State Offi cers Elec tion and Confe r ence Infor ma tion Enclos ed Official Publication of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, OAPSE/AFSCME Local 4/AFL-CIO Vol. 71, No. 1 Fall, 2012 OAPSE Backs Brown for Return to Supreme Court Ret aiJni ng ustice Will Keep Friend to Workers on State’s Highest Judi c ial Body hile all eyes will be on the presi - ence,” Brown has said. “Yvette and her husband, who has Wdential and U.S. Senate races this Born to a sin gle mother, McGee been a teacher for 35 years, believe in a fall, “it’s impor t ant to reme m ber that we Brown was raised by her mom and strong pub lic ed u ca tion. They be lieve in have other criti cal elections that will im- grandmo ther and encour aged to work a strong middle class. They believe that pact OAPSE members and our fami lies hard for ever y thing she wanted. She is a people who are struggling to get by as for dec ades,” said Ex ec u tive Di rec tor gradu ate of Mifflin High School, which they work hard to take care of their fam i- Joe Rugola. is part of the Colu m bus City Schools, lies deserve some help and deserve a fair Chief among the “down ballot” races, where 3,200 work ers are rep resented by shake from their gove rnment. Ba sically, those listed well below the presi d ential OAPSE. McGee Brown gradu ated from they be lieve what OAPSE mem bers be- and senate races, is the one feat urin g Ohio Univer s ity and earned a full ride to lieve – that ev ery Ohioan is enti tled to a Ohio Su preme Court Justice Yvette law school at The Ohio State Univer sity . de cent liv ing and a se cure retire ment . McGee Brown. She is running to finis h She worked in the Ohio Att orney Gen- That’s why we sup port Yvette and urge the fin al two years of Just ice Maureen eral’s of fice and was elected to the her re elec tion,” Rugola said. O’Connor’s term. O’Connor moved into Frank lin County Court of Com mon He encour aged OAPSE mem bers and the Chief Justice chair after the death of Pleas. She left that post to found the Cen- their fam i lies to reme m ber to vote and to Thomas Moyer. O’Connor’s seat was ter for Child and Fam ily Ad vo cacy, be sure and mark their ballots for filled by McGee Brown when she was which helps children who are victim s of Obama, (Sherrod) Brown and (Yvette appointed to the court in Janu ary, 2011 abuse and neg lect. McGee) Brown. by Gov ernor Ted Strickland after serv- ing as his running mate. Alt hough they lost their election bid, that race served to int roduce Yvette to the voters of Ohio. “Here in Central Ohio, Yvette McGee Brown has a strong repu tation as a law- yer, judge and ad vocate for vul nera ble children. But in 2010, she traveled the state with Ted and showed all Ohioans what a thoughtful, bright, ener getic and com mit ted per son and can di date she is. The mem bers of the OAPSE Exec u tive Board met with her several times and are very pleased to be back ing Yvette in the election this year,” Rugola said. McGee Brown is the only Dem o crat on the state’s top court, but has built a pro duc tive work ing re la tion ship with the other six justices, she said. But she has stressed that her life expe riences have given her a perspec tive that dif fers from the other justices. “It’s im port ant to have diver s ity among all our judges. Not just diver s ity in terms of race or gender or polit i ca l Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown, with OAPSE Exec u tive Direc tor Joe Rugola, party but diver s ity in terms of life expe ri - has the strong support of OAPSE in her race to return to the court for another term. Fall, 2012 Vote This Year To Stop the Assault on Work ers At tacks Did n’t Stop With the Defeat of Senate Bill 5 s you prepare to vote – either very even richer and giving them the money who came from a soon by ab sent ee ballot or in No - to outright buy our elections. All we work ing class Avember on Election Day — it is impor tant need to do is look at the sec ret and dirty fam ily and never to consider the im pact of your choices millions of dollars floodi ng into Ohio to forgot her roots and what a differ ence you can make by attack Sherrod Brown. More than $15 and her values. sup port ing can di dates who sup port you million in Super PAC money has been People like Pres- and your fam ily. We found that out the spent against Sherrod to date, and we can i dent Obama, Etxe cu t ive Doir ec r hard way af ter the 2010 elections left us expect at least another $15 million be- who in her ited a Joe Rugola with poli ti c ians who would have been all fore Election Day. his toric eco- too happy to see ever y OAPSE mem ber Now, another election is in front of us, nomic crisis that no one could have fixed out of a job or stripped of their union and and the choices are the same as those we in just a few years. And the many other s their col lec tive bar gain ing rights. made last fall. Will Ohio and America who share our core belief that John Diffi cult as it is to believe, nearly a continue to shower tax breaks and special Kasich and his Wall Street friends have year has passed since Ohioans deliv ered advan tages on the alread y ob scenely grabbed enough from working fam ilie s a crushi ng blow to John Kasich and his rich? Will we stand for the attacks on So - in recent years. Wall Street friends who were at tack ing cial Secu rity and Medicare that are at the Check out the other endorse me nts in our mem bers’ jobs, wages and bene f its. core of the Romn ey-Ryan budget plan? this issue of the OAPSE News, log on to Sena te Bill 5 was just one part of a com - Or will we Ohioans at long last re gain our www.oapse.org and click on the pre hen sive as sault on work ing fam i lies senses and provide job secu rity , hones t MyOAPSE button on the page, and look that contin ues to this day all over the wages and de cent re tire ment ben e fits for in the mail for the infor ma tion our na- coun try. That attack was conc eived and is those who do the work that adds act ual tional union, AFSCME, will be sendin g funded by giant corpo rations and the ex - value to our coun try. this fall to get our recom menda tions for treme poli ti cians who take their money. This fall, before you decide how to your vote for pro-OAPSE, pro-family Pension bene fits for cur rent and fu - vote, take a look at the candi dates who can di dates. ture retir ees are bei ng cut, health care have stood with us, not just on Senate Nove mber, 2011 showed both the reform is targ eted for de struction, and Bill 5, but on all of the issues that deter - power of our vote and the dangers we un ion contracts are bei ng trashed. The mine what kind of life our mem bers will face if our vote puts the wrong people in privat iza tion of school and other pub lic have – sec ure retire me nt, good health office. Let us all vote for candi dates who sec tor jobs is ac cel er at ing and Kasich’s care and a fair wage for honest work. un derstand the life of a food service fund ing cuts to ed u ca tion, to tal ing more People like Sen at or Sherrod Brown, worker, a De vel op men tally Dis abled bus than $1.3 billion, have cost hundreds of who has been a tireless voice for school driver, a Head Start staff mem ber, and a OAPSE members their jobs. em ployees and all OAPSE mem bers for li brary em ployee. Let us all vote for a All of this has been done in the name his entire life. Peo ple like Ohio Suprem e secure job, a fair wage, and a de cent re- of maki ng the super-rich in America Court Just ice Yvette McGee Brown, teirem nt. the auto bail out, I have seen firsthand how Choices are Clear in 2012 Elections he cares about work ers and our fam ilies. s you think about your choices in this mem ber that there are can di dates who will The stim u lus and the bailout of the Ameri - year’s elections, I’m aski ng you to rea lly stand with you and candi dates who can au to mo bile man u fac tur ers has made a Areme m ber that your vote will deter mi ne can’t stand you and would be happy to re- huge differ ence in the Mahoning Valley , the direc tion of our state and our countr y.