Ohio is about to tear itself apart. No matter which side wins the impending war over State Issue 2, the state will suffer deep and long-lasting wounds that will threaten its already fragile economy. At a minimum, labor-management relations will be set back years.The referendum to keep or reject Ohio Senate Bill 5, the collective-bargaining-reform effort, will become a historic study in a avoidable tragedy.That is why, while there still is time, the wiser and cooler heads in the opposing camps owe this state a serious effort to determine if compromise is possible. State law allows a campaign committee to withdraw an issue already qualified for the ballot, until 70 days before the election. This year, the deadline is Aug. 30.
No mention of compromise during the full year of conservative and media demonization of state workers and public and private-sector unions. No worries then about Ohio “tearing itself apart”. Strangely, now that it looks like Kasich’s law may go down to defeat, Kasich-promoting media outlets are all about compromise.
Everyone predicted labor-management relations would be set back years. Everyone knew the union-busting law was part of a national conservative strategy intended to silence labor’s political voice. Everyone knew the law had little or nothing to do with this state, or the people of this state. All they had to do was read it. All of these are facts that could have been reported honestly. Instead we got he said/she said garbage intended to protect Republicans and promote a conservative agenda.
Here’s the Cleveland contingent of Kasich’s media promoters, belatedly realizing that most of the people in this state don’t actually believe that cops, firemen and teachers are their mortal enemies, and begging Republicans to come up with a better strategy to sell this dog:
The repeal effort will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot as State Issue 2. Both public and private polls show a sizable majority in favor of repeal. But the lead isn’t yet insurmountable. Supporters of SB 5 have a message that will close the gap. Nevertheless, some astute Republicans here privately concede that their odds of prevailing are diminishing. In fact, some Kasich loyalists already are downplaying how a defeat on Issue 2 would impact the governor’s political standing — a telltale sign that they fear the worst.
My heart bleeds for Kasich’s media promoters, who have done their level best to protect their chosen Governor, but it’s a little late to rescue him. All they had to do was tell the truth. They enabled this lunacy.
Working on this is, for me, as much about beating national and state media figures who relentlessly promoted this coordinated campaign against middle class workers as it is about beating Kasich, the GOP and the Chamber of Commerce. I hope like hell they all go down together.
WereBear
How can we have an economy if no one can buy anything?
That’s what slashing wages does! They ARE that greedy and stupid.
mistermix
It’s hard to branch out from hating the poor to hating public union members, because public unions have enough money, time and effort to point out that hating them is simply a distraction.
Kay
@WereBear:
I think what they forgot, in their rush to promote John Kasich, is that these people actually live and work in communities. They’re us.
Had they done their job, Ohio Republicans would have modified their stance. But they saw a big win, so got greedy.
A Mom Anon
Kay,I’m from SE Ohio and spent alot of time in Columbus before coming to GA 25 yrs ago. Who are the media names promoting these loony GOPers? I’m wondering if some familiar names from my childhood would pop up.
My parents are Amway wingnuts that started their path in Columbus way back in the late 60’s early 70’s. They moved to GA right before I did(I left after my auto factory job at Goodyear went away). When I was a kid I heard alot of stuff from some of the local muckity mucks in bidness and media. My parents’ home was a meeting place for some of the early planning for gov’t take over on the local level. Just wondering if some of the same families are still doing their dirty deeds up there.
Alex S.
You should get some kind of medal for your Ohio blogging, Kay.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: Yeah, the thing that happened in Wisconsin was that people started to notice that that, while teachers and public workers are fine to demonize in general, when one starts messing with them it particular, it is their child’s teacher (the one who they know puts in hours in the evenings getting things ready for that big Thanksgiving project) and guys in their Lions Club who are getting hurt. It makes a difference.
Napoleon
Wow – the first 5 or 6 post in comments in that Dispatch piece took the Dispatch to task for its support of SB5 or came out against it. Ussually the 27% are out in full force to keep that from happening.
Kay, do you happen to know who I can contact in the Cleveland area for a bumper sticker and yard sign?
Cat Lady
They’re looking for cooler and wiser teatard heads? They’ll have more luck looking for ivory billed woodpeckers. Teatards only double down on stupid because it pisses liberals off, but they’re too stupid to realize that most people aren’t teatards.
Kay
@A Mom Anon:
It just was so clear that this had nothing to do with the budget. Look, unions negotiate. That’s what they do. They would have made concessions on health care. There was simply no reason to destroy and demonize these people. They felt personally assaulted, on some really core issues, like their work ethic, and their inherent value. The one and only reason to launch a full-frontal national and state war with these individual workers is to promote a national conservative agenda.
It would have been helpful if they had simply reported that.
A Mom Anon
@Omnes Omnibus: Not to mention that if you know a teacher,firefighter,cop or other public servant type person you KNOW they aren’t making an extravagant 6 figure salary. It’s kinda hard to sell that “greedy union member”crap when you actually know them personally.
Valdivia
Hate to hit and run but just wanted to day how much I appreciate you doing posts like these Kay. I would have no idea what happens on the ground if it weren’t for you because our national media is clueless and worse.
Paul in KY
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy than your Gov.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cat Lady:
And that, in this case, what pisses off liberals pisses off others as well. They really do think that they are in the majority and that, to the extent that others don’t vocally support them, they are at least in silent sympathy with them. I both think and hope they are wrong.
Arclite
Damn straight, thanks Kay.
Kay
@Napoleon:
I have to go to work right now, Napoleon, but I will find it for you and post it here. I still have the anti-SB 5 swag, which is now obsolete (it’s Issue 2) but I can find someone where you are with yard signs, etc.
We’re having giant events on August 20, so if you can go to one of those, that would be great. Numbers matter.
themanintheguyfawkesmask
Fuck ’em.
liberal
OT: anyone see the news reports of a commission’s recommendations on fracking? IIRC the good part was that the components of the fracking fluid would have to be published; the bad part, that instead of inspectors doing this, the companies doing the fracking would self-report.
Emma
Gotta tell you, people are angry over there. Usually the comments sections of newspapers are a cesspool of talking points and conservative insults, but the dozen or so I read were running about 10-2 for telling off the governor AND the paper.
Cat Lady
@Omnes Omnibus:
They’re blind zealots. They’re my way or the highway, and the highway only goes their way too, according to them. The only hope is that reality beats them to death. Go Kay!
liberal
@Alex S.:
Yeah. Lots of interesting reporting mixed in with the advocacy. You go, girl!!
Sly
I love the smell of blood in the water in the morning.
Elizabelle
Excellent reporting, Kay.
God, I hope the tide is turning.
John Puma
THE eminently “avoidable tragedy” of Ohio was the election of the miserable, scurvy punk Kasich.
Elizabelle
From Kay’s first link:
Is this even true?
themanintheguyfawkesmask
What is this message?
artem1s
well, Husted’s actual problem is that he is part of the 27% SANE GOP left in Ohio. Those left in the middle have been duped by the ‘both sides are the same’ talking points and constant vilification of teachers.
King John needed to break more than just the teachers union so he could sell off the turnpike and the prisons to private firms. In the face of a repeal of SB5, the return on managing those systems doesn’t look so good in the face of a repeal and suddenly all of the interested bidders are fleeing the auction house. Kasich was probably too preoccupied with selling off the public trusts to notice that his little web was going to envelope the cops and firefighters too.
Napoleon
@Elizabelle:
Even if true the timing of it (was it after they gathered the signatures and polling showed it would win?) and the nature of the compromise (instead of dying by fire we would be OK with drowning) make a big difference. Quite frankly newpaper editorial pages are such liars a good portion of the time I would just operate on the assumption it is a lie or functionally a lie (see my first sentence).
NonyNony
WHAT. THE. FUCK?
Holy shit the Columbus Disgrace is mendacious. I mean I knew they were a terrible paper, but this editorial is just full of shit.
You know what a compromise would be at this point? How about Kasich, the GOP-controlled legislature, and everyone else involved in this cluster-fuck – including the Disgrace – stand up and say “okay, okay – we were WRONG. We were WRONG to demonize public employees. We lied about how it was going to impact the budget. We were wrong. We’re going to repeal the law without it having to go to the ballot. We’ve learned our lesson and it won’t happen again.”
I don’t actually want to see them do that – Kasich’s approval ratings are in the toilet and if he spearheaded a push to fix the shitstorm he helped create it might push his approval ratings back up – but if they’re serious that’s where they should be right now. Pushing for repeal and an apology.
And while the Disgrace is at it maybe they can apologize for endorsing King John while they’re at it. Strickland did a damn fine job when he was governor – I didn’t always agree with everything he did, but at least he took the job seriously. Former Fox News TV personality and general all-around shitbag Kasich has done nothing but kick the state in the groin over and over again during his tenure in office. And take credit for shit that Strickland started working on before Kasich even become governor.
Fucking Columbus Disgrace. I’d write to them and cancel my subscription, except I did that 6 years ago already.
Napoleon
By the way the coming fight to privatize the turnpike will be interesting. My gut feeling is that it may be even less popular then SB5, at least in those parts of the state serviced by it. I think Kasich push maybe a political suicide mission.
ppcli
@Elizabelle:
According to about 90% of the comments following the editorial (which make very entertaining and encouraging reading, by the way): NO.
Marc
Columbus is a moderate to liberal city and it has a reactionary paper. The Dispatch was traditionally an Eisenhower Republican sort of place (last endorsed Democrat for President: Woodrow Wilson). The editorial board in 2004 was forced by their owner to endorse Bush, leading to one of the most hilarious editorials I’ve ever read (Bush is an incompetent twit, whom we endorse to be President…)
Since 2008, however, they’ve gone over the deep end – it’s almost like the Wall Street Journal, with the political slant seeping from the editorial page into all of the news stories. I’ve supported the local paper for years because they serve an important community role.
But the Dispatch?
Let them burn. They are completely out of touch with our city and metro area, which are now strongly Democratic. They cater to the Tea Party fringe, who largely don’t live here.
metricpenny
@Alex S.:
Second this.
Kay, you’re an inspiration.
Marc
@Elizabelle:
Of course it isn’t. King John tells the peasants what will happen; he doesn’t negotiate with them.
NonyNony
@Napoleon:
My working theory continues to be that Kasich is a political suicide bomber. He doesn’t care about re-election – his job is to get in, push the agenda as much as possible, rely on the fact that the rural areas of the state will elect enough Republicans to make his changes hard to undo after he leaves office, and then get out to go back to New York or DC where he really wants to live.
Now he has to convince the state legislators to go along with him on this. But because we have term limits in Ohio it’s not that hard of a sell. The only Republicans who might stand up to him are folks like Husted who have their sights on long-term political careers. A lot of the Assembly and Senate in the state know that they’re two-termers at best so why care about the long term repercussions? Just set things up so that things are good for you and yours when you leave and, again, count on the fact that the changes will be hard to undo because even if Republicans don’t maintain a majority, they’ll retain enough seats to keep the changes from getting undone.
And to anyone out there whose state is considering term limits – DON’T DO IT! They’re fucking awful. It doesn’t matter how corrupt and terrible your legislature is without them – if they were term limited they would be 10 times worse because they wouldn’t care at ALL about doing nasty shit that might not get them re-elected.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the single best thing we could do in Ohio to fix our political problems is to revoke term limits and make our state legislature scared of keeping their jobs again. And I say this as someone who was a stupid kid who supported the term limit push when it was going on in Ohio (what can I say, I was an idiot when I was a kid).
danimal
I’m convinced that continued, painful losses are the only thing that will stop the GOP from continuing on this destructive path. Keep the pressure on, go Ohio Dems!
Omnes Omnibus
@Marc: Gawd, I had forgotten about the 2004 endorsement editorial. As far as moderate to liberal city goes, I guess that is why Ken Blackwell set it up so I had to stand in line in the drizzle outside the Schiller Park Rec Center for nearly 2 hours to vote for John Kerry.
Alwhite
@Napoleon:
These people (Kasich, Walker, that fat tub-O-goo in NJ) are all on suicide missions. They know what they win now will be a long hard slog to undo. First you have to convince a substantial majority of people who actually vote that them must be undone (and we saw in Wisc that that has not happened). Then you have to get past the usual drag to get legislation passed. That includes ‘compromises’ that will not bring us back to where we are today but some place still off in the weeds.
The movers and shakers will be well taken care of by the Koch whores. The rest of us will live with the splattered remains of a once great nation for a couple of generations at least.
Linda Featheringill
@artem1s: #27
Interesting. You might be right. This could help explain why, at this late date, they suddenly decided they wanted to negotiate and even compromise.
It really is quite late to talk about it. Something must have happened somewhere up the line.
Gus
I don’t know. Whenever there’s a story in the local paper about a strike or any union issue, the comments are full of people who are angry that union members are getting a better deal than they are. They aren’t angry because their benefits are expensive, they’re angry because someone else’s aren’t. People would rather drag people in the roughly same economic condition down the their level rather than see their Galtian overlords have to allow them a better deal. It’s really puzzling.
Marc
@Omnes Omnibus:
My wife was a poll worker in 2004 at one of the inner city precincts with 2 creaky voting machines and multi-hour lines. Out in the burbs, by contrast, there were lots of voting machines and no lines at all.
There is a reason why Columbus no longer has a republican mayor or member of city council, and why the elected Franklin county (the metro area, about 1.5 million) are Democrats now. 20 years ago: Republicans across the board.
Naturally, all of our US representatives are Republicans; like Austin, carefully drawn districts do amazing things.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alwhite:
Not proven. Recall special elections in R districts aren’t normal elections.
Omnes Omnibus
@Marc: I had a friend who lived in Powell and waltzed in and out in three minutes. Voted for Kerry too. I remember seeing one of those red/blue maps of Columbus following that election. It looked like a blue thermometer with a ball of blue around German Village (where I lived) and the A/A neighborhoods nearby and then a line of blue up High Street Through OSU and Clintonville. Kind of scary.
Napoleon
@Marc:
Interesting – my recollection is that the Cleveland PD did not issue one because of a newsroom/editorial board member “uprising” when the publisher was going to endorce Bush.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Elizabelle:
That’s easy – NO. What he did was promise to “break the back” of the unions (perhaps the teacher’s union in particular; I’m not remembering it accurately). NOW, of course, he’d like to negotiate before his signature bill goes down in a referendum, but it’s too late (duh).
RobertB
I dunno, the idiocy seems pretty rampant out here in Hilliard.
Being out in the red part of the county, and having a brother who isn’t, I can vouch for that. There were lines at my precinct in the ’04 election, but they moved pretty quickly. We had six voting machines. My brother had to wait for two hours plus to vote, and they had two.
And yes, the Dispatch isn’t fit to line bird cages – at least the news sections aren’t. Sports is okay, if you like OSU football 24/7, and the lifestyle section isn’t terrible.
Linda Featheringill
Do you think that this sudden urge to talk might have something to do with Wisconsin?
Yes, I’m still trying to figure out why they suddenly woke up to the fact that they live in a democratic republic, not an absolute dictatorship.
daveNYC
They’ve got a firm grasp of the obvious, and some pretty good hindsight.
Omnes Omnibus
@Linda Featheringill: No, ask any firebagger or conservative, what happened in Wisconsin was a horrible defeat for Democrats and labor. Anything less than 6/6 shows that people approve of Walker and not flipping the state senate show that Walker has a mandate. The fact those districts were historically Republic simply does not matter. Jeez, I would think you would know this.
Linda Featheringill
@Omnes Omnibus: #49
:-)
kay
@Elizabelle:
Oh, sure. He was ready to deal! This was about health benefits. Just keep repeating that lie until it makes sense.
Here was the governor’s opening offer:
Teacher’s unions are the one and only thing standing in the way of for-profit, privatized K-12 schools in Ohio, and those schools are very, very profitable for the 1% of managers, consultants, lawyers, and other assorted experts/ grifters at the top. The privatized school “reform” proponents also donate heavily to conservatives.
This was about silencing the opposition and leaving the field clear for every conservative grifter/lobbyist seeking public funds to skim off profit.
They need to break the back of the teacher’s unions, because the teacher’s unions are getting in the way of a wholesale transfer of public funds to managers, consultants, lawyers and other experts.
kay
@Elizabelle:
And, Elizabelle, I know you weren’t endorsing this lie, but were instead just commenting on it. Just to be clear.
I get a little riled up :)
I swear, we would have been better off had newspapers simply printed the text of the bill. I think we could have avoided a lot of misunderstanding and confusion.
shortstop
Hey, kay, have we said thank you lately for all you do — out there and here?
buckyblue
American Media covering the Holocaust: “We’ve got Elie Wiesel and Adolf Eichmann up next to debate the sides of what is being called ‘acts of genocide’. This could get heated.” (after Eichmann shouts down Wiesel with prompting from David Gregory). Gregory then says, “We’ll just have to leave it at that. I’m sure this will continue to be a contentious issue.”
shortstop
@shortstop: Oh, now I see that many in this thread have been saying so. Thank you, thankers, for thanking with me! Gratitude forever!
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: Thank you for thanking the thankers.
Seriously though, Kay, you are fighting the good fight. In the words of Fezzik from the Princess Bride, “I hope we win.”
Napoleon
Kay, I found the weareohio website which I assume will give me the info I need
JenJen
Kay, don’t know how much you read the Cincinnati Enquirer, which used to be the most reliably conservative newspaper in the state, but I have been blown away by their editorial page’s utter silence on the SB5 repeal.
If anyone can prop up Kasich, it’s my hometown rag. I can’t believe they’re sitting on their hands.
artem1s
Kay, I haven’t seen the language that will be on the ballot. Do I understand it correctly that a NO vote repeals and a YES keeps the bill?
Ohio Mom
Kay, what’s the best place to send a few bucks to support repealing SB5?
Napoleon
@artem1s:
Yes – the pro repeal people managed to get the ballot commission to rule that no repeals the law, yes keeps it as passed.
TooManyJens
@Marc:
I found the text of it here (sorry about the Free Republic link). It really is remarkable. “Bush has done a ton of things we opposed and fucked up the country, and he refuses to admit to making mistakes, but we think we should re-elect him to fix them, even though there’s no reason to believe he will. Um, STEVE HOLT!”
JenJen
@artem1s: I’m not Kay, but I’m a Buckeye!! Vote NO on Issue 2 to repeal SB5.
Napoleon
@TooManyJens:
Wow, it basically says “Bush has brought this country to the brink of bankruptcy and caused an untold number of deaths needlessly, but Kerry has changed his mind, so we go with Bush”.
rikyrah
phuck all these mofos
VOTE NO ON SB5!!!
Elizabelle
@NonyNony:
Re your comment 35:
Really interesting comment on the downside of term limits.
Elizabelle
@kay:
I am glad you get riled up.
So much apathy out there, and so much misinformation.
We need some smart ‘uns to be riled up too, to try to counter the agitated idjuts out there politicking like they know (or care) what they’re doing.
cckids
@Napoleon: Ya, our local crap rag (Las Vegas Review-Journal, I mean you) did the same thing, though they were quite serious. “Bush has broken promises & done X, Y, & Z we disagree with, and has probably contravened the Constitution, but OMG Kerry is a DEMOCRAT!!! We endorse Bush.” It was bizarre, but quite expected. That was the year I quit my subscription & basically never read it. It is just too stupid. Plus it is poorly written.
JCT
Poor Kasich — looks like it’s *his* back that is about to be broken as his “signature” piece of legislation goes down in flames.
Couldn’t happen to a bigger schmuck.
Keep the hammer down, kay.
Kathleen
Thanks so much as always, Kay. And Jen-Jen, thanks for keeping tabs on the Cincinnati Stinkwire Editorial Page so I don’t have to. I was wondering if they had stated a position on this this issue. I trust they gave Rob Portman a tongue bath yearbook post to celebrate his being named to the super dooper committee? I just hope one of these days Kasich or Chabot or Boehner or Portman invites them to the prom.
debbie
Jeez, I hate that your threads die before I can get here.
This made the Columbus evening news and truly was a joy to behold. I love that the governor’s reps just wanted to “share ideas.” with We Are Ohio. Share this, bub!
How do you think this will effect scum like Niehaus, he of the Senate Presidency, he who widely proclaimed how government protesters were shitting (literally) all over the State House? When will he get his?
Matt
I live in Columbus and, as far as I’m concerned, Kasich and his buddies at the Dispatch can go suck an extra-large sack of dicks. They watched people get irate about this in Wisconsin and then turned around and did the whole line of Koch – what did they EXPECT to happen?
Throwin Stones
@Kay: Haven’t finished the thread yet, but also interested.
Definitely need to have one of these in the yard.