Friday, November 04, 2011

Vote NO and stop the Kasich bus

As we reflect on the issues before voters, we need to consider a few things.

1. Governor Kasich admitted this while in Portage County (Recordpub):
...He acknowledged that unionized state workers already pay for their health care and pensions at the rates required under S.B. 5....

2. John Kasich had stated his opposition to teachers' unions as far back as 2009 (StarBeacon):
....Expand the school voucher program and break the grip unions hold on education. "Now my concern with the teachers union is that I am convinced they are a lot more concerned with their own situation rather than the situation of our children," Kasich said.

“We need more school choice, we need to break the back of organized labor in the schools, and we need to turn our schools into institutions that excite our kids and teach them, and the best way to get it done is to give mothers and fathers the power to take their kids out of bad places and put them in good,” Kasich said to a round of applause.....


3. Kasich also voiced opposition to paying the prevailing wage in the state.


Dispatch:

During a speech before Ashtabula County Republicans in March 2009, Kasich talked about the need to "break the back of organized labor in the schools," according to the Ashtabula Star Beacon. He did not back away from that quote last week, saying as he pushes ideas to change schools he has often clashed with teachers unions, who have "smeared my record and distorted it."
   Kasich, who is backed by business groups, also opposes paying prevailing wages on state-funded construction projects. And as part of a sweeping review of state laws and regulations, he wants to reexamine the 1983 law that gave public employees in Ohio the right to collective bargaining, arbitration and strike (except for safety forces)......

(Note:  Kasich broke this promise when he added police and fire to SB 5.  What other promises does he plan to break?)

4. Recent ads paid for by Republicans, their special 527's, and others have said that public employees are paid excessive wages.  Really?  I have a few questions for Kasich's rich, elite, country club member friends:

>>>>How much should someone willing to run into a burning building be paid? $8.00/hr?  $9.00/hr?  Do you want professionally-trained first responders?  Should police officers that protect the public be forced to take lower wages so that Kasich's campaign contributors can get more tax cuts?  One ad even said that SB 5 would still allow safety forces to stay on the street.  Did you notice though it didn't say how many would be on duty in a station?  Kasich and his buddies want to cover police and fire emergencies with the minimum number of trained people.  If a fire/police station has 2 people on duty, how much longer does it take for them to respond to an emergency? With smaller crews at fire stations, research has shown that rescuing fire victims is impossible (see National Institute of of Standards and Technology). 

5. Republicans and Kasich talk about teachers and their outrageous pay. Ha!  How much should someone with a college education, graduate degree, and experience be paid?  Should a person that has special advanced training in child psychology, math, reading, and science, as well as technology instruction be paid more than some person without it? If you want excellent teachers, shouldn't you be willing to attract the best?  If Kasich and Co. had their way, teachers would all be making minimum wage, and $25,000 to $30,000/yr. like they do at the charter schools (just check at the Ohio Treasurer's website on salary and look at the "community" school teachers' pay).  Kasich and his Republicans buffoons who hate public school teachers would not last one day in some of the middle and high schools in this state.


(Rumor has it that one elected official had to hire a tutor for his child because the private school where the child was attending did not have adequate math instruction. Could it be because the teachers at the private school did not even have degrees in teaching?)

I'll let Jon Stewart talk about how some people defend Wall Street instead of teachers:
TheDailyShow




Vote NO on Issue 2.
Vote NO on Issues 1, 2, and 3.