big money and corporate Astroturf."
Ohio was one of several states that passed suspiciously similar union-busting legislation in 2011.
Gov. Kasich, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, is an alumnus of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that brings state legislators and corporate leaders together to draft "model bills" that advance the right-wing corporate agenda. According to Common Cause, Kasich and other Ohio Republicans who supported SB 5 received at least $563,000 in campaign contributions from ALEC corporations in 2010 (not counting contributions from the Republican Governor's Association, to which some ALEC supporters also donated -- notably including $1 million from David Koch (as examined by the Center for Media and Democracy in the article "Scott Walker Runs on Koch Money").
As right-wing front groups with names such as "Building a Better Ohio" poured millions of dollars into protecting SB 5 and as Kasich campaigned on behalf of the law, organized labor led a grassroots pushback that successfully collected more than 900,000 certified signatures to put SB 5 before the voters for their final verdict.
"Ohio’s working people successfully fought back against lies pushed by shadowy multi-national corporations and their anonymous front groups that attempted to scapegoat public service employees and everyone they serve by assaulting collective bargaining rights," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the AFL-CIO blog. "Ohioans from all backgrounds and political parties rejected the crazy notion that the 99 percent — nurses, bridge inspectors, firefighters,and social workers — caused the economic collapse, rather than Wall Street."
In Mississippi, the push for a personhood amendment was to be the leading edge of what supporters hoped would be a national law that would totally remove a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest, and could have even subjected women who have miscarriages to a criminal investigation. Mother Jones is tracking similar efforts in other states.
http://www.truth-out.org/people-power-wins-ohio-and-beyond/1320936246