Gov Kasich "I'm done talk, talk, talking

How big of an empty promise was the Governor's offer to sit down with labor and discuss a meaningful compromise? ProgressOhio captures his flip-flop on tape.

From the Governor's press conference Wednesday 17th August, 2011

Governor Kasich, "We're inviting them to talk. We think that would be a good thing for all of us to sit down, see if we can reach some agreement."

Governor Kasich, "erm, when I was approached, err, by, by, er, by, the former Speaker Joanne Davidson, about should we sit down and talk, I said are you kiddin' me? Absolutely we should talk."

On February 26th, 2011 the Governor appeared on the Bill Cunningham radio show and told a very different story. Roll the tape.

Bill Cunningham, "Even at this late date in February are you willing to sit in a room with the representatives of the public employment unions, waway from the television and away from the radio and listen to the legitimate concerns of those that..."

Governor Kasich, interupting, "Listen, I've heard their concerns, I mean it's on TV and in the newspapers everyday. I know what their concerns is, they do not want ot give up the right to collectively bargain."

Bill Cunningham, "Meet with them Governor, You've got to get in a room with 'em Governor."

Governor Kasich, "Bill, Bill, let me explain to you. I'm not gonna let you put me in a position to say that I don't listen. I've listened. I've Heard. I've made a decision. It's not like I'm not talkin' to people. But y'know we spend a lot of time in Ohio talk, talk, talk ,talk, talkin'..."

Bill Cunningham, "And the Governor's done talkin', you;re walkin?"

Governor Kasich, "It's time to do some things."

Here's the video

As if to punctuate the insincerity of the offer ot find a compromise, here's Speaker Batchelder quoted in the WSJ regarding the offer to repeal then deal

Republican House Speaker William Batchelder rejected the unions' suggestion to craft a new law. "That dog won't hunt," said Mr. Batchelder

Urge your lawmakers to do the right thing. Call 888-218-5931 and tell your lawmakers NO DEAL until they repeal SB 5.

Update

The Governor, Speak and President sat alone waiting for a meeting they knew was not going to happen. They even went to far as to create silly cardboard name tags. When asked if they would repeal SB5 so negotiations could happen in an atmosphere of trust they said no to repeal first because it's an "ultimatum" and we would "lose leverage".

Three men, sitting alone. That's what is has come to for the proponents of SB5.

Anger over reckless budget runs red

In 2010 John Kasich defeated Ted Strickland 36,407 to 23,761 in Medina county. Speaker Batchelder defeated his opponent even more convincingly 32,406 to 13,666. Clearly, Medina county runs a deep shade of red. With that in mind, this isn't the kind of response Republicans would expect on their home turf

Concerned Medina County residents came looking for answers Thursday night about school funding and pending state budget cuts from the top-ranking Republican in the Ohio House.

Instead, some said they felt that House Speaker William G. Batchelder and State Sen. Larry Obhof, whose districts include Medina County, left them hanging.
[...]
The two state legislators, Obhof in particular, a first-term Republican from Montville Township, took some heat from angry audience members when discussions wandered from educational areas into political, and what happened while former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland was in office the past four years.

"Talk about what Kasich is doing to education up here," one angry man yelled out while Obhof was speaking. "Keep politics out of this talk . . . we're here to see what's happening to education."

The outburst brought applause and cheers from the crowd in the reliably Republican county.

SB5 language In budget to get the axe?

Gongwer is reporting that house Republicans are not too keen to put S.B.5 language in the budget bill

House Republicans are resistant to the idea of tucking additional components from the recently passed collective bargaining law into the pending state budget bill, Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina) said Wednesday.

The speaker, who had previously had indicated it was a possibility that provisions from the contentious union measure (SB 5) could end up in the voluminous biennium spending plan (HB 153), said after session that his members do not want to thwart the will of the voters in that regard. "At this time that is not contemplated, but obviously the committee is still working," he said, adding: "It would be extremely premature for me to make a bottom line on that."

Before we get to excited by this positive development, we need to be on gaurd to ensure that some of the provisions currently in the bill do get stripped out.

Current language in the budget bill (HB 153) will totally eliminate the ability of local associations to bargain salary. Instead, it would provide the authority to local school boards to annually adopt a teacher’s salary schedule with a minimum and maximum salary for each category of licensure (e.g. resident, professional, senior and lead) and designate salary placement for each teacher based on yet-to-be-determined evaluations, “highly qualified” status, and any other relevant factors, such as class size or assignment to hard-to-staff districts, subjects or at risk students.

These requirements supersede conflicting provisions of collective bargaining agreements entered into on or after the effective date of the bill (ORC 3317.14).

Budget bill mirrors SB5 attacks on teachers

As we reported last week in our budget analysis, the budget bill contained stealth provisions that mirror some anti-teacher provisions in S.B.5. The Dispatch reports on this move

A movement might be brewing among top Republicans that could thwart a referendum on Senate Bill 5 well before Ohioans have a chance to vote on the controversial issue.

Gov. John Kasich and House Speaker William G. Batchelder are exploring a plan to include at least some of the just-passed law's provisions in the state budget, which probably won't be passed until late June.

It's notable that Republicans played all manner of legislative shenanigans to pass S.B.5 before April 6th in order to avoid a referendum on the 2012 ballot, when not only their attacks could be thrown out, but them too. Now it seems they may be inviting just such a challenge by placing S.B.5 language in the budget bill.

This might explain some of the rather cagey responses the Governor and Speaker gave

"I don't want to get into what I want to do, what I don't want to do, because then I might have to retract," Kasich said. "I think Senate Bill 5 passed; obviously, there is going to be a referendum. The House and the Senate has to work its way.

"I've submitted my budget, there will be some language on the teacher assessment, and outside of that, we'll see what the legislature does."

Asked about putting pieces of Senate Bill 5 in the budget, Batchelder, R-Medina, said on Tuesday that "these things happen."

"I don't want to make a guesstimate about it at this point. There are a number of things we are looking at, that being one."

Asked again today, the speaker said: "I guess the direct answer would be yes, but I don't know why that would happen. I think it has enough budgetary implications ... on the other hand, I don't think the governor has thought about it."

That's a lot of words and not much clarity. Almostl ike they have just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

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