I have worked in or around the Ohio Statehouse for a decade or more. I have seen a great many protests, counter-protests and events involving all kinds of issues and groups. But when I stopped by the Statehouse today to check out the Values Bus Tour event put on by Heritage Foundation and Family Research Council I experienced something I don’t believe I had ever witnessed. A counter-protest effectively | Read More »
* See update at bottom. As today’s government-union bosses push higher taxes, establish dues schemes to fund their bloated salaries and union-bought politicians, the evidence has become pretty clear: Government unions have become political, parasitic entities injuring taxpayers and the communities they control (see Central Falls and Providence, RI; Detroit, MI; and the once-great State of California for examples). In the private sector, however, where taxpayers’ | Read More »
The Republican party has held five primaries this cycle to date: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Arizona. Mitt Romney won the statewide vote in four of them, including the last three. Super Tuesday tomorrow will shake all that up, of course. But Ohio looks to be one state Romney may come back to win from Rick Santorum.
[UPDATE: I've had folks note that the original map is not quite the same as the final, approved map. There's been some tweaking of districts; not enough to particularly change any of the practical results found below, but enough to be noteworthy. Fair enough.] I was over at Larry Sabato’s site today* and I came across this report that an attempt to referendum the Ohio | Read More »
According to the vote count that leaked out, Senator Roy Blunt became Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman with 25 votes and Senator Ron Johnson lost with 22 votes. Let me be up front that I genuinely like Roy Blunt. But I also think Senator Blunt is part of the status quo problem in Washington. My support of Ron Johnson was about Ron Johnson being a | Read More »
Like the proponents of Ohio’s Issue 2 tried to point out before the November vote, keeping the status quo for Ohio public union salaries, benefits, and pensions was unsustainable. A yes vote would’ve kept Ohio Senate Bill 5 as law, and tried to reign in the runaway spending and debt being heaped on the state. Unions spent over $50M to defeat Issue 2, as evidenced by | Read More »
Issue 2 in Ohio has failed. Unions poured a gazillion dollars into Ohio and won. Despite having a sense of this outcome for some time it still stings. Believe it or not, a great many felt that these reforms were important steps in bring fiscal and structural sanity to government. The voters clearly did not get that message. The media is going to try and | Read More »
Is John Glenn a hero? Tricky question. First American to orbit the earth and third American in space. A long list of awards and medals to his name. But also a Senate a career that was less than illustrious (including the Keating Five scandal). When I think John Glenn I think bland Democratic politician not heroic astronaut. Your mileage may vary. But the point of this | Read More »
When they aren’t taking $54 from every member for an anti-reform smear campaign, Ohio Education Association (OEA) bosses pass the time by fighting with their employees. Is it weird that Ohio’s largest government union hawks expensive “solidarity” to teachers, while its managers can’t event get along with its staff? “Bad Faith + Bad Management = Consequences” …not if union bosses have anything to say about | Read More »
As Ohio’s SB5 (collective bargaining reform) goes to a vote on November 8th, pressure is being ramped up in the final week and a half. According to the Columbus Dispatch, unions and their fellow reform opponents have bankrolled the We Are Ohio anti-SB5 campaign to the tune of $19,048,680, dwarfing the pro-reform Building A Better Ohio’s $7.6 million. Democrats and their union cronies have dominated Ohio | Read More »
With less than two weeks before the November 8th elections and with the polls leaning toward repealing SB5, it appears that Ohioans are ready to vote to increase their taxes and unemployment. Ultimately, that is a choice Ohio taxpayers will be making and fiscal self-immolation is certainly within their rights and, frankly, there are states who would be all-too happy to see Ohio’s unions put the nail | Read More »
Hey Rick Perry, if you weren’t trying to have fun with birtherism, this would probably be a much bigger media story today. Peter Hamby over at CNN referred to it as “an incredible moment in politics.” Mitt Romney refused to endorse John Kasich’s reforms in Ohio. This is a huge freaking deal. Playing it too safe is finally biting Romney in the rear end. He’s | Read More »
Promoted by Jeff We Are Ohio insists Issue 2 – in addition to being unnecessary – is “unsafe, unfair, and hurts us all.” I’ve thoroughly covered the hypocrisy of a D.C. union front pretending to have Ohioans’ interests at heart… is there anything trustworthy about the group’s talking points? Unlike their other arguments, We Are Ohio’s complaint that Senate Bill 5 is unnecessary cites academic | Read More »
Given that just a few short years ago (pre-market meltdown) Ohio’s taxpayers were on the hook for $46.5 billion due to its underfunded retirement system, one would think that November 8th’s decision to Vote YES on Issue 2 would be a no brainer. After all, if you’ve got a system where union bosses have been able to put every single Ohio citizen (now) $6150 in debt, | Read More »
As you may know, there is a critically important issue being debated here in Ohio that has long term implications for politics, public policy and the health of Ohio’s economy. Issue 2 is a result of a union led attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5 – legislation which brought much needed reform to Ohio’s collective bargaining laws. A yes vote allows these important reforms to | Read More »
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