By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
As we continue on the path of exposing the socialist wing of the Ohio Republican Party, our oft-repeated saying is “It’s worse than we thought!” We ask former Republican State Representative and Lake County Commissioner to set the stage for us.
We are now compelled to “pull back the curtain” on our State Senator and Chairman of the Ohio Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Jerry Cirino.
Here is the full version of Mr. Cirino speaking on a recent statehouse podcast.
Here is our edited version of the podcast.
Mr. Cirino is so wrong in many places in the video, he needs to apologize to his constituents for his misstatements and false statements.
1. Number of committee members in Lake County.
Mr. Cirino said that two of the five committee members lived in his district. THAT IS FALSE!
Mr. Cirino, the correct answer is that there are three citizens in your district that are on the committee that started the movement to abolish Ohio property taxes.
They are JOHN MARRA, LEONARD GILBERT, AND BRIAN MASSIE
2. Mr. Cirino said that he has talked to the members of the committee that lived in his district about the amendment.
Mr. Cirino only spoke to one committee member about the amendment – John Marra.
In the video Mr. Cirino stated he spoke to a committee member and said: “Who is going to replace the $24 million that is collected around the State, and their answer astounded me. You guys in Columbus will have to figure that out”.
Mr. Cirino, that is the job of the legislators, but that is not what John Marra said to you. Here is what he actually said to you.
In an email from the Timberlake Mayor John Marra stated:
“Hi Brian, To the best of my memory, the last time I spoke with Cirino was when he called me to tell me he was going to sue you for slander. He then said that this amendment was reckless and asked me how we were going to replace the $24 billion. I simply told him that the state should follow the law and fund the schools entirely and the balance for services were to be billed to us and not tied to our homes subjected to foreclosure.”
“I mentioned the tax cuts in HB96 biennial budget to which he replied that it included $800 mil for schools to which I replied that it is restricted funds.”
“I also told him in our conversation that cutting state income tax for the higher wage earners is cutting school funding.”
“However, I never said to him “you guys in Columbus have to figure this out” That is a flat out lie, if he was referring to me!”
“He said clearly in the video that he will never rescind his flat tax which solidifies his allegiance to his donor base$$$”
3. Mr. Cirino said that his job is to educate the public.
Mr. Cirino you are supposed to represent the public, not to educate them.
4. Lake County transportation is paid for by property taxes.
FALSE!…Mr. Cirino, Laketran is funded by a sales tax not a property tax. Mr. Cirino, you really should know these details, if you continue to speak in public.
5. You never spoke to Brian Massie about the property tax amendment.
Over a year ago, prior to Leonard and I even thinking about the constitutional amendment, I bumped into Mr. Cirino at a Lake County fundraiser and said that I needed to talk to him about the ever-increasing property taxes that are pricing seniors and those living on fixed income out of their homes.
What he said to me was: “If seniors cannot afford their property taxes, they should sell their homes and move into an apartment. It will also help with the housing shortage in Ohio”.
6. Supporting the Browns stadium with $600 million in unclaimed funds.
Mr. Cirino is working against the people he is supposed to represent. Instead of representing the people he is talking down to them. He is telling us that we have to basically suffer while the government lives the high life. They have had 29 years to fix the broken system and have not done anything until the citizens have taken matters into their own hands.
7. Statement on State rollbacks was not totally correct.
Mr. Cirino stated that the state pays for property tax rollbacks, but in reality, the state stopped funding that completely in 2013, and restricted the homestead exemption based on income.
Mr. Cirino, along with other socialists in Lake County, has been “poisoning the well” in Lake County, and telling anyone that would listen that he is not supporting the abolish Ohio property tax amendment. Here he is speaking to a lot of politicians in Lake County that were there to discuss the property tax reductions approved by the Lake County Commissioners.
Here is a video from the statehose.
Mr. Cirino, we take this to be a declaration of war against the people of Ohio. Please note that the people of Ohio are declaring war on the state legislators. Those that do not support the people, do so at their own peril of becoming former state legislators.
It is really unfortunate that Mr. Cirino, Matt Huffman, Rob McColley and a host of our Republican legislators have more concern for their donor base than the average citizens that voted them into office.
Rest assured that if the governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy adopts this same stance, then he is far from a “shoe-in” for Governor of Ohio in the November 2026 election. His position to eliminate the income tax because other states are doing it is misguided. He has opened the door wide for governor candidates Heather Hill, Casey Putsch and Amy Acton.
Follow Commissioner John Plecnik’s words of wisdom:
REDUCE THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT, CUT SPENDING.
IT IS THAT SIMPLE!
Categories: Community Activism, Lake, Ohio Counties, Real Estate Taxes, State of Ohio, Uncategorized