Public sector unions win back their collective bargaining rights in Ohio:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor unions are celebrating one of their biggest victories in decades after turning back an Ohio law that curbed collective bargaining rights for the state’s public workers. The vote showed that unions are still a potent political force that can’t be ignored.
The question for many is whether to interpret Tuesday’s Ohio referendum as simply a rejection of Republican overreach in a heavily unionized state or more broadly as a barometer of a battleground state that could resonate with voters nationwide.
Union leaders say they hope it brings about a resurgence for a labor movement long in decline and sends a strong message to other states where lawmakers are thinking about restricting union rights. But they also want to use the outcome as a spark to help re-elect President Obama and put more Democrats in office next year.
“I think the outcome is an absolute momentum-shifting victory for the labor movement,” said Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters.
If unions succeed next year in recalling Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a top target after he pushed through similar legislation limiting union rights in his state, Mr. Schaitberger predicted “tremendous impact across the country.”
Marchyco Harrell (right), a teacher in the Lorain (Ohio) City Schools, and Verlene DeWitt, a teacher in the Westlake (Ohio) City Schools, listen to speakers at a rally co-sponsored by the Cleveland Teachers Union and We Are Ohio in Cleveland on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)“Now you’re talking about having significant impact in the 2012 election cycle for many politicians and putting two battleground states in strong play for our candidates,” he said.
By a nearly 2-1 margin, Ohio voters repealed a new law that would have severely limited the bargaining rights of more than 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other state employees.
The law signed in late March by Republican Gov. John Kasich would have banned public employee strikes, scrapped binding arbitration, and denied public workers the ability to negotiate pensions and health care benefits.
Mr. Kasich earlier said the law would help hold down taxes and make the state more appealing to business. We Are Ohio, the largely union-funded opponent coalition, painted the issue as a threat to public safety and middle-class workers, spending millions of dollars on TV ads filled with images of firefighters, police officers, teachers and nurses.
“It’s a huge victory. It can’t be underestimated,” said Doug Schoen, a Democratic strategist who worked for President Bill Clinton. “But unions will try to read it broadly, and I don’t think it is.”
Mr. Schoen said unions would characterize the win as “a resurgence of the union movement, the resurgence of the left and the revitalization of the Democratic Party. I think it’s a repudiation of efforts to get rid of collective bargaining — no more, no less.”
But some national Democrats weren’t shy about trying to link the result in Ohio to next year’s presidential race. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democratic National Committee chairwoman, released a statement praising unions “for overcoming the likes of Mitt Romney and the millions of dollars in tea party and special interest money which poured into Ohio to prop up this misguided effort and the unpopular governor who pursued it.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement saying Mr. Obama “congratulates the people of Ohio for standing up for workers” to defeat the measure.
Mr. Obama faces the challenge of appeasing his party’s traditional base, which includes unions, while at the same time pulling in moderates and independents to win re-election.
Mr. Kasich, meanwhile, said Tuesday that he respected the voters’ decision and would spend time reflecting on the result. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine criticized Democrats for not offering an alternative plan to deal with revenue shortfalls.
Below is the article about Arizona, from the website Slate, that is happy about it!
Slate: What happens in Arizona doesn’t stay in Arizona
MESA, Ariz. — Almost a year to the day after he took power as the self-proclaimed “Tea Party president” and thrust Arizona’s hard-line immigration and anti-federal laws into the national arena, state Senate president Russell Pearce watched in bewilderment yesterday as an extraordinary citizens campaign of Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans dethroned him in a historic recall election.
“Today marks the beginning of a new era in Arizona politics,” declared Randy Parraz, the co-founder of the Citizens for a Better Arizona, which spearheaded the recall campaign to great derision last January. “The reign of Senate president Russell Pearce has finally come to an end.”
As the darling of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council and an influential ideologue in the nativist-tinged anti-immigrant movement, however, Pearce is not the only loser in the election upset. With more than 90 percent of his campaign funds coming from corporate lobbyists and out-of-district contributions, allowing him to vastly outspend his opponent, Pearce lost by a nearly 10 percent margin — 53.4 percent to 45.3 percent — to Republican newcomer Jerry Lewis, a moderate Mormon leader who largely ran his grass-roots campaign as a referendum on Pearce’s extremist views.
What happens in Arizona doesn’t stay in Arizona
Pearce’s downfall serves as the opening salvo for the 2012 presidential election and places the hotly charged issue of immigration policy back onto the front burner. Pearce was the architect of the state’s controversial SB 1070 immigration law, which has been embraced by the front-runners in the Republican presidential primary and replicated in states like Georgia and Alabama.
“This is a huge shift for the Republicans as much as the Democrats,” Parraz said last night, in front of the Citizens office in Mesa. “But it will only have a sustainable impact if we continue to get out and do the work, and not sit back and wait for the change.”
Without the support of major organizations or political parties, Parraz and his co-founder Chad Snow launched their recall campaign less than 10 months ago in what many viewed as a quixotic venture. Invoking the “si se puede” spirit of Arizona-native labor leader Cesar Chavez , the Citizens for a Better Arizona inspired a bipartisan campaign of disaffected Republicans, demoralized Democrats who had lost every statewide campaign in 2010, and a bevy of Independents. With an estimated 500 campaign volunteers taking part in door-to-door canvassing efforts, and a full-scale get-out-the-vote operation, the Citizens group signed up 1,150 new voters.
“Immigration issues are not Republican or Democratic,” said Parraz, who went to great lengths over the past several months to stress that the recall transcended a single issue and showcased Pearce’s leadership role in cutting education and healthcare, and overseeing the state’s economic decline. “We have to work together to make effective change.”
Despite Gov. Jan Brewer’s public face on Arizona’s immigration policies, Pearce was largely seen as the de facto governor, who had railed about an “invasion” from Mexico and an immigration crisis on the border to ram through his openly anti-federal and states’ rights agenda on healthcare and gun laws, and an effort to even “nullify” federal jurisdiction. Less than a year ago, Pearce called for the impeachment of President Obama, and claimed the White House was waging “jihad”on the country.
“Russell Pearce is too extreme, but he is not alone,” Parraz said, who has often chastised state and national leaders for allowing the Tea Party figurehead and other hard-liners like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to go unchallenged. “This election shows that such extremist behavior will not be rewarded, and will be held accountable.”
Galvanizing a huge turnout of voters, including largely overlooked Latino communities, which make up more than 30 percent of the electorate, Parraz and his Citizens group have emerged as a powerful political force in the state.
Arizona’s progressive past
On the eve of Arizona’s centennial celebration in February, the recall is a reminder of Arizona’s often-forgotten history. Arizona’s first citizens movement was founded to counter the role of outside corporations and carpetbaggers in the formation of the state in 1912. The movement rallied for the right to recall elected officials who no longer represented their interests in the writing of the state’s constitution. After President Taft approved the progressive Arizona constitution, the state Legislature’s first act made electoral recall an enduring part of Arizona’s legacy.
Today’s slogans about the 99 percent would not have been a surprise to Arizonans a century ago.
“The working class, plus the professional class, represent 99 percent,” said Arizona’s first governor, George W. Hunt, after a major labor showdown in 1916. “The remaining 1 percent is represented by those who make a business of employing capital.”
“It will be a happy day for the nation when the corporations shall be excluded from political activity … and vast accumulations of capital cannot be employed in an attempt to control government,” he declared
With the retirement of Russell Pearce, Arizona is slightly closer to that happy day.
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