The 'Ohio 6' Speak: Meet The GOPers Who Voted Against Kasich's Anti-Union Bill

[mod mom]

The 'Ohio 6' Speak: Meet The GOPers Who Voted Against Kasich's Anti-Union Bill
Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 3, 2011, 10:10AM


By the slimmest of margins on Wednesday, the state Senate in Ohio passed the budget bill endorsed by Gov. John Kasich (R) and deplored by the unions and Democrats. The bill now moves to the state House where the sizable Republican majority is expected to pass it easily.

But before it does, it's worth taking a look at the six Republicans who voted against the bill in the Senate, and the fears they raised about the bill. Ohio will be an important state nationally in 2012, and is often pointed to in the press as a bellwhether for the national political picture. And to hear the Republicans who turned on Kasich in the Senate yesterday tell it, the bill that would gut collective bargaining rights for thousands of state workers in Ohio is a step too far to the right.

"This bill is not balanced," Sen. Scott Oelslager, one of two Republicans booted from their committee seats so the bill could pass, told the AP. "There has to be a balance between labor and management in negotiations. It tips the scales in favor of management."

Oelslager was pulled from the Senate Rules Committee to break a deadlock that would have kept the bill from moving to a floor vote. Sen. Bill Seitz, a member of the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee until Wednesday, shared Oelsager's fate, also being pulled from his committee. He warned that the bill, known as SB 5, puts Republicans on the wrong side of Ohio voters by removing the right of union workers to bargain for benefits and other rights.

-snip

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/the-ohio-6-speak-meet-the-gopers-who-voted-against-kasichs-union-bill.php?ref=fpb


"puts Republicans on the wrong side of Ohio voters by removing the right of union workers to bargain for benefits and other rights." Damn right it does!

[Botany]

1. I was surprised to see Jim Hughes was against SB 5

I have read that this bill can be fought w/ a public referendum.

FYI http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x547365

[mod mom]

2. I'm ready to go out w petitions.

Some good news: Franklin County finally has a competent county chairman!

Last night, I was nominated by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman and chosen by the Executive Committee to serve as your new Chairperson. It is with great respect for the values and work of this body that I accepted the position.

The other hat I wear is Ohio State Director for President Obama’s Organizing for America. My philosophy for organizing is rooted in this work. Respect, empower, and include. Together, in the next two years Franklin County Democrats will re-elect Mayor Coleman and Democrats up and down the ticket and again deliver Ohio for President Obama. We will build upon the neighbor-to-neighbor organizing that we executed in 2008. We will learn from the 2010 election. We will speak truth to the Kasich Administration; and we will never give up. We will work to engage each individual member of the Central and Executive Committees to make sure their skills and talents are being utilized to the fullest. We will recognize that our tent is big enough to include not only the residents of the city of Columbus but of Franklin County truly as a whole. We will be the party of Dublin and Grove City and New Albany and Linden and everywhere in between. We will stand as the party of equality, hard work, and progressiveness.

Franklin County has been my home for twelve years. I have worked for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus and have been an active volunteer for many local candidates. I was a Field Director on a congressional campaign, ran Lori Tyack’s race for Clerk of Courts, and also worked for Ted Strickland’s campaign for Governor in 2006. I have also worked in Government at the Municipal Court House, as a legislative liaison in the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and was an Executive Assistant to Governor Ted Strickland. With two degrees from The Ohio State University, I am a die-hard Buckeye fan and believe strongly in central Ohio's promising future.

Greg Schultz
Chairman, FCDP

He is a good guy!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

3. I Was Actually Shocked

According to Jim Hughes' profile, he's a pro-labor Republican, but I've always known him to be pretty much a shill for the Republican Party. So I was prepared to see him vote for SB 5.

What makes his No vote kind of troublng to me is this: I was so upset about his anticipated Party-line vote to pass this bill along, I actually began making inquiries into whether or not it would be possible to run against him when he's up for re-election in Nov. '12. That No vote kind of took the wind out of my sails, but I am still looking into it.

I know Jim Hughes from when he was a Prosecutor and I was a defense attorney. We worked together on several cases. I actually like Jim Hughes (as a person, not as a legislator), but I can't stand how Republicans in general just rubber stamp what their Party higher-ups tell them to. So my inner Howard Dean finally spoke up and told me to stop complaining and do something about it. Not sure where, if anywhere, this will lead, but the feelers are out right now.

[Botany]

7. please run against him!

I'll help ...... he might have voted against SB 5 only after he knew the #s would come out
in favor of John Kasich but his no vote gives him political cover. I have known him for
years too (slightly) and his support of the SB 3 (voter ID and you can't look at the voting
machines) tells me that he knows that the republicans were cheating the system as per
the elections.

Jim has been flying a tea bagger "Don't tread on me" flag on his house ever since Obama
won and he aligns with some wing nuts too. One car of a visitor to his house has a
"You Lie*" bumper sticker on it.


* From Congressman Joe Wilson's act.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgce06Yw2ro

[ChoppinBroccoli]

9. I Have A Friend Who Is Advising Me Now

My friend is a political consultant, and we've had some preliminary conversations about whether or not this is something I want to undertake. I'm a complete political novice. I have no experience (I've been concentrating on running my law practice for the last 10 years) and am clueless when it comes to things like raising money, etc. But I do have a lot of friends who are politically-minded and semi-connected politically who have offered to help me out in any way possible.

So, as I said, we're looking into it. I guess all I can tell you right now is to stay tuned. This idea just came to me last week, and only the very beginnings of some feelers are out.

I just wonder if I might be trying to "fight outside my weight class." Going from a complete nobody to a candidate for State Senator is a pretty big jump.

[Botany]

10. The one big problem you will have is name recognition

The Hughes name between his father and now Jim has 40 + year "known factor" in central Ohio.
Jim Hughes could screw a goat @ the corner of Henderson and High St. during rush hour and a lot of
people would see it and say, "the man really loves animals."

He will not debate you or be seen with you @ a public forum in order to marginalize you. He starts
w/ tons of votes already "in the bank."

What you need to do besides winning the primary is to make sure that you achieve a higher
name recognition factor and to find a way to get the voters to understand that they are voting
against their own best interests when they vote for Hughes.

[WolfoftheWild]

4. they are signing their walking papers. 2012 will see Ohio go blue and a repeal of this silliness.

Repukes have gone too far and they've only been in 2 months.

Premature Degeneration? :)

[mod mom]

5. Sec of State (elections) is GOP so we can only win if we can get huge

margins that they can't steal it. They have shown time & again they they are willing to do anything to win & are already raising obscene amounts of $ from their corporate masters.

[liberal N proud]

6. Add to that - redistricting

They have the fix.

[WolfoftheWild]

8. the SoS was Repuke in 2006, too. remember good ol' Ken Blackwell?

with this power grab, the GOP has lost thousands of people who normally vote Republican.

They don't realize it yet, but they are fucked.