* Ohio Gov. John Kasich and the Republican elected officials in the General Assembly are working very hard to bring in favoritism, cronyism, and good old-fashioned corruption into the state government. Kasich and the GOP sheeple are trying to pretty much do away with civil service fairness in public jobs. According to the SpringfieldNewsSun, the budget bill contains some of the following stipulations:
....The changes would:
• Allow the director of DAS, who is appointed by the governor, to write rules on when an agency could hire workers without using competitive exams.
• Allow agencies to hire anyone who scores in the top 25 percentile on an exam, rather than be required to hire off an eligibility list of 10 applicants.
• Remove exams and seniority as criteria for internal promotions in state government; instead base promotions on merit and conduct in office.....
Although the Republicans claim that their changes are intended to "modernize" civil service, do not believe it for a single second that these actions are going to improve anything. The Republicans are turning the Ohio government into their well-oiled, crony-run, cash machine. They'll be doing away with certain aspects of state services and awarding them to their contributors who just happen to own companies that would provide services. Will the state of Ohio provide state workers to plow our highways? Is it possible that Kasich will allow a company like Kokosing (huuuuuuge GOP contributors) to do the snow plowing instead? We'll see what happens.