Nineteen states allow the recall of elected officials, and Ohio isn’t one of them. But the disastrous reign of Governor John Kasich has prompted some lawmakers to try and change that.
Reps. Mike Foley and Bob Hagan, both Democrats, plan to introduce legislation this week to allow the recall of elected officials in Ohio, and they aren’t coy about why:
“He’s dividing the state,” Hagan said. “He’s hurting the people in this state and we think that this legislation that will be offered will go to the heart of those constituents and voters who have grown disenchanted with this governor.”
…
“We’re not going to dance around this,” Hagan told reporters at a news conference. “This is in fact about what the governor has done, what the Republicans are doing with one-party rule.”
A spokesman for Governor Kasich called the proposal “gutter politics” and “borderline absurd.” That made me want to make a quick list of other things that are “gutter politics” and “borderline absurd”:
- Governor Kasich tried to sabotage the repeal of Senate Bill 5 by messing with the ballot questions, an attempt that was rebuffed by his own Secretary of State. (Gutter politics.)
- Kasich has used “jobs” and “job creation” as his justification for everything from absurd tax cuts for corporations to Senate Bill 5 itself. Yet, in the last three months under his watch, Ohio has lost 18,000 jobs. (Borderline absurd.)
- In numerous public statements, Kasich has expressed his contempt for public workers. Most notably, he called a police officer who gave him a ticket an “idiot” several times. He followed up with Senate Bill 5, which strips the right to bargain collectively from 350,000 workers, including that police officer he didn’t like so much (Gutter politics and borderline absurd).
In any event, the recall proposal doesn’t have much of a prayer in the GOP-controlled state legislature. There is another option: Ohioans could write the power of recall into the state Constitution by collecting 400,000 signatures from registered voters. With over 714,000 signatures gathered to repeal Kasich’s signature union-busting measure, that might not be much of a stretch.
Governor John Kasich is in a pickle. The groups opposed to his signature achievement, the union-busting Senate Bill 5, have gathered over 714,000 signatures to put the measure on the November ballot, three times the number required. In addition, polling shows a bleak picture for Ohio’s approval of his performance (only 34 percent would vote for him in a 2010 rematch) and SB 5 (a 55 percent majority would vote for repeal, a measly 35 percent would let the law stand).
In this environment, Kasich is taking a page from the book of the Wisconsin GOP: When it looks like the other team might win, try to change the rules of the game.
From the Columbus Dispatch:
To break what appears to be strong, unified opposition to Senate Bill 5, Gov. John Kasich and his allies might seek to have the umbrella law that would weaken collective bargaining for public employees divided into multiple ballot questions.
In other words, divide and conquer. Since repeal would succeed on an up-or-down vote, Kasich wants to muddy the waters. His representatives are lobbying the Ohio Ballot Board to break down the SB 5 question into its multiple provisions.
His initial attempt, has failed. Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, a fellow Republican, is not playing along (yet):
“The Ballot Board cannot divide a referendum up into multiple issues,” Husted’s spokesman Matt McClellan said in an e-mail. “Only initiated petitions, such as Citizen-proposed Statutes or Citizen-proposed Constitutional Amendments may be divided up by the Ballot Board.”
Here’s the problem: Kasich’s monkeying could ultimately succeed. Under Ohio election law, you can the Ballot Board can split up a ballot initiative or constitutional amendment, but there is no such language permitting – or prohibiting – using a similar process on a referendum.
With all the corporate lobbyists and lawyers in Kasich’s camp, there’s still a chance of them regrouping and finding a loophole or leaning on the right official to prevent the up-or-down vote we want. But while they have the money and the wing-tips, we have the real army on our side – at least 714,137 strong.
Two state representatives in Ohio have proposed a plan that would put as many as 5,000 Ohioans to work on infrastructure and beautification projects. This should sound familiar if you remember your high school U.S. history class; the plan is modeled on the Works Public Administration (WPA) of the 1930’s.
State Reps. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) unveiled the legislation that they say is modeled somewhat after the WPA that helped put Americans to work during the Great Depression.
If passed, the Ohio Works Progress Administration would pay 5,000 workers $27,500 annually.
Workers would work on infrastructure and beautification projects including public art, recycling and landfill maintenance, soil and water conservation projects and parks clean-up.
The program would allot 50 workers and two artists for each of Ohio’s 88 counties.
ProgressOhio details the kind of jobs that would be included in the OWPA, many of which echo those of the original WPA:
• Residential home construction, deconstruction, weatherizing homes and buildings, maintenance and repair, lead and asbestos removal
• Recycling, trash sorting and landfill maintenance
• Soil and water conservation projects
• Disaster clean-up
• Lake and waterway repair and conservation
• Trail maintenance and clean-up in parks
Even though the proposal is modest, it stands in stark contrast to efforts on the other side of the aisle Governor John Kasich has been touting his budget plan, calling it a “Jobs Budget.” However, a study by Innovation Ohio found that Kasich’s budget would lead to 51,000 jobs lost, due in part to a $3 billion cut in education and a 50 percent cut in local government.
For this week’s roundup, we welcome you to Walkerville, the capital of Fitzwalkerstan. In this land, the working poor get tax hikes, firefighters caused the deficit, and Republicans run as Democrats to help Republicans win against Democrats. And some politicians even tell the truth!
Are you confused yet? You’re not alone. This if your Wisconsin roundup:
•It goes to nine. Three Democratic state senators will join six Republicans on the recall ballot this summer. Or they might be on separate dates. Either way, the Government Accountability Board, after carefully considering the many charges of fraudulent signatures and questionable practices on the part of the GOP petition circulators, in the end decided to go ahead and certify the recalls.
To provide a check against the anti-worker Governor Scott Walker, the Democrats need a net gain of three seats in the State Senate. Depending on how the Wisconsin Republican Party’s “spoiler candidate” strategy pans out, the election will probably be held on August 9.
•Hooverville 2.0. The fastest growing municipality in Wisconsin is Walkerville, the tent city set up in Madison to educate, satirize, and protest around the destructive policies of Governor Scott Walker.
Even in the short yet dynamic history of the Wisconsin protests, we’ve never seen anything quite like this. There have been concerts, film screenings, a boxing match (to represent the “fight for quality healthcare”), a mock town hall featuring Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers, a “die-in” (to represent the death of secondary education in Wisconsin) and a thousands-strong March for a Fair Budget.
There are tons of pictures and videos coming out of Walkerville, and every day has a theme. You can keep up by following the #Walkerville hashtag on Twitter, and check out the beautiful photos on the Wisconsin AFL-CIO Flickr page.
•Freudian slip. We’ve talked on this blog about how Wisconsin’s collective bargaining bill is different from Senate Bill 5 in Ohio. Wisconsin’s bill carves out an exemption for public safety workers like police and firefighters, while the Ohio bill does not (read this post to learn why this is deadly for Ohioan workers). This has led some to believe that Scott Walker is not as bad as people say, because at least he allows police officers to bargain for better Kevlar, right?
Wrong. Turns out that Wisconsin Republicans really wanted to strip public safety workers of their rights but darn it, they just couldn’t.
When state Rep. Chris Kapenga was asked by a constituent why cops and firefighters would be exempted from the collective-bargaining changes, the freshman Republican lawmaker left no doubts what he thinks.
Kapenga pointed a finger directly at the police and firefighter unions.
“We have pushed for police and fire to be included with all other public employees,” said the Delafield Republican.
This created an awkward situation for Mike Crivello, the head of the Milwaukee Police Association. Crivello and his organization came out huge for Kapenga and other Republicans in the election last year. He even starred in an ad for now-Gov. Scott Walker! Kapenga’s statement left Mr. Crivello “flabbergasted.”
Chances are Crivello will join the trend of law enforcement officers deserting the Republican Party over their anti-worker stance (other examples here, here, and here).
Wisconsin Republicans have made their intentions for public safety workers before. Kapenga echoed fellow “K”-named legislator Sen. Dan Kapanke, who said in April that he wanted to take rights from public safety workers, and that he wanted to see if there was “enough will” to include them in Walker’s union-busting bill. Because it takes courage to tell a firefighter he can’t have a new oxygen mask.
Either in July or August, we might be setting off some fireworks in Walkerville to celebrate the end of one-party anti-worker rule in Wisconsin. It’ll take a lot of work, and we’ll be keeping you updated. On Wisconsin, and on Walkerville!
A new inappropriately named organization called Building A Better Ohio has launched to defend Gov. Kasich’s Senate Bill 5, which strips collective bargaining rights from 350,000 Ohioans.
The group will be chaired by Vaughn Flasher, a Republican consultant and current lobbyist for tobacco, telecommunications, and the insurance industry. Aiding Flasher’s group in their anti-worker cause is the DC-based Americans for Prosperity, the group run by the infamous Koch Brothers, who are raising money for the upcoming referendum fight.
The roll out for Building A Better Ohio, however, was extremely unimpressive. The group is trying to pass themselves off as a “grassroots” operation, but they have already admitted that Governor John Kasich and other state Republicans will play a large role. Kasich’s poll numbers have taken a dive over his aggressive anti-worker agenda, and a recent poll found that he would lose in a rematch with former Gov. Ted Strickland by 25 points if the election were held today.
That’s even before we notice that the “grassroots” campaign is headed up by a corporate lobbyist, Mr. Flasher.
Building A Better Ohio’s website also contains a “fact-checking” section, which states numerous falsehoods about Senate Bill 5 without any citations to back them up. The same day the site was launched, the Ohio blog Plunderbund went down one by one and disproved them all.
The latest public opinion poll on Senate Bill 5 showed 54 percent opposing, and the haphazard launch of this anemically-supported group seems to reflect some panic on the part of Kasich and his corporate backers. While it’s not scientific evidence, Building A Better Ohio’s Facebook page has 294 Likes compared to over 126,000 for “Stand Up for Ohio,” and most of the existing activity seems to come from people leaving anti-SB 5 comments.
In a letter to the Newark Advocate, a young Ohioan advocates for the repeal of Senate Bill 5, the legislation signed by Gov. John Kasich that strips bargaining rights for 350,000 Ohio workers. But here’s what’s different: she’s a Republican.
Meghan Butcher identifies herself as “a young Republican and supporter of government reform” – not the typical profile of an SB 5 opponent. However, as we’ve written before, the bill crosses the line when it comes to firefighters and police officers, who often bargain for lifesaving safety equipment through their unions.
For us, and for Meghan, this makes SB 5 completely unacceptable. “Collective bargaining laws and the unions do a lot more than just deal with wages,” she writes, “Safety and operational issues, which police and fire management traditionally fail to address, are resolved using the processes that SB5 is rescinding.”
The most striking part of this letter was that it reflects the concerns of so many Ohio voters who support deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility, but who are dismayed by Kasich’s aggressive politicization of the budget process. Meghan continues:
This legislation began as an attempt to address some of our state’s fiscal issues and ended up reflecting the political agenda and arrogance of the current administration. The ideology of this bill and watching this political process is very discouraging for a young Republican like me. I have numerous friends and family members who are teachers, firefighters and police officers, and none of them deserve the total impact that this legislation will cause to their careers.
Meghan, who presumably voted for Gov. Kasich, must be wondering what the demonization and punishment of public workers has to do with real reform and real deficit reduction.
The answer is: Nothing. If Kasich really cared about Ohio’s deficit, he wouldn’t be handing out tax breaks, privatizing prisons and roads, or pushing a reduction in the minimum wage. That’s not what Meghan voted for, and it’s not what Ohio’s working families need.
Two positive updates on the battle to repeal Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 and restore collective bargaining rights to 350,000 public employees.
First, the signature gathering efforts over the last month have been wildly successful. The group We Are Ohio announced that they have over 214,000 signatures out of the 231,149 required to get SB 5 on the ballot – that’s 93 percent!
“This is an unprecedented level of support from communities all across the state,” Fazekas said. “We continue to struggle to keep up with demand for petitions.”
(snip)
With more than 350,000 public workers impacted by the bill, even supporters have said they anticipate the opposition coalition will collect enough names to make the ballot. Fazekas said the group is confident it will meet its goal of 450,000 to 500,000 signatures, which must be gathered in at least 44 of 88 counties.
Given that the deadline is June 29, 2011, or ninety days since the effort was approved, it’s safe to say that the Citizen Veto is well on track.
In addition, despite the efforts of Gov. John Kasich and his allies to demonize public employees and convince voters that stripping rights is necessary to balancing the budget, Senate Bill 5 is fairly unpopular. A Quinnipiac poll from May 10-16 showed that 54 percent were in favor of repealing SB 5, while only 36 percent want it kept.
The challenge will be from those 10 percent who remain undecided – they are the ones who will be crucial once the Citizen Veto is on the ballot.
Many police and firefighters organizations have been consistently supported Republicans over the years. But with the recent assault on workers’ rights, particularly the passage of the Gov. John Kasich’s radical Senate Bill 5 in Ohio, many of those faithful GOP voters are changing their tune.
The recent actions of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police are emblematic of this trend. Over the weekend, the state’s largest law enforcement organization voted to retract the endorsement of state Senator Shannon Jones (R-Springboro), who voted to strip collective bargaining rights from police officers this past March.
Quick review on SB 5: The bill removed collective bargaining rights from 350,000 public employees in Ohio. Unlike a similar measure in Wisconsin, the Ohio version does not exempt public safety workers. In other words, the bill says that officers who risk their lives daily can’t bargain with the state over better healthcare, sick time, or pension benefits.
That’s why the Ohio FOP, which represents over 26,000 police officers, was none too pleased when Sen. Jones voted for SB 5. After all, Jones had sought the endorsement of the Ohio FOP during a primary race last year. The group’s President, Jay McDonald, said his members felt betrayed after extending their support to Jones. “These are not things we’re looking to hand out,” McDonald said about the group’s endorsements, “These are things that people seek.”
Not only is the group taking back its endorsements, they are joining with other statewide organizations to take on SB 5 head on. The Ohio FOP and other statewide unions and progressive groups are coming together under the banner of We Are Ohio, and their main goal right now is to get SB 5 on the ballot for a referendum. Both the OAPF and the OEA have approved dues increases to raise money to fight SB 5.
Even just six months ago, the Ohio FOP would balk from this kind of action, since they endorse officials of both parties. But since the Ohio Republicans decided to focus on stripping their rights instead of, say, putting people back to work, the anger of local lodges and thousands of members has galvanized the FOP into unified action.
Gov. Kasich and his allies aren’t only making a lot of enemies over SB 5, they’re also losing a lot of friends.
(Guest post by Barbara Helmick – thanks everyone for their amazing pictures! -Doug)
Working families are under attack across the country and Working America members, with courage and pride, sent photos to show they are one with these families. Eager to show our individual numbers quickly add up to power, these photos are just a sampling of the great people who want to show the powers that be, that we are strong, we are ready to act, and we are beautiful.
Pete DiBiase (America Votes) – Columbus, Ohio
I was at the Ohio Statehouse last Tuesday morning helping to prepare for that day’s events surrounding SB 5 (the bill was being voted out of House Committee that day). I had been talking to various people directing them where to go and answering any questions people had for me. I spoke to one gentleman who was telling me how he had been really frustrated about the state of affairs in Ohio and concerned for the future. He has several union employees in his family, many who serve in the public sector. He also mentioned that he remembered living through the sixties but was concerned that that movement was lost and he thought never really returned.
His final words to me were that with all these thoughts in his mind a Working America canvasser had knocked on his door two days before the rally and had a conversation with him about these very concerns. He said after talking to this canvasser that he felt much better, and that there still was hope for things to get better. He also admitted that it was that canvasser that finally moved him to action (which he had previously lamented he never took in the 60’s) and led to him attending the rally on Tuesday.
