Last April, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) took a few minutes from his schedule to talk to a Planned Parenthood group from Cleveland about Ohio Republicans “going after women, and reproductive rights.” Sherrod went to great lengths to make abortion sound like a reason America needs bigger government.
For pro-life Ohioans like myself, the “Heartbeat Bill” to ban abortions after a baby’s heartbeat can be heard sounds like a great idea. According to pro-choice Ohioans, it’s terrible. Surely a U.S. senator with a diploma from Yale and two master’s degrees can dissect the legislation on its merits and explain why abortion on demand is a vital “reproductive right” …right?
Sherrod Brown being Sherrod Brown, what we get instead is a jumbled diatribe making frequent nods to Big Labor. He treats any conflict with his cartoonish Progressive mindset as an example of conservatives “going after” the rights of men, women, and children (wait, scratch that last one) everywhere.
Small wonder Sherrod considers abortion limits, voter ID, union reform, and civil rights “all the same.” Sherrod is a radical without a cause, so whatever he opposes is twisted to fit a tired class warfare narrative. Sherrod Brown should instead be hunting down whoever stole his sense of irony: cheering government-improved life expectancy in a pep talk to Planned Parenthood?
Cut 1 – Sherrod Brown: You know, you see what’s happening in Columbus, they’re trying to take away bargaining rights. [Audience members: Yes. BOOO!] And they’re going after women, and reproductive rights. They’re going after voting rights now, they’re trying, Ohio, if the Senate passes what the House passed, it’ll be the most restrictive voter laws in the country. [Audience: BOOO!] That’s going backwards, not going forward, so your, your voices really matter on choice, on women’s rights, on worker rights, on, on voting rights, on human rights, on civil rights, it’s all the same.
Cut 2 – Sherrod Brown: And, over the last 100 years, look what we’ve done in this country, um, in terms of, of, of civil rights and women’s rights and Social Security and Medicare, and, and minimum wage, and workers’ compensation, and prohibition of child labor, and clean air, and safe drinking water, and auto safety – seat belts, air bags. All these things have made, they’ve made, they’ve given people the ability to live 30 years longer. Back 100 years ago the average American, when you were born in this country you lived to be about 45 on the average. Today people live 30 years longer than that, and it’s because of government doing the right thing when you push government to do the right thing.
The Senate Bill 5 campaign proved Ohio voters remain too receptive to union rhetoric. Trying to rehash the same arguments during a presidential campaign already focused on Progressive class warfare would be a nightmare.
Class: During a 2010 strike, Ohio Education Association staff hung a banner telling the OEA boss to kill himself.
The ridiculousness of public unions prompted me to start writing and researching with a purpose beyond, “here’s what annoys me today, and I know my friends wouldn’t want to hear this rant.” I wish I were more effective at making the case for union reform! If you could find another sap who spent more free time than I did over the past year arguing for the need to reform Ohio’s government union law, I would be amazed. On this subject, Ohio conservatives have a lot of work left to do.
Big Labor’s pockets are deep, and any attempt at union reform means attacking the strength of people who get rich pushing class warfare for a living.
This brings us back to Ohio.Ron Paul supporter and Tea Party consultant Chris Littleton is spearheading an effort to put Right-to-Work on Ohio’s November ballot. If successful in getting enough signatures to have the initiative placed on the ballot, Littleton and his compadres will likely do nothing more than ensure an Obama victory in Ohio.
With unions collecting more than $8 billion per year in union dues, no amount of money Littleton can raise will be enough to outspend the unions on the issue Right-to-Work—as evidenced by the recent fight over SB5 (Issue 2) in November.
In fact, union bosses and Democrats are likely hoping for Littleton to get enough signatures to put Right-to-Work on the ballot. [Don't be too surprised if unions, either directly or indirectly through third-party operatives, quietly encourage people to sign the petitions.] Once Right-to-Work is on the ballot, unions can turn Ohio into World War IV (again).
Regardless of the amount of money Littleton and his associates may make from putting Right-to-Work on Ohio’s ballot, his efforts put the rest of the nation at risk of seeing Barack Obama win Ohio and, as a result, likely re-election. This is something that, hopefully, even Littleton’s presidential pick, Ron Paul, would see the practical ramifications of avoiding if it meant putting Obama back in the White House for four more years.
Even though Ron Paul has been cagey on stating he would not run as a third-party candidate, his son, Rand Paul, has stated that it would be impractical, knowing that it would ensure an Obama victory. Hopefully, his Ohio supporters are as practical in that regard when it comes to placing Right-to-Work on November’s Ohio ballot.
As the saying goes: “Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.” Or, in the case of Ohio, another way to put this is: Forego the battle for now, if it helps you win the war later.
With the nation nearing $16 trillion in debt and owing $117 trillion in unfunded liabilities, despite the legislature in Indiana winning Right to Work, putting a Right-to-Work initiative in Ohio is not worth the risk. Not now. Not this year.
I’ve got no beef with Chris Littleton. The 1851 Center and the Ohio Liberty Council do good work, as brilliantly demonstrated by the success of the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment last November. I don’t expect many people to care about my opinion, but I will not be signing a petition to get Right-to-Work on the 2012 ballot.
Based on the fact that you’re reading this online, I assume you’ve seen the online outcry over Komen for the Cure cutting off grants to Planned Parenthood. In the words of CBS News:
Many suspect the cutoff is linked to the abortion debate. Komen has been under fire by anti-abortion activists, after its connection to the pro-choice organization was publicized.
I’ve ruined the trademark CBS subtlety by marking in bold the network’s refusal to frame the debate as “pro-life” vs. “pro-choice,” or “pro-abortion” vs. “anti-abortion.” Pro-lifers should be glad the reporter didn’t label Live Action and its allies “anti-choice,” I guess!
Unyielding sympathy for Planned Parenthood isn’t limited to fossilized media outlets and your NPR-loving Facebook friends. Many of the senators and representatives up for reelection this fall support abortion so strongly, they’ve voted repeatedly to make you pay for it.
All five of these incumbent Democrat senators are rated 100% by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Among the extreme pro-abortion votes earning Bill Nelson (FL), Claire McCaskill (MO), Sherrod Brown (OH), Debbie Stabenow (MI), and Jon Tester (MT) their perfect Planned Parenthood scores:
All five voted against SCHIP language which, in Planned Parenthood’s words, “unnecessarily personified the fetus.”March 14, 2008, Allard Amendment to S. Con. Res. 70, Roll Call vote 81
All five voted against reinstating the Mexico City policy, which – until President Obama abolished it by executive order – prohibited federal funding of foreign abortion providers. January 28, 2009, Martinez Amendment to H.R. 2; Roll Call vote 19
All five voted against preventing Obamacare from subsidizing abortion coverage. December 8, 2009, Nelson-Hatch Amendment to H.R. 3590, Roll Call vote 369
All five voted against ending federal funding of Planned Parenthood. April 14th, 2011, H. Con. Res. 36, Roll Call vote 60
With Obamacare looming larger every day, conservative voters must remember what Planned Parenthood is all about – and recognize how far outside the mainstream the group’s enablers are. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is right to stop funneling donations to the nation’s top abortion provider, and it’s past time for Congress to do the same with taxpayer funds.
If you live in Montana, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, or Florida, help make your incumbent Democrat senator’s pro-abortion record known by all!
When not attacking American companies, President Obama gets downright romantic about the grand things American companies do with the Washington’s guidance. China is frequently a source of envy (see: passenger rail boondoggles), because China’s statist capitalism-lite floats Obama’s boat. As America’s most statist senator, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is on board for anything involving more government!
Sherrod asked President Obama about his plans for a federal manufacturing and energy policy during a February 2010 Democrat meeting:
President Obama knows what’s best, and seems annoyed by the democracy blocking his path. For all his worries of “falling behind” autocratic China in the race to throw money at unmarketable products, we have to wonder how much of the New York Times coverage he was briefed on the week before!
In the United States, power companies frequently face a choice between buying renewable energy equipment or continuing to operate fossil-fuel-fired power plants that have already been built and paid for. In China, power companies have to buy lots of new equipment anyway, and alternative energy, particularly wind and nuclear, is increasingly priced competitively.
[...]
As in many other industries, China’s low labor costs are an advantage in energy.
Emphasis mine. Impromptu poll: Do you think Sherrod Brown or President Obama comprehend how expensive capital is, or realize China’s population and infrastructure are different from ours? Do you think they would cross Big Labor in order to compete with Chinese manufacturing in a meaningful way?
What the average person might call “reality” is only a cloud of pesky details for Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown to wave aside. Green energy is A Good Thing, so taxpayers should happily spend money on green energy while coal & oil companies take their medicine and ask for more. Pipelines are right out. Sure, we’ll lose the occasional half billion or so funding the endeavors of Obama donors, but that’s part of the fun!
In matters of manufacturing and green energy – as with most everything else – Sherrod Brown is a cheerleader for Obama’s worst Progressive tendencies. For a Senate seat the GOP can retake this November, look no further than Ohio!
[MEA President Iris] Salters joined about 1,000 union members protesting at the state Capitol on Tuesday, saying the bill is “again a way to say to labor, you don’t count. It’s a way to say to employees, get back. I believe it’s just like being in the slave days.”
Why such desperate race-baiting against reforms that would modestly limit public union power? MEA bosses, following the example of higher-ups at the National Education Association, extract a tidy living from their members’ pockets.
Michigan occupational averages are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. MEA staff and officer pay comes from the Department of Labor. While the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers estimate average annual wages in Michigan at $43,280, average pay for MEA staff and officers is $96,373.
MEA President Iris Salters, quoted above comparing school choice and merit pay to slavery, took $283,280 from Michigan teachers’ paychecks last fiscal year. MEA Public Affairs Director Doug Pratt defended her logic and her threat of an illegal strike:
“MEA will not stand silent while Michigan’s public schools and middle class are under attack,” Pratt said.
“These votes are our way of increasing the awareness and action among our members statewide to stand in defense of our jobs, our rights, and the futures of our students and communities. Should lawmakers fail to end these attack on the people of Michigan, we will not shy away from taking action to stop them.”
Emphasis mine. To be honest, the more I learn about NEA affiliates across the country, the less I worry about my time wasted fighting for Ohio’s union reform bill. Union bosses everywhere seem to be reenacting the same idiotic melodrama!
Meanwhile, 148 of 334 MEA staff and officers are paid six figures. Counting Ms. Salters, the top of the payroll includes 6 people who take more than $200,000 a year from Michigan teachers:
LUIGI BATTAGLIERI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: $267,367
ARTHUR PRZYBYLOWICZ, GENERAL COUNSEL: $238,475
STEVEN COOK, VICE PRESIDENT: $228,799
THOMAS FERRIS, SOUTHERN ZONE DIRECTOR: $207,525
GRETCHEN DZIADOSZ, AED UNISERV: $200,869
Public Affairs Director Pratt, standing athwart education reform yelling “STUDENTS,” took $174,879 from Michigan teachers last year.
How did Michigan taxpayers survive before the Michigan Education Association?
The National Education Association (NEA) and its state affiliates push an agenda that benefits union bosses at taxpayer expense. In America’s 28 forced-unionism states, teachers in NEA-organized schools who opt not to join must still pay dues, creating a huge pot of money for NEA to spend portraying teachers as victims and union bosses as their only friends.
NEA calls its political action committee “The NEA Fund for Children & Public Education.” Subtle, right? But NEA doesn’t stop at spending tens of millions on Progressives who will shovel money at public education without demanding reform for broken tenure and compensation policies. The nonpartisan materials on NEA’s member-funded website include, to sample a few recent items:
Given the union’s claim to stand for Middle Class workers, a casual observer might expect the salaries of NEA officers and staff to resemble the average working stiff’s. That casual observer would be very, very wrong.
Based on the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 90% of full-time private industry workers in America are paid $39.81/hour or less. Assuming a 40-hour week, NEA officers and staff are paid an average of $55.23/hour.
Average annual pay for NEA officers and staff is $114,882, using figures from the union’s most recent filing to the U.S. Department of Labor. NEA bosses preach collectivism while collecting hefty paychecks from members who they insist are underpaid!
You may want to put down any liquids before looking at specifics:
If an NEA member ever berates you about the shortcomings of school choice legislation, cut them some slack! Only an Obama strawman says free markets are perfect, but Obama strawmen are the only counterpoints offered in NEA materials. Wait for a pause in the union script, share this info, and ask why forcing kids to attend a school where teachers are forced to fund NEA beats messy individualism!
Back in October, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made one of his frequent MSNBC appearances to chat with Chris Matthews about the hot new show in town: Occupy Wall Street. Matthews and Brown seemed equally enthusiastic about the left’s answer to the Tea Party movement.
My favorite part of this clip is Sherrod’s self-contradicting statement, “this isn’t a liberal/conservative, left or right, it’s whose side are you on?” Sherrod is a Progressive, you see, so he’s not divisive – he just wants you to pick a side, and if you pick the wrong side he’s going to demonize you.
As reported in November at Third Base Politics, an Ohio conservative blog I help manage, Sherrod Brown’s campaign site even used the Occupiers’ “stand with the 99%” rhetoric for an email-harvesting web petition. Occupy Wall Street’s whiny demands that government do everything are a perfect match for Sherrod’s pitiful class warfare, and it seems obvious Sherrod had high hopes for the movement.
Tea Party populism is driven by anger at our government and at our country. Real populism fights for all Americans, while Tea Party populism divides us.
Republicans have always been good at coming up with catch phrases and slogans that traffic in fear and misinformation.
What changed between 2010 and 2011? Rallies against Obamacare’s unconstitutional overreach – for which Sherrod Brown was the deciding “Yea” vote – were replaced by riots against The Rich. Where is Sherrod’s editorial decrying the rampant violence and hatred we’ve seen from the Occupiers he endorsed on television not 4 months ago
Cranking their class warfare to eleven, House Democrats submitted a “windfall tax” bill on Wednesday that would increase taxes on some oil and natural gas company revenues to 100%. As The Hill reported:
According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent.
"Hello, Congress? We must act quickly -- someone's earning a profit!"
Don’t ask what constitutes a “reasonable profit” – the bureaucrats will work it out! From the text of the bill:
The term ‘reasonable profit’ means the amount determined by the Reasonable Profits Board to be a reasonable profit on the sale.
To guarantee oil barons get the soaking they deserve, no one with a financial interest (read: no one with actual industry knowledge) would be permitted a seat on the new Reasonable Profits Board, whose members would be nominated by the president. Think of the National Labor Relations Board, but instead of union lawyers regulating unions we could have union lawyers regulating energy companies!
A panel of eggheads deciding how much profit a corporation is allowed to earn is socialism, plain and simple. This is no shock considering the bill’s primary sponsor, Progressive tool and potential Ron Paul cabinet member Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Kucinich appears to be taking a break from UFO spotting to show voters in his newly redrawn deep-blue district he’s the Democrat of choice in the upcoming primary. He aimed for “populist” and landed on “socialist,” but don’t expect his cosponsors to split hairs.
What’s saddest about this terrible idea is that it’s so common. Seven Democrat senators – including vulnerable freshmen Sherrod Brown (OH), Claire McCaskill (MO), and Jon Tester (MT) – joined Socialist Bernie Sanders (VT) to propose a windfall oil tax in 2007. President Obama embraced the policy during his 2008 campaign; “Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families” is the very first item on the old Obama for America energy issues page (view as a PDF).
Of course, I own a few shares of Marathon Oil, Marathon Petroleum, and Spectra Energy, so my concerns are invalid. I should be grateful the Progressives only want 100% of unreasonable profits! Since Washington knows best, the new Board could just as soon take all the money invested by fat-cats like me and stimulate ACORN, the windmill industry, or whatever Michael Moore’s working on.
At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey provides context for allegedly excessive oil company profits, and the Tax Foundation has decades of research wrecking this rickety Democrat hobbyhorse. While it’s fun to laugh at the economic idiocy of clowns like Kucinich, remember: socialist attacks on private industry are key planks in the Progressive platform beneath President Obama and Democrats in both houses of Congress.
“Both sides, especially Kasich, have overreached and overplayed their hands,” Cook said. “It’s a power play by the governor’s staff, and it’s a bit like Joe McCarthy. ‘Trust me little girl, we know best.’ ”
Apart from her hackish McCarthy reference and the implication of sexism – which is doubly stupid because all three candidates are women – Maggi Cook is unsuited for a Central Committee seat because she is a plagiarist. I know because she plagiarized me less than a year ago (view PDF printed 01/17/2012):
Bruce Wyngaard, Associate Executive Director, AFSCME Local 11, had a salary of $94,337 in 2009. Also in 2009, the eleven local staffers of this Public Employee Union were paid more than $5.8 million. All 30,870 members of AFSCME paid approximately $190 each for their local staff.
AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall was scheduled to testify against Senate Bill 5 today. Lyall was paid $155,482 in 2009. Excluding payments to officers such as Lyall – and $148,265 for First VP Robert Mitchell – AFSCME Council 8 employees were paid more than $5.7 million in 2009. Annual disbursements to union employees equaled more than $155 per member.
The unions spent less than half as much on benefits – pensions, medical insurance, etc. – as on union pay in 2009. AFSCME Local 11 spent a little over $2.5 million on benefits; AFSCME Council 8 spent less than $2 million. Do you really believe that Lyall, Wyngaard and Mitchell are concerned about shops, stores, gas stations and other merchants in communities across this state or do you think they are concerned about their incredibly generous paychecks?
Public union boss Bruce Wyngaard has a good job – to the tune of $94,337 in 2009. Lots of other American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 11 staffers have good jobs, too: the union paid its employees over $5.8 million in 2009. Taken from 30,870 members, that’s the equivalent of nearly $190 per member.
AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall will testify against Senate Bill 5 on Thursday. Lyall was paid $155,482 in 2009. Think he’ll mention that while he’s railing about spending cuts? Excluding payments to officers such as Lyall – and $148,265 for First VP Robert Mitchell – AFSCME Council 8 employees were paid more than $5.7 million in 2009. Annual disbursements to union employees equaled more than $155 per member.
For context, the unions spent less than half as much on benefits – pensions, medical insurance, etc. – as on union pay in 2009. AFSCME Local 11 spent a little over $2.5 million on benefits; AFSCME Council 8 spent less than $2 million. Is it unreasonable to conclude the primary service provided by government unions is the enrichment of union bosses?
Clearly, Maggi Cook had plagiarized my research – both on her own site and at Examiner.com – and failed to cite me. Trying to give the benefit of a doubt, I sent her a tweet requesting attribution… and received no response. Another tweet, and still nothing, although her Twitter account was active in the intervening time.
My fellow Third Base Politics (3BP) admin Bytor had communicated with Maggi briefly about an unrelated topic, so I gave him a heads up: this lady plagiarized me, ignored my good-faith effort to reach out, and should probably be avoided in the future.
Bytor sent Maggi a friendly email asking that she cite and link to 3BP when using 3BP content. Maggi plead ignorance. Bytor sent further clarification, including my writing side-by-side with her mangled copy of my writing. Maggi bizarrely insisted he was mistaken. He emailed her a third time, going to even more painstaking lengths to explain she had obviously plagiarized me and obviously should publish quotes as quotes instead of changing a few words and pretending it’s her own work.
She never replied.
That was last February. I was happy to ignore Maggi Cook until I learned she’s the “Tea Party” candidate for a Central Committee seat. If you’re unable to meet 9th-grade requirements for writing and unwilling to admit when you’ve made a simple mistake, I don’t want you anywhere near a leadership position in the Ohio Republican Party.
Of course, I’m in no position to endorse a candidate in the District 7 Central Committee race, but I can affirm Maggi Cook is a plagiarist. If you want a central committee representative who lifts work from fellow Ohioans and plays dumb when called on it, look no further!
However they market themselves, public unions are political by nature, brimming partisanship that goes beyond their skewed campaign spending. Every Republican teacher, public safety worker, and government employee forced to pay “fair share” dues should be outraged.
My state’s National Education Association (NEA) affiliate, the Ohio Education Association (OEA), takes millions in fees from non-members each year. Operating on NEA’s model, OEA insists all teachers be forced to pay for the union’s non-political business. This would be well and good, if OEA conducted any non-political business.
OEA believes that for those whose business is public education, activism is an obligation.
OEA has the same definition of “activism” as every garden variety leftist group: Demand bigger government under the guise of fairness and equality. For example, ACORN’s 2005-06 Political Program (hat tip: Publius’ Forum) lists OEA as a “Coalition Partner” -
We see the combination of these efforts as key to maintaining and expanding the level of electoral participation by more progressive voters in the state, along with playing a role in pushing voter alignment along axes of community concerns and economic security.
In other words, OEA worked with ACORN to push the entitlement mindset and get entitlement-minded voters to the polls. For… the children?
NEA bosses take advantage of the goodwill teachers generate, paying themselves and Democrats handsomely while claiming credit for members’ hard work. Unless you look forward to the second Obama term NEA is sinking millions into, be sure your friends and family know teachers’ unions want higher taxes and bigger government.
There’s much more evidence than what I’ve listed here, and I’ll continue highlighting the ugly Progressive truth about NEA and its partners here in Ohio.
Monday, 02-06-12, 09:00:43am 
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