TEN Points AGAINST Senate Bill 5

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association has compiled a list of TEN reasons Senate Bill 5 must be stopped in its tracks in the state senate.  Take a look at this Senate directory and give your representative a call today!

1. S.B.5 is a jobs killer.
It will only weaken the Middle Class by destroying good, working-class jobs that families
and communities depend on.
2. S.B.5 will hurt businesses
Stores, gas stations, restaurants and other merchants in communities across the state will
be forced to lay off workers. Or worse, they’ll have to close their doors, because Middle Class Ohioans will no longer be able to afford to patronize those establishments.
3. Public Employees are our neighbors.
They are firefighters, cops, teachers, prison guards, snowplow drivers, and social
workers, to name a few. But they are also coaches, athletic and band boosters,
church members, volunteer firefighters and charitable givers.
4. Public employees are taxpayers.
Public employees pay their taxes just like everyone else. Every payday, they pay
the same percentage of income tax as every working Ohioan.
5. S.B.5 won’t balance the budget.
Even if EVERY state employee was fired, it would barely save the state one-fourth of
its gaping $8 billion budget deficit.
6. S.B.5 is part of a larger agenda and public workers are scapegoats.
It’s a fact! S.B. 5 won’t balance the budget. It’s clear that anti-worker forces are using this
to harm the Middle Class and kill jobs and the union rights they depend on.
7. Collective bargaining works.
For 28 years, collective bargaining has reduced labor strife and the likelihood of strikes
and has improved training and productivity among public employees.
8. OCSEA members have made concessions.
To help the struggling state,  OCSEA worked with the state to save $240 million in the
current contract in compensation. In addition, another $100 million was saved over the
length of the current contract in health care costs. Over the last 9 years, OCSEA members
have taken 5 pay freezes or pay cuts.
9.Everyone gains when there’s a unionized workplace.
The fact of the matter is wages are higher in work places with a union,
and that’s across the private or public sector.
10. Speaking out against S.B.5 is the only way to defeat it!
Here’s what you can do:
•  Reach out to family, friends & community members for support.
•  Ask local elected officials to publicly denounce S.B. 5.
•  Write your local newspaper.
•  Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on S.B. 5!
•  Attend hearings and rallies, and take part in phone banking, leafleting and other
anti-S.B. 5 activities. Hold your own events in your communities.

-The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association-

For 28 years, collective bargaining has reduced labor strife and the likelihood of strikes
and has improved training and productivity among public employees.
.Collectivebargainingworks.

Rep. Weddington Files Public Records Request on Hiring by State Office Holders

Yesterday, Columbus’s own State Representative W. Carlton Wedding filed a public records request looking to obtain additional information about the Kasich’s hiring practices.

Rep. Weddington Files Public Records Request on Hiring by State Office Holders

Information will show level of diversity in top state job hiring

 

COLUMBUS –State Representative W. Carlton Weddington (D-Columbus) today filed a public records request with the administration of Gov. John Kasich aimed at determining the level of diversity among top staff. Rep. Weddington is requesting the names and copies of the employee ID badges for the top 15 paid positions in the Governor’s office. He is also making the same request for the 15 top paid employees of the state Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor and Ohio Supreme Court.

“The public has a right to know the record on hiring of these offices, and whether they in practice embrace diversity in the workplace or are potentially discriminating against people of color,” said Rep. Weddington. “The issue is not that these offices should hire minorities, but that it is inconceivable that no qualified person of color applied for any of these top positions. By reviewing the information I am requesting today, we can quantify hiring practices of these offices.”

Rep. Weddington spoke last week at a Statehouse news conference decrying the lack of diversity in hiring by the Kasich Administration.

Letter to the Editor From Former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy

Editor:

Once again, our nation has been devastated by terrible violence inflicted by a lone shooter equipped with a gun with a high capacity magazine. There have been several of such incidents including those at Virginia Tech, Ft. Hood, Columbine, and now Tucson.  I am grateful that heroes at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner event were able to stop the assailant before he could reload a second high capacity magazine to do even more damage. Even with their intervention, six people lost their lives – a 9 year old girl, a young man looking forward to his wedding, senior citizens enjoying their retirement years. Gabrielle Giffords suffered a serious head injury that day, many others were wounded. The gunman, as in other mass killings, used a high capacity magazine to inflict maximum damage as quickly as possible on as many people as he could.

There is no other purpose for such a device.

From 1994 until 2004, when the Brady Gun Act was allowed to expire, such magazines were not legal. Many called for the assault weapon and high capacity magazine act to be renewed, but such efforts have fallen short even as our nation is stunned by repeated instances of deadly violence inflicted on a large scale at colleges, schools, workplaces, law offices, an Army base, and now a suburban shopping area in Arizona.

It is time to address this issue again. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy,  whose husband was killed by a madman with a weapon on the Long Island Rail Road, has introduced legislation that would ban the transfer of such magazines, as well as banning the importation and possession of devices manufactured after the date the bill is passed.

We can both respect gun owners’ rights and improve the safety of our communities by prohibiting high capacity magazines. We can break with “politics as usual” and challenge the special interests who have kept these deadly devices available to deranged killers.

For more information go to the web sites of Rep. McCarthy, or the Brady Campaign, or the Violence Policy Center. And tell your representatives in the House and Senate that you support this sensible step for the safety of our communities.

Mary Jo Kilroy

Columbus, Ohio

Doing What We Do Best – Getting Democrats (Re)Elected

Snow doesn’t keep our volunteers away. Our student interns and volunteers were busy putting together a letter for Municipal Court Judge Andrea Peeples.

 

Pigeons Come Home to Roost.

Last night watching the national news coverage of the change of leadership in Washington DC, I couldn’t help but think of the pigeons roosting on Capitol Square. Watching the Republicans reminded me of those most common of public nuisances, the common pigeon, found throughout our country, especially near statues of long dead leaders and large public buildings housing government functions. Exhibiting classic flock mentality, the Republicans were puffed up on self admiration, chests out, strutting about, posturing, accomplishing nothing of any value and leaving a pile of droppings everywhere they land for someone else to clean up after they’re gone. The Republicans travel as a flock making noise, constantly seeking handouts, following their leadership blindly, and fleeing at the first sign of trouble or work.

They are where they are because money and messaging. They have made promises which will have to be kept to someone for the money “invested”. The smoke and mirrors of unaccountable special interest money in the last election has become our cold reality. Their ability to get a consistent message set wrapped in red, white and blue, even when it is exposed as a lie, has controlled the political discussion since 2008. Fronted by a faux grassroots campaign financed by hard right special interest groups with no interest to help anyone outside of their exclusive socio-economic group and enabled by the media, they succeeded in undermining and defeating good Democrats everywhere. I am still disgusted by it today, especially when I see one of these pigeons talking about how they are for small business or the middle class and they are lying.
The Pigeons were “on message” last night on every media outlet I saw. Their drum beat continues. If I lie to you enough, you will believe me unless and until you hear something different to interrupt the beat.

It works the same way with the TRUTH.  Speak the truth repeatedly, tell the story,  don’t stop until the work is done. All of us must have the knowledge we need to share with our peers at all levels. It is all our job to spread the true story for what we do and work for today. Organize this function!

It does not serve our party, membership  or our leaders to do good work and hope it gets noticed, nor pass good legislation which will benefit the whole rather than the select few and not take credit where it is due. No good can come when the Democrats  have created something from nothing and then not explain what it is, how it works, what the benefits are, and then assume people will see. To “ASSUME” anyone “GETS IT” makes something out of you and me. What is our message Democrats?

A Novel Idea: Americans Favor Democratic Policies

According to the latest congressional news accounts, incoming House Speaker John Boehner plans on bringing up the repeal of health care reform as one of the initial votes on the agenda of the new Congress.  This seems interesting in light of the fact that he and his Republican colleagues are cloaking its agenda as “doing the people’s business”.  Upon closer inspection, this seems to be another GOP contradiction.

Polls have consistently shown that when people are asked about specific aspects of the health care law, voters overwhelmingly favor them: allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance policy up to age 26y, prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition, barring companies from dropping clients due to an illness and requiring preventative care coverage in plans.  Additionally, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the budgetary aspects of the law and projects that it will actually reduce the federal deficit over time.  Yet, the  conventional wisdom is that people view the law unfavorably and “Obamacare” has become a dirty word.

This is very similar to the 2000 presidential campaign where many voters had an unfavorable opinion of Vice President Al Gore, yet when polled on his stances on issues specifically, a majority were aligned with him.  Granted, the health care reform law was not perfect.  However, it appears this is more of a political problem than a policy one.  Any law would eventually be viewed negatively if such disparaging descriptions as “socialism” and “government-run health care” were continually attached to it on a massive scale as the Republicans have done.

Democrats— most notably— President Obama— need to stand up for their accomplishments on health care reform.  Get the message out that people actually favor what is in this law.  Just imagine if Democrats took to the airwaves and spoke out about all the items in health care reform that people favor while Mr. Boehner was trying to repeal it.  Get this positive message out in a clear-cut, simple message at every opportunity, and see how the Americans react to the GOP’s attempts to shut down the federal government over it as they attempted to do in the 1990s.  It might just seal the deal for a second Obama term— just for starters.

Tax Breaks For Rich

Under Ohio’s new Republican majority, the rich will get richer and the middle class will get the shaft.

This became clear when Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder, a Republican, said one of his caucus’ top priorities this year will be repeal of the state’s inheritance tax.

As if the state wasn’t in enough financial trouble, Batchelder and the Republicans want to hand the wealthy another $300 million a year in tax breaks. About 80 percent of the lost revenue would be taken from state aid to local governments, according to an article in today’s Columbus Dispatch.

The result: Increased taxes on the middle class at the local level or layoffs of police officers and firefighters. These dedicated public servants are the ones who help keep our neighborhoods safe, but under Republicans there probably will be fewer of them.

But not to worry. The sons and daughters of rich folks will be able to afford more country-club memberships, more luxury cars and more yachts.

Kasich’s Fiscal Responsibility Is Really Political Theater

John Kasich has made the decision to live in his own residence near Westerville and forgo the state-owned Governor’s Mansion in Bexley.  Will this result in budget savings to the taxpayers?  The answer, more than likely is no.  This is more of an exercise in grandstanding and political theater rather than fiscal discipline.  It is very telling that the cost of maintaining security at Mr. Kasich’s 4,400 square feet house on ten acres of land is currently being witheld from the public.  It is also worth noting that the new Governor will still be using the mansion in Bexley for ceremonial purposes.  This all begs the question as to how much more this potential boondoggle will cost Ohio taxpayers.

On the national level, the GOP has historically touted their virtues of fiscal discipline, yet administrations from Reagan to George H.W. Bush to George W. Bush were known for massive deficits and debt.  In the middle of these Republican Presidents was that “wild-eyed lefty” Bill Clinton who eliminated the deficit, ran surpluses and actually paid down debt.

When it comes to fiscal responsibility, Republicans are long on rhetoric but very short on results.  John Kasich is actually talking about cutting taxes during tough fiscal times.  This is as realistic as his scheme to have security details in Westerville and Bexley residences actually saving money.  It should only be a matter of time before Ohioans catch on to this shell game.

Fertilizing Grassroots

Fertilizing those Grassroots

Last week at a meeting with a fellow county Democrat, the late and great Senator Paul Wellstone’s name came up. Senator Wellstone was the quintessential Northern woods progressive and they honestly don’t make them like him much more.  I had the honor and privilege of my first paying job out of college an off-shoot of the Wellstone Project and ten years later is still the best job I ever had.  Literal grassroots, door-to-door, vote-by-vote getting for a targeted state representative race in Northwestern Wisconsin. I learned more on that campaign in the short 6 months I was housed in my candidates basement complete with gun racks, antler trophies, and turkey shoot or tractor pull invitations (I’m a native Long Islander, it was a stretch as far as experiences go) than I ever could in college or graduate school. We lost by only 78 votes out of 80,000 registered voters and to this day I still remember each of those precincts, what was important to those folks, and if the Packers didn’t play the Vikings on Monday Night Football the night before Election Day we might’ve had them! 

Too many candidates, campaigns, and political operatives try to pay lip service, rather than actual service, to true grassroots politics.  Grassroots activism is at its core a LOCAL movement. It’s the epitome of “Think Globally, Act Locally.”  A small group of determined local citizens making an impact on national and then global policy, events, and movements.  Remembering our local campaigns and candidates make our statewide and eventually our national candidates stronger, lending more support.  Now that I call central Ohio home, I can clearly see how the Franklin County Democratic party’s own grassroots initiatives would make Senator Wellstone proud.  The Precinct and Ward Captain trainings, growing a Central Committee that is truly representative of every single precinct or neighborhood in Franklin County, calling for diversity in our Townships, Cities, and State Administrations, outreach for authors for this very blog – that’s grassroots!

But even those of us who embrace grassroots politics maybe took a step too far back this last election cycle. We need to remember our local issues and use them to educate our State and National leaders – regardless of their party. Become INFORMED of legislation is being introduced and voted on, and EDUCATE your neighbors about how it will affect you on YOUR block. In YOUR neighborhood. Keep Kasich’s feet the fire – what will his non-education plan mean for YOUR school district and YOUR property values? What did the Race for the Top funds mean for YOUR schools? When you have those answers, knock on your neighbors’ doors and say, “Hi, I live next door and thought you might want to know what’s going on downtown and how it affects us.” If we don’t, we stay home, and just make snide comments on message boards, it won’t get done. We’ll have more of the same of this past election year. If you took that hour each week you take to respond to the crackpots on blogs, message boards, or Topix discussion boards, you’d be able to contact 30-50 voters and make a real difference in our neighborhoods. I’m guilty enough of it myself and my New Year’s Resolution is to water my own lawn.

A well manicured lawn can always rid the one or two weeds that decide to poke through the cracks in the cement. But it takes more than one blade to drown out that miserable sight, and I’ve got my bucket of fertilizer. Do you?

Grove City Scandal

The mushrooming tax scandal in Grove City provides a textbook example of the problems associated with one-party rule. Republicans have controlled Grove City’s government for decades.
And what’s the result: Hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to the IRS and state in unpaid city employee taxes.
According to articles in The Columbus Dispatch and Grove City Record, the problem has been occurring continuously for at least a decade, under the Republican administrations of Cheryl Grossman and Ike Stage. Grossman is now a member of the Ohio House.
Not surprising, everyone at City Hall is claiming ignorance. But these see-no-evil claims ring hollow. After all, the IRS sent the city repeated delinquency notices in recent years. Yet these notices went unheeded.
Also, the state auditor issued stinging rebukes of the city’s lack of financial oversight in audits in 2005 and 2006. Yet these warnings apparently also went unheeded.
Grove City officials’ malfeasance will cost taxpayers there hundreds of thousands of dollars – not only in unpaid taxes but also in interest and penalties.
It’s time to throw the bums out.