TPM: With One-Vote Margin, Ohio State Senate Passes SB 5

[flpoljunkie]

(When the Republicans get power, they do not hesitate to use it--for their corporate financiers.)

With One-Vote Margin, Ohio State Senate Passes SB 5


John Kasich

Evan McMorris-Santoro
March 2, 2011, 4:54PM

The Ohio State Senate just passed the controversial SB 5, aimed a limiting unionized state employees' ability to collectively bargain or go on strike.

In an indication of how divisive the legislation is in the Buckeye State, the final vote in the Senate was 17-16. The bill now moves to the state House, which like the Senate, is under Republican control.

Gov. John Kasich (R) has endorsed the measure and is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk.

Democrats united against the bill, and they needed seven Republican members to join with them to stop it. In the end they got six.

Pushing the bill through the Senate has been tough for supporters of the plan, with the Republican leader of the state Senate removing two Republicans opposed to the measure to get the bill to the Senate floor today.

[annabanana]

1. Thereby sealing every Union vote in Ohio for Democrats for generations.. . n/t

[flpoljunkie]

3. Evidently some voters have to be hit in the head to get the message who R's work for. It's not us!

[vaberella]

7. Exactly. n/t

[vaberella]

8. Let's take this one step further...

It will mobilize them to go from city to city in their state getting people to vote for Dems as well. They will remind people over and over again about SB5 and what is going on in their state.

[Me.]

2. Is It Legal To Remove Those State Senators?

[flpoljunkie]

4. Apparently, it's not. The Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters president was not amused.

Cincinnnati Fire Department Lt. Mark Sanders, president of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, ripped Senate President Tom Niehaus of New Richmond today for abruptly removing Sen. Bill Seitz of Green Township from a committee that narrowly approved Senate Bill 5 this morning, by a 7-5 vote.

Another Republican, Sen. Scott Oelslager of North Canton, was removed from the Senate Rules Committee to avoid a split vote and get the bill to the 33-member Senate floor this afternoon. Seitz and Oelslager have voiced opposition to the bill.

“That’s my senator,” Sanders said of Seitz. “He represents my area. I don’t have that voice anymore. What kind of democracy do we have? I think the Senate has forgotten Ohioans today.”

“We’re going to leave no stone unturned,” Sanders said of recourse should the full Senate pass the legislation that guts the state’s 27-year-old collective bargaining law.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/03/02/niehaus-ripped-for-removing-seitz/

[mod mom]

5. more DU coverage here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x541067

sickening isn't it?

[flpoljunkie]

9. It is, indeed, sickening.

[ProSense]

6. Kasich is a jerk.

TPM: With One-Vote Margin, Ohio State Senate Passes SB 5

<...>

In an indication of how divisive the legislation is in the Buckeye State, the final vote in the Senate was 17-16. The bill now moves to the state House, which like the Senate, is under Republican control.

Gov. John Kasich (R) has endorsed the measure and is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk.

Democrats united against the bill, and they needed seven Republican members to join with them to stop it. In the end they got six.

<...>

Union activists on the ground in Ohio tell TPM that the crowds gathered to protests SB 5 chanted "shame on you" as the bill passed.

[OHdem10]

10. Win the battle and lose the war.

[annabanana]

11. yuppers! . . .n/t