SB 5 makes the ballot; stage is set for battle

[irishbobcat]

Dan, Dan, Dan.....tell the truth........you and your neo-con buddies want to destroy the middle class and take away

jobs families can live off of......

Dan, you and your neo-cons buddies won't be happy until 95% of America is making $7.95 an hour and your "friends" in the
upper 5% make billions and billions......

OVERTURN SB 5 IN THE FALL!!!!!


Save the American Dream from Destruction from Fat-Cat neo-cons like Dan Moadus.....

[Dan Moadus]

The union leaders will pull out all the stops on this one, and will couch it as though they care about the workers, when in reality they don't. Do you think they care if shrinking budgets mean laying off masses of workers? Not a bit. Oh, they want you to think they care alright, but do they ever do anything to stop the job losses? Of course not that would mean a call for moderation and changes in work rules and pay rates. Of course they will work real hard to see that the rest of us pay more in taxes.

If the truth be told, all they care about is their well paying jobs. If a way could be found that would keep them employed with fat salaries and every union member would be gone, they wouldn't care one wit. The real panic over SB5 is that the local governments will no longer have to act as their collection agency collecting their dues. Does anyone think that more than a couple of hundred government workers would actually sit down and write monthly checks to their unions.

[irishbobcat]

Time to beat back the ultra-right wing neo-cons who want to destroy unions and the middle class......


SB 5 makes the ballot; stage is set for battle
Number of valid signatures to repeal law sets state record
Friday, July 22, 2011  03:06 AM
By Joe Vardon and Joe Hallett

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

An hour before Secretary of State Jon Husted certified a referendum on Senate Bill 5 for the Nov. 8 ballot yesterday, the head of the national AFL-CIO already had kick-started the campaign by pledging major resources to help repeal the law.

Husted reported at noon that 915,456 valid signatures of Ohio voters had been collected, far exceeding the 231,147 signatures needed to place the issue on the statewide ballot. That set a state record.

Two blocks east on High Street at Ohio AFL-CIO headquarters, Richard Trumka, president of the national union, promised an all-out campaign to overturn the Republican-backed law that weakens collective bargaining for public employees.

"We're going to be there every step of the way," Trumka said. "We're providing resources, people, strategy and the will."

Story continues belowAdvertisement  Husted's certification of the ballot issue set in motion what promises to be an expensive and rancorous off-year campaign with far-reaching political ramifications. Public-employee unions view repealing Senate Bill 5 as crucial to their viability, while failing to sustain the law would represent a huge setback for Gov. John Kasich and his Republican colleagues who've set out to downsize government.

At this juncture, the momentum appears to be on the side of We Are Ohio, the coalition opposed to Senate Bill 5, which on June 29 delivered nearly 1.3 million signatures to Husted's office - easily a state record.

Trumka, who joined a discussion of 17 Senate Bill 5 foes yesterday, trumpeted a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showing that if the election were held now, Senate Bill 5 would be repealed 56 percent to 32 percent.

"They decided to scapegoat public employees, and decided to punish workers that really weren't responsible for the recession and the downturn that we've seen," Trumka said, referring to Kasich and legislative Republicans.

In an emailed statement, State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, who sponsored Senate Bill 5, said the law gives Ohio communities "the flexibility" to control costs without cutting services.

Jones said "Ohioans are showing strong support" for the changes Senate Bill 5 mandates, such as requiring all public employees to pay at least 15 percent toward their health insurance. The Quinnipiac poll supports Jones' claim.

"They will continue to do so as we cut through the lies and misinformation being spread by the union bosses who make a good living on the status quo," Jones said.

In addition to cruising past the threshold for total number of valid signatures, We Are Ohio also collected signatures equal to 3 percent of the total vote cast in last year's gubernatorial election in all 88 counties - double the counties needed - which campaign spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas said was also a first in Ohio.

"Now it's about talking to voters and about staying engaged with our volunteers. We had over 10,000 volunteers, and they're asking us what they can do next," Fazekas said. "There really hasn't been an enthusiasm gap since we turned in our petitions."

The next step in the process is for the Ohio Ballot Board to approve language for the ballot issue. The five-member board is chaired by Husted.

Matt McClellan, a spokesman for Husted, said the board will hold a public meeting in early August to hear arguments related to how the referendum should be worded on the ballot.

Fazekas said We Are Ohio will pursue ballot language in which a "yes" vote is a vote in favor of Senate Bill 5 and a "no" vote is a vote against the law. The group will base its argument on its interpretation of the Ohio Constitution.

Jason Mauk, spokesman for Building a Better Ohio, the campaign to defend Senate Bill 5, said leaders are still discussing strategy related to ballot language.

Ohioans also will soon know whether a constitutional amendment to repeal a key provision of the federal health-care law makes the ballot.

Husted directed county boards of elections to complete their review of the more than 540,000 signatures submitted for the Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment by today. Husted has until Tuesday to certify those signatures.