Raising Taxes
Gannett published an article that made it into the Fishwrap's print edition but was relegated to a USA Today page (as opposed to the online NKY Enquirer pages) about the political campaigning regarding Stickland's raising (or not) of taxes.
In the article it states

"as a difficult budget negotiation raged, Strickland's preferred alternatives dried up"

Stickland's alternative was, of course, allowing slot machines at race tracks. This plan was blocked by a number of church groups including the Ohio Council of Churches and the United Methodist Anti-Gambling Task Force and a group led by COA T co-founder & CCV ally Tom Brinkman called Let Ohio Vote.
Let Ohio Vote, heavily funded by a Virginia organization, New Models, collected signatures for a ballot referendum on the issue & then handily withdrew the ballot.
The head honcho for New Models was a Republican who also worked for Sarah Palin. Brinkman served as a state representative as a Republican.
The governor, unable to patch a deficit hole with slot machine revenue postponed a planned tax cut. Rev John Edgar of the United Methodist Anti-Gambling Task Force said this or even a tax hike would be preferable to slots.
So is the Democrat governor to blame for a tax hike or, more to the point, not giving us a tax cut? Or is it result of a small group of politically savvy Republican theocrat obstructionists?