From the monthly archives: February 2011
There’s been a ton of discussion here about why SB 5 is bad policy and bad economics for Ohio. But nobody seems to have considered how SB 5 is bad politics (especially for the GOP heading into 2012.)
Before there was a Tea Party, or soccer moms, there were the Reagan Democrats, blue-collar working stiffs who ordinarily sided with Democrats on economic issues but came out in force for Reagan. Miami University alum/nationally renown Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg found that in a Michigan community that went nearly 2/3rds for Kennedy, went the other direction for Reagan… twice. The socioeconomic demographic [...]
Full Story... →Some constituents would like to have a word with you about SB 5.
Several hundred to be exact:
Braving a cold rain, the Dayton Daily News reported that “hundreds” of SB 5 opponents protested outside of the Dayton Convention Center this morning as State Senator Peggy Lehrer (R-Kettering) held a constituent meeting outside.
Be sure to check out their slideshow from this morning’s rally. (Thanks to a loyal reader for providing us with today’s pictures!)
I don’t care that the GOP contains the redistricting pen. They’re going to have a hard time drawing [...]
Full Story... →Senate Majority Floor Leader Jimmy Stewart (R-Athens) is in a real bind on SB 5. On one hand, he’s been able to rise in the ranks in the Senate leadership. He’s managed to hold onto a seat that contains Ohio University in the district by positioning himself as a conservative on most issues, except when organized labor is involved.
In short, SB 5 is Stewart’s worse nightmare, and it can’t come at a worse time. Stewart is up for re-election next year. And he knows that having the Majority Floor Leader opposing a bill introduced by his Majority Whip, supported [...]
Full Story... →This is actually on Governors’ YouTube channel. Bill Hemmer, of Fox News, apparently hasn’t done the whip count in Ohio. Again, you could fire every State employee or force them to work for free, and the savings towards the deficit is negligible. This isn’t collective bargaining “reform.” It’s a partial repeal of it entirely.
He claims this is about “job creation” in order to make Ohio competitive with Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. You know “right to work (for less) States.” Ohio already had the stage set for economic growth. Kasich is upsetting that recovery with this nonsense.
[...]
Full Story... →The largest Facebook group against SB5 has over 11,000 members. And there are a ton more with 1000′s of members each. And none of these comes close to the Stand Up For Ohio group which has nearly 100,000 members that are actively fighting against SB5.
Compare that to the supporters of the bill who have one Facebook group with 373 people (including Matt Hurley).
Here’s a screen shot of a Facebook search as of a few minutes ago:
You’ll notice that mixed in with the many anti-SB5 groups is that weird, pro-SB5, waving-hand/thumbs-up thing with a [...]
Full Story... →I guess Egypt thinks Ohio can just go f’ itself? (Joking.)
(HT: @Chibodohanukie on Twitter)
Full Story... →First, they hijacked SEIU’s telephone system to try to make pro-SB5 calls to State Senators in Ohio, even though they lived out of State. We’ve seen an influx of out-of-State Tea Party hacks here posing as if they’re Ohioans until we’ve had to call them out on this.
Now, a Tea Party activist/radio host in California sends out a message to the Tea Party to pose as SEIU members and get on television saying things that will hurt the middle class workers’ cause:
Here is what I am doing in Sacramento, where they are holding a 5:30 PM [...]
Full Story... →From the Canton Repository (which endorsed Kasich) “Tweak the process; don’t end it”:
The collective bargaining process in Ohio isn’t broken. It does need to be tweaked. But state employees don’t need to be stripped of collective bargaining rights.
…
Unfortunately, more heat than light is coming out of Gov. John Kasich’s office. Our combative new governor has said that if he doesn’t like the final version of SB 5, he’ll get what he wants through the budget bill, including adding provisions to “punish” state workers who strike.
Perhaps he has not noticed how [...]
Yesterday, we wrote about the Columbus Dispatch’s story that indicated that there are seven Republican Senators on the fence on SB 7, enough that if they don’t support the bill could defeat it. Well, I failed to note another key aspect. If the GOP doesn’t get these members on board, they may not even be able to pass SB 5 out of committee.
The Republicans have an 8-4 majority on the Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee. However, three of the Republicans on the Committee are Senators Bill Seitz, Bill Beagle, and Jim Hughes.
[...]
Full Story... →Without a doubt the most important statement of public policy that occurs in state government is the state budget.
The two-year budget dictates how the state spends money and carries with it countless provisions affecting how state and local governments serve the public. This year the budget will be written and amended over several months in a Statehouse completely dominated by a single political party, a process which needs to be watched closely.
Plunderbund is proud to announce its new sister website called Ohio Budget Watch which intends to do just that.
Ohio Budget Watch is focused [...]
Full Story... →Ted hit the airwaves (and cables/sats) last night defending Ohio’s workers against SB5, what he’s calling “a coordinated attack on the middle class”…
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
(Ted starts about a minute in)
Full Story... →Budget Watch
