It's past time to shelve the politics.

I'm so disappointed -- disgusted? -- with the Ohio General Assembly. More to the point, with the Republican Senate "Leadership". I get that they are politicians and, as such, playing politics is a big part of their jobs. But there are times when the politics need to be shelved in order to get the job done.

It's been something like 70 years since Ohio has had to pass an interim budget because the GA couldn't hammer something out in time. This year we needed two of them. This year when people are struggling more than they have in many years, when unemployment is up, when services are down, when jobs just don't exist. The people of Ohio are hurting. And what was the GA's response? Two interim budgets.

From everything I've read, it was the Republican leadership in the Senate that held things up. It appears that it all came down to the video slot machines. Because Ohio voters have voted down gambling in the past, the Republicans did not want to risk being "blamed" for gambling being installed in our great state now. Also, gambling is likely to be on the ballot once again this fall, so the Senate Republicans wanted to wait and leave it to the people.

While I'm certainly not against letting the people decide (sometimes, for some things), it's not that simple. See, the Senate refused the terms before them and so just stopped playing. They didn't offer up any solutions. They simply refused to accept what was put before them.

Interim budgets cost money. A lot of it. Interim budgets require that money be spent in amounts that would have been reduced and on programs that would have been cut had an actual budget passed. Which means we're now in even more financial trouble.

Seems to me, some of our Senators are awfully out of touch. Apparently they don't realize that all over the state, State employees were (and are still) biting their nails wondering if they'll have jobs tomorrow. And wondering, if they do lose their jobs, how on earth they're going to pay the electric and the water and the rent. These Senators don't seem to realize -- or care? -- that the more they play games and put off a reasonable and responsible budget, the more they hurt us all. State workers and non-State workers alike.

It's so nice for them that they are so secure in their positions, that they're not concerned with losing their jobs when a budget is finally passed, that they're not concerned with how their rents are going to get paid.

Here's to hoping that these men are not forgotten when they're up for re-election.