Thursday, January 10, 2013

Happenings


* Ken Rudin, the "political junkie" of NPR, was a guest on Ann Fisher's WOSU program, All Sides. I almost crashed my car when Ken Rudin said that he thought that Jeb Bush would be the best GOP presidential candidate in 2016.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
We've had enough of the Bush family!

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>>> The Other Paper will end publication at the end of the month. It was purchased by the Dispatch in 2011.

TheOtherPaper:

The Dispatch Printing Company announced today that it will cease publication of The Other Paper at the end of the current month. The last issue is set for distribution on Thursday, January 31, 2013....

With the Dispatch acquisition of the Suburban News publications, and The Other Paper, they've eliminated any opposing views. Now the Dispatch will be able to continue to play promoter for Kasich and the Ohio GOP without any opposition in central Ohio.

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* Right wing activists are preparing to push right to work legislation in Ohio (see Vindicator) with plan to get it on the next election ballot.  Although you might not realize it, their campaign is alive.

WFMJ:

...Now a group in Ohio is circulating petitions to get the right-to-work initiative on the ballot here...

...Petitions are now being circulated in Ohio to get a similar initiative on the November 2013 ballot.

Chris Littleton from Ohioans for Workplace Freedom says 396,000 signatures are needed in Ohio by July to put the issue on the November 2013 ballot. Just under 100,000 signatures have already been collected....

The Workplace Freedom group has a website up and they are campaigning for support.
According to a document online here, the people associated with the group have ties to the Cincinnati Tea Party, the Ohio Liberty Council, the Central Ohio Associated Builders and Contractors, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, and probably other groups that were involved in Michigan's legislation (ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, and the Koch Brothers per Truthout).

The people of Ohio have already spoken on this when they voted against SB5, but some people, especially those on the right, just won't give up on their agenda. Since Gov. John Kasich has remained quiet about right to work legislation, Ohioans should be cautious because it doesn't mean he isn't planning it. The Washington Post has an article today about Kasich that questions his political future and the possibility of Democrat Ed Fitzgerald as his opponent in the next election.