists, technicians, service workers, equipment and installation specialists,
construction workers, and managers of all kinds. Do we know how many green-collar jobs there are? Not exactly. First,
everyone calculates these numbers differently. Some people include indirect jobs and induced jobs. Others only include direct
jobs. Should jobs that would be created anyway be included or only new jobs? Second, data isn't systematically collected
at any kind of macro-level. The government group that assigns industry codes hasn't gotten around to assigning a code to various
clean energy industries such as solar or wind. And some industries such as parts manufacturers make parts that are used in
both ‘green’ and ‘non-green’ jobs. Because the ‘green’ industry is relatively
new, most data are either estimates or anecdotal. What follows is a summary of what we do know by Heidi Pickman, Apollo
News Service. The information you’ll find below includes national job numbers, energy jobs broken down by sector, jobs
in energy efficiency, construction jobs, and transportation jobs. Check back with us, too. We are busy conducting
research and will periodically update this work. National Numbers1. A $300 billion investment
in America’s economic and energy future over 10 years would produce 3.3 million jobs and a $1.43 trillion gain in GDP.
2. 932,000 of the jobs are in energy diversity. 3. 900,000 jobs in industries of
the future -- hybrid cars, energy efficient appliances. 4. 827,000 in high performance buildings 5. 679,000
in infrastructure investment Source: Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy for America Energy efficiency
is more labor intensive than energy generation and thus creates more jobs. Example: For every $1 million invested 21.5 jobs
are created by pursuing energy efficiency compared to 11.5 jobs for new natural gas generation. Source: Apollo Alliance,
2004 published report, New Energy for America Renewable energy creates four times as many jobs per megawatt of installed
capacity as natural gas. Source: Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy for America Renewable energy
creates 40% more jobs per dollar invested than coal fired plants. Source: Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy
for America A national Renewable Portfolio Standard of 20% by 2020 would create 185,000 new jobs from renewable energy
development. Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, July 2007 If automakers are required to have a fleet-wide average
of 35mpg by 2018, car manufacturers wouldn’t lose jobs, they’d gain 23,900 jobs, and nationwide there’d
be an increase of a total of 241,000 jobs by 2020. Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, June 2007 Wind70,000
megawatts of wind power will be put online worldwide over the next decade, representing $75 billion worth of investments. Source:
Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy for America Edward Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania, announced
in March 2008 that the alternative and renewable energy sectors created 3,000 new good-paying, skilled jobs and funded $1
billion in private investment. He also noted that his state’s unemployment rate has been below the national average
in each of the last 13 consecutive months. Source: State of Pennsylvania Denmark’s wind energy sector created
over 20,000 jobs and supplied 20% of their electricity in 2004. Source: Danish Wind Energy Association, 2004 Spain’s
wind industry employs about 35,000 people. Source: European Wind Energy Association The U.S. has 18,000 megawatts
of installed wind energy capacity. In 2006, the wind industry created 16,000 direct jobs. Source: American Wind Energy
Association, March 2007 The Renewable Energy Policy Project predicts that 50,000 megawatts of added wind capacity
across 25 states will generate well over 100,000 jobs in manufacturing generators, rotors, towers and other turbine components. Source:
Renewable Energy Policy Project, 2004 An old freight car plant in Clinton, Illinois shut down in 2002, and was converted
to produce wind towers for Trinity Industries, a Texas company. The plant now employs 140 people. Source: U.S. Department
of Energy 2007 The Spanish wind developer Gamesa built its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Ebenburg, Pennsylvania
that now has 276 well paid unionized employees. Source: Apollo Alliance In Iowa, 1,800 jobs are connected with
wind energy, according to the Iowa Department of Economic Development. That number keeps going up. GE Energy announced in
November 2007 that a new wind turbine blade factory would employ 5,000 people in Newton, Iowa. Source: Businesswire SolarCalifornia’s
Million Solar Roof Initiative will create 15,000 new jobs. Source: Environment California Research and Policy Institute,
March 2007 Texas can add 123,000 new high-wage jobs by 2020 if they aggressively move toward solar power. Source:
IC2 Institute at the University of Texas, June 2007 The solar energy industry employed over 20,000 people in 2001.
That number is expected to increase 7.5 times -- to 150,000-- by 2026. Source: United States Photovoltaic Industry, May
2001 Solar Richmond provides low cost and free solar system installation to low-income homeowners and trains low-income
residents from the community to do the work. As of December 2007, a total of 32 Richmond residents completed the training
program. All of them received interviews with companies within several weeks of graduation and all but five program graduates
had been hired by local solar and construction firms. Source: Apollo Alliance case study Chicago attracted two
solar power manufacturers to the city by committing to purchasing solar panels. As a result, Chicago has over 2 megawatts
of solar generating capacity, more than any U.S. city outside of the Southwest. According to Sadhu Johnston, Chief Environmental
Officer for the City of Chicago, the implementation of the city's comprehensive climate action plan could add 5,000 to 10,000
jobs annually in construction, weatherization, engineering, auditing, and other areas. Source: Apollo Alliance case study
Bio-fuelsThree hundred union tradesmen built the Imperium bio-fuel plant in Grays Harbor, Washington.
The plant employs 60 well-paid people. The Port of Grays Harbor conducted an economic analysis that found 350 indirect jobs
are created as a result of the Imperium plant. Source: Apollo’s Fire, Apollo Alliance, 2008 Ethanol production
created 5,300 jobs in Minnesota, 5,200 jobs in Iowa, and 3,000 jobs in Nebraska. Source: Renewable Fuels Association, February
2007 Other SectorsThe clean energy sector in Massachusetts provides over 14,000 jobs and will soon
be the 10th largest sector in the state. Source: Renewable Energy Trust, August 2007 California’s Renewable
Portfolio Standard goal of 20% by 2017 has been pushed up to 2010. Environment California predicts that by meeting the goal,
119,000 person-years of employment will be created at an average salary of $40,000. Source: Environment California Research
and Policy Institute, July 2003 The Geothermal Energy Association reported 4,600 direct jobs in 2004 with an average
salary of $40,000-50,000. http://www.geo-energy.org/aboutGE/employment.aspCalifornia firms are hiring: 1. Solarcity of Foster City, CA, which manufactures and installs
solar energy systems, plans on adding 200 workers in the next two years. 2. Borrego Solar doubled revenue
in 2007 and grew its staff 70 to 120 people. They expect to double again in 2008. 3. Bio-diesel manufacturer
Blue Sky Bio-Fuels hopes to hire 24 people in the next year. 4. PG&E expects to need about 1,000
new workers in the next five years as it changes its electricity generation from mainly natural gas and coal-powered plants
to include more wind energy, solar, hydroelectric and thermal power. Source: Oakland Tribune, April 20, 2008 If
California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which requires California to reduce carbon emissions 25 percent by
the year 2020, were adopted nationally, 241,000 jobs would be created Source: Daniel Kammen of the Energy and Resources
Public Policy Program at the University of California, Berkeley The agency responsible for efficiency programs in
New York, NYSERDA, estimates that for every gigawattt/ hour they save, the agency’s programs create or retain 1.5 jobs. Source:
Center of Wisconsin Strategy The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy predicts 14,000 new jobs by 2023
in Florida jobs if the state implements a proposed policy plan for expansion of energy efficiency. http://www.aceee.org/pubs/e072.htmFor every $1 million invested in a typical owner-occupied residential efficiency retrofit in Wisconsin, 14 onsite
jobs are created in the community, plus an undetermined number of manufacturing jobs that may be in the community or elsewhere.
Milwaukee estimates it needs $243 million in residential retrofits that equals 3,400 jobs, 20% of which are skilled or supervisory. Source:
Forthcoming study by Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the University of Florida’s Powell Center for Construction and
Environment The Milwaukee Energy Efficiency, or ME2 project aims to retrofit as many of the city’s
residential, commercial, and institutional buildings as possible. The goal is a significant reduction in overall energy use
and corresponding cost savings. ME2 will train and employ Milwaukee residents of underserved communities to do much of the
work, estimated at up to 7,000 person-years for efficiency-measure installation. Source: Center on Wisconsin Strategy
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, It will be my honor and duty
to work with the Ohio Apollo Alliance to bring renewable energy to the Mahoning Valley, and with it, jobs, for the poor, working,
and middle class. It’s important for the next State Representative to worry about where the next renewable manufacturing
job is coming to the area, not where the next lobbyist or corporate PAC donation is coming from like current State Representative
Bob Hagan worries about. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District.
Campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our links page to renewable energy programs and jobs for the Mahoning Valley
The Mahoning Valley Green Party will be marching in the Boardman Memorial Day Parade
on Monday, May 26....
Here are the details:
Parade starts at 10:00 am and goes North on
Market Street from the Center Middle School parking lot to 224 and East on 224 into Boardman Park. We have a Memorial Service
planned at the Maag Theater starting at the conclusion of the parade. There is no fee to enter te parade. Look forward to
seeing you there Monday.
How Ohio Cities Can Help Residents Go Solar
May 24, 2008 According to a recent report
from the blog ECO Localizer, Cities can develop their own renewable energy and energy efficiency finance programs suited to
their residential and commercial needs. For instance, in November 2007, the Berkeley City Council authorized staff to develop
a plan to pay for the installation of solar panels and solar hot water systems for any homeowner or commercial building owner.
Property owners retain ownership of the solar systems, paying back the cost over 20 years through an assessment on the annual
property tax bill. This program entails little risk on the part of the city or the building owner, and overcomes a common
obstacle of a costly up-front investment that may take more years to recoup savings than the owner intends to keep the building.
Once accepted into the program, a property owner would schedule an appointment for a solar installer to determine
the appropriate solar system for the property. The city would pay the homeowner for the system and its installation, minus
any applicable state and federal rebates, and would add a special tax to the property owner's tax bill to pay for the system. The
building owner would immediately begin saving money on electricity bills without incurring the upfront cost of installing
a solar system, and the interest portion of the assessment may be deductible on the owner's federal income tax return. When
the building is sold, the solar array and the tax assessment remain with the property, passing on to the new owner. Berkeley
is working out the legal and financial details and expects to start a pilot plan in 2008. The city is working with banks and
credit unions to provide low interest rate financing. Since the property tax assessment will act as a lien, financiers would
be first in line to collect in the event a property owner defaults. The current plan works best for owner occupied buildings
or buildings where the owner pays utilities. It does not work well for buildings with renters – about 57% of Berkeley's
population, according to the 2000 Census – who pay their own electricity bill. Another option is to work with
redevelopment districts to help finance solar installations and energy efficiency measures. Redevelopment districts spend
local taxes in the same neighborhood where they are collected to meet specific neighborhood goals. One of these goals is keeping
the cost of living affordable for existing residents in the neighborhood. For instance, it can be challenging for low-income
seniors who own their homes to pay higher property taxes if the value of property in the area increases. Decreasing the cost
of utilities through energy efficiency audits, upgrades, and installing solar panels can help keep the cost of living affordable
for low-income residents. The Oakland City Council has already granted funds to the nonprofit Grid Alternatives to install
solar PV panels on several homes – either owned by low income residents or a non-profit – in the one of the city's
redevelopment areas. As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative, I would work with local, state,
and federal officials, companies, and organizations to help bring renewable energy sources to our citizens. By putting more
renewable energy resources into neighborhoods, we could create a market to bring in renewable energy manufacturing companies
to create jobs for the poor, working, and middle class. We can rebuild the Mahoning Valley and 60th District again! Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Simple Solar Power for the Mahoning Valley & Ohio
May 24, 2008 Since I have began
my campaign for state representative for the 60th district, my ideas for bringing renewable energy plans and ideas have caused
other to call me a moron, among other kind words. Now that gas will hit 4 bucks a gallon, the new natural gas budget
plans are going through the roof, and electricity costs will also rise, I know propose the following 'Wacko Green Party Energy
Program" for the Mahoning Valley: There are upwards of 88 million dryers in the U.S. alone, each emitting in excess
of one ton of carbon dioxide per year. More than that, dryers consume approximately 6 percent of the total household electricity
usage, adding up to nearly $100 in energy costs every year for most of us. The solution? Hang your laundry out to dry.
It's cheaper, easier on your clothes (they last longer when they don't get beat up in the dryer) and much easier on the planet,
but it can be harder to do when you don't have lots of room for a big laundry line (or if you live somewhere where your neighbors
don't approve). Hills, an iconic Australian brand that has become synonymous with line drying over the past 50 years,
is bringing their pro-line message to the States, with a clever site called LineDryIt.com. They've got products, facts and
tips and even some celebrity fans to help spread the word. It's all designed to make line-drying easier, more fun, and more
widely accepted in communities around the country. No matter what you need to do to get started, or just get better, LineDryIt
can help. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign site:
http://votespisak.tripod.com
Could WRTA Change to a Light Rail Tramway and be Successful?
May 23, 2008 It's Memorial
Day weekend, 2008. Gas stands at $3.99. The future is pretty clear, there may be no cap for gas prices in the next 3-5 years.
Public Transportation may again become the way many people will begin to commute in the valley. While the WRTA bus levies
fail, could the WRTA switch over to a light rail Tramway and be successful? According to the web site Light Rail Now,
The latest new French light rail tramway opened in the relatively small city of Mulhouse (population about 112,000), located
in the southern region of Alsace – and the public has welcomed it with overwhelming enthusiasm. On 13 May 2006, the
tramway was "previewed" to the Mulhouse public, and on 20 May it was officially opened with a grand ceremony. The new
tramway system –consists initially of two light rail transit (LRT) routes, totaling 12 kilometers (about 7 miles), with
24 station-stops and a fleet of 27 tramcars. Eventually the system will be extended to 19.7 km (12.2 miles), with
38 station-stops, at a total cost about US $442 million); ridership is forecast to reach 87,000 per day. The cost calculates
to about $22 million/km, or about $36 million/mile. Extension of the system will be achieved in stages. In 2009, the
Mulhouse-Kruth Tram-Train will be launched. Then, in 2011, the entire urban system is scheduled for completion. At
the May 13th public "launch" of the tramway, the whole city was engulfed in a splendid festival, with free rides on the trams,
and an array of festivities, including music, dances, special entertainment, and loads of fun. Crowds enthusiastically boarded
the trains for a free chance to experience the new system. At the May 20th official opening, after traveling in an
inaugural railcar from the Soléa depot (carbarn), French president Jacques Chirac, accompanied by Mulhouse mayor Jean-Marie
Bockel and various other dignitaries, hailed the tramway project as "evidence of a dynamic city, a city where respect for
enduring development goes together with determination and progress." The LRT system, locally called the Tram-Train, is
designed to serve Mulhouse urban neighborhoods as well as five other towns (Kingersheim, Wittenheim, illzach, Riedisheim,
and Lutterbach). According to the latest notice from the agency, the tramway will operate from 05:00 to 23:00 daily, with
headways of 6 to 8 minutes. Could a WRTA Light Rail Tramway help create better mass transit for the Mahoning Valley?
Light rail and heavy rail tend to be more cost effective to operate than buses. The investment in a light or heavy rail system
is not only economically efficient in the long term; it also has fewer impacts on the environment than highways. Two rail
tracks have the same holding capacity as 16 lanes of highway. Rail also uses 35% to 40% less energy than cars. As the
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, I would work with the state of Ohio increasing
funding for mass transit in its urban areas. Ohio residents are deprived of a multitude of transportation options. Increasing
state funding for operating and capital costs of mass transit would provide a better opportunity for light rail tramways that
could save WRTA and transportation needs for the poor, working, and middle class. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party
Candidate For State Representative-60th Dsitrict Campaign web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Improving Mass Transit in Mahoning County and Ohio
May 22, 2008 As far back as 2001, the
Sierra Club did a study on An Analysis of Mass Transit Spending in Ohio. Their conclusions were: Light rail
and heavy rail tend to be more cost effective to operate than buses. The investment in a light or heavy rail system is not
only economically efficient in the long term; it also has fewer impacts on the environment than highways. Two rail tracks
have the same holding capacity as 16 lanes of highway. Rail also uses 35% to 40% less energy than cars. The data also
shows that systems with higher ridership rates tend to be more cost effective. As more individuals ride mass transit the service
begins to recover capital and operating costs. However, the same is not true for most highways. As more and more cars fill
up lanes on Interstate 71 in COlumbus it causes a demand for more capacity. Unlike mass transit, those drivers are not directly
paying for a portion of that transportation service. Many other urban transit systems throughout the nation receive
higher percentages of their funds from their state government than Ohio urban transit systems. The state of Ohio only provides
5% and 10% of the total operating and capital funds respectively. Several other cities including Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore,
and Madison receive significantly more money from their respective states than those cities in Ohio.Finally, analysis
of the data affirms that there is a direct correlation between high-density neighborhoods and high ridership. Neighborhoods
with seven units per acre or more enable a transit authority to provide a viable mass transit system. A dense neighborhood
fosters high ridership. Typical suburban neighborhoods that have five units per acre or less will not have a successful mass
transit system because there will be less riders. In these types of low density, single-use neighborhoods, residents are completely
dependent on their automobiles to commute to all locations, near or far. Their recommendations were: The state
of Ohio should increase funding for mass transit in its urban areas. Ohio residents are deprived of a multitude of transportation
options. ODOT continues to build new highways and add more lanes, causing Ohioans to rely almost solely on their automobile.
Increasing state funding for operating and capital costs of mass transit would provide a better opportunity for multi-modalism
including light rail, heavy rail, and enhanced bus services. Cities also need to build neighborhoods that are denser
and transit-oriented, to increase ridership. Neighborhoods that are seven units per acre or more enable higher ridership on
a mass transit system. Transit-oriented development (TOD) refers to moderate to high-density development along a regional
transit system. Most TOD programs are focused around rail transit stations, though the concept can be applied to a bus corridor.
Ideally, TOD consists of housing and complementary retail, office, and public service development. TOD can reduce mobile source
emissions by increasing transit mode share. Dense neighborhoods, like German Village in Columbus, have some of the highest-priced
homes in the region yet continue to offer housing choice for people at varying income levels. Finally, more cities
in Ohio need to explore the merits of building light rail and heavy rail systems. Again, transit authorities in Columbus and
Cincinnati are currently studying the feasibility of light rail service in their respective communities. Support for both
light and heavy rail service in Ohio cities is necessary from public officials and area residents to make these travel modes
a reality. As the independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district, I have to ask my
Democratic and Republican leaders in Columbus if this report has been around since 2001, why has no action been taken on it?
Why is no action being taken on it now as gas hits $3.85 a gallon? Do big oil lobbyists have their hands even
in the pockets of our state house and senate leaders in Columbus? Could not a light rail system benefit the Mahoning
Valley WRTA? Could we not run a rail system from all 4 directions of the county to Youngstown State University to reduce traffic
and pollution on campus? If Bob Hagan is the Progressive Liberal that he claims to be, why hasn't he pushed this issue
while in Columbus since 2001? It's time we send an Independent Green Party Candidate to Columbus to begin to transform
our mass transit system from buses to light rail. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
district Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Feeding the Hungry in the Mahoning Valley
May 21, 2008 The America's Second Harvest Network
produced "Hunger in America 2006 ," a comprehensive profile of the incidence and nature of hunger and food insecurity in the
U.S. Our study provides extensive demographic profiles of emergency food clients at charitable feeding agencies and
comprehensive information on the nature and efficacy of local agencies in meeting the food security needs of clients. The
study is the largest of its kind. More than 52,000 individuals agreed to share their personal stories with us through face-to-face
interviews at charitable emergency hunger-relief agencies like pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. Nearly 31,000
local emergency hunger-relief agencies completed survey questionnaires about their efforts to serve millions of hungry Americans. Who
did we feed in Youngstown? Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley Youngstown, Ohio. Learn more at
http://www.mahoningvalleyseondharvest.com) People Served:Annual estimated number of clients: 43,800 Weekly estimated number of clients: 7,400 Percentage
under 18: 28% Percentage of elderly: 13% Poverty Statistics:Percentage below poverty line in previous month:
68% Percentage who are homeless: 0% Percentage who are food insecure: 74% Percentage who are food insecure with kids:
75% Percentage who are food insecure with hunger: 34% Percentage with hunger with kids: 37% Percentage who receive
Food Stamps: 37% Percentage who received General Assistance, welfare, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
in the past two years: 11.1% Working Poor:Percentage of households with at least one employed adult: 27% Median
monthly income: $950.00 Choices:Percentage who made the choice between food and utilities: 44% Percentage
who made the choice between food and housing: 31% Percentage who made the choice between food and health care: 33% As
the Independent Green Party Candidater for State Representative for the 60th District, it’s time we provide good living
wages jobss to help the poor be able to feed themselves. We need to send a State Representative to Columbus to fight
for new jobs for our poor, working and middle class, not our current State Representative Bob Hagan who collected over 100
donations from lobbyists and Corporation PACS in 2007 alone. Guess how many people Bob Hagan could have fed if he donated
his campaign contributions for lobbyists and PACS in 2007 to Second Harvest Foodbank in 2007? But Bob works hard for his money,
or so he tells us. But we know better. Dennis Spisak- Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district Campaign
web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Could the Mahoning Valley Use 8 Billion Dollars?
May 20, 2008Would the city of Youngstown
like to be handed a check for 8 BILLION DOLLARS?Spanish power company Iberdrola, the world's largest renewable
energy operator, said Sunday it plans to invest eight billion dollars (5.1 billion euros) in the United States between 2008
and 2010. The Bilbao-based firm is aiming to have a 15 percent share of the wind power market in the US by 2010, it
added in a statement. It had a wind power production capacity of 2,400 megawatts in the US at the end of March and it expects
to reach 3,600 megawatts by the end of the year, the statement added. Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan has
said he considers the US as the company's most exciting growth market. The US, which uses roughly one-quarter of the
world's crude oil, is seen as a promising market for renewable energy sources as concerns over climate change and the rising
price of oil boost demand for alternatives to fossil fuels. As the Independent Green Party Candidate, I would work
to bring such renewable energy companies into the 60th district to bring investment, blue-collar jobs, high-tech jobs, and
people back to the Mahoning Valley.
One only has to pull up to a gas station these days to see the that the US is a
very gold mine for renewable energy manufacturing jobs and companies. It's time we had a state representative who has the
drive, desire, and motivation to bring such jobs to our poor, working, and middle class.
These jobs are coming to America.
Why Not Youngstown? And if not now, when?Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
District Campaign web-site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comCheck out our links to renewable energy and progressive jobs programs
OHIO RANKS 40TH IN SCHOOL FINANCE EQUITY,
THANKS TO DO-NOTHING STATE REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS!
May 19, 2008
According to the New America Foundation: Federal Education Budget Project's analysis, Ohio ranks 40th of the
50 states in school finance equity. Ohio has an equity factor of 15.5 percent. That means that in the state of Ohio per pupil
expenditures in school districts vary, on average, by 15.5 percent from the state average. The federal government’s
equity factor is a measure of how much per-pupil expenditures vary across districts within a given state. The U.S. Department
of Education calculates the equity factor for each of the 50 states.
Why does Ohio rank 40th out of 50 states? It’s because State Representatives and State Senators like
Bob Hagan since 1991 have known that the state funding of education has been found unconstitutional yet they continue to sit
and do nothing to fix the problem.
As the independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th district,
I would call on the state leaders to links funds to educational goals. Adequacy is the word used to describe WHAT is needed for a good education. It gets used a
lot in school funding arguments, because what we’re providing has a lot to do with what education will cost. It links
schools’ educational goals to the money or resources needed to actually meet those goals. Adequacy includes the costs
for buildings, employees, equipment and other items schools need in order to meet their educational goals.
The way the current system runs isn’t based on a real understanding of adequacy. It starts with the money
legislators are willing to spend on schools. That money is then divided based on a complicated formula mostly based on local
property tax. The current system doesn’t link school spending to the real needs of students.
When Ohio’s school funding system was ruled unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court, the justices said
that all students in Ohio should have an equal chance at a fair education. Providing adequacy for all students is a fair method
of funding schools and guarantees all students an opportunity for success by meeting their needs, no matter where they live
or their life circumstances. It goes beyond “equity” by recognizing that some children face different challenges
– poverty, limited English, or disabilities – and require extra support to meet educational goals.
Adequacy sets spending floors, not ceilings. It sets a funding base, ensures
additional funds for students based on their special needs, and allows optional local spending. Adequacy doesn’t mean
“mediocre.” It means providing all children an excellent education and an equal chance at successful academic
achievement.
We cannot continue to expect high standards to be met while providing
barely enough money to get by, and no promises of more money in the future. If education is going to remain a priority in
Ohio, then adequacy is not a luxury. It’s necessary. Adequacy is an investment in the state’s future, and it’s
what Ohio students deserve.
Equity is about making sure that everyone has similar opportunities—making
sure that every child has a chance. Some people think that equity means we have to take money away from good schools to balance
it out. Nobody wants an equal chance for a lousy education. We need equity, but we also need adequacy. Focusing on adequacy
means that we look at what ALL children need, and provide that. Equity is important, but it has to be based on what our kids
really need.
Equity is about fairness. Adequacy is about enough. We need both.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
A Renewable Energy Initiative for
the 60th District
May 16, 2008
As the Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th District, I believe it’s time to call for a Renewable Energy initiative
for our valley. Over the past century we have created a world dependent on oil.
There are many ways to create energy. True,
at this time there is nothing to date that equals the power of oil but there are new advancements in solar, wind, and geothermal
technologies that are pushing the envelope on the potential or renewable energy. There will be a solution to the decline of
oil only when state legislative leaders like myself and the general public make the decision to be part of the solution.
I am proposing that the 60th
district organize a renewable energy initiative to encourage energy conservation, energy efficiency practices, and to promote
the use of renewable energy in homes businesses, and industry.
My initiative would have four goals:
- Reduce barriers to the use of renewable energy by providing education and assistance to help citizens plan their energy
futures.
- Reduce the costs of renewable energy and energy efficiency products by negotiating with manufacturers, retailers, and
trades people.
- Reduce the installation costs of renewable energy by using a neighbor helping neighbor approach and by participating
with local trades people.
- Help citizens practice energy conservation by forming an energy assessment and action planning process.
As an Independent Green Party Candidate,
I can work to help to bring renewable energy to the valley because I will not accept lobbyists or corporate PACS from the
oil industry like current State Representative Bob Hagan does.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative-60th District
Campaign web-site: Http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
May 15, 2008
In today's Youngstown Vindicator, State Representative Bob Hagan, the LAST Mahoning County State Official to call for
Marc Dann's Resignation said quote: "I think that what happened today is something we Democrats have talked about a
long time and that is weeding out the culture of corruption whether it's in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party." My
question still remains is when will Bob Hagan make a public statement that he is returning Marc Dann's $10,000 campaign
contribution to the Friends of Bob Hagan Committee that was received on 11/11/2007? It's one thing to talk about corruption,
it's another thing to keep a $10,000 campaign contribution from a "Corrupt" Democratic Party official. Actions do speak
louder than words, Bob. It still seems you will keep corrupt money in your war chest. How ethical is that? How ethical
are you? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign site:
http://votespisak.tripod.com
Does the “Progressive Liberal” of the House Really Support Ohio Healthy Families?
May 14,
2008
Last week after over 287,000 Ohioans signed petitions to get the Ohio Healthy Families Act to the State
Legislature, after 120 days the Legislature failed to act upon the bill and it died without action being taken. Now a new
petition drive is underway to collect tens of thousands of signatures to get this bill on the November Ballot. After
120 days of no action in the legislature, you would think, Bob Hagan, The Progressive Liberal, The working man and working
families state legislature, would have spoken out on this issue loud and often. But Bob Hagan didn't. Bob Hagan said nothing. Bob
Hagan never raised his voice in protest over the fact that state leaders were letting this bill; signed by over 287,000 Ohio
citizens, die without even a discussion being heard on the floor or in committee in Columbus. So Bob Hagan, the Progressive
Liberal for the 60th District, spoke not a word, and this is what Bob Hagan failed to speak up on and help poor, working,
and middle class Ohioans. The Ohio Healthy Families Act is a proposed new state law that would make our state one of
the most family-friendly in the nation. The Act would require businesses with 25 or more workers to allow full-time employees
to earn 7 paid sick days per year. Part-time workers could earn a smaller, pro-rated number of paid sick days depending on
the number of hours they work. When you look at the facts, you can see it makes good sense to allow more Ohio workers
to earn paid sick days for their families. But Bob Hagan refused to make any noise to help Ohio Workers! Today's
Key Facts: FACT: 2.2 million Ohio workers are not able to take a paid sick day when they are ill. (Source: U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics) FACT: Over 670,000 Ohioans with significant interaction with the public do not have paid sick days. (Source:
Policy Matters Ohio) FACT: Over 330,000 Ohioans who work in Accommodation and Food Service do not have paid sick days. (Source:
Institute for Women’s Policy Research) FACT: 389,000 manufacturing employees in Ohio do not have the ability
to take care of themselves when they are sick. (Source: Policy Matters Ohio) FACT: 337,000 Ohioans working in Retail
Trade cannot take a paid sick day to get better. (Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research) FACT: Every Federal
and State employee has paid sick days in the state of Ohio. 42 percent of workers in Ohio do not. (Source: Institute for
Women’s Policy Research) FACT: 79 percent of all Ohio employees earning less than $9.23 an hour do not have the ability
to take care of their ill family members. (Source: Policy Matters Ohio) FACT: 53.7 percent of all workers with paid
sick days do not miss a single day of work. (Source: IWPR’s analysis of the 2004 National Health Interview Survey) FACT:
Over 3.5 million Ohioans do not have the ability to stay home and take care of their ailing child. (Source: Institute for
Women’s Policy Research) FACT: Ohio employers save $1.25 per employee every week when offering paid sick days. (Source:
Institute for Women’s Policy Research) FACT: Pediatricians recommend that babies and children see the pediatrician
6-8 times in the first year, twice in the second year, and once a year thereafter. (Source: Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric
Dentistry) FACT: Adults need semi-annual dental appointments and annual or biannual physicals for cancer and diabetes screening,
cardiovascular fitness assessment, flu shots, and to receive information about nutrition, exercise, alcohol and tobacco use,
and other aspects of healthy living. (Source: Unity Health Care) FACT: Only 33 percent of workers nationally have a
sick days policy that officially covers doctors visits. (Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research) FACT:
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that patients do not return to work until they are completely recovered
from the flu. (Source: CDC) FACT: The flu accounts for 10 to 12 percent of illness-related work absences. (Source:
Institute for Women’s Policy Research) As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for
the 60th District, I would have fought to get this bill heard or made enough noise to let the public know the state powers
to be who could have acted on this bill who were being paid to keep quiet by lobbyists and corporation PACS. I guess
Bob Hagan was one of these state leaders who decided to remain silent on the sidelines. And Bob Hagan is the Progressive Liberal
of the 60 th District? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60 th District Campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our site to read more on the Ohio Healthy Families Act
Bob Hagan Supports Marc Dann...(must have something to do with $10,000)
May 14, 2008
I guess Bob Hagan voted no on the impeachment of Marc Dann because Marc Dann gave the Hagan political campaign fund $10,000
dollars last November. Bob Hagan has shown his true colors with this vote. His vote in favor of Marc Dann means Mr.
Hagan supports unethical practices in Columbus, cover-ups, sex scandals, etc. And we want Bob Hagan to continue to
represent the 60th district? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Why the Valley Lags Behind the Times
Posted by: Dspisak (IP Logged)
Date: May 10, 2008 09:51AM
Why does the Mahoning Valley seem like it lags 50 years behing the rest of the country and state?
I
t's because we continue to re-elect the same old tired politicians to Columbus. Term-limits
were to bring new blood into government....instead all we did what allow our old blood politicians to play musicial chairs
with legistlative jobs.
Mr. Gerberry got term-limited out....Mr. Carano took a government position, Mr. Gerberry went
back to Columbus as state rep to replace Mr. Carano.
Now that Mr. Boccheri looks like he will be the next congressman
of Stark County, Mr. Gerberry has already been mentioned as to appointed back to the Ohio Senate. As so it goes.
We
don't want to support WRTA because people believe they don't need to use the bus and don't want the poor or possible gang
members to use the system to get to our retail centers on 224 or Mahoning Ave.
Now as we see the city of Youngstown
shrink and gas prices rise, this communtiy will return to what this area looked like during the great depression. Being 49
years old, my parents told me stories of how they couldn't afford cars because of low wages, and had to use mass trnsportation
to get to retail centers in downtown Youngstown. History is beginning to repeat itself in the valley.
We will need
mass transit to get to retail centers on 224....we do need living wage jobs in the valley. We need new renewable energy companies
and manufacturing jobs brought back to this valley that will require blue collar skills to build the mechanical components
for renewable energy equipment.
As far as our fear of gangs and increased violence, when we had manufacturing jobs
people could go to work, make a living wage, and did not have to commit crime.
Let's bring back that concept to the
valley. Let us have renewable manufacturing jobs available so we can tell our youth, "put down the handgun, pick up a chaulk
gun, earn a living wage, and help your family incoprporate renewable energy sources to's your family and neighbor's homes
to help them save money on soaring energy costs."
That's what my Independent Green Party run for State Representative
for the 60th district is all about. You can tell a lot about a country, a city, and a valley on how they help their poor,working,
and middle class.
In Friday's Vindicator Editorial Cartoon we see the Myanmar Junta holding up his hand and in the
other hand holding a sign reading " No Foreign Aid." That is actually what our current old-time politicians are saying to
the rest of the federal, state, and business world.
We don't need or want your help or aid beacuse we fear will lose control
of our power base.
The Local Democratic Party that supported the poor, working, and middle class and in return my
father grew up and supported this party in the 1930's and 1940's is not that same party that we have today. Today's local
Democrats like Bob Hagan support the over 100 lobbyists and Corportate PACS that place money in Hagan's political war chest
each year. Since the local Democrats no longer support the poor working, and middle class of the valley, it is time we elect
independents and show the local Democratic machine the door.
We wonder why less and less people become active and
engaged in the civic duty of voting. It's because the local party bosses decide for us who to support.
Some people
have asked if I were elected to the state house what my one vote could do to change things for the better. Well, my one vote
in the house may not be able to change things, but my one voice would be outside the state house each week with a microphone
or mega phone leading a march around the state house with the poor, working, and middle class demanding living wages jobs,
better health care, better school funding, and making Ohio a better place to live and raise our families.
Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
[votespisak.tripod.com]
Bob Hagan: Still Sitting on the Fence with Marc Dann and Holding Dann's $10,000 Campaign
Contribution.
Posted by: Dspisak (IP Logged)
Date: May 06, 2008 09:26PM
Interesting to read Tuesday's Youngstown Vindicator where valley legislators Ryan, Boccieri,
Gerberry, Harwood, and Cafaro all asked for Marc Dann's Resignation. Every valley legistlator but Bob Hagan. All
valley legistlators were at the Chey Centre for a meeting where they made statements. I saw Bob Hagan walk out the the Chevy
Centre on tv last night but of course Mr. Hagan who has been unproductive in Columbus the last 20 years couldn't even make
a statement regarding Marc Dann. I guess Mr. Hagan can't let go of that $10,000 campaign donation Marc Dann gave him
back in 2007. Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign
site: [ votespisak.tripod.com]
I Made A Mistake
May 5, 2008
I Made A Mistake
May 5, 2008
On this morning's post entitled
"Bob Hagan took $180,000 from Ohio GOP" I made a mistake with the information I posted. The GOP has not ever donated to Bob
Hagan's campaign.
When I ran the Secretary of State's report I fogot to put in the filter "Democrat" when I typed in
Hagan's name. The computer report thus gave me campaign donations for both Bob Hagan and John Hagan, a Republican, at the
same time in chronological order.
The GOP donations were to John Hagan.
I admit my mistake and have pulled the
posting. I apologize for the mistake.
I apologize to Mr. Hagan for the misinformation in the blog posting. Bob Hagan
has never received GOP contributions.
Sincerely,
Dennis Spisak
Marc Dann: A clear example of what is wrong with valley politicsMay 4, 2008 One
only had to turn to page A4 of Saturday’s Vindicator to see what is wrong with valley politics. Here we had complete
coverage of the Marc Dann Scandal: sexual harassment, sex scandal, cover-ups, and failing to conduct a proper investigation
of the crimes. And then down the right hand column when local Democrats were asked “Should Dann Resign?, these
are the answers our local Democratic leaders gave us: Harry Meshel, former state senator: “ I Don’t
Know.” Christ Michelakis, Trumbull County Democratic Chairman: “ He’s got to clean up his act or
he won’t get re-elected.” Lisa Antonini, Mahoning County Democratic Chairman: “He can still do his
job effectively.” Bob Hagan, State Representative: No Comment. In fact, Bob’s only comment to the press
in the last 5 months was he loved going to Vegas to watch Kelly fight. There you have it. A local Democratic Party
who only serves and protects the invited members of their own little club. They press the flesh come election time and tell
us how they stand for ethical government and no corruption but after they are re-elected they stand up and defend their fellow
elected crooked party members until the cows come home. If we ever want to change politics here in the Mahoning Valley
we need to begin electing independent candidates who will work for the poor, working, and middle class and not let their political
party connections cloud their judgment when one of their own commits unethical acts. That is why I am running as an
Independent for State Representative for the 60th District. Dennis Spisak Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Will Bob Hagan Give Back His $10,000 Campaign Donation From Marc Dann?
May 2, 2008 According
to the Ohio Secretary of State's Campaign Contribution Reports, Bob Hagan accepted the following donation from Marc Dann: DANN
FOR OHIO COMMITTEE 1179 ACADEMY DR.YOUNGSTOWN 11/11/2007-amount-$10,000.00 to FRIENDS OF BOB HAGAN Will Bob
Hagan Return this campaign donation? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
District Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Can You Afford To Get Sick?
May 1, 2008 If you were injured in a car accident today, would
you still have to go to work tomorrow? That's the case for millions of Americans who have to go to work no matter how
hurt or sick they are - or face financial ruin. 47 million Americans are without health care coverage - and the rest are burdened
with skyrocketing medical fees. Worse yet – Columbus State Representatives and State Senators are doing nothing
about it. That's unacceptable. No one should have to live in fear of getting sick. As the Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District that is why I support the Health Care for All Ohioans
Act. The single-payer health care system that many of us advocate for Ohio under the Health Care For All Ohioans Act
is one in which every resident would have comprehensive medical coverage with the bills paid by a government-administered
fund – a sort of Medicare for all. There would be no co-payments, no deductibles and no premiums. There would be no
exclusions because of income, job status, pre-existing conditions or any other reason. Delivery of medical services would
remain in private hands. Patients would have the right to select their own physicians. I support the Health Care for
All Ohioans Act because I believe our health care should not be bought and sold like a commodity. I believe the vast majority
of Americans would say health care should not be left to the marketplace but made available to all as a basic human right.
It is the business of civilized society to try to make life fairer, particularly in matters of life and death, and health
care is exactly that. It is no surprise than to see that the Big Three automakers are transferring good paying jobs
to Canada because they cannot afford the astronomical costs of health care in this country ($1500 per car and truck, according
to GM). And by the way, the Big Three supports the Canadian single-payer system, as do Canadian unions. The bottom
line is until we elect an independent candidate to the state house who will not take campaign donations from lobbyists and
PACS, unlike current State Representative Bob Hagan who has taken political contributions from Insurance companies like Medical
Mutual the healthcare system cannot be fixed. When Bob Hagan takes over 100 campaign donations from Lobbyists and PACS in
2007, whom does Bon Hagan really listen to and vote for? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative-60th District Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our links page on health care, education, and progressive jobs programs
Industrial Leadership for Youngstown
April 27, 2008
As we see more and more renewable
energy technology and manufacturing coming to Ohio, I continue to raise the question, why is Youngstown always lagging behind?
For
20 years Bob Hagan has served our valley in Columbus and has no accomplishments to show for bringing jobs back to the poor,
working, and middle class of the 60th district.
The bottom line is Bob Hagan does not have the leadership abilities
to get the job done.
It's time we elect an independent candidate to the state house who will less time fighting with
Republicans and spend more time delivering solutions to industry challenges and jobs for the 60th district.
As the
independent candidate for State Representative, I pledge to work with an innovative infrastructure of technology, research
and development, transportation infrastructure, and funding, to afford companies a competitive advantage in the evolving marketplace
of renewable energy and offer forward thinking companies an innovative and pro-business environment in which to succeed for
years to come.
For many companies, the bridge between research and commercialization has proven challenging. I will
help accelerate this phase by providing clients direct access to cutting edge research at Ohio universities and other prime
research facilities. We need to work with businesses and their research partners each step of the way, providing industry-specific
advice, industrial process, and market knowledge.
Every effort must be made to connect qualified clients with
funding opportunities through incentives, matching research grants, low interest loans, and access to potential investors
via angel investor networks and venture capitalist organizations. Also, pairing proposed production facilities with end users
such as military bases or industrial plants
I will also work in matching clients with other companies, growers, government
agencies and suppliers to form commercially successful collaborations. Each situation brings unique a unique set of needs.
These variables may include real estate, labor pool, transportation or access to airports, railyards, industrial parks, or
other needs.
This is the type of leadership Bob Hagan has failed to deliver to the 60th district.
It's time for
a change. If not now, when?
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign
site: Http:// votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our links to renewable energy and progressive works programs
Youngstown:
The Incredible Shrinking City Can Re-Grow With New Renewable Energy Bill and New Leadership in Columbus
April
25, 2008
CnnMoney.com has now renamed Youngstown as the “Incredible Shrinking City.” But when Governor
Strickland signs into law next week Ohio’s New Energy Bill Youngstown can quickly see re-growth with the creation of
a new manufacturing industry in Ohio -- renewable energy. Wind turbine installers have all but promised to rush into the Buckeye
state because utilities here will be required to begin generating a portion of their power with wind, solar and other renewable
technologies. And by sending new leadership to Columbus and replacing non-productive Bob Hagan in the state house with an
Independent Green Party State Representative, the 60th district can be placing “sold” signs in yards
instead of paying people to move out of parts of the city.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative, I have made it one of my main campaign issues that
renewable energy companies can rebuild our valley. Such companies and manufacturers are already producing job growth across
the country and our state, and as the new representative in Columbus I will be able to work with private investors, green
corporations, and federal grants to bring blue-collar and high tech green collar jobs to the 60th district.
As a
Green Party Member, we advocated renewable energy as well as the manufacturers
of wind turbines and solar equipment who pushed Strickland to live up to his campaign rhetoric that such technologies could
create a new industry in job-starved Ohio. What we won was a mandate requiring that 12.5 percent of the power sold in Ohio
come from renewable technologies by 2025 and -- thanks to the House -- a year-by-year step-up or benchmark that must be met.
The greens also won a "carve-out" for solar power. The
bill requires 0.5 percent of the renewable power to come from solar systems. The House put that number at 1 percent but had
to back it down at the request of the Senate.
The House also kept in language creating energy efficiency
mandates that will require each utility to show over the next 17 years that it has helped its customers reduce their power
consumption by a total of 22 percent -- reducing the need for a costly new power plant.
Youngstown has been given a chance to become the Green
Energy Manufacturing Giant for the 21st Century. Now it’s time to put an Independent Green Party State Representative
in Columbus to help this program along. It’s time to bring Bob Hagan with all his fossil fuel lobbyist and PAC money
home.
The Future for Youngstown is Green. If not now, when?
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Check out our links to progressive job programs and renewable
energy jobs for the valley.
Ohio Schools Depend More on Local Taxes As State Share Continues to DropApril
24, 2008 The Cincinnati Enquirer reported earlier this month that Ohio School Districts must continue to rely on more
local property taxes to operate on as the state share of funding education continues to drop, even under a Democratic Governor. In
the 2005-06 school year, more than half (50.4 percent) of all education revenue in Ohio came from local sources, chiefly property
taxes, according to a U.S. Census report released this week. This is the third time in four years the local burden has increased
in Ohio, while the state's share has shrunk four consecutive years, to 42.3 percent, the Cincinnati Enquirer said. Nationally,
local revenues make up 44.4 percent of school budgets. States contribute an average of 46.6 percent. The Federal Government
funds roughly 9% of school costs. Jim Betts, a spokesman for the Campaign for Ohio's Future, a coalition that wants
to change school funding, said it's proof that Ohio's school funding system, repeatedly ruled unconstitutional by the state
Supreme Court, isn't getting better. "It's significant when it becomes a trend," Betts said. Critics of Ohio's
school funding system blame education's dependence on local taxes for creating vast inequities among districts. In
addition, last month Governor Strickland announced that the Ohio Department of Education had to cut 50 million dollars out
of their budget, most cuts concerning state money going to the County Educational Service Centers. As a board member for the
Struthers City Schools, Last month I received the ESC bill for 2009 for ESC services for the Struthers City Schools.... last
year the bill was $419,000...next year the bill is $553,000. So because state reps and state senators can't work together
to fix state funding for schools, something mandated by the Ohio Supreme Court 10 years ago, the bills get pushed down to
the local boards of education...which means we must pay the increase, cut costs in other services, or ask the local taxpayers
to ante up with more money for local levies. Your school board is receiving the same fee increase this month as well. That's
why we need independent state representatives to speak for the people and quit playing political football regarding state
funding of education. The 2 major parties will not fix this program before the November election. Last moth saw the lowest
percentage of school levies passed in the state for the last couple of years. Let's send a state representative to
Columbus who will do what's right for the taxpayers and poor and working class in the valley, not the over 100 lobbyists and
PACS who contributed to Bob Hagan's political campaign fund last year. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled over 10 years ago
that state funding of education in Ohio was unconstitutional. When will State Representatives like Bob Hagan ever get around
to fixing the funding formula? Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign
site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com |
|
|
Why Youngstown gets left behind when it comes to renewable energy
manufacturing and jobs: No State Leadership
in the Legislature
April 23, 2008 Bob Hagan is the real reason Youngstown is left behind when it comes
to bringing new renewable energy companies and jobs to the 60th district. It's not clouds, but no vision or effort on the
part of Bob Hagan to secure the necessary leadership abilities to get the job done. Bob Hagan has been in Columbus
for 20 years and can't get a grant for renewable energy...yet a Toledo senator can: This in via email from the office
of District 2 Ohio Senator Mark Wagoner: WAGONER ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $1.2 MILLION IN STATE GRANTS TO SUPPORT ADVANCED
ENERGY RESEARCH IN OHIO
Wagoner: Employers in Lucas County among companies with potential to make Ohio a leader in
fuel cells, solar energy
Columbus – State Senator Mark Wagoner (R-Toledo) today announced that the State Controlling
Board has approved the release of more than $1.2 million in state grants to two organizations within the 2nd Senate District.
The funds, made possible through the state’s Third Frontier Program, will support these groups in their efforts to develop
and produce advanced energy technology in Ohio. The hope, according to Wagoner, is to advance Ohio’s position as leader
in the budding fuel cell and solar power industries.Among the grants approved today, Xunlight 26 Solar, LLC, was
awarded $977,924 from the state's Advanced Energy Program to support its work in developing technology to produce next generation
solar technology. Xunlight is collaborating with the University of Toledo and Akron Polymer Systems on this project, which
incorporates three technologies developed in Ohio directly dealing with solar energy. The University of Toledo was
also awarded $250,000 to advance its collaboration with another company on the development of a cellulosic biomass fermentation
process, which is a new method for producing ethanol. The project seeks to incorporate two patented technologies that are
currently licensed to SuGanit Systems. According to Wagoner, the work at Xunlight and the University of Toledo in the
area of solar energy and bio-fuels is important to Ohio not only because of their potential as a domestic source of energy,
but also because the technology these companies are developing could lead to increased manufacturing and more jobs in Ohio. “The
success companies like Xunlight and education institutions like the University of Toledo have had in developing alternative
energy sources is a testament to the ingenuity and know how of the workforce in our region,” Wagoner stated. “The
investment we are making today will only further advance these achievements by providing these organizations the capital and
support necessary to move forward.” Bob Hagan has spent 20 unproductive years in Columbus representing Youngstown.
It's time to bring him home!
It’s time to bring grants,companies, and jobs to the Mahoning Valley. I will see
that Youngstown does not continue to be passed by cities like Toledo, Bowling Green, Athens, and even the small rural
areas of Ohio.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign
Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our link on renewable energy jobs for the valley and Progressive Works Programs.
Ohio Going Solar…Everywhere but Youngstown
April 22, 2008
Last month, Gov. Ted Strickland
stood on the roof of The Toledo Museum of Art to observe the installation of the electricity-generating modules, and to highlight
his energy bill that he said would spur alternative and renewable sources of power.
"This is one example of what could
be done to make our state more progressive and to make us less dependent on outside supplies for our energy needs," Mr. Strickland
said. The 1,450 solar panels that are taking over a portion of the museum's roof will generate 101 kilowatts
of peak power on a sunny day, or about one-fifth of the museum's energy needs, art museum Director Don Bacigalupi said. Mr.
Bacigalupi said the total cost of installing the energy panels would be less than $500,000. The museum received a grant of
$147,500 from the Ohio Department of Development for the project, according to Carol Bintz, a development officer for the
museum. The panels were made by First Solar Inc. of Perrysburg and are being installed by Advanced Distributed Generation
LLC of Toledo. John Witte of ADG said the electricity produced by the panels at peak use would be enough to power about 25
homes. First Solar panels are also in use at the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, and the governor's
mansion in Columbus. Nikki Jaworski, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Development, said the art museum's array is
one of the largest in the state. She said the department last June awarded a grant of $438,372 for a 121-kilowatt solar project
at the Jeffrey Place condominium project in Columbus. Now, go to the Internet Campaign Home Page of State
Representative Bob Hagan and you see a nice picture of Bob sitting next to Governor Strickland.
If Mr. Hagan and the
Governor are so close, why are solar panels not installed on the Butler Institute of American Art building in Youngstown?
Why are there not solar panel renewable companies and manufacturers in the Mahoning Valley? Why are the areas of Toledo and
Bowling Green and Columbus receiving grants to fund renewable energy and not Youngstown?
If the Governor believes Ohio
must spur alternative and renewable sources of power, why is no progress-taking place in Youngstown?
You would think
after 20 years of being in Columbus Bob Hagan would have the political clout and respect to have Youngstown, Ohio at the forefront
of these types of grants? But he doesn't. And that's why Bob Hagan needs to be replaced as State Representative for the 60th
District.Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign
wed site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our links page on Alternative Energy Jobs for the Valley
Bob Hagan Takes Campaign Donations From A Controversial Oil & Gas PAC
April 21, 2008According
to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Campaign Committee Contributions List dated April 4, 2008, State Representative Bob
Hagan’s Campaign Committee took a $200 donation from the Nisource Inc. PAC, which is embroiled in a controversial gas
line and well maintenance program involving clear-cutting of areas in Mohican-Memorial State Forest.Nisourse’s
clear-cutting plan could result in losing up to a twelfth of the 4,700-acre Mohican-Memorial State Forest. The clear-cutting
plan could jeopardize the habitat of a number of threatened or endangered species that rely on the large expanse of unbroken
forest at Mohican State Forest. In the past, Nisourse has failed, in some cases, to restore areas, leaving them subject
to erosion and growth of invasive species that threaten native wildlife. I find it hard to believe a self-proclaimed
Progressive Liberal like Bob Hagan would take PAC money from an Oil and Gas PAC when he has introduced H. B. 407 to expand
the sales tax exemption for sales of natural gas, and to extend exemption to sales of propane. But this isn’t
the first time Bob Hagan has told the public one thing and then taken PAC money from a PAC he is supposed to fighting against.
On December 31, 2007 on the WKBN Ron Verb show he stated that fixing health care insurance would be his number one goal in
2009. When asked what the biggest obstacle to fixing health care in Ohio was, Bob Hagan said “Insurance Companies.”
Yet, Bob Hagan took money from Medical Mutual Insurance and other insurance related PAC money in 2007. Who does
Bob Hagan really represent? The people of Ohio or the lobbyists and PACS of Ohio?As the Independent Green Party
Candidate for the 60th District, I have pledged to take no lobbyist or PAC money and will only take money from individuals
totally no more than 50 dollars a donation. I plan to represent the poor, working, and middle class people of the 60th district,
not the lobbyists and PACS that have their hands in Bob Hagan’s back pockets. Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign site Http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Employer-Provided Health Insurance Drops
Dramatically Among Full-Time Workers
High-quality jobs not immune
to unraveling of employer-based system
April 18, 2008
Why do we need the Health Care For All Ohioans
Act? Employer-provided health insurance is eroding!
Tighten your grip, because holding on to health care is getting
much harder, even if you have a good job, and a good education, and especially if you are a full-time worker of prime working
age.
"No one is immune to the slow unraveling of the employer-based health insurance system," said Heidi Shierholz,
EPI economist and co-author of the report A Decade of Decline: The Erosion of Employer-Provided Health Care in the United
States and California, 1995-2006, released yesterday by the Economic Policy Institute.
Overall, about 6.4 million fewer
workers had employer-provided health insurance in 2006 than in 2000. This trend contrasts with the time period between 1995
and 2000, when the share of workers covered by their employers increased nationally, from 49.6 percent to 51.1 percent.
This
dramatic loss of employer provided health insurance since 2000 is not simply driven by the loss of high-quality jobs, such
as those in the manufacturing sector. Rather, it is caused by the significant decline in employers providing coverage within
existing jobs across the board. The burden of these employer cuts is not carried by part-time or marginal workers. Rather,
the most dramatic loss is among workers with the strongest connection to the labor force.
"The kind of declines our
research uncovered can't be fixed with a band-aid approach,"said EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein, and the report's co-author.
"The solution must involve a broadly shared, national approach where employers, employees, and government all play a part."
Among
the main findings of the report are:
· The dramatic drop in employer-provided coverage is caused by employers cutting coverage
within existing jobs, rather than the shifting of jobs from high-coverage industries like manufacturing to lower-coverage
industries.
· Coverage declined for workers across the entire age and education spectrum.
The national trends were
mirrored in developments in California, even though California differs significantly from the national profile in its racial,
ethnic and immigration makeup. Despite these differences, virtually all California groups made gains in employer coverage
in the late 1990s, gains that were more than wiped out in the 2000s.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative for the 60th District, this is the exact reason why I support the Health Care for All Ohioans Act.
Ohio
Economy Needs Small Business and Small Business Needs Single-Payer Health Coverage!
Small business and the self-employed
are driving Ohio's growing service economy to everyone's advantage, providing jobs for their communities, paying wages to
their neighbors, and creating income and tax revenues that stay in the local area. Our economy needs these small businesses
to help generate the recovery from the continued disastrous loss of our manufacturing base. The single largest obstacle to
the success of small business operators is the prohibitive cost of providing health care coverage for themselves and their
employees, and the inability to gauge future costs. Competitive wages, safe and reasonable working conditions and health care
coverage are central to mutually beneficial relationships between employers and employees. These relationships were typical
of collective bargaining between unions and companies, and are once again possible on a broader scale thanks to the Health
Care for All Ohioans Act.
At the root of successful employer/employee cooperation is the elimination of adversarial
conditions that pit workers against owners, as is the situation with rising, unaffordable health care costs, currently the
main point of contention in every bargaining situation. For the self-employed, who are providing health care coverage for
themselves and their families without the benefit of real collectives, The Health Care for All Ohioans Act provides immediate
relief by creating access to comprehensive, affordable healthcare with a fixed, fair, progressive gross receipts tax. For
businesses that primarily generate their receipts through service labor provided, the savings are dramatic. For many the resulting
savings can then be reinvested in the business, increasing revenue and creating jobs with no increase in costs over that of
privately provided for-profit coverage. For small businesses with payrolls, in addition to the gross receipts tax, the funding
formula of the Health Care for All Ohioans Act provides for an affordable, fixed, progressive employer-paid payroll tax that
increases only as payrolls increase. Successful businessmen and women know that increased revenues and increased payrolls
can result in increased profits.
We have dug the healthcare hole very deep, the solution will be expensive and no one
wants cheap healthcare anyway, only accessible, affordable healthcare coverage. It is time for bold, innovative steps to solve
this problem that will affect every one of us eventually. For the first time businesses will have the opportunity to determine
their future healthcare costs due to the fixed rates of the funding formula. Ask a business person if they would support a
plan that would allow them to project their healthcare costs for the next five years, even taking into account possible increased
initial cost. The answer you will get is a resounding, YES! Businesses prefer steady financial forecasts, workers prefer job
security and job creation to day-to-day employment, and all parties prefer a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship.
Predictable healthcare costs encourage business to grow, workers to thrive and collective bargaining to be successful. The
Health Care for All Ohioans Act is a winner for us all.
The Formula to Remember :
Healthcare Savings=Job Creation=Increased
Revenues=Increased Wages=Increased Production=Increased Profits=increased tax revenues. Add Them All Together = Increased
Wellness….Health Care for All Ohioans!
Bob Hagan takes money from insurance lobbyists and PACS so he will do
nothing when your employer health coverage collapses. It's time to elect a state representative who will say no to health
care lobbyists and PAC donations and will support the Health Care for all Ohioans Act to safe guard all Ohioans when it come
to health care coverage.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district
Campaign
web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Visit our link to health care and progressive job programs.
Solar Panels proposed for 2,000 Northeast Ohio Schools by State Legislator,
and it’s not Bob Hagan
April
17, 2008
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week that a state lawmaker wants Ohio to put solar panels
on 2,000 school rooftops - about half of the public school buildings in the state - a move he says would create jobs and combat
rate spikes. State Rep Lou Blessing, a Cincinnati Republican, wants to start the program in Northeast Ohio in school
districts served by First Energy Corp's Illuminating Co. and Ohio Edison. Ohio Edison provides much of the electrical services
to school districts in the 60th district. Blessing figures the project would rescue districts from skyrocketing
electric bills if First Energy and Ohio Edison ends discounted school rates next year, as it has told the state it intends
to. School districts here are bracing for 40 percent higher utility bills if the discounts end. During the school
year, Blessing says, districts could use the solar power generated on their roofs rather than buy it from First Energy and
Ohio Edison. On hot summer days, when school was out, the power would flow into the utility's local distribution grid,
just as demand peaks. A First Energy spokeswoman said the Akron-based utility would be interested in buying the
power. The utility already takes power from homeowners who have installed solar panels. Blessing wants to use
Ohio-made solar panels - and eventually roofing materials with built-in solar modules. The plan, he said, would jump-start
solar manufacturing in the Buckeye state. He estimates the project would cost $6 billion dollars. "A
project of this size would literally turn Ohio's economy around," Blessing said in an interview. "It's a $6 billion jobs and
progress plan. And the state doesn't have to spend anything." Because Ohio would place the largest order in
U.S. history, the cost of solar panels would fall, Blessing argues. "The beauty of this is that panels could become inexpensive
enough for homeowners to buy them." The solar-equipped school buildings also could lower overall summer power
prices by generating up to a billion watts of extra electricity, about as much as one of First Energy’s nuclear reactors
produces. But in this case, there would be no fuel bills. Blessing is a member of the Public Utilities Committee
of the Ohio House and has sat through weeks of hearings over Gov. Ted Strickland's comprehensive energy bill aimed at restructuring
the state's utility regulations and creating a renewable energy-manufacturing base in Ohio. Blessing said he
got the idea after reading a Plain Dealer article airing the complaints of Northeast Ohio school officials at a hearing about
First Energy and Ohio Edison rates. The utility has offered all schools a lower rate and included an extra discount
for districts that paid three years ahead. But First Energy wants to base its electric rates on wholesale power markets beginning
in 2009; a move it says would require it to end all discounts. "I read that story and thought it would be absolutely
insane not to do this," Blessing said. Ken Clicking, business manager of the Euclid schools, welcomed the idea.
"Anything that will help us save energy in the future sounds like a good thing," he said. "It's a great idea.
I would not restrict it just to solar. What about fuel cells or geothermal systems?" Blessing said he submitted
an amendment to Strickland's bill last week and also gave the proposal to the governor's office. Mark Shanahan,
Strickland's energy adviser, said: "I think it is a really interesting proposition. If his numbers work out to be right, it
is a good project." The amendment would require the School Facilities Commission and the Ohio Department of
Development to work together to create the solar program, if Congress extends the 30 percent federal tax credits. The
state would be required to negotiate with manufacturers for discounted prices for the huge orders of solar equipment needed.
Blessing has already talked to one company, the Sunlight Corp., a Toledo-based spin-off from tax-funded research
at the University of Toledo. He said he planned to sit down today with representatives of First Solar Inc.,
an established thin-film solar panel producer in Perrysburg. The 9-year-old company exports most of its current production.
Xunlight,(pronounced Sunlight) plans to begin limited production in the next couple of months of thin-film solar
modules printed on flexible stainless steel. Commercial production is planned for the fall, with a ramp-up next year. "When
you are talking about 100 million square feet of solar modules, as a solar manufacturer we are very interested," said Matthew
Longhorn, vice president of development at Sunlight. "One of the advantages that we believe we have is that
our product is lightweight and flexible," he said. "We would like to have that module integrated into the roofing membrane
and go down on a flat roof. It would be perfect for schools." Sunlight has contacted Garland Company, a Cleveland-based,
century-old roofing manufacturer that just weeks ago won a $1 million Ohio Third Frontier grant to commercialize a process
to meld solar modules into roofing membranes. "We are already putting solar on school building roofs, just not in
Ohio," said Brian Lambert, a director at Garland. "We've done it in California. We'd love to do it in Ohio.
We'd love to work with Sunlight." Once again we see Bob Hagan missing the train when it comes to investigating
and bringing renewable energy manufacturing jobs to the valley as well as working to reduce energy costs to school districts.
If school districts cannot reduce energy costs in the near future, these costs will be passed on to property owners with more
school levy requests. Why is a state representative from Southwest Ohio pushing for solar power schools in our part of the
state? Why not Bob Hagan? Why are renewable energy companies springing up in Toledo and Cleveland? Why not Youngstown?
As
a current Board of Education member for the Struthers City Schools, I have seen our district electric rates rise over $300,000
in three years.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district, I will work
with all politicians, investors, and companies to bring renewable energy companies to the valley as well as lower electric
costs to our school districts and property owners. I have made this a major issue in my campaign, while Bob Hagan has remained
silent on this issue. Bob Hagan does not have the vision or the ambition to get such programs started in the 60th district.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District Campaign Web site:
Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Imagine Life Under the
Health Care For All Ohioans Act
April 16, 20708
The only 4 Nos you will hear: You go to your personal physician for a visit. NO premiums, NO Co-payments,
NO Deductibles, NO One Excluded. You pay nothing. The doctor bills the Ohio Health Care Fund. You have your prescription
filled by the pharmacist. NO premiums, NO Co-payments, NO Deductibles, NO One Excluded. You pay nothing. The pharmacist
bills the Ohio Health Care Fund. You need hospitalization. NO premiums, NO Co-payments, NO Deductibles, NO One
Excluded. You pay nothing. The hospital is paid by the Ohio Health Care Fund. You go to the emergency room. You
do not wait hours and hours. Since everyone has health care coverage, people can see their own doctors for routine care and
don't have to use the emergency room as a doctor's office. Your care is better. You choose your own doctor, who
knows you personally and understands your needs. The doctor is part of a system that encourages physicians to practice
medicine of the highest quality. You sleep better. Your health care is secure. You no longer have to worry about
losing your health care coverage if you lose or change your job. Your employer no longer has to worry about the ever-increasing
costs of health care. You no longer have to worry about ever-increasing deductibles and co-payments. This is why
I support Ohio SPAN. This is why the health care lobbyists and PACS are pumping big bucks into the campaign funds of Democrats
and Republicans in Columbus. The Health Care providers know SPAN will work, and cut them out of overbilling average Americans.
It's time we send a State Representative who will not take money from Medical Mutual and other health care lobbyists
like Bob Hagan. It's time we send a representative who will not be bought off by corporations. Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District campaign site: [ votespisak.tripod.com] visit our link on health care and progressive job programs
Bob Hagan: Working Hard for the
Valley?
April 15, 2008
Today is April 15, 2008. Today is Tax Day.
The day we submit federal and state income taxes. For many Ohioans this means working five to six days a week, maybe 40, 50,
60, or even 70 hours a week. It seems everyone in the valley has worked hard this year except Bob Hagan, our current state
Representative.
Today is the 106th day of 2008.
Did you know Bob Hagan has only had to attend 12 general assembly sessions of the Ohio House since January 1, 2008? He had
to only attend 2 sessions in the month of February. Also, the House only scheduled 19 days so far this year for committee
hearings, so in all, maybe Bob Hagan has worked for us a grand total of 33 days this year in Columbus.
Now Representative Hagan always likes to
blame the Republicans for not being able to get anything done in Columbus. Maybe if Mr. Hagan works more than one-third of
the year while at the taxpayer’s expense he might be able to get something done for the
60th District.
Bob Hagan likes to portray himself as the
workingman’s friend. Only problem is, he never has to work while in Columbus. How can Bob fight for better health care,
better public education funding, eliminating the sales tax on natural gas, and bringing new manufacturing jobs to the valley
if he is not working two-thirds of the time he is in Columbus?
Bob Hagan like to call himself a progressive
liberal. Well, he is very progressive when it comes to not working in Columbus. Now the real question is should we send Bob
Hagan back to Columbus for another two years to work maybe eight days a month?
That is why I am running as the Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District. We need to send a representative to Columbus
to work everyday on solving the kitchen table issues that define the lives of tax paying working citizens of the 60th
district.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
DYING FOR COVERAGE IN OHIO
April 14, 2008 The number of uninsured Americans reached 47
million in 2006, and it continues to rise. For many of the uninsured, the lack of health insurance has dire consequences.
The uninsured face medical debt, often go without necessary care, and even die prematurely. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine
released a groundbreaking report, Care without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late, which estimated that, nationwide, 18,000 adults
between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2000 because they did not have health insurance. Subsequently, The Urban Institute estimated
that at least 22,000 adults in the same age group died in 2006 because they did not have health insurance. To find
out what this means for people across the nation, Families USA has generated the first-ever state-level estimates of the number
of deaths due to lack of health insurance. The estimates are based on both the Institute of Medicine and The Urban Institute
methodologies applied to state-level data. In 2006, there were more than 6,054,000 people between the ages of 25 and 64 living
in Ohio. Of those, 12.7 percent were uninsured. Uninsured Ohioans are sicker and die sooner than their insured counterparts. Families
USA estimates that two working-age Ohioans die each day due to lack of health insurance (approximately 750 people in 2006). Between
2000 and 2006, the estimated number of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 in Ohio who died because they did not have
health insurance was more than 5,100. Across the United States, in 2006, twice as many people died from lack of
health insurance as died from homicide. Uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease in an advanced
stage. For example, uninsured women are substantially more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer than women
with private insurance. The uninsured are less likely to have a usual source of care outside of the emergency room.
Uninsured Americans are up to four times less likely to have a regular source of care than the insured. The uninsured
often go without screenings and preventive care. Uninsured adults are more than 30 percent less likely than insured
adults to have had a checkup in the past year. Uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease in
an advanced stage. For example, uninsured women are substantially more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast
cancer than women with private insurance. The uninsured often delay or forgo needed medical care. Uninsured
Americans are up to three times more likely to report having problems getting needed medical care. Uninsured adults
are more than three times as likely as insured adults to delay seeking medical care (47 percent versus 15 percent). Uninsured
Americans are sicker and die earlier than those who have insurance. Uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to
die prematurely than adults with private health insurance. Uninsured Americans between 55 and 64 years of age are
at much greater risk of premature death than their insured counterparts. This makes un-insurance the third leading cause
of death for the near-elderly, following heart disease and cancer. The uninsured pay more for medical care. Uninsured
patients are unable to negotiate the discounts on hospital and doctor charges that insurance companies do. As a result,
uninsured patients are often charged more than 2.5 times what insured patients are charged for hospital services. Three
out of five uninsured adults (60 percent) under the age of 65 reported having problems with medical bills. As the
independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District that is why I support the Ohio-Span Health
Care for All Ohioans Act. It’s time we send a representative to Columbus from the valley who has compassion
for those in need instead of the needs of insurance and health care lobbyists and PACS like current state representative Bob
Hagan. It’s time we send a State Representative who holds a belief that change is possible. My policy work in
Columbus will focus on affordable health care for all Ohioans and the kitchen-table issues that define people's lives. Sincerely,
Dennis Spisak Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our link health care and progressive jobs programs to learn more about the Health Care for All Ohioans Act.
Investing to Re-Energize Ohio
April 11, 2008
According to a report from the groups Policy
Matters Ohio and the Apollo Alliance,
Ohio
uses a large amount of energy, most of it from fuel produced elsewhere. We rank fourth among states for industrial energy
use and sixth for total energy consumption. We import two-thirds of our coal, 89 percent of our natural gas, and 98 percent
of our oil and petroleum products. At current energy prices, Ohioans send $20 billion a year out of our state economy. To
make our economy more energy independent—by becoming more efficient, self-sustaining, and renewable—Ohio should
expand its clean energy fund. Instead of sending so much
of Ohio’s money out of the state and out of the country, we should create more of our own energy, use more renewable
energy sources, become more energy efficient, and employ Ohio workers in the process.
Eighteen
states use clean energy funds to encourage consumers and suppliers to invest in clean energy products and services: by reducing
equipment costs through use of consumer rebates, grants, and low-interest loans; by conducting statewide public-awareness
campaigns; by providing incentives for industrial recruitment, retention, and production; and, by training workers for the
green economy. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reported that for every public dollar spent, public
benefits funds for clean energy leverage an additional $3 in related business and consumer investment.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
AN EXPANDED ADVANCED ENERGY FUND
• Implement a
statewide outreach campaign to educate the public on energy efficiency and renewable energy (both consumers and suppliers).
Use Advanced Energy Funds to offer free energy audits to Ohioans.
• Market consumer
incentives such as simple customer rebates for green products.
• Collect Advanced
Energy Funds from all utility customers, not just investor-owned.
• Provide low-income
residents with solar thermal water-heating systems.
• Provide more
financial incentives for suppliers and potential suppliers of green energy products and service to expand Ohio’s green
supply chain.
• Promote economic
development by providing “green incentives” with Advanced Energy Funds. Instead of offering dollars to lure companies,
offer wind turbines or rooftop solar panels to reduce their energy costs and consumption.
• Create a Green Jobs Corps program that provides green employment
services and also weaves together vocational skills training programs, union apprenticeship programs, and recognized pre-apprenticeship
programs for job seekers.
Instead of sending
so much of Ohio’s money out of the state and out of the country, we should create more of our own energy, use more renewable
energy sources, become more energy efficient, and employ Ohio workers in the process.
Ohio’s economy
is struggling due to rising energy costs. We are sending billions of dollars out of state and out of the country each year
to support our energy use. Ohio should diversify its energy portfolio, reduce our energy use, create renewable energy here
in Ohio, and put Ohioans to work in the process. If we reduced the amount we spend on imported energy, more money could be
kept local, supporting Ohio’s economy. To stimulate the green economy, and get it off the ground, we should expand Ohio’s
Advanced Energy Fund and use it to provide incentives to both suppliers and consumers of green energy products and services,
educate Ohioans on their green energy options, and train Ohio’s future “greenforce.”
As the Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th District, I will support the recommendations for an expanded advanced energy
fund. Since I will not accept lobbyists or PACS contributions who represent out of state energy resources such as coal, oil
and gas companies, I will not allow big money to influence my votes in Columbus like the current Democrats and Republicans
have.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative-60th District
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Please check out our links page to health care and progressive works
programs.
While South Carolina Turns Greener, Ohio Stays Grey
April 10, 2008
The South Carolina
legislature will be enacting bills offer more tax breaks for residents to save and produce alternative energy. The
bills offering bigger tax breaks for South Carolina residents to buy energy efficient homes and appliances are expected to
come before lawmakers this week. One bill eliminates sales taxes on a variety of home products that meet or exceed
federal Energy Star rating requirements including refrigerators, water heaters, dishwashers, clothes washers, air conditioners,
fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and doors and windows. But the items must be bought this October or April
2009 and the break is limited to $2,500 in merchandise. A second bill would give a sales tax break to companies buying
machinery, tools or parts to produce electricity from alternative sources, including solar, wind, tides and biomass. Other
bills being considered address existing incentives for people installing solar water heaters or panels to generate electricity.
The tax break makes the cost of putting in solar panels more reasonable while shortening the time it takes for the systems
to pay for themselves with reduced energy bills. A solar hot water system that costs $6,000 comes with a $1,800 federal tax
credit and $1,500 from the state. That means the system will be paying for itself in less than six years, Producing renewable
energy could help the state's economy too. One recent report showed the state could expect to create more than 22,300 jobs
in wind, solar, geothermal and biomass production. Once again we see another state thinking with helping create tax
savings for homeowners to turn to adding renewable energy sources to their homes as well as creating new jobs and economic
growth for their state. It’s time we send a state representative like myself who will again work to see that
Ohio foes not continue to lag behind other states in embracing renewable energy tax breaks for our citizens and creating new
renewable energy manufacturing jobs for our poor, working, and middle class citizens of the Mahoning Valley. Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district. Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Please visit our link on health care and progressive job programs for our valley.
Ohio Legislators fail to help Ohio workers, and Bob Hagan says nothing
April
9, 2008 Over 2 million workers in Ohio cannot earn a single paid sick day and more than 3.5 million working
Ohioans cannot take a paid sick day to care for a sick child. Moreover, 670,000 food and public accommodation workers are
denied even one single paid sick day. This means that workers are often forced to work sick, or to lose pay--or even to lose
their jobs. Right now the Ohio legislature is considering a bill, The Ohio Healthy Families Act, which will allow
employees in businesses with 25 or more employees to earn paid sick days. The legislature received the bill after over 270,000
Ohioans petitioned for the proposed law's consideration. Today the legislature is exactly one month away from their 4-month
deadline to consider the bill. At present, they have done nothing even though they themselves have paid sick days at taxpayers'
expense. Now is the time to send your legislators a message! While Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted has promised a hearing
and fair consideration, the bill has been stalled. Our current “progressive liberal” State Representative Bob
Hagan who claims he stands and fights for working families has remained silent on this issue. Why hasn’t Bob Hagan spoke
out about this bill being stalled in the house? Is it because one or more of Bob Hagan’s 100 lobbyists or PACS who have
contributed to his campaign have asked him to remain silent on this bill? The lack of paid sick days is a liability
for public health, for people, and for businesses. That's because when workers are forced to come to work sick, they risk
spreading contagions to colleagues and consumers--and have slower recovery time themselves. It shouldn't be that way. Millions
of Ohio workers today are forced to choose between working sick, or losing pay--and even possibly losing their jobs when they
get sick. Ohio has family values and we need laws that value families! As the Independent Green Party Candidate for
State Representative for the 60th district, I believe we need to send real progressive representatives to Columbus who will
vote to ensure that when you work hard in Ohio you will earn the right to take care of yourself and your family when you are
sick. To learn more about the Ohio Healthy Families Act, visit my campaign site at [ votespisak.tripod.com] . Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district
Ohio's Health Care System is Broken
April 7, 2008
Our health care system is broken. Here's what wrong today:
1.5 million Ohioans have no health insurance and millions more have inadequate coverage.
People who do not have
insurance are only one illness or job change away from losing it.
Thousands of Americans die each year because they
can't afford health care.
46% of personal bankrupcies are related to medical expenses.
The World Health Organization
ranks the U.S. health care system 37th in quality compared to other countries.
Americans spend nearly twice as much
per person on health care as any other country and get less for it.
Spending on drugs has increased by 500% since
1990.
$11.6 billion dollars is wasted annually in Ohio by complex and inefficient private health insurance system
with 20% to 30% administrative overhead.
So why do our current state representatives and state senators still continue to support this broken system?
That
is why I support SPAN Ohio.
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district.
campaign site: [votespisak.tripod.com]
Ohio Green Party Calls for State
Health Care Insurance, Bob Hagan Doesn’t.
April 6, 2008
The Ohio Green Party Supports the Health
Care for All Ohioans Act means health insurance coverage for every Ohioan regardless of income, residence, age, or prior medical
condition.
The Health Care for All Ohioans Act will
pool the money we are already spending health care into one state fund that pay’s everyone’s medical bills including
hospitalization, doctors’ visits, prescription drugs, vision, dental, and home care.
It will make care affordable for all with
no premiums, no co-pays, and no deductibles.
It will permit Ohio to negotiate on a state
level with drug companies to get Canada-like prices.
It will eliminate administrative waste
and limit administrative costs to 5% or less and will pay for preventive medicine to reduce illness and costs associated with
chronic and debilitating diseases.
Unfortunately, most Democrats and
Republicans like current state Representative Bob Hagan who took campaign contributions from insurance corporations like Medical
Mutual Inc. prefer to keep health care under the control of insurance companies and HMO’s, whose demand for profit has
left 1.5 million Ohioans with no health insurance and millions more who have inadequate coverage.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th district, I will demand the Health Care for All Ohioans Act be passed and
refuse to take money from insurance and health care corporations.
Our Health Care System is broken. It’s
time to fix it. If not now, when?
Dennis Spisak
Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative-60th district
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com Visit our healthcare and progressive work programs links page.
Mahoning County Democratic Party Leaders Turning Green? With Envy?
April 2, 2008
It was intersting to read today's Youngstown Vindicator's news article on the local reaction of area democratic
politicians on the proposed Green Energy Waste Renewal Plant in Western Mahoning County. Not one Democratic politican
mentioned lowering utility bills with green energy programs during the primary. Not one Democrat spoke on Green Energy or
bringing renewable energy plants to the valley during the primary. Now County Commissioner Trafacanti is going to make it
his new campaign theme. Commissioner Dave Ludt was next in line to sing praises. No doubt Democratic State Rep Bob Hagan will
sing his praises once the choo-choo train stops. Once again we see how slow our local politicians are to thinking
outside the box and trying to bring jobs to the valley. Once again we see the Democratic Party claiming
positive Green Party values and ideas as their own.
I have talked about renewable energy manufactuing coming to the
valley since January when we announced our campaign.
Voters should remember that come election time on November 4th.Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district campaign site http://votespisak.tripod.com
Ohio Needs SPAN
There are now well over 45 million American citizens with no health insurance.
The majority of these are employed adults—many at several part time jobs. With Ohio spending $70 billion a year on health
care, which includes $11 billion on administrative costs, there is a way to cost-shift and cover everyone in Ohio with no
co-pays and no-deductibles. This means that payment would be received for every person medically served. A single-payer plan
that maintains our private doctors, hospitals, and health care providers is a solution to our current health care crisis.
This is a fundamental test of our democracy: government should be accountable on the leading issue of our time (right
up there with the export of jobs). The Health Care For All Ohioans Act, which would bring universal/single-payer health care
to Ohio would be funded in a way that would cost most people less what they’re paying now, would cost good companies
with benefits less than what they pay now, make the Wal-Marts pay their fair share, and would protect displaced insurance
and provider personnel. Find out more at: www.SPANOhio.org (SPAN – Single-Payer Action Network). Sign the petition, legislators, and help put Ohio on the cutting edge of health
care reform. Help save America! As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district,
I support passage of the Health Care Act for All Ohioans Act. Sincerely, Dennis Spisak Campaign site:
Http://votespisak.tripod.comVisit our healthcare and progressive works programs link
New Community College/Green Jobs Can Pull People out of Poverty
March 31, 2008The news today that a new Community College could be coming to Youngstown
by 2010 could be another important resource in bringing green collar jobs to the valley as well as green collar technical
training to youth who cannot afford to attend YSU. This new community college could help raise students and adults out of
poverty. A recent New York Times Article from March 26, 2008 may be able to illustrate how Green Collar jobs can help
pull people out of poverty and crime. Steven Greenhouse’s article reports on how such green collar jobs could
save inner cities like Youngstown and the 60th district. Greenhouse writes: “Mr. Jones, the head of Green for
All, joined the green economy after graduating from Yale Law School. He became executive director of the Ella Baker Center
for Human Rights in Oakland, using that position to start a program that trains low-income workers in how to weatherize homes
and install solar panels. Mr. Jones calls such jobs green pathways out of poverty. “The green economy needs Ph.D.’s
and Ph.-do’s,” he said. “We need people who are highly educated at the theoretical level, and we need people
who are highly educated at the level of skilled labor.” He sees green jobs as providing a career ladder. Some workers
might start at $10 an hour inspecting homes for energy-efficient light bulbs. Then they might become $18-an-hour workers installing
solar panels and eventually $25-an-hour solar-team managers. Eventually they might become $40-an-hour electricians or carpenters
who do energy-minded renovations. “Right now we don’t have the infrastructure to train a sufficient number
of green-collar workers,” Mr. Jones said. By beginning to invest in green Collar Jobs, could we not prepare students
from middle school onto high school and then onto a new community college and tell them that a green collar job with living
wages awaits them so them have the chance to climb an economical ladder of success and not turn to crime as a last resort? As
the independent candidate for state representative for the 60th district, I would work with all organizations to bring Green
jobs and factories back to the valley. Would you rather have jobs, wages, and paychecks back in the valley and less crime
or continue to have no new hope for our low-income workers who turn to crime? Sincerely, Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for state representative-60th district Campaign website Http://votespisak.tripod.com Please read our healthcare and progressive job programs link.
How a Green-Energy Collar Jobs Program Would Benefit the Valley
I have been asked many times
how a Green-Collar Energy Jobs Program could benefit the 60th district. Having studied various similar projects from across
the country over the past year here is how a program could help rebuild Youngstown and the valley. A Mahoning Valley
Green Jobs Corps would provide job training to prepare young adults in the valley for green-collar careers. The program will
have a special focus on providing "green pathways out of poverty" by recruiting and training people with barriers to employment
to become gainfully employed. The Mahoning Valley Green Jobs Corps would address two critical issues with one comprehensive
approach. The global warming crisis requires that everyone work towards improving energy efficiency and generating energy
through renewable, alternative sources. The program will engage young adults who otherwise may not have an opportunity to
acquire the skills needed to earn a real living wage through the emerging Green Energy sector. The intent of the Green
Jobs Corps will be to prepare young adults to install energy efficiency features and renewable energy systems, as well as
to do other work related to increasing energy efficiency in the Mahoning Valley. Helping to create a qualified, trained workforce
in the valley could support the growth and success of local green businesses and contractors. The Mahoning Valley
Jobs Corps will focus on providing pathways out of poverty for young adults in the valley who may not otherwise have opportunities
for jobs and careers in the green economy. The goals of the pilot project are summarized as follows: •
TO REDUCE POVERTY AND PROMOTE SOCIAL EQUITY: Enable young adults in the valley to have green-collar careers, and thus provide
pathways out of poverty for people with barriers to employment. • TO RESTORE THE ENVIRONMENT:
Supply a trained workforce that can make the valley more energy efficient, more environmentally sustainable and cleaner, healthier
city in which to live. • TO SUPPORT GREEN BUSINESS: Support the growth of green businesses
in the valley, with a focus on those businesses that provide high-quality, stable jobs. •
TO ADVANCE The Valley’s GREEN ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP: Promote the valley’s position as a leading region in green
economic development. Research shows that green businesses in the valley could provide high-quality jobs with good
pay, good benefits, and good working conditions and that these firms have many dignified manual labor jobs that are ideally
suited for entry-level job-seekers.However, there is very little infrastructure for job training to support these businesses
as they grow. Like cities across the nation, Youngstown faces a shortage of programs providing "green-collar" workforce development.
This shortage will worsen as the green economy grows. Youngstown must develop with YSU or a community college excellent job
training programs that should linked to green employers. These programs need the right incentives and infrastructure in order
to retool for green-collar job training. The Mahoning Valley Jobs Corps will create partnerships between job training programs
and green employers. It will also provide key links to educational institutions, labor unions, and community-based organizations.
These are the programs the 60th district needs for the future. These are the programs Bob Hagan has failed to bring
or even thought up to bring to our valley. That is why a change in leadership is needed in the Ohio House this November. Sincerely, Dennis
Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District
Campaign wedsite: http://votespisak.tripod.com Please visit our Healthcare and Progressive Jobs Programs Link.
Ohio’s Lazy Lawmakers in Columbus
Press Release- March 29, 2008
Times are tough:
every day we hear more bad news about the economy. Foreclosures, evictions and job loss are hitting our most vulnerable
families and neighborhoods. Sounds like Ohio? It's California. But one sector of the economy is bucking the trend. Green technology
business (like solar and wind energy) grew an astounding 40 percent to over $77 billion last year in California. We
need to push for a new green economy with opportunity for everyone, especially those getting pushed out of the pollution-based
economy that is now so deeply troubled. I was excited to learn that green-collar jobs have become the topic in Sacramento.
Last month, the California Legislature introduced no fewer than NINE bills about green career education and workforce development.
The legislature's most powerful leaders are deeply engaged - including Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and incoming Senate President
pro Tem Darrell Steinberg'
Over the past two years, the Golden State has set a "green standard" for other states
to follow with the "Global Warming Solutions Act" and the "Million Solar Roofs" initiative. This year, California's eco-leadership
will continue with powerful green-collar jobs solutions. California state leaders are working hard to help shape these bills
and ensure they include "green pathways out of poverty" for the people of California.And what are Ohio Lawmakers
doing? They are having trouble passing one energy bill through the legislature. We can pass 'don't touch the strippers '
bill but we can't form an energy policy or even introduce bills about green career education and workforce development.As
the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District, I will make it my number one priority
to make sure Green Career Education and workforce development projects are passed in Columbus to use blue-collar skills in
a new green-collar manufacturing base here in the valley. I don't believe Current Representative Bob Hagan has even
proposed nine workforce development bills in his last 20 years in Columbus.To learn more about my campaign
please visit our web site at www.votespisak.tripod.com. Visit the link Health Care and progressive job programs.
Ohio Could Receive $2.7 Billion Dollars
from Renewable Energy
Press Release-March 25, 2008
The Dayton Daily News Reported on Monday,
March 24, 2008 that Ohio could see $2.7 billion in wind projects if the state passes an energy bill that includes renewable
energy "benchmarks" for utilities to hit in the near term, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Three developers
sent letters to Gov. Ted Strickland urging him to put benchmarks into the energy bill — basically state-mandated targets
for utilities to reach between now and 2025 for use of power generated from renewable resources such as wind or solar.
The bill proposed by Strickland and passed by the Ohio Senate
nearly six months ago does not include benchmarks but legislation pending in the House does. The benchmarks would give solar
and wind energy companies reason to set up shop in Ohio.
The House is expected to take up the energy bill again in April.
As the Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative
for the 60th District, here again is another proposal that I would work on in order to bring jobs and manufacturing
to the Mahoning Valley. While Bob Hagan wants to concentrate on lower payday check cashing interest rates, I propose concentrating
and working with groups like the American Wind Energy Association to bring jobs to the poor, blue-collar, and working class
people of Ohio.
This election in November comes down to this, do we want to
send an Independent Candidate to Columbus who is willing to invest his time and energy in bringing 21st century
hobs to the valley or continue to re-elect a state representative to Columbus like Bob Hagan who has no new ideas or plans
for this valley? Bob Hagan has been in Columbus for 20 years. What progress or vision has he brought to this valley?
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th
District Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Ohio Falls Behind Again
Press release-March 24, 2008
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for State Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak
reported today that
Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont last Wednesday signed into law a bill aimed at promoting renewable energy like solar and
wind power, as well as new efficiency measures devoted to reducing Vermonters' use of oil and other heating fuels. The
bill, dubbed the "energy efficiency and affordability act," will help Vermonters better manage their heating resources, protect
our environment and save money. The bill calls for the Department of Public Service to hold a series of "stakeholder
workshops" beginning this spring to come up with a request for proposals, basically a work order for a contractor or contractors
who would administer the new efficiency programs. By next year, those programs should be up and running, providing
Vermonters with grants and other financing to add new insulation, tighter windows and the like to their homes -- measures
the bill's supporters say could cut heating bills by 20 to 40 percent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions tied to global warming. In
addition, the bill allows for new tax credits designed to promote renewable energy, which advocates said would be timely given
the uncertainty over whether federal tax credits designed to promote installations of solar power will be renewed this year. And
among a broad range of other measures, it allows an expansion of "net metering," in which people who make their own power
can ship any extra onto their utility grid, lowering their electric bills in the process. "Once again we see another
state moving ahead with an energy plan while the Ohio Democrats and Republicans in the Ohio Statehouse play political football
with our state energy plan." said Spisak. "It's time to elect independent candidates for state representative who will
vote for legislation that will aid all Ohio citizens and businesses, bring renewable energy jobs and companies to Ohio, and
lower utility costs, instead of listening to what their political bosses tell them to do." said Spisak. Dennis Spisak-Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com '“Democracy Growing in your Community "
2007 Ohio Lobbying Expenses Up 52%-Bob Hagan takes his cut
March 22,2008
Ohio's legion
of registered lobbyists saw the expense of their activities increase by 52% last year, boosting total expenditures to $533,150,
according to a new report issued by the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee.
The large majority of the increase came
in the realm of legislative lobbying, with spending increasing from $336,686 to $525,977 from 2006 to 2007, the committee
reported.
Much of the spending comes from legislative receptions and other events that all lawmakers are invited to
attend, and also includes meals, awards and other items that might be provided to lawmakers under the state's lobbying laws.
The
top-spending groups, according to JLEC, were the Wholesale Beer & Wine Association, which spent $31,270 on its legislative
reception; the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which spent $26,946 on three events; and Equality Ohio, which spent $20,845 on
a legislative reception.
This report does not contain direct contributions groups made to individual members in
the Ohio State Legislature.
According to campaign finance reports from the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, State
Representative Bob Hagan really enjoys doing business with the Wholesale Beer and Wine Association. Bob Hagan accepted $950
in campaign donations from them since 2006 as illustrated in the report below.
WHOLESALE BEER AND WINE ASSOCIATION
OF OHIO CP 127 37 WEST BROAD ST. STE. 710 COLUMBUS OH 43215 2007 100 01/31/2007
$250.00 FRIENDS OF BOB HAGAN
WHOLESALE BEER AND WINE ASSOCIATION
OF OHIO CP 127 37 WEST BROAD ST. STE. 710 COLUMBUS OH 43215 2007 200 03/28/2007
$200.00 FRIENDS OF BOB HAGAN
WHOLESALE BEER AND WINE ASSOCIATION
OF OHIO CP 127 37 WEST BROAD ST. STE. 710 COLUMBUS OH 43215 2007 400 10/30/2007
$250.00 FRIENDS OF BOB HAGAN
WHOLESALE BEER AND WINE ASSOCIATION
OF OHIO CP-127 37 WEST BROAD ST. STE.710 COLUMBUS OH 43215 2006 100 03/06/2006 02/28/2006 $250.00
FRIENDS OF BOB HAGAN
While Bob Hagan portrays himself as a progressive liberal, the plain truth is
he is just another inside politician who is bought and controlled by lobbyists.
As an Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative, I have pledged to take no money from Lobbyists
or PACS. It's true I don't get things done for big corporate interests and lobbyists like Bob Hagan.
They don't need my help. I'm on the side of the rest of the citizens of the 60th district.
While the Democrats and Republicans refuse to act on school funding, your school
district and taxpayers will end up paying the costs
Press Release-March 21 2008
Last month Governor Strickland announced that the Ohio Department of Education had to cut 50
million dollars out of their budget.....most cuts concerning state money going to the County Educational Service Centers.
Today I received the ESC bill for 2009 for ESC services for the Struthers City Schools....last year the bill was $419,000.....next
year the bill is $553,000. So because state reps and state senators can't work together to fix state funding for schools,
something mandated by the Ohio Supreme Court 10 years ago, the bills get pushed down to the local boards of education...which
means we must pay the increase, cut costs in other services, or ask the local taxpayers to ante up with more money for local
levies. Your school board is receiving the same fee increase this month as well.
That's why we need independent state
representatives to speak for the people and quit playing political football regarding state funding of education. The 2 major
parties will not fix this program before the November election. Last week saw the lowest percentage of school levies passed
in the state for the last couple of years.
Let's send a state representative to Columbus who will do what's right
for the taxpayers and poor and working class in the valley, not the over 100 lobbyists and PACS who contributed to Bob Hagan's
political campaign fund last year.
Sincerely,
Dennis Spisak- State Rep Candidate Green Party- 60th district
Renewable Energy Making Strides
in Ohio, Except Youngstown
Press Release-March 19, 2008
In the latest edition of the GEO News,
the renewable energy resource guide published by the non-profit organization Green Energy Ohio, various sections of the Buckeye
State are beginning to invest in renewable energy, except the Youngstown area.
American-Municipal Ohio has built 4 utility
scale wind turbines on a landfill out side of Bowling Green, Ohio, which is producing enough energy to supply 1,850 homes
with electricity. AMP-Ohio is currently working with JW Wind Great Lake Winds to build additional turbines in Wood County
as well as the city of Clyde, Ohio.
At the University of Toledo, their Clean
and Alternative Energy Incubator is working towards leading the nation in researching new forms of energy by giving alternative
energy companies a place to be nurtured and grow. Already two companies have been able to develop new technology to manufacture
low-cost solar cells and have companies opening in the Toledo area.
In Columbus, the Columbus Housing Partnership
is refitting an inner-city east side home with two renewable energy systems on the home’s roof which will mean onsite
generation of all necessary electricity by using the sun.
Hocking Technical College in Southeast
Ohio is constructing the Hocking College energy Institute which will open in 2009 to provide learning labs for students training
in alternative energy areas of fuel cells, bio-fuels, wind and solar power, and hybrid vehicles. Working with Governor Strickland,
a Logan-Hocking Industrial Park will be built near the College as an area designed to support advanced energy and high tech-businesses.
The location will allow interaction between students and advanced energy companies and will play a crucial role in training
students to be employees of companies expected to locate there.
And in Colerain Township, Ohio, the Rumpke
Sanitary Landfill is the largest landfill in Ohio by volume, and boosts the largest landfill to gas direct pipeline facility
in the world.
It is equivalent to preventing the usage
of about 2.9 million barrels of fuel, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Landfill gas can be used for on-site
use, grid use, or electricity or natural gas production, The EPA estimates as many as 500 landfills can recover methane as
an energy source producing enough energy to power more than 78,000 homes and/or heat nearly 518,000 homes.
My question to the voters of the 60th
district, why are none of these ideas and projects taking place in Youngstown?
We see rural areas, inner-city areas, universities and technical colleges jumping on the next generation of renewable
energy and jobs and yet Youngstown and its leaders sit idle.
That is why I am running as an Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district. We need to send a representative to Columbus
who will work actively with the Governor, various agencies, and investors to bring renewable energy technology to the valley.
Does Bob Hagan have a plan to get Youngstown on this bandwagon? Has Bob Hagan had any plans over the last 20 years to bring
new technology or jobs to the region?
That is why I am asking for your support
this November in the race for state representative. I will be active in making sure Youngstown will not be left in the dark
when the rest of the state gobbles up all the new renewable energy jobs in the future.
Dennis Spisak- candidate for State
Representative- 60th District
Campaign site: Http:// votespisak.tripod.com
Ohio’s Loss is PA’s Gain
Press Release-March 16, 2008
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Hailing it as a historic day for Clearfield County and the state, Gov. Edward Rendell of PA. celebrated the groundbreaking
of construction of the first ethanol plant in the state yesterday at the Clearfield County Economic Development Corp. building
in Clearfield.
The $270 million ethanol plant
will be one of the largest ethanol plants east of the Mississippi River and one of the 10 largest ethanol plants in the nation.
The company probably would have constructed
the plant in Ohio because of the lower cost of transporting corn and the higher cost of doing business in Pennsylvania, but
the governor's package tipped the balance in favor of Pennsylvania. Dennis Spisak, Green Party candidate for State Representative
for the 60th district, says What
happened in Ohio is typical party politics and high paying lobbyists and PACS getting in the way of Ohio making any progress
in renewable energy programs.
First, Coal is still a big player in Southern Ohio, and coal companies have enough politicians
in their pockets to try and keep coal as a somewhat king in fossil fuel.
Second, Lobbyists like Exxon-Mobil have poured
big money into opposing current Senate Bill 221 which would mandate more renewable energy sources, factories,and companies
in Ohio.
Third, PA. State Representatives were very aggressive in pursuing the alternative energy plant to be built
there along with cooperation with state and local officials. When is the last time you heard Bob Hagan fight for an alternative
energy plant or company locating in the 60th district? The only two pieces of legistlation he has posted on his political
web-site within the last year was trying to get the fast check companies to lower interest rates and his proposal to stop
puppy breeding mills in Ohio.
Bob Hagan claims to be a progressive liberal but is really a paper tiger. He is just
an insider politician who takes huge donations from lobbyists and PACS for his campaign war chest. He shows up for a few photo
opps when an inflatable rat is put up at a picket line.
As a Green Party Candidate for the 60th district, I would
go to Columbus to bring alternative energy jobs back to the valley. Right now the 60th district and Ohio is lacking the forward
vision of what benefits renewable energy can bring to this state. Folks in PA. government understand the question. In fact,
today in Pittsburgh they wrapped up a 2-day "Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference."
That is why I am asking the voters
of the 60th district to support me in my campaign for state representative for the 60th district.
What type of jobs
have Bob Hagan brought back in 20 years of being in Columbus? If Bob Hagan did not have the word Democrat next to his name
on the November ballot, could you really support him for re-election this year?
Sincerely,
Dennis Spisak
Independent
Green Party Candidate for State Representative=60th district.
Please read about the Good Jobs-Green Jobs program on
our campaign web-site under the link Health care and Progressive Job Programs.
[votespisak.tripod.com]
Jobs and Workforce Development in a Clean Energy Economy
Press Release: March 13, 2008
Today at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference in Pittsburgh, The Apollo Alliance along with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy
released a new green jobs report,
Greener Pathways, Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy.
The
report includes and action plan for state lawmakers, highlighting policy, program and stystem reform opportunities to build
a greener and more equitable new green energy program for urban areas.
The report explores the kind and quality of
jobs in the clean energy economy, the skills needed to fill those jobs, and how urban centers like Youngstown can move to
the center of a greener economy through energy efficiency, wind power, and biofuels.
As the Green Party Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th District, these are the types of reports and projects that all American urban centers
believe can turn around their "rust-belt" economies. We need to send a state representative to Columbus who will work with
the Appollo Alliance to help the 60th district build a greener American economy that can and will create jobs. We must send
state representatives to Columbus who will seize the opportunities in clean energy industries that will bring real progress
on economic and workforce development in the Mahoning Valley. I am that candidate.
Solar Companies coming to Toledo
and Cleveland. Why not Youngstown?
Press Release- March 10, 2008
Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative for the 60th District Dennis Spisak again criticized current State Representative Bob Hagan for
not being in the forefront to bringing renewable energy companies and manufacturers to the Youngstown area.
Spisak cited a news release from Green
Energy Ohio, a statewide not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting renewable energy in Ohio.
“Green Energy Ohio has reported that
based largely on it’s world-class glass manufacturing capabilities, Ohio now has a proven core competency in the development
and manufacturing of photovoltaic technology. Ohio is the birthplace of First Solar, which produces more solar panels than
any of the 31solar manufacturing plants in the United States in 2006.”said Spisak.
Other solar companies are starting up in
Northwest Ohio and the German based IBC Solar recently named Cleveland it’s North American Headquarters. Governor Strickland
has also indicated the state is discussing Ohio investment by the largest Spanish
Solar firm, Isofoton.
“Once again we see the rest of the
state of Ohio beginning to benefit from solar and alternative energy manufacturing and Youngstown is left way behind because
we have a current State Representative in Bob Hagan who will not invest the time or energy to bring such companies to the
60th district.” said Spisak. “We have the land to build such factories, the work force to man such
factories, a university that could help the valley become an alternative energy manufacturing giant just like the steel mills
in the 40’s through 70’s, but we have a current state representative who is missing the train when it comes to
bringing 21st century jobs to the Valley.”
Spisak concluded, “ Bob Hagan has had no plan for economic recovery
for the past 20 years and continues to have no current plan. While the rest of Ohio is moving into the 21st century,
Bob Hagan remains clueless about job development in the valley. It’s time we elect a state representative like myself
who will go to Columbus to help bring alternative energy jobs back to the valley.”
Press Release-March 9, 2008
Got Bad Milk? Lobbyists
want you to have a glass
Campaign Site: http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate
For State Representative for the 60th District Dennis Spisak called on the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Governor
Ted Strickland to not allow the Ohio Department of Agriculture to allow Monsanto to push state laws through to silence farmers
who want to label their milk as coming from cows not treated by Monsanto’s rBGH growth hormone, a possible carcinogen.
Monsanto’s latest efforts in Ohio are to get the Ohio Department of Agriculture to consider new rules that would make
it very difficult for farmers who want to label their milk as rBGH-free.
“Consumers overwhelmingly
support the right of dairy farmers who don’t inject their cows with artificial growth hormones to publicize that fact
on their milk labels.” said Spisak. “But once again we see big business and lobbyists trying to buy Ohio lawmakers
with political donations to allow cows to be injected with growth hormones that is known to cause health problems for cows
and has been demonstrated to contain elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-a possible carcinogen.”
Spisak added, “ Consumers have a right to know what’s in their food and how it’s produced. Dairies
and farmers have a right to tell them.”
Spisak concluded “Again when
we have Democrats and Republicans elected to the government we see on a daily basis how these politicians are bought by lobbyists
from companies like Monsanto. As an Independent Green Party Candidate, I have pledged to take no lobbyist or PAC money and
take no political contributions over 50 dollars. Current State Representative Bob Hagan took money for over 17 lobbyists and
over 90 PACS in 2007. Who does Bob Hagan really listen too? The lobbyists like Monsanto or the people of the 60th
district?”
Press Release Friday, March
7, 2008
Lobbyists Killing
Clean Energy
Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate
for State Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak again asked Governor Strickland and the Ohio House
and Senate not to be swayed by lobbyists and PACS to derail the Clean Energy Bill now in committee in Columbus.
“We must begin investing
in clean energy and a green economy for Ohio’s Future” said Spisak.
.
“ A strong and enforceable
renewable energy standard combined with energy efficiency measures will make Ohio more energy independent, stabilize electricity
rates and create thousands of new jobs.”
Spisak pointed out that high
paid lobbyists are again in Columbus trying to have this bill defeated before it gets out of committee.
“Once again we see
what happens when you elect Democrats and Republicans to the Ohio House and Senate who are bought by Lobbyists and PACS political
contributions. As an Independent Green Party Candidate, I have pledged to take to no political contributions from lobbyists,
PACS, and will take no donation larger than 50 dollars from any individuals.”
Spisak concluded “Current
State Representative Bob Hagan took money from over 17 lobbyists and 90 PACS in 2007 alone. Who does Bob Hagan really represent?
His lobbyists or the voters of the 60th district?”
Ohio Legislators Again Playing Politics with Working Family Issues
Press Release-March 5, 2008
Campaign site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th
District Dennis Spisak today called for the current Ohio Legislators in Columbus to get to work on legislation to help Ohio
working families.
“Once again we see Ohio Democrats and Republicans dragging their feet
and refusing to act on legislation that would help Ohio’s poor and working class." said Spisak. “Neither party
wants the other party to look good heading into the November elections so both major parties are refusing to pass any legislation
before the November election that could help Ohio families.”
Spisak cited Ohio Healthy Families Act Bill. “Over 270,000 petition signers
sent this act to the Ohio General Assembly in early January. This bill would provide fair paid sick days for working Ohioans.
On March 11th, 2008, the Legislature will have less than half of the 120 days granted by law to pass the Healthy
Families Act.”
Spisak said “ that is why it is important for Ohio citizens to finally
elect independent candidates to the Ohio House and Senate who will not play politics with legislation that is important
to Ohio citizens. Democrats and Republican legislators listen to their party bosses, independent candidates will listen to
the will of the people.”
Spisak concluded, “ All Ohio Legislators have paid sick days courtesy
of our tax dollars. Shouldn’t all hard-working Ohioans have the right to earn them too?”
Dennis Spisak files petitons to face Bob Hagan for the 60th Ohio House Seat
Press Release-March 4th, 2008
Published:Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Other independent
candidates filed for Mahoning prosecutor and an Ohio House seat.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Others in Mahoning County filing petitions to run as independents in November are:
Dennis S. Spisak of Struthers, a Struthers school board member and principal of Brookfield Middle School in Trumbull
County, for the Ohio House 60th District seat. He’ll face state Rep. Robert F. Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat who is unopposed
today, in November.
Last Chance for Democracy
for the 60th District
Press Release-Monday, March
3, 2008
Today (Monday, March 3, 2008) please
stop by the Mahoning County Board of Elections between 10am-2pm and help sign Dennis Spisak’s petition to run as an
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District of Youngstown, Struthers, Campbell,
Lowellville, and Coitsville Township. Registered Democrats and Republicans can sign the petition and still cast votes in your
party’s primary.
If not, Bob Hagan wins Re-election
to the 60th District on Tuesday without taking a stance on any of the important issues facing the valley and Ohio.
Dennis
Spisak’s priorities for the November election are the following:
Zero Tolerance for Corruption - Unlike the Democrats
and Republicans, as a member of the Green Party, Dennis does not accept contributions from corporate interest groups and he
doesn’t take orders from a party boss. Dennis will work to cleanse Ohio of the flood of big business money that is corrupting
Ohio politics.
Developing a Dynamic Economy - The fossil fuel industry has had a stranglehold on our energy
policy for too long. Our economy is hemorrhaging billions of dollars a year in an immoral war to control these ever-dwindling
resources. Dennis will nurture a new energy industry in our state that develops renewable and sustainable energy sources.
This new economic engine can only emerge if the needs of the people of Ohio and the valley are put ahead of the vested interests
that are buying our lawmakers.
Putting People First: Health Care - The insurance industry currently takes up to 50 cents of every
dollar spent on health care and uses it to pay for stock dividends, exorbitant CEO salaries, maintaining an army of lobbyists,
political campaigns, lawyers and litigation, advertising, marketing, and sales. Kicking insurance companies out of Ohio's
health care system and going to a single payer, state administered plan will result in $11 billion in savings that can be
used to provide universal health care for all Ohioans and bring health care costs under control. Dennis Spisak supports the
SPANOhio Ballot Initiative for Health Care for All Ohioans Act.
Putting People First: Education – As a member of the Struthers City Board of Education,
Dennis will make sure that there is adequate and equitable funding for all of Ohio's students.
Putting People First: The Environment - Our environment is under attack from the toxins that that the
Democratic and Republican policy makers have allowed to be spread throughout our state. Not only are industrial polluters
getting away with ruining air, land, and water, but also Ohio is accepting millions of tons of waste from other states and
allowing toxin-laden urban sludge to be dumped on our cropland. We are becoming the nation's sewer. Dennis Spisak will not
turn a blind eye to those who poison our state's resources.
Putting People First: Voting Rights – Dennis Spisak will see that all candidates have an equal
chance of ballot access. Why should Democrats and Republican candidates need only 50 valid signatures to get on the ballot
while Independent candidates need up to 953 signatures. Campaign site: Http://Votespisak.tripod.com
Securing a Clean Energy Future
Press release February 28, 2008
Campaign Web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party candidate for State
Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak called on Ohio House and Senate members to adopt the goals from
the National Governors Association plan called “Securing a Clean Energy Future.”
“It’s
time for Ohio to wake up and realize that energy use in the United States could skyrocket over the next 25 years, increasing
by over 30 percent.” said Spisak.
Spisak cites
that if Ohio institutes the guidelines set for in the NGA proposal Ohio citizens could see the following results:
Advanced Electricy Generation
Electricity generation from renewable energy sources is expected
to increase through 2030, but its overall contribution to total electricity generation is expected to remain relatively small,
approximately 4 percent. Yet some experts believe the U.S. could meet 25 percent of its electricity needs in 2025 by better
utilizing wind, biomass, geothermal and solar energy. States can be a driving force behind helping utilities improve their
efficiency and increase the amount of electricity produced through renewable sources.
Improved Efficiency
Studies funded by the U.S. Department of Energy show that 80 percent
of the projected growth in electricity demand could be offset by energy efficiency improvements alone, helping reduce overall
energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases. Increased efficiency standards for new homes, buildings and appliances
can play a key role in meeting this target, and states have a tremendous opportunity to set an example by creating their own
efficiency goals for state facilities and vehicle fleets.
Accelerated Research and Development
Over the past 30 years, funding for energy research and development
has significantly declined in the U.S. However, any long-term strategy aimed at greater use of cleaner alternatives requires
significant investments in research, development and testing of new technologies. Recognizing this, states can expand opportunities
to fund energy R&D through universities and support private
sector demonstration and pilot programs.
Spisak concluded
“It’s time we sent state representative to Columbus who want to take an active part in providing Ohio citizens
with cleaner and cheaper energy. As an independent candidate I will not be bought by big power and utility lobbyists and PACS
like our current State Representative is.”
Press Release-February 26, 2008
Feed-In Tariffs Could Lower Utility
Costs and boost Renewable Energy
Campaign Site: HTTP://Votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative for the 60th District Dennis Spisak called on the Ohio House and Senate to begin looking into Feed-In
Tariffs that would help boost the development of electricity from renewable sources.
“The Illinois Renewable Energy Sources
Act has just been introduced calling for the same type of program that is currently in use in Germany to develop renewable
energy sources,” said Spisak.
Feed-in tariffs have proven remarkably successful throughout Europe, and especially
in Germany, where some 55% of the world’s solar power capacity resides. A feed-in tariff offers a long-term guaranteed
price contract (usually about 15-20 years) to any entity that contributes
electricity to the grid via renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, small hydro, geothermal and methane.
Whereas existing policy mechanisms like the production tax credit favor large corporations with sizable tax liability, and investment tax credits favor those folks who can afford a large upfront cost that comes with a 20-30 year payoff,
this policy tool encourages the distributed generation of renewable energy and it levels the playing field by providing long-term
investment security for small businesses, homeowners, churches, schools and others, so they are more willing to make the financial
commitment that is necessary for installing renewable energy themselves.
“The Feed-In Tariffs are now in place in 47 countries and provinces around the
world,” said Spisak. “A major benefit is that such programs allow many more players into the energy production
market such as homeowners, small businesses, cooperatives, farmers, businesses and schools.” Spisak added, “ Feed-In Tariffs are often popular among the masses, but less so with
utilities and corporations that stand to lose out on the revenue. Power interests and lobbyists have all but stopped Tariffs
from being introduced in America. It’s time to elect an independent state representative who will help the people with
saving energy instead of supporting lobbyist bought politicians like Bob Hagan who vote with companies that line his political
war chest with contributions.”
Press
Release: February 24, 2008
Where
is Bob Hagan on Renewable Energy and Jobs?
Campaign
Site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent
Green Candidate for State Representative Dennis Spisak questions why current State Representative Bob Hagan has no stance,
position, or remarks on two recent state government plans to promote renewable energy programs and create Ohio jobs.
“Within
the past three weeks bi-partisan announcements have been made in Columbus regarding the promotion of renewable energy programs
and Bob Hagan has failed to make public comment on where he stands regarding such projects,” said Spisak.
“Again
we are seeing Ohio elected leaders taking the lead on renewable energy programs and jobs for Ohio.” said Spisak. “Where
is Bob Hagan’s voice? Since he has no opposition next week, Bob Hagan will remain silent on these and other issues.
If he has no opposition in the fall, Bob Hagan will remain silent forever. That is why we need an independent candidate on
the ballot in November so Bob Hagan will have to speak.” said Spisak.
On
February 9th, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher announce the Ohio Wind Production
and Manufacturing Incentive, making $5 million in grants available to help spur the production of wind energy in Ohio. The
Ohio Wind Production and Manufacturing Incentive will grant money to help individuals or businesses that are working to install
renewable wind energy projects in Ohio. The Wind Incentive is made possible through the recent changes in the Advanced Energy
Fund led by Representative Joseph Uecker (R- House District 66) in H.B. 251.
“This
is a great opportunity for promoting and improving wind energy resources here in Ohio.,” said Spisak. “This program
can attract new renewable energy programs and jobs to the 60th district.”
The
second major renewable energy announcement came last week when Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted (R) announced new and improved
standards for renewable energy and energy efficiency, including strong enforcement and benchmarks to ensure success. Key improvements
include the development of the Ohio Renewable Energy Authority which will identify and expand job opportunities in renewable
energy businesses located in Ohio and direct the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to annually track and enforce the renewable
energy and efficiency standards. “I believe it’s time we elect an independent candidate to the state house who believes in renewable energy
programs and jobs for the 60th district.” said Spisak.
Canvass for Spisak for State Rep- Green Party- Saturday, February
23, 2008
Dress Warm!. ..
Have Fun!
If you truely believe we should have a candidate on the ballot In November to oppose Bob Hagan
Please join us!
Tim Kettler, Secretary of the Ohio Green party and other state wide
committee members will
in Y-town this weekend to help us gather
signatures at various locations. All local Green members are invited
to attend
and help out for a few hours.
We will be holding a petition-gathering canvass in the 60th District
in the
Youngstown, Ohio area this Saturday from 11am-3pm depending
on the weather conditions.
We will meet up at the McDonalds
Restaurant across from the
Youngstown State University football stadium at around 10:15am to
get some coffee and assign
folks to different locations.
As of right now, petition sites include:
Main Youngstown Library
Campbell Library
Struthers
Library
Lincoln Knolls Plaza
Struthers Plaza
IGA in Struthers
Brownlee Woods Libray
You can call
us tomorrow at 330-503-1407 for exact locations to sign petitions
The directions to Stambaugh Stadium (YSU)
are as follows:
Directions:
FROM THE SOUTH (East Liverpool, Ohio River) Take Ohio Route 11 North
to I-680. Take
Exit 4A marked Youngstown State University. Follow
the expressway and take the exit ramp marked Fifth Avenue. Turn
right
on Fifth Ave…McDonalds is across the street from the stadium
on the right hand side.
FROM THE NORTH (Cleveland
& Toledo) From Cleveland Airport take I-71
South to Ohio Turnpike I-80 East. Continue on the Ohio Turnpike to
Exit
15. After exiting continue to follow the signs for I-80 East.
Follow I-80 East to I-680. Take Exit 4A marked Youngstown
State
University. Follow the expressway and take the exit ramp marked
Fifth Avenue. Turn right on Fifth Ave…McDonalds
is across the street
from the stadium on the right hand side.
FROM THE EAST (New York City) Take I-80 West to Ohio
Route 193
Belmont Avenue Exit. Turn left (South) at the end of the exit ramp
onto Belmont Avenue. Turn left (East) onto
Gypsy Lane. Turn right
(South) on Fifth Avenue to campus. McDonalds is across the street
from the stadium on the right
hand side.
FROM THE WEST (Akron and Columbus) Take I-71 or I-77 to I-76 East
(Youngstown). Follow Youngstown signs
as I-76 turns into I-80.
Follow I-80 to I-680. Take Exit 4A marked Youngstown State
University. Follow the expressway
and take the exit ramp marked
Fifth Avenue. Turn right on Fifth Ave…McDonalds is across the street
from the stadium
on the right hand side.
If you have any questions, please call me at (330) 755-0729 (home)
(330) 448-3003
(work)
(330)
503-1407
(cell)
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Greens
Press Release Feb 21, 2008
Solar Power Can Boost Valley’s
Economy
Campaign web site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Party Candidate for State
Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak again vowed to help boost the valley’s economy by bringing
alternative energy companies and factories to the 60th District.
“All over America government leaders
are learning that clean energy is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.” said Spisak.
Spisak cited the Mayor of Los Angeles who
announced a plan this week to unveil a green energy initiative that will create as many as 400 union jobs over the next three
years to install and maintain solar panels on city buildings and other structures around Los Angeles.
On another job front, the Los Angeles mayor
announced progress towards a goal of providing 100,000 residents with living wages jobs.
“Their job proposal could easily
work here in the Mahoning Valley”, said Spisak. “The concept is to
work with school systems, community colleges, and universities to provide
alternative energy job training and placement. Something that is definitely lacking here in the 60th district.”
Spisak added “To get such a program
in place here in the valley, we need a state representative who will go to Columbus to expand our portfolio of alternative
energies. We need a state representative to work with state leaders and help issue
rebates to companies that will employ solar panels and a state representative that will strike partnerships with public and
private entities to use the technology.”
“Right now we have a state representative in Bob Hagan who has
no plan to bring such ideas and jobs to the valley. That’s why we need a change in Columbus beginning in 2009”,
concluded Spisak.
Next Spisak for State Rep Petition Gathering Event
The Seventh Ward Citizens' Coalition
presents a
Candidates'
Forum
Thursday, February 21, 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Word Of Grace Church
(former Buckeye School Bldg.)
2734
Mt. Vernon
Youngstown, Ohio
Growing Green Jobs
Press Release- February 13, 2008
Independent Green Party candidate for State Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak today called on current
State Representative Bob Hagan to spend less time endorsing Democratic Presidential Candidates and more time bringing Green
Collar Jobs to the Mahoning Valley.
"Our local politicians endorse and court presidential candidates every four years, and all we receive back from them
are empty promises that are nevered delivered. It's time we elect a state representative who will spend more time trying to
bring Green Collar jobs to the 60th District instead of standing on stage for an hour with
Presidential wannabes", said Spisak.
Spisak cited the recent Growing Green Collar Jobs, a series of reports that explore how sustainability can be an economic
engine for New York City. Green-collar jobs are jobs in an environmental sector that provides family-sustaining wages, workplace
safety and health, and chances for advancement.
Prepared for the New York City Apollo Alliance, each report in the series is based on secondary research and interviews
with business, labor, civic, community and environmental leaders. The explore the opportunities for creating new green-collar
jobs, the importance of retooling existing jobs to incorporate environmental practices, and the barriers to green-collar job
creation.
The first report in the series, Growing Green-Collar Jobs: Energy Efficiency, focuses on jobs in one of the fastest growing
and most promising areas of the green economy, improving energy efficiency in existing buildings. Released in December 2007,
it will be followed by reports covering:
- Clean Energy: Renewable energy systems (Solar Photovoltaic, Solar Thermal, Geothermal, Small Wind, Landfill Gas, Anaerobic
Digesters and Tidal Power), Biofuel production and Cogeneration,
- Recycling and Deconstruction, recycling of building construction waste and reuse of building materials,
- Landscaping and Green Roofs
- Automotive Retrofits, and
- Brownfield Remediation
"These are the ideas and innovations that will bring jobs to the 60th district." said Spisak. "Mrs. Clinton and Mr.
Obama will promise us the world over the next 2 days here in Youngstown, but until we elect a state representative who will
go out and bring Green Collar jobs to the valley, we will continue to rely on false promises from presidential candidates
every 4 years. I will be that State Represenative that will bring jobs to the valley, not just politicians."
2010 Plan needs
Green Jobs
Press Release-
February 10,2008
Campaign Site:
HTTP://Votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Candidate
for State Representative for the 60th District Dennis Spisak announced today that the Youngstown 2010 plan couldn’t
succeed without the creation Green-Collar Jobs for the valley.
“The 2010 plan is
already out of date because it fails to mention of Green Collar jobs for the 60th District.” Said Spisak.
“Organizations such as the Apollo Alliance, Ella Baker Center, Workforce Alliance, Center for American Progress, Sustainable
South Bronx, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, 1Sky, Energy Action Coalition, Green For All, and many more organizations across
the country have come to the conclusion that green collar jobs are vital for offering the working class and middle class a
better future.
Spisak says Green Collar
jobs can help the Youngstown 2010 plan by providing the following benefits to the 60th District:
Green-Collar Jobs will
rebuild a Strong Middle Class:
Green-collar jobs are good
jobs. Like blue-collar jobs, green-collar jobs pay family wages and provide opportunities for advancement along a career track
of increasing skills and wages.
Green-Collar Jobs
Provide a Pathway out of Poverty:
Most green-collar jobs
are middle-skill jobs requiring more education than high school, but less than a four-year degree -- and are well within reach
for lower-skilled and low-income workers as long as they have access to effective training programs and appropriate supports.
We must ensure that all green-collar jobs strategies provide opportunities for low-income people to take the first step on
a pathway from poverty to economic self-sufficiency. Adding a community college to the area to provide training could provide
these courses.
Green-Collar Jobs Require
Some New Skills:
The green economy demands
workers with new skill sets. Some green collar jobs -- say renewable energy technicians -- are brand new. But even more are
existing jobs that are being transformed as industries transition to a clean energy economy: computer control operators who
can cut steel for wind towers as well as for submarines; or mechanics who can fix an electric engine as well as an internal
combustion engine. We need identify the specific skills the green economy demands. Then we need to invest in creating new
training programs and retooling existing training programs to meet the demand.
Green-Collar jobs tend
to be Local Jobs:
Much of the work we have
to do to green our economy involves transforming the places that we live and work and the way we get around. These jobs are
difficult or impossible to offshore. For instance, you can't pick up a house, send it to China to have solar panels installed,
and have it shipped back. In addition, one of the major sources of manufacturing jobs -- a sector that has been extensively
off-shored -- are components parts for wind towers and turbines. Because of their size and related high transportation costs,
they are most cost-effectively produced as near as possible to wind-farm sites. Cities and communities should begin thinking
now about ways their green strategies can also create local jobs.
Green-Collar Jobs Strengthens
Urban and Rural Communities:
Urban and rural America
have both been negatively impacted over the past decades by a failure to invest in their growth -- green-collar jobs provide
an opportunity to reclaim these areas for the benefit of local residents. From new transit spending
and energy audits in inner
cities to windmills and biomass in our nation's heartland, green jobs mean a reinvestment in the communities hardest hit in
recent decades.
Green-Collar Jobs Can Recreate
City Neighborhoods:
When steel was king back
in the 40’s. 50’s, and 60’s, we had strong neighborhoods in the Mahoning Valley. By creating Alternative
energy companies and factories, we can restore working class neighborhoods to the valley.
Green-collar workers are
installing solar panels, retrofitting buildings to make them more efficient, constructing transit lines, refining waste oil
into biodiesel, erecting wind farms, repairing hybrid cars, building green rooftops, planting trees, and so much more. And
they are doing it today. There are already many green-collar jobs in America. But there could be so many more if we focus
our economic strategies on growing a green economy. Spisak
concludes by saying “It’s time for the 60th District to begin looking at becoming the Alternative Energy Giant
for Alternative Energy Jobs and Factories. Only then can we say we have a future plan in pace to make the 60th
District a better place to live in the 21st Century.”
Spisak for State Rep proposes Incentives Plans for Energy Conservation
Press-Release-Feruary 7, 2008
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Dennis Spisak, Independent Green Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, called today for
the state legistlature to introduce a set of proposals designed to help improve energy efficiency through conservation.
"As a Board of Education member, I have seen our school district's electricity costs rise over $200,000 in
just three years." said Spisak. "It's time for the state legislature to introduce a legistlative package that would include a series of tax incentives, rebates and other measures to provide assistance to individuals who pursue energy conserving
practices.
"We need a bill that would also set up renewable energy procurement goals for state agencies and financial
assistance to the poor to help them buy products that reduce their energy consumption." said Spisak.
Tax deductions, private donations, grants, and settlements from lawsuits would pay for the energy upgrade
relief outlined in the plan.
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Press Release- February 4, 2008
New Green Jobs Will Bring New Green Benefits
Campaign Web Site: HTTP:// Vote Spisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Candidate for State Representative
of the 60th District Dennis Spisak today announced that by bringing new green companies to the Mahoning Valley would also
bring new green benefits for valley employees and residents.
In a RenewableEnergyAccess article, Dawn Dzurilla of
Gaia Human Capital Consultants wrote that renewable energy companies are adding green benefits to their employment packages
to align the company’s stated values with their company culture and to attract talent from traditional industries to
the renewable energy industry. Each benefit allows employees to become more sustainable in their personal actions, a benefit
that is likely to be quite meaningful to those applying for and landing jobs in the renewable energy sector.
“Green
employment benefits tend to fall into five categories: work related, transportation, residential, personal/well being, and
financial.” Said Spisak. “Not only will new renewable energy companies bring the 60th district an economic boost,
but it will also bring better employee benefits which are currently non-existent with today’s current companies. With
no immediate help in employee benefits coming from the state house, such renewable energy green benefits will improve the
working and living conditions of our valley residents.” Said Spisak.
Such employment benefits are the following:
Work Related: Changes in the workplace that
are aligned with sustainability, such as natural light buildings and space efficient offices can increase employee productivity
and satisfaction. At least one company hosts a fairly elaborate Earth Day celebrations that include education, healthy food,
and a local hike.
Transportation: These benefits range from mass transit subsidies, to free bicycles, to cash
prizes for taking alternative transportation to work. Some companies are even offering a $1000 toward the purchase of a Prius,
with the $1000 stipend continuing each year for as long as the employee owns the car!
Residential: Some companies are
offering employees stipends toward the purchase of CFLs, energy-efficient windows, solar panels, wood-pellet furnace, or wind
turbine.
Personal/Well Being: Personal values of stewardship, sustainability, and personal health are
valued by giving employees the opportunity to use time during the day to workout, take time off to participate in marathons,
or volunteer for earth-friendly causes.
Financial: An example of this benefit is giving employees access to Socially Responsible Investments
in their retirement plan and 401(k) options.
“For 20 years in this valley Democratic leadership has failed to think outside the box
and look towards the future. It’s time to elect independent-thinking candidates to the state house to bring the Mahoning
Valley into the 21st Century,” concluded Spisak.
Press Release: February 1, 2008
New Greens Jobs Could Bring 93 Million Dollars, 592 Jobs to Valley
Campaign Site: http://votespisak.tripod.com
Independent Green Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District Dennis Spisak announced today that
a recent Apollo Alliance report stated that by bringing alternative energy companies and factories to the 60th district could
bring in a 93 Million Dollars and 592 new jobs to Mahoning County.
"By creating a national and state strategy for investing in renewable energy we could provide significant business
benefits and jobs by stimulating demands for manufactured components." said Spisak. "Areas such as Youngtown which has suffered
great loss of manufacturing jobs have a significant concentration of manufacturing potential to supply these components."
The Renewable Energy Policy Project's latest report,Component Manufacturing: Ohio's Future in the Renewable
Energy Industry, produced for the Apollo Alliance, utilizes industrial codes from census data and a state of the art software
program to identify the scope of potential job growth that would occur in Ohio.
"The report states that Mahoning County is one of the top 20 counties in Ohio with the greatest potential for
econmic growth by building alternative energy companies and factories." said Spisak. "The report suggests that Mahoning County
could gain 93 million dollars to it's economy and provide for 592 jobs in the solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal industries."
Spisak concluded, "If elected to the state house, I would work with such organizations as Green Energy Ohio,
the Apollo Alliance, and the Blue- Green Alliance to bring such industries and jobs back to the working and middle class citizens
of our district."
Press Release-January 30, 2008
Spisak calls for House Reps to Give Ohio a Better Electric Utility Plan
Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak today called on current
Ohio House members to give Ohio residents the best possible electric utility plan this year.
The House is currently hearing testimony on Senate Bill 221 which would overhaul the state's regulation of electric utilities.
" Ohio House members need to think progressively and make sure that the advancement for renewable energies
is included and utilized to it's fullest potential here in the Buckeye State", said Spisak.
"Ohio House members must also stand strong and ensure school districts will have access to the best electric rates-whether
it be the competitive wholesale market or a stable rate provided by the utility company under an electric security
plan." said Spisak.
Spisak added, "As a current Struthers City Board of Education member, I have seen our school district electric bill rise
over $200,000 over the last 3 years. That's $200,000 dollars that could have been spent on additional student instruction,
curriculum development, or helping students with special needs.
It's time for Ohio House members to begin exploring a possible special electric rate for School districts."
Press Release-January 28, 2008
Old Buildings Turned Green can Save Youngstown Money
Independent Green Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District Dennis Spisak today announced today that a
report by the United States Green Building Council concludes older buildings such as those in Downtown Youngstown present
a much bigger opportunity to cut down on energy consumption and carbon emissions that contribute to the warming of the planet.
"The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design-LEED has guidelines that address older buildings." said Spisak. " Called L:EED for Existing Buildings, or LEED-EB, the three-year-old program provides
a laundry list of steps that building owners and managers can take to operate and manage their properties more efficiently."
The report suggests that as more companies look to reduce waste, along with their carbon imprint, they find
that their buildings are one of their most immediate opportunities. For their efforts, they typically get a healthier, cleaner
work environment, improved efficiency and lower operating costs, all of which can help attract tenants and employees. A 2006
Green Building Council study found that by retrofitting buildings, owners can save 90 cents a square foot annually, on average,
in energy and other costs and earn back their investment in 2 to 2 ½ years.
"As State Representative, I would work with the council, the local chamber, and state and federal resources
to see that our older buildings in the 60th district can take on this renovation, save money, and increase tenants
and employees for the 21st century." said Spisak. "These are ideas and innovations real progressive candidates want for our
valley."
Press Release: January 25, 2008
State Rep Candidate Spisak: Green Economic Stimulus Package will jump Start Economy, not Bush's Tax Cuts
Independent Green Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, Dennis Spisak, said today that President Bush's
tax cut proposal will not stimulate the economy, but a Green Economic Stimulus Package will.
"President Bush's call for tax cuts is a false and short-term approach that is economically flawed and will bankrupt
America", said Spisak. " It is based on old ideas rooted in a dirty, fossil fuel based economy."
Spisak called for Congress to pass a green stimulus package that helps those who need it the most. "Rebuilding
America's crumbling infrastructure offers two opportunities that we must seize as a country: transitioning America to a clean
energy economy and expanding economic opportunity for all".
Spisak added " we have the unique opportunity to promote green-collar jobs and
pathways out of poverty.
Through targeted investments in energy efficiency, mass transit, and a Clean Energy Corps to provide Americans
with jobs and service opportunities, we can not only avoid short-term recession, but also put millions of Americans
to work, creating a secure economic and environmental future for all Americans."
"
This is the opportunity to act boldly to strengthen U.S. energy
independence and to invest in the clean and sustainable
energy
sources that will form the foundation of a new era of economic
prosperity."
'If elected to to the state house, I will work with state and federal elected officials to support a green
stimulus package that creates new jobs and a green
economy strong enough to lift people out of economic depression
on
to a pathway out of poverty", Spisak concluded.
Press Release-January 18, 2008
Spisak for State Rep: Green Career Jobs can come to Valley
Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th district again reported that green
labor shortages will create additonal green careers.
"A one-day summit entitled Advancing the New Energy Economy was recently held in San Francisco." said Spisak. " The attendees
discussed ways to advance long-term investment, job creation, and financial growth within the green technology industry with
a focus on engaging low-income communities."
One of the critical issues to come out of the summit is the shortage of green laborers who have the skills to retrofit
buildings, build new green construction, install solar panels and build wind farms.
"This news has a number of implications
for green careers of all kinds," said Spisak. "This is the type of education and economy I would bring to the 60th District
to help improve our working and middle class."
Suggestions that came out of the San Franciso summit:
- If you are a builder or want to learn, now is the time to get the training you need to be a competent installer.
- Schools with specific education programs will pay a critical role in solving this labor shortage. If you have experience
in green building or renewable energy installation and you enjoy teaching, your employment potential just went up. A number
of community colleges are launching certification programs now!
- If you’ve worked in school admissions and want to contribute to the green economy, position yourself to help attract
and select people for these education programs.
- When these students graduate, green companies are likely to scramble to hire as many of the top students as possible.
If you have a background in recruitment or human resources, you could have your hands full as these companies staff up.
- Although the focus is on green collar employees, as companies gear up, they are also going to need managers and team leads
to manage the crews as they get to work.
- Another key component of this puzzle is having a sufficient number of marketing and sales people to line up the projects
for the builders and installers.
Spisak says "It's time for the 60th District to begin research into the next new hot industry in America. If we were once
the Steel Valley giant, why can't we become the Green Alternative Energy Manufacuring Giant?"
Press Release-January 17, 2008
Dennis Spisak calls for supports of Ohio Senate Bill 221 and More Green Jobs for our Valley
Dennis Spisak, Green Party Candidate for State Representative for the 60th District announced he supports Ohio Senate
Bill 221which calls for support of
clean energy for Ohio.
"Last week the Ohio House of Representatives heard testimony from Exxon-Mobile funded Heartland Institute to try
and sway Ohio Legistlators from a clean energy bill by dismissing global warming and get Ohio to stay the course with dirty
sources of power." said Spisak.
"If elected to the Ohio House I will work to bring solar energy companies, wind energy developers and renewable energy
manufacturers to Ohio which will have a huge environmental and economic opportunity for our state." Spisak
added.
Dennis Spisak again stressed the need to bring alternative energy companies, manufacturers, and green collar jobs
to the Mahoning Valley.
"We need to provide workers training to take advantage of new opportunities and job growth in renewable and clean
energy, providing pathways out of poverty for lower income communities. We can generate accelerated investment in clean energy
technologies and businesses. As we switch to an economy less dependent on fossil fuels, we will see growth in clean energy
economies."
Press Release-January 11, 2008
Spisak for State Rep wants new alternative energy factories and companies to build Lake Erie Wind Farm
Dennis Spisak, Green Party Candidate for State Representative today continued his pledge to make the Mahoning Valley
a new manufacturing base for alternative energy companies.
" Lake Erie winds are the strongest recorded anywhere in Ohio, the nonprofit
Green Energy Ohio reported Thursday", said Spisak. On Tuesday, Cuyahoga
County commissioners approved a $1 million study that will look at the costs and challenges of erecting a small wind farm
on Lake Erie. As a demonstration project, the task force has proposed building up to 10 wind turbines in Lake Erie,
generating power for up to 6,000 homes."
"All across the nation and now in Ohio people
are beginning to finally realize that alternative energy manufacturing is the key new way to make America's manufacturing
base be restored." said Spisak. "As state representative, I would work with government and private industry to help bring
new alternative energy jobs and help recreate a working and middle class to our Mahoning Valley".
Spisak cites the findings from the Green-Collar
Jobs Campaign:
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Businesses surveyed report:
86 percent hire workers without previous direct experience or training for green-collar
jobs.
94 percent provide on-the-job training for workers in entry level positions.
90 percent pay the full cost of insuring their workers.
73 percent of businesses stated that there was a shortage of qualified green-collar
workers for their sector, with the greatest needs in energy, green building, and mechanics.
Workers with barriers to employement want Green collar jobs:
89 percent wanted to learn more about green-collar jobs.
61 percent expressed interest in being contacted in the future so they could receive training to work in a green-collar
job.
"The Mahoning Valley needs Green Collar Jobs to help provide a new source of living wage jobs to help battle poverty and
unemployment", said Spisak. "As your State Representative, I will see that the 60th District is a leader in the area, and
not again be left standing at the station as this new economic train leaves the station." Bob Hagan has done this time
after time for 20 years. It's time for a new engineer for this valley." Spisak concluded. | | |
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Spisak for State Rep * 548 Poland Ave* Struthers* Ohio * 44471
Dennis Spisak- Progressive Ideas for a Progressive
60th District | |
January 6, 2008- Press Release
Spisak for State Rep supports need for Community College in Valley
Green Candidate for State Representative of the 60th District, Dennis Spisak, supports the Northeast Ohio Universities
Collaboration and Innovation Study Commission that reports the Mahoning Valley needs a community college.
"Why is 60th District the only district in the Northeast Ohio Region without a community college?" asked Spisak. "We
wonder why our valley is behind the rest of the state in developing new trades, careers, and technical jobs, and the lack
of a community college is one reason why," he added.
"You would think since current State Rep Bob Hagan has been in state office for over 20 years we would have had a community
college by now." said Spisak.
As a high school principal, Spisak has seen how valuable community colleges can be for improving techinical, jobs, and
college education for the poor and middle class.
"When I was principal at Southern Local High School for 7 years, I was amazed at how valuable Jefferson Community College
was to Steubenville and all students in Jefferson County. Students who graduated from any high school in Jefferson county
were provided free tution for two years and only had to pay for books and supply fees. Many students went on to earn Associated
Degrees or transferred after 2 years to such universities as YSU, Kent State, and Ohio University." said Spisak.
"This community college could focus on trade skills for students and adults in the new field of developing and improving
alternative energy sources. We could teach students how to build affordable solar and wind energy systems as well as factories
that could produce energy from methane gas given off by the massive landfills in the valley. Such factories are already operating
in Toledo and Columbus." said Spisak. " By creating these trades we could encourage new alternative energy manufacuring factories
and companies to relocate to this valley and rebuild our working class and middle class society. Let's give the community
jobs that pay a living wage so that our citizens will not have to turn to murder and drugs to survive." Spisak added.
January 4, 2008
Green Candidate Spisak excited that the Paid Sick Leave Statute Qualifies for the Ohio General Assembly Consideration.
Green Candidate for State Representative-60th District, Dennis Spisak was excited to learn today that Ohio
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced that the Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition has submitted more than
enough valid signatures to send the Ohio Healthy Families Act to the Ohio General Assembly!
The Coalition needed 120,683 valid signatures state-wide, and specific numbers of signatures had to be
gathered in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. On December 11th, petitions were submitted to Jennifer Brunner,
the state’s chief elections officer, who then sent them to County Boards of Elections for verification. Today,
Brunner certified 154,693 signatures as valid, and said that the requisite number of signatures were obtained in 65 counties,
both of which far exceeded the numbers needed to send the proposed legislation to the General Assembly.
"I am very excited to see this act come before the Ohio General Assembly.", said Spisak. " It is long
overdo. If elected to the Ohio House, I will do everything in my effort to see that working Ohioians can receive sick days
to help their family members when they become ill."
The Ohio Healthy Families Act is a proposed new state law that would make our state one of the most family-friendly in
the nation. The Act would require businesses with 25 or more workers to allow full-time employees to earn 7 paid sick days
per year. Part-time workers could earn a smaller, pro-rated number of paid sick days depending on the number of hours they
work.
The Healthy Families Act would ensure middle-class workers—the backbone of Ohio's economy—have the opportunity
to earn paid sick days. Full-time workers would earn 7 days a year and part-time workers would earn a pro-rated amount, based
on the number of hours worked.
For more information, visit the web-site http://www.sickdaysohio.org/
January 2, 2008
Green Candidate Spisak for State Rep calls for developing alternative energy manufacturing as oil prices
soar to $100 dollars a barrel.
As oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever reaching a
milestone, Green Party Candidate For State Representative of the 60th District
Dennis Spisak again pledged that if elected to the Ohio House of Representatives he would bring alternative energy companies
and jobs to the Mahoning Valley.
" With oil hitting $100 dollars a barrel today, it is becoming evident that global
demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies." said Spisak. "We need to invest and bring in alternative
energy manufacturers and companies to the valley to slow our demand for oil and help put people back to work in manufacturing
jobs."
Spisak cited how business is booming for companies like Third Sun Solar and Power
out of Athens, Ohio. Third Sun Solar and Wind Power is a seven-year-old business that
passed the $1 million revenue mark for the first time in 2007.
Spisak reported that Third Sun has installed
solar panels across Ohio and the surrounding states, on buildings including the Denison University library, the Columbus Zoo
and Aquarium, and the carriage house at the Ohio governor's mansion, not to mention numerous private homes across the area.
"This is the type of movement we need to begin working
on now for the future
rebirth of Youngstown and the 60th District," said Spisak.
"It's time for the state
house to begin working with bringing more alternative
energy sources to Ohio instead of trying to remained tied to the vaste amounts of fossil fuels we waste each year", he added.
To read more on Third Sun Solar and Wind Power, follow
this link.
http://www.coopamerica.org/greenbusiness/interviews/articles/200801.cfm
Volunteer for the Spisak for State Representative Campaign!
Petition
volunteers are needed for the Spisak for State Representative Campaign. The 60th House District includes Youngstown, Struthers,
Campbell, Lowellville, Coitsville Township, and Austintown Township.
Help
us widen our efforts throughout the District by volunteering today.
Send
an email with your complete contact information to Spikespisak@aol.com or contact us by mail at:
Spisak
For State Rep- 548 Poland Ave. Struthers, Ohio 44471
Spisak Announces plans to make Ohio Cleaner
Press Release-December 26, 2007
Green Party Candidate for State Rep of the 60th District Dennis Spisak announced today his plans for making Ohio cleaner
in the years to come.
Spisak's goals are the implementation of waste reduction and recycling policies and programs.
"My goals are to follow the highly succssful campaign for recycling that is currently being used by the coalition called
"Californians Against Waste!".
Their plan of attacking waste reduction has produced tremendous results and can be used here in Ohio to make the
Buckeye state a greener place to live and work."
As State Representative, Spisak would introduce the following programs be
moved through the Ohio House and Senate:
- Implementation of a Nickel and Dime Refund Value on Beverage Containers.
- Implementation of E-waste Take-back and Recycling Efforts. California continues to lead the nation in addressing this
emerging issue.
- Implementation of Statewide Grocery Bag Reuse and Recycling program. Retailers in California report that
they are using tens of thousands of fewer plastic bags thanks to this effort.
- Passage of groundbreaking legislation to increase energy efficiency and reduce hazardous materials in
today's lighting.
- Success in having recycling and composting recognized as priority greenhouse gas reduction measures in
the State’s climate change.
"It's time for Ohio and the Mahoning Valley to be a leader in recycling", said Spisak.
Dennis Spisak praises passage of Green jobs Act of 2007
Press Release-December 21, 2007 http://votespisak.tripod.comGreen Party Candidate for State Rep of the 60th District Dennis Spisak announced that on Wednesday, December
19, President Bush signed the Green Jobs Act of 2007, authorizing $125 million for green job training programs across the
country! The Green Jobs Act is part of the Energy Bill, a bundle of policies that is otherwise a mixed blessing. Conservatives
stripped out some of the best parts of the package -- like big boosts for solar and wind energy and an end to tax giveaways
for oil companies. Amidst these shortcomings, however, we have our share of great news. For the first time in history,
we have a U.S. law that addresses both the climate crisis and the poverty crisis by investing in green-collar job training.
The Green Jobs Act authorizes $125 million annually for greening the nation's workforce, enough for training up to 35,000
people every year. Even more unprecedented, it allocates $25 million for "green pathways out of poverty" programs. "These
are the types of programs we need developed here in the 60th district and across the state of Ohio with the help of the Ohio
Apollo Energy Alliance." said. Spisak. "Programs like this can help build a green economy in Youngstown that can lift people
out of poverty. By working with national programs such as "Green for All', we can help secure billions of dollars to create
green pathways out of poverty for 250,000 people that live in our inner cities like Youngstown." Spisak added "It's
progressive programs like these that the Green Party backs that will help our inner city children and youth find work and
jobs and create a green manufacturing base to pull them out of poverty and into a new working and middle class. Programs that
both the Democrats and Republicans fail to see as a future alternative to helping the poor."
Spisak urges Governor to Support Single-Payer Health Care Plan
On August 1, 2007, Governor
Strickland issued a press release announcing that Ohio was one of 14 states selected to participate in the 2007 Coverage Institute
sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program.
The release explained that “The
SCI program assists states which are considering systematic substantial and comprehensive health reform to develop and implement
policies that will expand access to health care for the entire uninsured population in a state by expanding public programs
and private sector reforms. The program will assist the state in considering a spectrum of health care reforms….. SCI will work with a team of Ohio policy, legislative
and stakeholder participants to facilitate discussion of reform options for the state and will assist in modeling and implementing
those options.”
Accordingly, Gov. Strickland
has assembled a task force comprising a 12-member State Coverage Initiative Team and a 40-member Healthcare Coverage Initiative Advisory Committee. $500,000 tax dollars have been allocated to study health care options — the goal being to cover a third
of Ohio’s 1.5 million uninsured. What about the other two-thirds? And what about the additional millions of underinsured?
Incredibly, single-payer —
the only plan that would help ALL Ohioans, uninsured and underinsured alike — will NOT be included among the plans to
be studied. Only plans that include the private insurance companies are being considered. This is unacceptable. (See letter from U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich to Governor Strickland urging inclusion of single-payer in the study.)
Today Dennis Spisak e-mailed Gov. Strickland
the following message:
As an Ohio constituent, I want a single-payer plan (H.B.186 and S.B. 168) to be one of the five models studied by the Governor's task force for healthcare reform in Ohio.
I support Single-payer health care for the
following reasons:
· Single-payer
is the only plan that will provide guaranteed,
quality, comprehensive medical and dental care to EVERY Ohioan.
· A single-payer
system is the most fiscally conservative. Ohio
H.B.186 and its companion bill in the Senate,
S.B.168, i.e., the
Health Care For All Ohioans Act,
would save more than $11 billion in
health care costs.
· Commissioned
studies were done in Colorado and California by the highly regarded Lewin group. Single-payer was included as a model. They concluded that single-payer will, "cover more people, for more services, for less money."
· Plans being
considered by the State Coverage Initiative Team of 12
have been tried in other states and have failed miserably, resulting in an increase in the number of uninsured.
It is a disservice to the people of Ohio not to include a single-payer model.
· The people
of Ohio insist that a single-payer plan be considered in the comparative analysis done by our governor, for Ohioans, with our tax dollars.
Sincerely,
Dennis S. Spisak
Green Party Candidate
Ohio State Rep-60th District
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