The difference in the Republicans only having 54 votes in the Ohio House of Representatives is shown in this quote from an article in the Newark Advocate regarding the 2007-2009 Ohio Budget: Attempts to override any Strickland veto are remote. A three-fifths majority in each chamber is required. That means 60 votes in the House, which has just 54 GOP members. House Republican spokeswoman Karen Tabor said her caucus had not yet decided whether to challenge the governor. Any override attempt would have to begin in the House, where the budget bill was introduced.
Strickland vetoed the establishment of a voucher program for special needs children; a provision to limit the powers of the Governor and require more reporting to the State Controlling Board; attempts to control lottery payouts and prohibit Sunday lottery drawings; an attempt to put limits on the Ohio Department of Job and Family services regarding the cost of prescription mental health medicine; and the establishment of a fund that could only be used to promote absintence only sex education for teens.
Clearly this whole budget process has been a victory for Strickland. He basically got what he wanted from the General Assembly and looked good while doing it. It was essential that this process go well so that he could keep his momentum going into the second half of 2007, and he certainly accomplished that goal. There was only one dissenting vote regarding the adoption of the budget.
One personality trait that Strickland brings to the Governor's office is that he is a polite person, but not a push-over. The Republicans saw that he wasn't a push-over when he exercised the veto of the bill that Taft tried to have become law without his signature, but he has followed that up with being polite to the Republican leaders during the budget process. Both of these traits have served Ohio well during his first six months in office.
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