re: #161 Dark_Falcon

I know Walker’s bill did not apply to police and fire. Did Kaisch’s bill so apply?

Yes it did. Kaisch didn’t exclude firefighters or police. The unions are pissed because they have it it in writing from many GOP legislators who promised to not vote to take away their collective bargaining rights and they were betrayed. They won’t forget during the next election and neither will their family members. I don’t care who the GOP nominee is in 2012, Obama will win Ohio along with any Democrat who promises to fight to repeal Kaisch’s bill.

balloon-juice.com

Mystery Solved

We’ve had a good discussion in the comments on why union members vote for Republicans, because a lot of union members do, in fact, vote for Republicans.

We had complicated theories on why they might do that.

We may have given Republicans too much credit and union members not enough credit.

Turns out, in Ohio, some union members voted for Republicans because Republicans assured those union members that they supported collective bargaining:

An Ohio Senate panel approved the 99-page amendment to Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday. The committee began the hearing without one of its most vocal critics: state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati. Seitz was replaced on the 12-member committee by Hite, R-Findlay.

Hite was one of eight Republican senators called out in a newspaper ad this week paid for by Ohio cops and firefighters as a lawmaker who told the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police that he supports collective bargaining.

Here’s what the Republican Senator who just voted “yes” on an amendment to end collective bargaining wrote to cops and firefighters when he was running:

“Collective bargaining has come under attack by some of my colleagues. However, I do believe when it comes to those who protect and defend us without the ability to go on strike, collective bargaining becomes a vital and important aspect of the negotiating process,” Hite wrote in a FOP questionnaire. “Therefore, in your particular case, I defend the collective bargaining process.”

Not so complicated after all. They were asked, specifically, about collective bargaining on candidate questionnaires and they simply lied.