MARILOU JOHANEK

P.O. Box 426

Milan, Ohio 44846

mjohanek@neo.rr.com

GOAL: To use extensive media background in print and broadcasting to inform, educate and advocate utilizing
effective communication skills to achieve desired results.
QUALIFICATIONS
Experienced Reporter, Anchor, and Journalist for ABC, CNN, CBS, WJW and Toledo Blade.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
The Toledo Blade Newspaper - Toledo, OH current
Editorial Writer/Columnist
Writing and research on issues from education to energy policy for
institutional opinions
Weekly op-ed columnist
WTVG, ABC-Owned and Operated Toledo, OH
Afternoon Anchor
Writing and critiquing newscast content
Anchoring live in studio and remote in communities
WTOL, CBS Affiliate Toledo, OH
Primetime 6 & 11 Anchor
Writing and rewriting scripts
Interviewing guests
Anchoring live in studio and remote in communities
WJW Cleveland, OH
Reporter/Anchor
Writing and field reporting on topics from City Hall to political
campaigns
CNN Atlanta, GA
Producer/Writer
Writing and producing hourly newscasts
Overseeing assigned staff in editing
Content production
CBS Radio News New York, NY
Producer/Writer
Writing newscasts and commentaries for legendary CBS journalists from Richard C. Hottelet to Charles
Osgood
KMOX, CBS Radio St. Louis, MO
Reporter/Documentary Writer
General reporter with emphasis on writing and producing series of documentaries for radio

AWARDS
Ohio Associated Press for editorial writing
UPI National Public Service/Investigative Award
George Polk Award, Long Island University
Clarion Awards, Women in Communications, Inc.
Regional Investigative Awards, Radio and Television News Directors
EDUCATION

B.S. Journalism, Ohio University

Ashland University graduate education continuing coursework

The midterm elections, ignorance was bliss . . .

BY MARILOU JOHANEK
BLADE COMMENTARY WRITER
IN THE calm after this week's convulsive election, a small blue sign lay face down on the ground. It
was battered and bent, destined for the political trash heap. But its white lettered message was still
legible. It stated: "Save the Republic."
It should have said: "Save the Republic from Itself." Those voters who fueled the upheaval in political
power, who swept the good along with the bad out of office, who summarily rejected every plea for
support of public services from schools to parks, gloat today. But what about tomorrow?
What would happen after the election didn't matter much during the midterm campaigns. What
mattered was instant political gratification, feel-good medicine to mitigate economic misery.
People wanted someone to feel their pain. They were in no mood to reason but only to react. Throwing
the bums out or rejecting every levy request on the ballot was payback for personal discomfort and
financial distress.
But in the midst of all the grumbling and grown-up tantrums about taxes, liberals, big government,
socialist policies, and overpaid teachers, something was missing. It was a Plan B.
If Plan A was to be scratched by Tea Party reactionaries because it was too excessive, too irresponsible,
too radical, too costly, and too wasteful, what would replace it? What new ideas would be applied to
solve old problems?
In Ohio, urgent issues demand immediate action. Fixing the next state budget is a looming dilemma. So
is paying for education and helping a work force rebound from double-digit unemployment.
Yet a week before the election, the politician who will become Ohio's 69th governor pulled a stunt that
spoke volumes about John Kasich's lack of a Plan B. Minutes before National Public Radio was to
broadcast an hour-long, coast-to-coast program featuring Gov. Ted Strickland and his Republican
challenger in a forum that invited public participation, Mr. Kasich cancelled.
He refused to take questions from listeners. As he had done throughout the gubernatorial race,
Governor-elect Kasich stubbornly declined to discuss details. The man who would lead more than 11
million Ohioans made it clear he had no intention of telling them how he would do it.
But what's more disturbing than Mr. Kasich's disdain for public disclosure of how he would balance the
budget without raising taxes, or privatize the state's job creation agency, or phase out the state's income
tax and replace it with a new stream of revenue, or fund education, was the willingness of voters to
shrug off his evasiveness.
They weren't insulted by his dismissive responses to queries about what his balanced-budget proposal
would look like, or what cuts and other changes he'd make to deal with a projected shortfall of as much
as $8 billion.
The former congressman was arrogant. "I've written 13 budgets (with the House Budget Committee)
and know how to get the job done," he said.
That was it. During the campaign, Mr. Kasich claimed to be working on a budget plan - which he'll
have to submit within his first three months in office - but saw no obligation to produce anything
concrete before the election.
"We will give you more specifics as we get comfortable," he said.
In other words, he would release particulars on how he would govern Ohio when it suited him. He
would bob and weave as much as he pleased, without being challenged or pinned down about any
specific spending plan or policy.
All the Republican had to do was ride a wave of voter frustration into office by repeating empty
rhetoric about rebuilding the state, restoring prosperity to Ohio, putting people back to work, and
getting rid of taxes.
Voters even gave Mr. Kasich a pass for getting rich as a Lehman Brothers employee just before the
investment firm's collapse helped precipitate the financial system meltdown of 2008.
In this year's election, ignorance was bliss. Facts were blindsided by simplistic sentiment, and the Tea
Party movement was mobilized by fear. Now the victors celebrate taking the country back.

But back to what? Insufferable partisan gridlock that promises to be much worse than before? The
status quo of the past?
Ohioans have a new governor who campaigned on "The New Way for Ohio." But he was determined
not to divulge any directions about that new way until he was good and ready.
If this is how we save the Republic, we're sunk.
Marilou Johanek is a Blade commentary writer.
Contact her at: mjohanek@theblade.com

COMMENTARY

Political childishness produces a tantrum we

can't afford
BY MARILOU JOHANEK
BLADE COMMENTARY WRITER
A pox on them all. We the people should revolt. Business as usual is killing us.
Our 401(k)s are bleeding red. Whatever modest gains we made this year have been wiped out.
Retirement savings are back to being upside-down.
What the heck is going on? From Main Street we watched the financial markets convulse, President
"No Drama" Obama try to inject calm, oblivious partisans finger-point, and grim economists talk
double-dip recession.
How low can a proud nation can go? Throughout it all, ordinary Americans sink deeper into despair
until the disconnection between those who struggle with more month than money and those elected to
bring relief is complete.
It's easy to blame the cast of political characters in Washington. They've made a mess of everything,
acting like children, throwing tantrums, refusing to budge, demanding all or nothing.
Republicans brought the country to the brink of a shutdown as if it were a game they could win. Tea
Party types stamped their feet, dismissed the danger of default as overblown, and ultimately brought the
GOP leadership to its knees.
The longer the opportunistic, ideological war over raising the debt ceiling was waged, the more
damaging the spectacle became to America's reputation and economic stability.
We and the world saw the government of the most powerful country on Earth imploding.
We saw political leaders incapable of behaving like adults and clueless about working together in the
national interest. A routine, procedural formality -- automatically approved by Republicans throughout
the George W. Bush presidential era to cover the national debt -- turned into a tactical battle by one
faction within one party.
The consequences of that dragged-out, needless GOP fight have been dire. The U.S. government
experienced its first-ever credit downgrade last week. The next business day, the market took a
nosedive. The market rallied the next day, then slumped again.
The wild gyrations on Wall Street demonstrate how unnerving Washington's conduct had been to
investors.
The validity of the Standard & Poor's decision may be debatable. The inability of current political
leaders to govern effectively is not.
Even after the latest market meltdown, Republican lawmakers were adamant that compromise over
revenue increases was unthinkable. Even after the credit agency stressed that spending cuts alone aren't
enough to place the national debt -- and by extension, the economy -- on a sustainable path, the GOP
held firm against higher taxes.
In a sop to the new Republicans backed by the Tea Party, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia declared their opposition to any fiscal solution that
includes "job-killing" taxes. Draconian cuts to programs for the poor and elderly are preferable to
raising taxes or closing tax loopholes for fat cats.

But multimillionaires and billionaires have affluent lifestyles to uphold. Republican affection for the
wealthiest 2 percent of the population is embodied in the temporarily extended George W. Bush-era tax
cuts.
Conservatives argue that the tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating more economic activity. If only
that were true. But where are the jobs?
If only the Democrats' stalwart leader in the White House had the fortitude to lead instead of acquiesce.
President Obama has been weak with his opponents, and with the party that exploded the national debt
under the last administration with massive tax cuts, two unfunded wars, and unfunded Medicare
expansion.
Mr. Obama is tentative when he should be tenacious. At a time of persistently high unemployment, a
housing crisis, and anemic economic growth, Mr. Obama would rather capitulate to partisan nonsense
than use his bully pulpit forcefully to promote rational policy.
While re-election colors his reticence, we're left with a so-called super-committee to deal with an
unsustainable level of debt. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are willing to give an inch on revenue
increases or entitlement cuts, respectively.
The understandable result has been a lack of confidence in the government's capacity to meet prior
commitments and prepare for future ones.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is rattled by a downgraded credit rating. The risk of another
recession is real. We're losing more ground. No doubt the predicament will be exploited in next year's
campaigns.
Let the political spin begin. But a pox on us if, after the debt-ceiling scene we've witnessed, we buy into
the pandering and endorse the childish gimmes that come at our great expense.
Marilou Johanek is a Blade commentary writer.
Contact her at: mjohanek@theblade.com

Parks versus streets

BLADE EDITORIAL
The controversy over whether to renovate Promenade Park in downtown Toledo or pave residential
streets reflects a grim reality: The city has more projects worthy of attention than there is money to
complete them.
City residents who have made many economic sacrifices over the past several years deserve to know
why one use of the city's scarce resources is better than the other.
The recession that economists say officially ended months ago has hung on tenaciously here. Too many
Toledoans still are without work. Too many workers have had their wages and hours cut.
Many people are paying more for health insurance; others have lost coverage entirely.
A record number of mortgages are under water; owners owe more on their homes than they are worth.
Foreclosures have soared, blighting neighborhoods with vacant and boarded-up homes.
Toledoans are paying more for nearly everything. Privatized trash collection has resulted in higher fees.
Water and sewer rates are rising; city officials say they need to spend even more to avert a disastrous
failure of the water system.
The price of a gallon of gasoline has risen by about $1 in the past year and appears unlikely ever to fall
below $3 again. In short, many Toledo residents feel under economic attack from all sides.
In this context, Mayor Mike Bell proposes to spend $750,000 on initial upgrades along the Maumee
River at Promenade Park. Expansion and redesign of the park are estimated to cost $5 million to $6
million and take several years.
The mayor argues that improvements at Promenade Park will result in a more vibrant downtown. That
will attract business investment and visitors downtown, thus increasing city revenue, he says.
City Council rejected the mayor's spending request. Council members voted to use the money instead to
supplement the $2.5 million currently budgeted for residential street repairs.
Past city officials have estimated that 100 miles of streets must be resurfaced every year to keep all
streets in good repair. In recent years, 35 miles to 40 miles of resurfacing has been the norm.
The $2.5 million set aside for this year is enough to "mill and fill" a little more than eight miles of
streets. Administration officials scoffed that the $750,000 would repair fewer than two miles more.

But a nearly 25 percent increase is nothing to scoff at, since 27 city streets are listed in "very poor"
condition.
Mayor Bell vetoed the street repairs and again insisted that the money should be spent on the waterfront
park. He may be right that a beautiful downtown park will bring a bigger return on investment than
well-paved neighborhood streets.
But right now, residents only have his word for it, and that's a problem. If the administration wants city
residents to continue to make sacrifices such as spending more for automobile tires, rims, and shock
absorbers officials have to do more than say "trust us."
Mayor Bell should provide data to show that parks trump streets as engines of economic development.
If he can't or won't do that, council members should override his veto and redirect the money to
desperately needed street repairs.

Regulate fracking
BLADE EDITORIAL
There's a land rush under way in Ohio, as drilling companies buy up leases on thousands of acres of
land that sit on potential natural gas riches. A new federal report offers a clue about how to prevent the
rush from turning into an environmental catastrophe.
The jury still is out on whether hydraulic fracturing is a safe way to extract natural gas from rock
formations often more than a mile below the surface of the Earth. The method involves pumping huge
amounts of water laced with sand and sometimes toxic -- even carcinogenic -- chemicals under high
pressure deep underground to free natural gas from the layers of shale in which it is trapped.
Proponents argue that America needs clean-burning natural gas in its quest to break its dependence on
foreign oil. They point out that with more than 1 million wells fractured, contamination of drinking
water has been rare and not directly caused by fracking.
Critics counter that pollution of air and drinking water has occurred in a number of states, including
Pennsylvania, which now ships millions of gallons of highly contaminated leftover brine to Ohio for
storage in injection wells. They fear an environmental disaster that could harm the region's greatest
resource, Lake Erie.
Gov. John Kasich appears unlikely to stand in the way of companies that offer landowners in eastern
Ohio thousands of dollars an acre to lease their land for drilling, plus royalties on any oil or gas the
wells produce. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that one company, Chesapeake Energy, has leased
more than 1.2 million acres and hopes to secure 300,000 more.
But the business-friendly administration should pay attention to a U.S. Department of Energy
Department report that said drilling companies must be required to adhere to "best practices" to
minimize the potential of environmental damage.
The panel of experts put together by the Energy Department recommended that drillers monitor water
quality in areas where fracking occurs. It also called for rigorous emission standards for air pollutants,
disclosure of chemicals used in fracking, and the sharing of more details with the public.
The report was vague about who should take charge of regulating the fast-growing industry. But Ohio
should be proactive in establishing rules and standards, rather than wait until disaster strikes.
Some landowners have taken matters into their own hands. The Beacon Journal story said one group of
owners who pooled their land and leased 100,000 acres to Chesapeake Energy was able to write many
extra environmental protections into the lease.
The best course would be to slow the mad rush to pump millions of gallons of toxic fluid into Ohio
wells. Unfortunately, the clamor for jobs has drowned out calls for a moratorium on fracking until the
dangers can be more accurately determined.
In the absence of firm knowledge, the Kasich administration can -- and should -- act to safeguard Ohio
residents, the state's natural resources, and the environment.

COMMENTARY

Out of the Columbine tragedy, a call for

kindness
By Marilou Johanek
Blade Columnist
Tears. Lots of tears. It was as if an emotional dam broke. I studied the middle school students, teachers,
and administrators assembled in the high school gym.
Adults came prepared with crumpled tissues. A teacher behind me had a whole box of Kleenex on her
lap. As the presentation progressed, girls wept openly and boys wiped wet faces on their sleeves.
The event called "Rachel's Challenge" was meant to move hearts. It was named in memory of 17-yearold Rachel Joy Scott.
She was the first student killed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., 12 years ago. It was her
bad luck to be eating lunch outside with a friend when two seniors, carrying 9mm weapons, approached
a nearby school entrance.
She was shot four times and died instantly. Today, kids who weren't even born when America
experienced one of its worst school massacres are learning about Rachel through her writing.
She kept diaries, inspired by another teenage diary writer, Anne Frank, who in a sense became
immortal. Rachel wrote six diaries before her life was cut short. The cover of her last one, with the
words, "I won't be labeled as average," is punctuated with a bullet hole.
Weeks before her death, Rachel wrote an essay challenging others to start a chain reaction of
compassion. "People will never know how far a little kindness can go," she wrote.
Later, her grieving father vowed the challenge would not die with her. Darrell Scott created Rachel's
Challenge, a worldwide program to reach generations of students, as well as their parents and
communities. The ambitious mission hopes to end the type of peer behavior that preceded the
Columbine shootings and precedes far too many teenage suicides.
It is conduct that shuns, harasses, bullies. It spreads false rumors and mean gossip. It texts or posts
ridicule to belittle on a big scale.
Every student, bully or victim, can relate to some degree. The Columbine shooters were bullied.
Spellbound middle school students watched a video of the pair methodically wreaking their vengeance
in the school before shooting themselves.
It was ultra quiet in the bleachers as the audio of panicked voices hinted at the horror unfolding inside
Columbine. Besides Rachel, 11 teenagers and one teacher would be gunned down. The two who did the
shooting committed suicide.
In the clip, Rachel's brother recounted the terror of being under a table in the school library as the body
of his fatally wounded buddy fell inches from him. He also regretted fighting with his sister the
morning of the tragedy.
There was not a dry eye in the gym after the scenes from Rachel's funeral and testimony from friends.
She also befriended misfits and bullies when no one else would.
The presenter surveyed his weepy audience. After four years with the program, Joseph Manning knows
something of their pain.
"Kids come up to me with all sorts of stuff," he said. "They talk about killing themselves, making a hit
list, dealing with things you can't imagine."
But the 27-year-old, who grew up next door to the Scott family, wanted more than to move the
youngsters emotionally. He wanted to motivate them to change how they interact with each other.
He asked them if they ever judged people by how they look, what they wear, what side of town they
come from. Impressions, first, second, third, or whatever, can be deceiving, said the presenter, who was
born with deformed arms and hands.
Mr. Manning dared his young crowd to make him display his championship skills at Irish dancing and
then flew across the gym floor with feet as nimble as a ballet dancer. Didn't see that one coming -which was the point.

Afterward, he met with student volunteers, picked by teachers, to start a districtwide club dedicated to
transforming school environments from hostile to healing.
Sixth graders through seasoned high school partners will be on the front line of implementing civil
changes in their school.
With weekly projects, from something as simple as greeting a new kid, to pro-active strategies to
diffuse confrontation, they will aim to replace cutting words and attitudes with kind ones.
Tender adolescent spirits are especially vulnerable to being singled out as social outcasts.
"People still call me faggot," confessed one of the new club leaders, "but I'm much more confident and
nonchalant about it than before."
It's still hurtful and hateful. Accepting Rachel's ongoing challenge to make a hopeful difference might
be the antidote that dries the tears.
Marilou Johanek is a columnist for The Blade.
Contact her at: mjohanek@theblade.com