Kasich sends a big bouquet to public workers!

BRAVISSIMO TO Gov. Kasich for his courageous stand against the hordes of fools who have been trying to rid Ohio of collective bargaining for public unions. He forthrightly used the occasion of Public Service Appreciation Week and Teacher Appreciation Week to remind everyone that public workers are invaluable citizens who ought to be accorded full respect and honor in their labors to make as us all happier residents of the Buckeye state.

Who else would have risked the scorn of supportive business and corporate donors by declaring his deepest gratitude for public workers with praise for "tens of thousands [actually, 350,000, if you count all public workers, guv] of outstanding teachers for whom it's more than a job - it's a calling. I'm grateful for the work they do, and I encourage every Ohioan to take time this week to thank an educator for their commitment to Ohio's future."

Effusively impressed by the work of these dedicated folks, the governor noted that they are "community leaders and our neighbors...who protect us, care for our most vulnerable, teach our children, and maintain our infrastructure to aid commerce and economic development throughout Ohio." Demonstrating his innate sense of political balance in the reports that I read, he never resorted to linking public employes to dreaded unions.

The man continues to grow politically and intellectually. If you want to do your part, take a public worker to lunch this week. And send an envelope with a contribution to the Republican Party. Be sure to mention Kasich's name, the biggest public employe of them all.

There are taxpayers - and there are taxpayers

THE FLAWS IN the terribly restrictive anti-public workers union bill that fumbled through the Ohio General Assembly were best illustrated - unintentionally - by Rep. Bill Batchelder, the Republican House Speaker. Describing the massive protests against the bill, Batchelder insisted the workers had been stirred up by "lies" by a"bunch of labor leaders." Oh? You mean the GOP lawmakers didn't, among other things, strip these public unions of their right to strike?

He went on in a Plain Dealer article to defend his party's summary union-busting effort as a necessary tactic to protect the interests of everybody else. Let the speaker speak:

"Today, this House has taken an unprecedented step toward public policy that respects all Ohioans, especially our taxpayers and our hardworking middle class," the Speaker said in a prepared statement.

I find his explanation ludicrous and dishonest in itself. Is he suggesting that the 350,000 public union workers - teachers, firefighters, police et al - are not taxpayers? Nor hardworking? Nor the middle class that evolved from the unions in, say, Akron?

Batchelder's shuffling words are, of course, perfectly attuned to the Republican mantra that only in a union-less country can we comfortably expect workers to, eh, work harder and happily pay taxes. These ideas have permeated the GOP bible for so long that even veteran pols like Batchelder robotically continue to mouth its verses as holy writ. Indeed, the House version of the bill was even stronger than the Senate's. (Scientists who study fat whales say they reach their food sources through something called "echo location", which works for me as a description of the GOP scavengers in the Ohio legislature.)

Still, as it did the first time around , the Republican-controlled Senate passed the House version 17-16. And despite widespread objections to youthful Akron Sen. Frank LaRose's earlier flipflop on collective bargaining, he again voted with his flock for its one-vote victory. He's a rookie in the fickle ways of the electorate, and in a district steeped in labor tradition, he may find himself having to defend himself many times over. If the economy finally improves, he won't even have Summit County Republican boss Alex Arshinkoff at his side to defend him.

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The underlying presidential campaign in Wisconsin

GOV. SCOTT WALKER'S muted motive in the ugly spectacle in Wisconsin was finally confirmed by one of his own people: Republican Scott FitzGerald, the state's senate majority leader. Here it is:

"If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you're going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin."

Oh? So its not really about the maligned budget deficit nor collective bargaining at all. but about Barack Obama's chances in 2012! If they could sell cynicism and subterfuge by the pound in that state (and later in Ohio), Walker could wipe out his deficit overnight.

Ironically, despite the polls that show his popularity and that of other GOP Wisconsin lawmakers taking a dive, Walker cannot compromise. His strength remains in the hands of the Koch brothers, multi-billionaires who are measuring his every move for their own interests in the state. And with Walker's missionary zeal as an evangelical Christian and son of a Baptist minister, he will hold his ground, come heaven or hell.

Zeal? Walker supports the pro-life cause to the extent that he would let a mother die rather than allow her an abortion. I mention that only because it's important to see the melding of social conservatism and unlimited cash in the new American political landscape, courtesy of the U.S.. Supreme Court. These are dangerous times for democracy as we've come to know it.

K-Sick, Walker-loo: Ohio, we have a problem

GOV. KASICH says he will sign a controversial new labor bill without fanfare. My guess is that it will be in his private home in Delaware County. About 2 a.m. With only his immediate political family and the usual sycophants in attendance. After the last newspaper deadline on Saturday night. The atmosphere will be that of a pro football team packing up and slinking out of town in the middle of the night. Kasich says he wants to be respectful of the feelings of the people who will be hurt by the bill. Problem solved.

It's a hit-skip thing. And he's getting good at it. And why not? Eliminating 350,000 public union workers from collective bargaining (really, that translates into about a million folks if you toss in their families) is nothing to crow about if you are planning a long political career for yourself on the public payroll. Up in Wisconsin, where Gov. Walker is trying to pull off the same stunt, the voters have now lowered his approval rating to 40 pct. He and Kasich, bloated with their own right-wing self-indulgence, are engaging in the same alchemy to reduce multi-billion dollar deficits. ( The Badger budget office now projects a surplus in Wisconsin even if nothing is done to the public union workers. )

Some people are even finding a little humor in these dark days, referring to the Wisconsin governor as "Walker-loo". In Ohio, maybe they will begin to refer to the condition in

Columbus as "K-sick".

The angry calls to radio talk shows and letters to newspapers are growing. A friend tells me he has already gotten a recorded phone call against the bill, which the Ohio House will take up soon. As for Kasich, his years as a Wall Streeter and Fox News commentator have obviously divorced him from the needs of ordinary people .

No problem. Just sign the damn bill at 2 a.m. when it comes your way, Guv, and move on to something else awful enough to make the national media evening news.

Ohio, we have a problem.

Kasich's Trojan Horse survives by one vote!

IN 2000, by the margin of a single vote, the U.S. Supreme Court handed the presidency to George W. Bush, , who lost the popular count by 537,000 votes. On Wednesday, the Republican infantry in the Ohio Senate handed Gov. Kasich his Trojan Horse by approving an historic measure to end collective bargaining by public unions in Ohio - by a single vote. (At least it allowed the state to be first in something!)

From all of this, it is easy to see once again that the victors write the history. (The Ohio House will vote on it, but the battle is over for now.) For the garrulous autocratic governor, the chip on his shoulder will be insufferable for his vanquished subjects. But not resting on his laurels, he has already sent out appeals for campaign contributions for whatever office that might amuse him down the road.

It didn't come easily, as six Republican senators defected to join 10 Democrats to oppose it.

And two of the defectors were pulled from their committees by the GOP leadership to prevent them from casting votes that would have frozen the bill in a deadlocked committee. This is generic hardball.

The biggest surprise was the turn-around by Sen. Frank LaRose of Akron, a young rookie who had convinced a lot of people that he was opposed to the bill. After talking to him at dinner several nights ago, I and a few others at the restaurant table concluded that he would break ranks with the Kasich Republicans and cast a no vote.

After all, he had also told a reporter for the suburban Norton Post that he he wasn't enthusiastic about a ban on collective bargaining, "I think the goal is to accomplish the dual purpose of helping the state, the cities and the counties manage their budgets," he said to reporter Bob Morehead. "But we have to be fair to our public employes. I don't think SB5 [Senate Bill 5] really does this the right way (to reform collective bargaining). You can't reform it by taking away workers' rights."

He then voted in favor of the most critical - and memorable - measure that he will likely encounter as a lawmaker! Firefighters, police, teachers and university faculty have already made note of that as his credibility takes a dive. Not a good way to begin a career in politics - particularly in a region with an historic union culture. Add it to LaRose's learning curve. But it will do little to remedy the damage.

A Fox in an unreal chicken coop

What' wrong with this picture? In reporting a new USA Today/Gallup poll that showed 61 pct. of Americans supporting collective bargaining and 33 pct. opposing it, the Fox News alchemists managed to mislead the viewer into believing the opposite. It simply labeled the results "Take it Away: favor or oppose"? In Fox's sneaky way of reporting it, 61 pct. of Americans favor taking away collective bargaining. Planet Fox has reached the point where realities are meaningless in it's reach for deceptions for an audience that has no problem with being deceived.