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dont believe their lies revolt by we are at war, on Flickr
Yesterday, in news eclipsed by the ongoing furor about the killing of Osama bin Laden, voters went to the polls in Ohio. On the ballot were primary elections for mayors and city councilmen, and a whole bevy of proposed tax levies, both new and renewed.
Governor Kasich and the Republican majority in the State legislature had just slashed state aid to local governments in a most draconian manner–by at least half–in the latest state budget.
Upon hearing that local governments, school districts, and library districts were proposing tax hikes to offset those vicious cuts(some of it coming from eliminating the estate tax on wealthy heirs), Governor Kasich went public and urged the voters to vote all of them down. After all, if the public employee unions and their benefits were destroyed, there would be plenty of money already, right? Crack down on those spoiled policemen, firemen, teachers and librarians, pay them minimum wage at best, and the invisible hand of the free market will provide all sorts of jobs! To do anything else would be to perpetuate an “anti-business” climate, right?
Wrong.
While the majority of school levy increases went down to defeat, at least in northeast Ohio, every single increase for police, fire, road building and libraries passed. The LOWEST level of victory for libraries was 66% in favor. All tax increases for maintaining police, fire, and road maintenance departments also passed by substantial margins. At least a third of the school levies passed as well.
School levies are tricky to analyze. Local situations vary considerably. Here in Euclid, for example, part of the municipal income tax goes to the school district already. The fact that income tax delinquency notices went out just a week before the election could not have helped the school district’s cause. That levy went down by a 2 to 1 margin. Parma, OTOH, passed a school levy increase on the 8th try after 7 consecutive failures. Maybe the fact that the high school sports program would be completely eliminated if it failed this time had something to do with that.
But Ohioans showed that they like their police, fire, and road maintenance people, and they LOVE their libraries. Kasich or no Kasich. Anti-business or not. There are simply some public services that most Ohioans are not willing to part with in the name of “free enterprise.” Or, more accurately, in the name of pure capitalism.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Kasich!
35 Comments
Wow! Sounds like what just happened in Wisconsin, where a WI Assembly seat that was considered a safe GOP one went to a Democrat instead: http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/05/04/wisconsin-democrats-pick-up-state-assembly-seat-in-recalled-senators-district/
Way to go Ohio!
Excellent news.
Funny thing, the title of your post. When I first saw it I thought to myself “but do they KNOW that they’re revolting against corporatism?” I kinda doubt it.
I’ll take any good news I can get. Thanks Gringo.
Exactly right, workingclass. There’s precious little good news these days, I’ll take whatever I can get.
Wow!
Fuck Kasich and way to go Ohio!!!
Rcc’d n dayum we need more good news like this here at home.
Well done, OG.
“New records show Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich had business dealings with three Ohio pension funds while at Lehman Brothers in 2002, contrary to campaign statements he had dealt with only two.”
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H4ASOO0.htm
“With every story that has emerged about Congressman Kasich’s time at Lehman Brothers, he has offered an excuse mitigating his responsibility there but he has refused to come clean with Ohioans,”
Kasich and Lehman brothers were part of the gang that ran this country off a financial cliff, yet the good people of Ohio somehow elected him Governor? What you people in Ohio are smoking I would love to have some?
“The Lehman family members were Alabama cotton brokers. In 1850 they founded Lehman Brothers Investments, acquiring their capital and wealth by investing and trading in cotton. Three sons moved to New York City in 1858, where they later helped to establish the New York Cotton Exchange (1870).”
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/lehman_1030/
Lehman Brothers made their fortune off the human misery that was American Slavery. It is only fitting that they now occupy the dusk bin of history, if only Kasich would join this evil company.
Hey, ho, way-to-go-OHIO!
Will the revolution be televised?
Does anyone know where the Repeal of SB 5 now stand? How is the signature gathering progressing? This is a huge deal to shut down Kasich and his cronies. Please update with any information.
“Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Kasich!”
shit he wouldn’t know what to do! The dufuss..
Voters have always liked good fire and police departments, libraries, schools, garbage collection, road repair, and so on. Let’s hope at some point they figure out that if they like these things, they shouldn’t like Republicans.
The teachers need to get their act together and start a massive “education” campaign — particularly to counter the evil Michelle Rhee & Arnie Duncan “it’s all the teachers’ fault” bs.
It’s going to take time, but we need to go back to the time at which teachers were revered, respected.
Whatever their faults, most teachers work hard under increasingly horrid conditions. Unemployment, broken families, and generally crappy parents are NOT teachers’ fault.
This should be on the front page.
Oh, wait…
Congrats, Gringo! Well done.
Great news!
The right wing and others have gone too far, and the good people of this country have caught on to their GREEDY assholery. People are starting to fight back. Thanks Gringo for the great news.
Dood, main page!
*G*
Couldn’t happen to a more worthy hoss n diary.
*G*
It’s a little ironic that you chose a picture with the circle-a in it for an article about people voting to give more of their own and other people’s money to the government.
I have to say, the standard for being a revolutionary is getting pretty low.
So does this mean that America hates teachers, schools, and education? If so, then one should not wonder why this country is brain dead.
Take a look at what this society pays it’s celebrity athletes. Do sports improve productivity and create high wage jobs for anyone other than athletes? Do sports help American businesses compete against German and Asian industries?
Schools should be funded more than any other public service and public good in society. Why? If there were no teachers, would there be policemen, firemen, and librarians and all of the other professions that benefit society and the economy? Furthermore, schools civilize society. With all of the cuts to education, it should be no surprise that American political discourse is growing more and more vicious and uncivilized and that the average American voter is DUMB, IGNORANT, and incapable of thinking critically!
So which foreclosed upon, financially struggling, and unemployed Americans are going to vote Democrat and Republican this year?
Bravo! This is a start.
Correct, and intentionally implemented.
We’ve went from a society of citizens, to a society of consumers, just as those in power envisioned.
Conspiracy? I think so.
Read Democracy Inc. by Sheldon Wolin if you have not yet.
Peace out from Florida.
Police are an extension of corporatism!
Ohioans love their schools, too, but school administrators have a long history of trying to strong-arm voters into approving tax increases for questionable purposes.
Yesterday, at a track meet against a school district whose levy failed, I sat smack in the middle of their section of the stands armed with data about the foreclosure rate in their community and estimates of how the failure of their school levy was going to affect property values in their district. I mapped out the financials of the economic spiral downward that would occur with their failed levy and stated that the parents needed to get this data together and write letters to the editor over and over.
The picture was not pretty for their community. The extended impact on the greater Columbus community was also significant.
I asked if any of the parents worked on the levy. One parent was on the committee. I handed my data over to them and said, “Run with it. You have to.” Having such a large district with students not involved in extra-curricular activities was also going to increase their police runs and juvenile offenses. Either way, the community will pay.
Perhaps a positive sum approach to community building would be the better choice and it would build their local economy. Killing schools destroys local economies.
Of course they KNOW. Did you see “Ohio” and immediately jump to “must be stupid”? Come on, people understand what’s going on – shift the burden onto middle class people.
Cute, and not at all original. “Either you’ll pay, or you’ll pay”. Believe me, that tactic has been used every time the first levy request fails. “Be afraid, parents. Be really afraid homeowners, the juvenile delinquents will be running the streets” Enough. The kids playing sports aren’t the problem. The kids who cause trouble aren’t involved in sports anyway.
How do you think adding ~$500 a year or about 12% to the average property tax bill would help the foreclosure rate? Foreclosure rates are high in a particular school district in central Ohio (which I think is the one you’re talking about and where I live) because people whose eyes were bigger than their wallets were sold ARM loans they didn’t understand with next to nothing down. How do you expect them to shell out more property tax in addition to the higher payment when the rate adjusts?
In this district, the student headcount has been flat for 5 years, the staff headcount has been flat for 5 years, yet compensation is growing at almost 7% a year. Levy money won’t go into programs, it will go into the paychecks of the existing staff. Thanks for trying to jump-start the Fear Campaign, like that isn’t the next tactic already planned by the school board.
Not to mention that the school funding scheme in Ohio has been found repeatedly to be unconstitutional, yet it goes on and on. We would be better off having one state-wide school district, with one state-wide curriculum and eliminate all the individual boards, layers of administration and curriculum committees. There’s where cost savings would be significant. Everyone statewide would pay the same property tax millage or income tax for schools. There’s no reason why the quality of education in a community should be so strongly linked to the local residents’ ability to pay pay pay whatever it takes. There’s no reason why every 4th grader in Ohio can’t be using the same spelling and arithmetic books.
The school district I am talking about was not averaging $500 a year in property tax..
This is not fear tactics. This is reality.
And the school district is currently on a pay freeze. Thus, your point of going into paychecks, inferring pay raises, is way off mark and is a fear tactic as well.
Do not blame someone for playing the fear card when you yourself played it as well and added an inferred, “Oh those bad teachers” when writing “into paychecks” and played the character assassination card.
As for your growing 7%, how about looking at the increases in advanced degrees, number of years on the job. Your 7% needs more facts behind it than just your “flat line” comment. Considering that there is still a large number of Baby Boomer teachers yet to retire (most will over the next three years), your % has a base to it which is reflected in experience and degree acquisition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/education/07teacher.html
The school district I am talking about has a salary schedule for years experience and education level that puts their teachers earning 18% less than someone in the private sector with the same amount of education and years of experience. Starting pay within the first five years is at an even lower % compared with other job compensations for same level of education.
How about taking up some of your concerns with the banks? How about taking up some of your concerns with the Chamber Of Commerce which throws more and more demands at schools for needing more “technology savvy students” with an even longer list of demands on schools districts?
Starting your comment with “Cute” is a bit of a projection on your part.
Additionally, blaming the teachers is not original at all.
Hopefully the seniors, who were smitten with GOP charm in Nov. will pay attention to the BS that comes from republcan mouths. Mr.Cantor , the little jewish car salesman is trying the same BS with Medicare.” Say one thing and Do aNOTHER.
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c1/c1s7.htm#c1s7l1
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/book_teaching_penalty/
That was mean and uncalled for. I’m from fucking Ohio originally. No, I saw the votes and went, oh, they want cops, teachers and firefighters. But do these voters know that they’re throwing it in the face of an ideological movement? Doubt that.
==edited by mod==.
Stellar work klynn. As one who grew up around Cleveland, and wente back for a school reunion a couple of years ago, I can tell you you face pockets of the embittered right in what are considered Democratic strongholds.
Really bad choice of words there.
Great news! rec’d