Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is the most liberal member of the United States Senate, according to NationalJournal vote rankings. Senator Brown supports the freaks of Occupy Wall Street, opposes free trade, and was the deciding vote for Obamacare.

That vote could be… problematic, as explained by likely 2012 challenger Josh Mandel:

We must not overlook the truly significant blow that Ohioans dealt Obamacare last week, with a mix of 2.2 million Democrats, Republicans and Independents rejecting this intrusion on individual liberty and family control over health care decisions.

Indeed, you would be pressed to find a statist boondoggle Sherrod Brown doesn’t love. Check out this rant from a Q&A session Sherrod held this spring with Ohio’s largest government union:

According to Senator Brown, privatization is always driven by “greed” and always makes “the services get worse.” Hearty red meat for a government union crowd, but keep in mind this was an unscripted response. Bigger government, higher taxes, and demonizing The Rich are the only things Sherrod knows.

Sadly for Sherrod, every county in Ohio voted to amend the state constitution against Obamacare’s individual mandate – even after a $30 million Progressive smear campaign against union reform. With huge turnout for an off-year election, the citizen-driven Health Care Freedom Amendment passed by a wider margin than the union issue failed! Brown claims the amendment was “confusing,” which would be a great explanation for the opposite result.

Think class warfare will convince Ohio to retain America’s most liberal Senator, a freshman who rode into Washington on a 2006 Democrat wave in the Buckeye State? Not if I have anything to say about it.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero and Big Government.

Ohio’s government unions claim to represent simple, positive principles. Good jobs. Workers’ rights. Progress. The reforms in Issue 2 were voted down because union bosses warned dramatically, expensively, and dishonestly how dark Ohio would be with elected officials controlling local governments. If voters realized union power leads to higher taxes, they may not have been as quick to torpedo reform.

The agitators at the top of the union pyramid can now justify for awhile longer “earning” six figures by taking it directly from public employees’ paychecks. However, the scare tactics that worked for Issue 2 weren’t so effective when local voters considered higher tax levies. This means the gravy train will leave the rails a bit faster than expected – but the unions have a solution!

Months before Governor Kasich balanced an estimated $8 billion deficit without raising taxes, unions were demanding we cough up more money to fund their unsustainable benefits and backwards policies. Unions rallied for higher taxes despite a state and local taxation trend that looks like this:

Somewhere along the way Ohio’s “safety net” wound up around our necks, which isn’t especially comfortable for those of us unwilling or unable to flee. It’s hard to argue Ohio’s taxes should be higher, so the unions and fellow Progressives focus on attacking Governor Kasich:

1. It’s Kasich’s fault for discarding the Strickland school funding model! (Never mind that most districts are in the red, not just a handful on the margins.)
2. It’s Kasich’s fault for cutting local spending in the state budget! (Ignore those Strickland-era forecasts that prove local deficits have been on the horizon for years.)

In both cases the alternative is cloaked in Obamaesque euphemism about needing a “balanced approach,” if an alternative is mentioned at all. There’s not enough state money because of evil Republicans and racist mathematics, and Ohio’s union bosses need us to refill the tank. Until we do, they’ll force local governments to slash jobs and services, with the occasional face-saving concession for the sake of the Progressive cause. Over the next few months I’ll highlight districts forced into layoffs by untenable union contracts!

This is the system we have. Thanks to the Ohioans who let a cynical union campaign cloud their judgment, this is the system we’re stuck with for the foreseeable future. Ohio can still pull out of this tax-and-spend tailspin, but local and national unions won’t make it easy!

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero and Big Government.

To kill government union reform in Ohio, Ohio’s NEA affiliate charged every member an extra $54 this year. The Ohio Education Association (OEA) has contributed $5.8 million to a $30.5 million campaign whose message is equal parts simple and dishonest:

Vote NO on Issue 2 on November 8th to help repeal Senate Bill 5, the unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety in Ohio.

How do we know passing Issue 2 will hurt public employees? Because union bosses – who, coincidentally, are wealthy because of Ohio’s broken status quo – say so. In addition to being We Are Ohio‘s biggest donor, OEA is the state’s largest public union… let’s investigate whether OEA bosses are as trustworthy as they claim!

Last summer, more than 100 OEA staff went on strike against the union. Ask OEA’s own workforce whether taxpayers should buy the union’s rhetoric…

There are two possible explanations for the attacks directed at OEA bosses from OEA staff:

1. OEA staffers use cynical, melodramatic theatrics to get what they want.
2. OEA bosses demonize elected officials while mistreating their own employees.

Whether OEA staff are overpaid hypocrites or OEA bosses are overpaid hypocrites, the money’s coming from the same place: Ohio teachers’ paychecks. This is how government unions work by design, and Issue 2 is a real chance to fix Ohio’s broken system.

Ohioans, vote Yes on Issue 2! Everyone else, please help combat the union smear campaign – November 8 is fast approaching.

For more Issue 2 coverage, follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero.

Inconveniently for the union bosses fighting to kill Senate Bill 5, school district budget forecasts are public record. So, when the people who get rich driving up the cost of government try to blame local deficits on Governor Kasich, it’s easy to disprove their lie. Government unions have put pressure on Ohio taxpayers for years, and there are reams of data to support this fact.

My previous post listed 21 Ohio school districts whose October 2010 forecasts warned of 2015 deficits amounting to $1,200 – $1,500 per resident. As I noted, those districts aren’t the worst examples:

• Beavercreek City School District: $1,827
• South Range Local School District: $1,742
• Mason City School District: $1,689
• Adams County/Ohio Valley Local School District: $1,678
• Wilmington City School District: $1,652
• Strongsville City School District: $1,593
• Little Miami Local School District: $1,576
• Warrensville Heights City School District: $1,529

Based on Census Bureau records, every resident of these 8 districts would have to pay more than $1,500 to cover projected deficit costs – and these are not outliers. In 2010, just over 600 school districts submitted five-year forecasts to the Ohio Department of Education. More than 450 districts forecast deficits amounting to at least $100 per resident.

If the union smear campaign wins and Issue 2 is defeated, what options will elected leaders have for dealing with these deficits? Massive tax hikes, widespread layoffs, severe program cuts… or all of the above. Government union reform will restore a little power from unabashed class-warriors to the local officials we elect. Vote Yes on Issue 2!

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero.