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Subscribe to RSSThe outcomes Tuesday in balloting from Maine to Mississippi included enough wins for Democrats, abortion rights advocates, and labor unions to give a bit of a lift to President Obama and his allies as they look toward the 2012 elections, 12 months from tonight.
In Ohio, voters overwhelmingly rejected the law enacted last spring by Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature that limited the ability of public employee unions to collectively bargain.
The law also would have required performance-based pay for most public employees and required them to pay 15 percent of the cost of their health care benefits.
Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz cheered the outcome in Ohio calling the law “a blatantly partisan attempt to lay the blame for our economy on middle-class Americans, while letting the wealthiest and special interests off the hook and not asking them to pay their fair share. Voters in Ohio know that targeting public employees for political reasons will do nothing to create jobs or boost Ohio’s economy.”
Yet at the same time that Ohio voters were boosting labor unions, they also delivered at least a symbolic rebuff to Obama’s health care reform law by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure saying that no federal, state, or local law or rule could compel any person or employer to participate in a health care system. The practical effect of that Ohio measure hinges on the outcome of legal challenges in federal courts to Obama’s health care law.
In Mississippi, abortion rights advocates scored a somewhat surprising victory as voters defeated Initiative 26, a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would have defined the word “person” to include every human being “from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”
More than 55 percent of voters were voted “no” on the ballot measure, The Associated Press reported, falling far short of the threshold needed for it to be enacted.
A statement from Planned Parenthood cheered the victory, saying “Mississippi voters rejected the so-called ‘personhood’ amendment because they understood it is government gone too far, and would have allowed government to have control over personal decisions that should be left up to a woman, her family, her doctor and her faith….”
Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor had backed the measure.
Proponents of Initiative 26 said its passage would be a historic triumph for anti-abortion forces, but Republican Gov. Haley Barbour indicated he had misgivings about its effect on in vitro fertilization and ectopic pregnancies, even as he said he had voted for it.
Veteran conservative lawyer and anti-abortion activist James Bopp had criticized the ballot measure, saying it might open the way to a new Supreme Court ruling strengthening abortion rights.
Meanwhile, Mississippi voters also gave overwhelming approval to a ballot initiative that will create a photo identification requirement for voters. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, Mississippi will now be the 31st state with a voter ID requirement and the eighth with a strict photo ID requirement.
In Arizona, Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the tough immigration law cracking down on illegal immigrantst that thrust the issue into the national political debate, was ousted from office in a recall election. The moderate Republican who defeated him had made immigration a constant theme, saying Pearce's hard-line policies harmed Arizona's image.
In another victory for Democrats, Maine voters were headed toward a rejection of an attempt by the Republican-controlled state legislature to put an end to Election Day voter registration in the state.
Maine has had Election Day voter registration since 1973.
In two governors’ races, the parties each picked up a win:
In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, as expected, won a second term, defeating Republican state Senate President David Williams.
In Mississippi, also very much as expected, Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant defeated underfunded Democrat Johnny DuPree, the mayor of Hattiesburg and the state’s first African-American gubernatorial nominee.
Barbour could not run due to Mississippi’s term limit.
With Bryant’s victory, Republicans have now won five of the last six gubernatorial elections in Mississippi. No Democrat has carried the Magnolia State in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In Virginia Republicans appeared headed toward a major victory -- gaining control of the state Senate. As Election Day started, the Democrats controlled the 40-member Senate with 22 members.
Democrat Roscoe Reynolds lost his bid for a fourth term to freshman GOP Sen. Bill Stanley in the state Senate's marquee race, bringing the GOP to within one seat of a 20-20 split.
In the deciding race, Democratic Sen. Edd Houck trailed Republican Bryce Reeves by 86 votes out of nearly 45,000 cast with all precincts reporting in a race too close to call, according to The Associated Press. The narrow margin is likely subject to a recount.
An evenly divided Senate gives Republicans an upper hand, since Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling would have the power to break a 20-20 tie, but will likely yield equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans on Senate committees, the AP reported.
Political strategists were carefully watching the Virginia elections to see glimmers of insight into how Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine might fare in 2012.
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Why is there, suddenly, a shortage of raincoats for the GOP parade?
You people from Ohio suddenly realized you are out in the cold. Not one of you louts has offered a solution to the 10 billion dollar deficit and the financial problems you are in.
Tomorrow you will wake up and realize you just took one option off the table and still have this enormous problem AND your state bonds were just downgraded so your state has to pay more interest on them. That means less money for services and jobs. Aren't you happy you put your neighbor out of work?
YIPPIE !!!!!!!!!!!Free Money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This proves the people who work for the government are obviously superior to those idiots working in the private sector. From cradle to grave - the Government owes us. But before you free loader pee all over yourselves. Take heed, Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected Oballah Care. By the way, did you see a lot of him stumping for the Unions in Ohio? Didn't think so, he's as toxic as the President of Italy.
Berlusconi is not the president of Italy.
How can it be called a rejection when the vote was meaningless?
citizens of ohio are nothing but pawns to governor richie rich...get got his ass kicked today and probably ruined the rep. chances next year in 2012 hopefully this police and fire coalition won't forget what the repub agenda is ....bust unions...
police and fire dont' need help and all the koch bros money and all roger ailes fox news didn't stop the people in ohio from saying stick it..and the healthcare bill is means nothing....it has no legal bearing dude read the constitution....so what are you voting to do...?I DONT WANT healthcare yeah that's what there saying...
If you have the money to pay the police and fire. You just took one option off the table and made a privileged government class of workers. All of you are going to have to pay more taxes and when you wake up tomorrow Ohio state bonds are going to be downgraded and that means more interest is going to have to be paid on them and less money for services and jobs. Aren't you happy you put your neighbor out of work?
And good for Mississippi. The GOP will have a little harder time sending Oballah packing if they nominate the Moral Police.
backfire, better take that fire extinguisher and use it on your a**. Miss is a red state. 57% of the voters understood what was happening and they were conservatives. Love it when people like you put your mouth in motion before putting brain in gear.
If you EVER wondered why people move FROM Ohio...now you understand. I did.
Congrats to Ohio and Mississippi.
unions the down fall of america
Unions helped build this country
And their time is over like the horse and buggy. Are you going to trade in your car for a horse? No, then you can always use your free choice to think.............no more model Ts, no more gas lamps, no more horse manure sweepers.............time to say goodbye to unions too. Check the government statistics. At the age of 40 a non union person and a union person on the same job earn the same take home pay.
Then you can ask yourself, why do companies have to print out quarterly statements and publish them and unions do not. And if you should go to a union and ask them for a financial report, you better bring a few body guards.
Your attempt to continue the stereotyping unions as "thugs" is pathetic. Unions aren't corperations and only answer to the workers they represent. And, those reports are available to those workers.
This was NOT a vote for unions. It was a vote against TP nuts wanting it their way or the Highway. Personally my work has always spoken for itself. In my 40 years of working I have been unemployed for a total of five weeks and have never been represented by a union.
.I live in NY. In my county the GOP leadership has for the most part gotten the unions to accept no raise contracts. I am going to a county budget meeting tomorrow night to give my thoughts on bloated pensions and health plans where the union workers dont pay for part of the premium. But these same republicans have bought this on themselves. Our republican leaders even negotiated that if these union members dont take medical insurance they get a monthly bonus. I believe in everything you do but hate it when an arrogant governor thinks he can jam it down peoples throats. And yes it was to spite the radical rightists who wont compromise. A govornor overstepped his bounds and was put in his place.
Maybe now the gov can think of some less radical solutions. Unions have to give back or lose jobs period. But uncompromising TP nuts will NOT be suffered by the vast majority of our greatg nation.
guy2789881 here is the tea party platform, what do you object to?
The Tea Party movement (TPM) is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as fiscally conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. It endorses reduced government spending, opposition to taxation in varying degrees, reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to an originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution.
Hmm that means they understand that the framers of the constitution intentionally made it a "living" document so that it would be flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen requirement of the future.
You know for all your repetitive sour grapes comments here tonight, your name sure is starting to make sense.
Women's rights have been so difficult to achieve; I'm so grateful to the voters in Mississippi for leaving personal decisions to the people (women and men) who are faced with tragic circumstances and difficult choices.
I'm very angry that the Koch-machine is using the issues of abortion and immigration to slide their puppets into political power. They've learned that once their paid lackeys are in place, they can fully focus on continued hoarding of this country's resources and wealth. They care little for the born or the unborn, or for the workers who helped them achieve their fabulous wealth.
I imagine these victories won't do much to detract them from their goals - after all they've got time and money to burn. But I hope they are forced to at least pause a moment and realize that not everyone in the 99% is blind to their power-crazed manipulations. It may not be an easy fight, but many of us are in it for the long haul; one election a time, for as long as it takes.
To borrow a phrase from a slightly more droll U.S. Patriot tonight: "Swallow that, Koch-suckers."
Yes! To anyone in Mississippi who voted against that dreadful Constitutional amendment, THANK YOU! Constitutions are supposed to give more rights, not take them away, and that was a direct attack on the rights of women.
I didn't think the American people would take the country back from the Tea Party quite this quickly after last year's "shellacking", but it looks like the sleeping giant has been awakened.
Clotho what part of the tea party platform do you object to?
The Tea Party movement (TPM) is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as fiscally conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. It endorses reduced government spending, opposition to taxation in varying degrees, reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to an originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution.
I am somewhat inspired by these election results. In them I see voters from a number of states rejecting the politics of extremism. The GOP got spanked on labor rights and abortion. The Dems got spanked over the Obamacare mandate. America really is in the center. Now if only our elected officials would go there. We might finally turn the corner on this creeping government paralysis brought on by partisan extremism. Our parties have been behaving like two children arguing upstairs at night, and their parents just shouted at them to knock it off.
ChrisMcK you are blindly sidetracked into labels. Miss is a red state. A republican state. 57% of those republicans voted against the stupid life begins at conception act. Now you are stating that they the 57% republicans as you call them got spanked! Now that makes no sense. You can't call Miss a democratic state. So your comment is meaningless. Ohio is in extreme difficulty and the union is going to be called out on this problem. A new category of privileged entitled workers has been established union government workers. The people who voted in favor of the repeal are not thinkers and are selfish, self centered government workers and you haven't seen the back lash yet when the deficit has to be forcefully reduced and these people are clinging to their "entitlements" when everyone else has to give up something to balance the budget. Ohio government obligations, state bonds are going to be reduced in rating and interest rates are going up. Less money for services and jobs. Still think it was a win for Ohio?
Hey Ohio, great victory!
Don't let your guard down, the "sleaze bags", I'm sure, have a back-up plan.
Aloha
Kasich better have a plan or I will be disappointed. Ohio voters have been made chumps of by the unions...pathetic.
the "chumps" have spoken.
Victory????? One option on reducing the 10 billion dollar deficit was taken off the table. It only means the other options are going to be more draconian and more jobs and services are going to disappear. Or perhaps eugene you are going to be the genius to tell everyone how to avoid all these problems? And how are you going to stop the reduction in the Ohio bond rating? The interest on them is going to increase and more tax money is going to be taken from jobs and services to service the debt.
I guarantee you didn't think about that.
Abortion is a method of culling the Democrat herd, let them be!
Do you think only Democrats get abortions?
I doubt there was a lot of thinking behind that comment.
I think people that predominately lean to the left predominately vote to the left and are the same people that predominately use abortion services. I also beleive if the numbers were ever crunched we would discover the number of abortions since legality, if voting today would also predominately lean to the left and predominately vote that way resulting in Democrats being unbeatable just by the shear numbers of voters. The Republicans only chance to survive might be the availability for the left to attain abortions. So, raddave and clotho, do a little research to find out how many abortions have been executed (pun) since they became legal and extrapolate the numbers. I believe you'll find I'm right. Maybe you'll even be shocked at the numbers were talking about!
Now salgal, that wasn't nice! You know that knee jerk leftist democrats don't want to think or do research. Its like asking a donkey to do multiplication!
@Salgal
That's wishful and illogical thinking. It has very little to do with ideology.
First of all, each year, 2% of women aged 15–44 have an abortion.
37% of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28% as Catholic.
About 61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.
42% of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children).
27% of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100–199% of the federal poverty level.
88% of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
I have a better idea SalGal. Since you made the assertion, why don't you back it up with numbers. It is not our job to prove your assertion is false, it is yours to prove it is true.
Misty, your statistics do nothing to prove that the majority of those people are democrats.
Voters in Ohio have demonstrated why the state is dying. Most educated (and therefore non-union) people have moved out of that state because the unions have destroyed the state with their vehement anti-business attitude. I admire John Kasich for his effort to in trying to turn things around, but it was obvious to most of us that the situation is beyond salvation. Those same people who talk about how proud they are to be union supporters can only watch as their children go to college and then leave the state in order to find work. The unions have driven the jobs out of Ohio, and most of the people left in that state can't even understand that. Any company that stays in Ohio is foolish since they should have left years ago along with their peers. If there was any doubt as to why Ohio is in such deep trouble, you need look no further than this election. I was born and raised in Ohio, but there is no way I will ever live there again because of the unions and the fools who think that they are still worthwhile.
You blame the unions for all the ills of Ohio?
It sure doesn't help the state. Why do you think that every year the unions lose more and more members. Remember it is infiltrated by the mafia and when has a union or mafia had the best interest of a union member besides the bosses at heart?
stll perpetuating that myth of unions being "thugs?"
Ending the life of an unborn baby is between the woman and her doctor. Leave morality out of it.
Hallelujah....People have come to their senses. It will be a banner year for Democrats. Thank God Obama will get reelected.
@kevin 747617 I am glad to say you and Obama have a lot in common. Lack of common sense, no understanding of economics and a complete misconception of events. Miss is a red state. 57% of the people there mostly republicans voted against that issue. Do I hear an Oh coming from you?
And Ohio is going to prove to be an embarrassment to the new class of workers and Obama next year. The new class of workers are the specially entitled unionized government workers who don't have to suffer the new penalties of their governments overspending.
And you know how us regular people hate people with special favors we normal people can't get. Especially when it winds up we pay their salaries as government workers.
All the vote did was take one option off the table and make the other choices more draconian. I expect a lot of resentment and backlash against these union workers when the reality strikes home.
And since you don't know and will not do research, I am going to tell you by the age of 40 the take home pay for the same job a union person and a non union person take home the same amount. Only the union and mafia bosses sit on their asses and pilfer the trust and union pension funds.
a blatantly partisan attempt to lay the blame for our economy on middle-class Americans, while letting the wealthiest and special interests off the hook and not asking them to pay their fair share.
Exactly! Great Wins Ohio and Mississippi!
You did it!
No Big Corporations or Politicians are going to determine what you earn in your paychecks or what you should do to your body, you will make that decide on your own with God.
Free Equality, the Middle Class and Unions are not going to be treated like they are some Stocks on Wall Street, they have to pay more in order to earn more. They are human beings across this Nation so to around the World. Their lives are not going to determine bythe Greediness at the top level, or how much a Bank loss in Revenues, etc. Ultimately they make that decide on their own.
Congratulations Democrats! Great sign for Election 2012.
Clueless !
typical undereducated illmannered person which reflects why school teachers should not be unionized and be paid on merit. Then they wouldn't have filled Peter with such crazy ideas.
Peter some simple questions even you should be able to answer. Who pays the politicians? The people right! Are there more rich or more middle class Americans? More middle class Americans right! Why didn't the middle class Americans who voted these politicians in office watch what they were spending and hold them in check? You voted them in! Why didn't you stop their overspending and borrowing? Who did the politicians spend the tax money on in order to buy their votes? Come on Peter you are the smart one the unionized teachers should have taught you all this! Do the unions create jobs????? Easy one Peter. Do big and small corporations create jobs and pay people or unions? Does the government create jobs? Or do they tax you to spend your money hiring people. Come on now Peter you got to know these things! Why don't the unions publish their dues and make quarterly reports as required of corporations. You want equality here Peter. Peter if you belong to a union and not afraid for your life ask to see where your pension fund is invested. 99% of it is in stocks Peter. So be careful what you say about Wall Street your pension is there. Yes I agree what you put into a union you lose. Now if you take that 8% and put it in good 10% dividend growth stocks, you would have a nice nest egg. Is the union going broke and the mafia bosses raiding it. Have you read that the FBI is again going after organized mafia members raiding union pension plans. You are not greedy Peter? You don't want more money for the job you are doing? Why aren't you hammering the democrats? 8 out of the 10 richest members of congress are democrats! Why didn't they teach you how to get rich too?
We voted against Obama care, but voted for the Unions. I want to leave this country because my America is DEAD!! The United States Is Dead!!! You know Joseph Stalin once said that "The United States could not be conquered from without, but, would be conquered from within." And that has happened right before our very eyes. We have let it it happen.
The United States of America 1776 to 2011
Rest in Peace!!!
Please bring our flag.
Why do you hate your country?
No Rad, this country hate us. This is not the America my father handed me. It's all yours and good luck.
I see you are another America hater, please feel free to leave anytime you want. I heard Somalia is good this time of the year. This IS the America my father handed me.
Michael- where are you going to go out of curiosity? Comrade Canadians have Gay marriage AND Universal Healthcare, while the U.K has many similar issues we do including welfare abuse and the dreaded UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE.
No, seriously-I'd like to know where you move and where your utopia is.
I think you have it in reverse Michael. These results reject the far right and the far left. Call me an optimist, but maybe a new day is dawning for bipartisanship. If the budget super committee can get its stuff together and strike a meaningful budget deal, consumer and business confidence will come back. Don't give up on America. If our leaders are incompetent, get new leaders.
And Stalin was a paranoid hypocondriac. I wouldn't trust his predictions any better than his military strategies in WWII, which were atrocious. When he finally bowed to reality and let Georgy Zhukov run the military, the Russians bounced back against the German onslaught and drove them back to Berlin. Of course, after the war, Stalin conspired to minimize Zhukov's contribution. Lesson: don't quote Stalin, because Russia defeated the Germans in spite of him, not because of him.
raddave: Tell me your last names not Lenin.
Inadaze is still dazed. Raddave still does not understand the principles under which America was formed and ChrisMcK is still dreaming of making Zhukov a hero.
The Russians were dead in the water until the U.S. sent them billions in aid. Your forget and you all forget that Russia has not repaid one penny. Without the American Aid, Germany would have linked up with Japan. And then turned on England. Read your history. Stalin had his entire military staff murdered. Hitler timed his invasion wrong. Should have gone after England first and then there would have been no American Aid to Russia and his armies could have walked to Japan and taken the oil in the south. Learn your history.
Raddave there is a freedom of speech and one can voice his dissent here in the U.S. And by the way you can pay for private health care in England, Canada and Australia and most upper middle income and rich people pay for it. It is 10 times better. I had it and I used it. Public health care was a joke. You want an utopia there is an Island off of Africa. It is called Mauritius. But Canada is nice. England is too socialistic and expensive. If you have $200,000 to deposit in a bank, Australia will take you but it is a bit racist. Then there is the Bahamas and if you want a very free life there is Costa Rica a beautiful country with no army and very pro American. Belize is interesting but smallish. Portugal can be nice and a lot of people speak English. So Inadaze you can take your pick. And again Michael Slaton can say anything he wants and I am calling you on it.
Freedom of speech does not give one freedom of criticizm.
of course it does. I believe you would be more at home in North Korea or Iran.
Here is the OTHER OHIO VOTE MSNBC ISN'T REPORTING.
ISSUE 3 OHIO The same blue collar workers overwhelmingly agreed and voted FOR a STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT that REJECTS OBAMACARE AND IT'S MANDATE by 70%. They will reject Obama in 2012 too.
The last time labor led the blue collar masses to the polls on workers rights they won, but the workers also voted for Ronald Reagan.
And I am sure Obama isn't lost on that FACT tonight.
It was not a state Constitutional Amendment From the articl above: "Yet at the same time that Ohio voters were boosting labor unions, they also delivered at least a symbolic rebuff to Obama’s health care reform law by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure saying that no federal, state, or local law or rule could compel any person or employer to participate in a health care system. The practical effect of that Ohio measure hinges on the outcome of legal challenges in federal courts to Obama’s health care law."
Everyone knows that Obama's 2000 page health care bill was written by big pharma and the healthcare industry and is full of loopholes and vageries that allow both to continue to screw the public. It should be repealed and again most people are starting to realize that both parties are corrupt and in the pockets of big corporate money. This bill is just further proof that Obama and "the change you can believe in" just meant more of the same. We were duped and will continue to be duped if we keep putting the same corrupt two party system clowns in Washington. I will not vote for either party in the 2012 eleiction because they are one and the same no matter who gets elected and people are starting to realize there is really no difference. The people of Ohio made the right choice on both bills.
Issue 3 - Healthcare Reform Constitutional Amendment -- 9,388 of 9,522 precincts reporting (99%)
Yes 2,165,736 66% (X)
No 1,133,777 34%
http://www2.ohiovotes2011.com/election_results/
From the very site you cited:
The constitutional amendment passed is largely symbolic, coming in response
to the 2009 federal health care overhaul, a provision of which mandates that
most Americans purchase health care.
It's completely symbolic, due to federal preemption, Just like the Mississippi amendment that failed was purely symbolic, since a state can't undue Roe v. Wade. Ohio is like Florida, divided almost perfectly down the middle party-wise.
Rad, The citizens of Ohio said that they are against Obama Care. States Rights. I am sure you are for it.
Clotho, the people of MS want Photo voter ID. The Hosts of this Network calls that extreme.
States do not have the right to reject Federal law, sorry try again.
Very true, but they can show how they feel about the current President policies. Which is an indicator how they feel about the President.
judges are the ones who are influenced. You only have to look at the supreme court to see that. And a federal law can be overturned or revoked by an incoming president. So don't hold your breath on Obamacare. I was in Australia and had the right to state care and bought private insurance. A huge difference. I took a worker to state care and they said 3 months for an appointment. I paid for private care and had him in the doctor's office in two days.
The GOP overreach payback has begun. The Middle Class is waking up to the huge mistake they made in the last election. This is not what they voted for. I believe it was jobs, wasn't it? What did they get?, union busting, job killing legislation., and stripping away of voters rights. You can't hijack democracy. The people have spoken and I do believe that the Occupy Wall Street movement had a lot to do with getting the message out that the GOP is heavily bought by big corporate money and the corporate agenda. Now if we can also get rid of the Dems being influenced by big money and end the two party system we may be on the way to saving our country.
The unions hijacked democracy and here is a list of what they hijacked:
Big Labor’s Top Ten Special Privileges Privilege #1: Exemption from prosecution for union violence.
Privilege #2: Exemption from anti-monopoly laws.Privilege
#3: Power to force employees to accept unwanted union representation.Privilege
#4: Power to collect forced union dues.Privilege
#5: Unlimited, undisclosed electioneering.Privilege
#6: Ability to strong-arm employers into negotiations.Privilege
#7: Right to trespass on an employer’s private property.Privilege
#8: Ability of strikers to keep jobs despite refusing to work.Privilege
#9: Union-only cartels on construction projects.Privilege
#10: Government funding of forced unionism.
And you ask why unions are in decline and why manufacturing jobs are going overseas and why the rust bucket states are rusty. What manufacturer wants a few union bigshots to come in and do all this to their company?Would YOU set up a business where complete strangers could put a stranglehold on your operation anytime they wanted and extort any amount of money or work conditions out of you? Stall your assembly line any time they choose and be above the law and drive you out of business?
Well jpsholly can you reply?
If you voted no on issue 2 and you are not a government worker...you must be a dumb asz
Since you used a z after the "s" to make the ssss sound, i assume you are trying to speak Hungarian. Well, we speak English in this country. If you are a middle class person and you voted yes on issue 2 then you are a dumb ass for not supporting the rights of your fellow middle class citizens.
You are either a government worker or an idiot!
correction, I am a government UNION worker. Which, BTW, I got a well paying government UNION job because of my 20 years of military experience.
And actually what I voted against was me paying someones pension who can retire when they are 55. I voted against civil servants being allowed to organize when I have no-one negotiating on my behalf. I voted against me paying a bookkeeper to collect union dues for the unions. Let them collect their own money. I voted no on government workers being allowed to accumulate sick days etc.. I voted yes for what is best me and my family, as the union employees do every-time they strike. get IT?
So you get a military pension, which I pay for also..not to mention cheap insurance.
bushisanidiot 980652 raddave can and is both, they are not mutually exclusive and based on my experience with government officials one does mean the other. And tonight raddave has been proving my point. He wants to protect both his well paid government job, his union and affect every decent hard working person in Ohio by not sharing in their requirements to assist in lowering the state budget deficit by taking cuts in his entitlements that he got from the overpayments of the state government. As now Ohio has to take back some of the benefits raddave is screaming and pouting and pounding on the floor. "I DON'T CARE I GOT MY CANDY AND I AM GOING TO KEEP IT!!!!" I don't care what my neighbors have to give up, or how many jobs they lose, I am going to keep my ill gotten loot!
Have I got the picture right raddave?
bushidtion. So, youa re jelaous because you have no one negotiating on your behalf? Join a union or get an agent then. And as I stated, government workers are also taxpayers and therefore they pay their own pensions to begin with. Why do you think government workers shouldn't be allowed to accumulate sick days? Do you think they or family members don't get sick? Yes, I EARNED a military pension, which I also pay for and have paid for since I was 17. I don't know how it is in Ohio, but federal unions are prohibited by law from striking.
lastonehome, Yes, I want to protect mine and my family's interests. You seem to think that union members don't have these interests that everyone else has. We do. BTW, my "well paid government job?" I could make more in the private sector. But, whe I retired from the Army, I decided to continue working for them as a civilian. You say I am screaming, but you fail to realize that those government workers are also your neighbors and you want them to give up something so you can keep your "ill gotten loot!" The state budget woes of Ohio were created by the tax cuts that your governor signed into law. Why don't you ask him why he did this knowing it was going to cause budget shortfalls. Don't blame the workers of your state for the failures of your government.
BTW, my "well paid government job" is a Non-Appropriate Fund job, meaning that my salary and benefits are not budgeted nor paid by congress, but are paid directly from revenue generated by the Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation program.
My head is spinning after reading all these posts. All I can say is that where I live in suburban Detroit area, damn near every local area PASSED the millage proposals for their local communities. This is LOCAL, not financed by unions or any other special interest, just normal folks going to the polls saying they are willing to pay more in taxes to keep and/or improve the police, fire and educational services they have. BTW, these are NOT high income areas, just plain, middle class communities suffering probably more in Michigan than most of the rest of the country. So much for "no more taxes." I only hope our businessman-know-nothing- about-government, governor is paying attention.
Why did they have to raise more money. Cops and fireman got another raise? Perhaps a couple more sick days off or another weeks vacation. Or maybe they lowered their retirement age to 50. I will never vote for yes for a levy again. They will need to live within their budgets like the private sector.
Probably because they realize to get quality service, they have to pay for it. You talk about liberals wanting things for free, you wingnuts are much worse, expecting service at the quality of the leader of the free world, while paying 3rd world prices for it.
bush,
Millage votes are often used to boost revenue for education.
Let the layoffs begin! Getting laid off before the holiday's must suck!
threatening workers with layoffs if they don't support your union busting efforst before the holidays, really suck.
Here in Ohio We call it *the union leaders eating their young*
First off rad THEY KNEW LAYOFFS would happen pal.
They didn't just wake up to that fact this morning.
This vote wasn't about rejecting pay cuts or raises in premiums on benefits, it was about making sure the Government has to go through the CBA process, and not being able to arbitrarily cut public sector employees saleries in order to give large corperations a tax cut.
Raddave you got some facts to back that up. I read up on a lot of the problems in Ohio and I see U.S. govt. statistics that Ohio is losing a hell of a lot of jobs since June. The people elected this governor to balance the budget but not raise taxes. That means "SHARED" cuts. And he has to but 10 billion dollars. this option was only 10%. Why don't you read first and talk later. And fuc* the unions. When has a union ever helped a government or a business. You were in the service or so you say. Then you know that the unions went on strike during WWII and didn't want to load the ships bringing supplies to Europe. Great bunch of people you belong to. And very American.
Maybe if they were more American there would be more good jobs in America:
The unions hijacked democracy and here is a list of what they hijacked:
Big Labor’s Top Ten Special Privileges Privilege #1: Exemption from prosecution for union violence.
Privilege #2: Exemption from anti-monopoly laws.Privilege
#3: Power to force employees to accept unwanted union representation.Privilege
#4: Power to collect forced union dues.Privilege
#5: Unlimited, undisclosed electioneering.Privilege
#6: Ability to strong-arm employers into negotiations.Privilege
#7: Right to trespass on an employer’s private property.Privilege
#8: Ability of strikers to keep jobs despite refusing to work.Privilege
#9: Union-only cartels on construction projects.Privilege
#10: Government funding of forced unionism.
And you ask why unions are in decline and why manufacturing jobs are going overseas and why the rust bucket states are rusty. What manufacturer wants a few union bigshots to come in and do all this to their company?Would YOU set up a business where complete strangers could put a stranglehold on your operation anytime they wanted and extort any amount of money or work conditions out of you? Stall your assembly line any time they choose and be above the law and drive you out of business?
Have you the balls to ask your union to open their books to an independent auditor every year and publish their records on the internet? Or does poor raddave afraid of the big bad thugs?
Ha
I suggest you read your history of violence against unions before you post your pablum. Also, do research on the so-called "right to work" states. Your whole post is B.S. and just wingnut talking points. I love 3, Power to force employees to accept unwanted union representation. It these "right to work" states, the workers who decide not to join the union are still represented by that union, they are just not required to join it. Meaning, they get to have their cake and eat it too.
And they don't have to pay the dues or be coerced to attend the meetings and pay against their will for union bosses and mafia bosses to live high off the hog. You haven't seen the new FBI report on the growing influence of mafia in the unions. And you are quite content for unions to steal pension and trust funds.?
Great, great wins in Ohio and Mississippi, and it appears Russel Pearce has been recalled in Arizona. The Neo-Cons and the Clock-Stoppers lost this round.
yes, great win...you mean issue 3, right?
Pearce is GONE!! What will Jan Brewer do now....without Pearce spoon feeding her on what she should do, she'll be tipping the bottle more than usual.
Well, I guess no incentive pay for performance means no performance at all. That is the unions way of scheming, you get nothing for a lot of something as in $$$$$.
THE unions do not care. A million taxpayers leave Ohio so oh well tax the rest MORE is thier answer.
Big win??? Is MSNBC really that slanted left, or just blind to facts? ...What about Issue 3....Ohio voters OVERWHELMINGLY REJECTED OBAMACARE by a 2-1 margin!! ...Obama is toast come 2012...yet no mention on MSNBC? ...hmmmmm
They just ignore that.
Oh sweetie, please read the article first, so you don't humiliate yourself:
"Yet at the same time that Ohio voters were boosting labor unions, they also delivered at least a symbolic rebuff to Obama’s health care reform law by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure saying that no federal, state, or local law or rule could compel any person or employer to participate in a health care system. The practical effect of that Ohio measure hinges on the outcome of legal challenges in federal courts to Obama’s health care law."
The vote against the healthcare mandate is in the article, didn't you read it?
It was a symbolic vote because a state can't reject a federal law.
"Obama's toast come 2012." Really? I think our prospects are pretty good. The Republicans have fielded a roadside circus show. If they had the moral high ground it would have shown in the caliber of their candidates. They got nothing.