From the monthly archives: August 2011
Kasich and the Republicans picked this fight, not organized labor. The Republicans declared that the Democrats couldn’t stop it. They could pass whatever they wanted. That is what happened. Anyone who suggests that the Republicans wanted this to be bipartisan all along is lying. It wasn’t bipartisan when they pulled Seitz off the committee to pass the bill out. Or when they twisted all the arms of LaRose and others to get the bill passed. Then, they let the House Republicans lurch the bill further to the right. And because Kasich imposed a timeline for passage, they let the House [...]
Full Story... →Last night, the Columbus Dispatch confirmed just about every aspect of our own coverage of the attempt of “Building a Better Ohio” to surrender and attempt to reach a deal on a version SB 5 could live with. The only aspect of the coverage it continues to refuse to recognize, of course, is former Dispatch COO/Associate Publisher Mike Curtin’s role in attempt these talks.
Here’s what the Dispatch has finally confirmed:
Sources said that in June, Ohio Education Association vice president William Leibensperger and AFL-CIO president Tim Burga met at least twice with former Republican Ohio [...]
Full Story... →It’s back! Friday Night Music Fights. If you’re OGP (original gangster plunderbund) then you know what to do. If ur n00b, then the deal is comment with your favorite version. We’ll score the bout in 12 rounds.
This is a triple bill. We have the author Curtis Mayfield:
We also have Al Green:
Finally, we have Matisyahu:
Full Story... →As the Ohio Republican establishment grows so frantically concerned about the lasting political harm Issue 2 may do for the Ohio Republican Party that some have even tried clandestine efforts to negotiate a truce with organized labor, you almost have to feel sorry for the vote of no confidence in Build a Better Ohio, the pro-SB 5 Republican campaign vehicle designed to try and stop SB 5 from being overwhelmingly repealed.
So what do you do when the talk of Columbus is about nervous Republicans wanting to bail SB 5? I mean just think about it. This would be like [...]
Full Story... →Try to wrap your mind around this one while Issue 2 is about to head to the ballot box.
According to today’s Associated Press report by Julie Carr Smyth:
Ohio will pay cash to tens of thousands of state workers this month to make up for personal days they gave up over the past two years to help balance the state budget, The Associated Press has learned.
Each full-time employee is receiving the equivalent of four days’ wages plus four sick days in exchange for eight personal days they agreed not to accrue under a 2009 union contract. [...]
Full Story... →Think it’s time we bring back an old PB tradition. The Late Night Theatre. If you’re not familiar with it, you should hit that link and check ‘em out. Doesn’t look like we’ve done one since last year. Boo. We also used to do something called Friday Night Music Fights that was fun. We should start that up too. Late Night Theatre is a music or funny YouTube – something we wouldn’t typical post but is good for a late night laugh or enjoyment. Friday Night Music Fights compares an original song with a cover of it to determine [...]
Full Story... →If you head over to Josh Mandel’s campaign website one of the first things you’ll see are two very nice-looking photos of Josh.
One is of Batchelder swearing in Mandel as treasurer. The other is Mandel with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Benjamin Akins. Both photos were taken by Fred Squillante and both photos belong to the Columbus Dispatch.
These photos both appear on his Flickr feed as well, which indicates the photos were uploaded on January 25th, 2011.
Neither location indicates who took the photos or the fact that they are from the Dispatch.
The Full Story... →
Earlier today, I received a call from Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. He told me on Monday Columbus Dispatch reporter Joe Vardon who reported on the “SB 5 compromise” story on Tuesday called him to ask him to respond to rumors that Kasich had reached out to Redfern at the Ohio Democratic Party about reaching a deal on Senate Bill 5.
M.E.: “And after you regained consciousness from laughing all the air out of your lungs, what did you tell him.”
An animated Redfern said it was categorically untrue that anyone had reached out to the Ohio Democratic Party [...]
Full Story... →I know this happened a couple of days ago but A) I haven’t read about anyone covering this yet and B) every time I think about it I get even angrier. On Tuesday the Plain Dealer ran a Letter to the Editor from Treasurer Josh Mandel. In the letter he points to the crash in the markets as evidence that the debt ceiling compromise had caused the economy to crumble, Sherrod Brown voting helped cause it, and that his own stance of letting the country go into default was a better alternative. I’ll let that set in for a [...]
Full Story... →So if the Columbus Dispatch‘s main gripe about Issue 2 is that having a referendum on repealing SB 5, a vote to resolve labor issues, creates unnecessary and unproductive bad blood between labor and management, then why haven’t they said the same thing about SB 5? After all, under SB 5, what would be the mechanicism to resolve management-labor contractual disputes? A vote of the public.
I only ask because it appears that while they’re blasting Issue 2 on the grounds that a public vote on labor issues forces labor and management to publicly square off and creates bad blood, [...]
Full Story... →If you’ve followed the Dispatch (or this site) this week, you’ve no doubt seen the recent drumbeat at just how regrettable it is that labor won’t sit down and try to work out a compromise on Senate Bill 5. I’ve called it a totally manufactured story by the Columbus Dispatch. A story designed to present Kasich as willing to compromise but labor as unbending. It turns out, I wasn’t too far off.
Here’s the timeline of how this all became public, as told by the Dispatch yesterday:
On Sunday, a Dispatch editorial called for proponents and opponents [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
