OAPSEOfficial Publication of the Ohio Association of Public School EmployeesNews, OAPSE/AFSCME Local 4/AFL-CIO Vol. 69, No. 1 Fall, 2010 Voter Anger is Well Deserved . So is a Vote for Governor Strickland Blame for Failed Poli cies Rests with Bush, Kasich, Portman & Friends ecent polls from Gal lup and others a manag ing direc tor and in the top 3 Rin di cate that vot ers are irate and per cent of emplo y ees when the com- plan to take out their anger on incum - pany failed af ter risky real-es tate bent poli ti cia ns. I don’t need a pollste r moves and too much debt, which it to tell me about voter an ger – I have moved off its books to try and fool in- seen it across Ohio as I travel the state to vestors. Kasich won’t disclos e most of meet with OAPSE mem bers and those his earnings at Lehman, but we know from other unions. And I don’t blame that in just one year – the year Lehman work ers and mid dle class fami lies for went bust – he was paid alm ost be ing en raged. With un em ploy ment in $600,000, most of it a bonus. The fact dou ble dig its, hous ing foreclo sures at is that while Ohio ans were working an all-time high, a state bud get in crisis, hard to take care of our fam i lies, and many of us facing finan cia l and re - Kasich was on Wall Street tak ing care tireme nt in secu rity, it is no won der that of him self, rak ing in big bucks work - Ohio vot ers are ir ritated. I just want us ing for the firm that triggere d the to di rect our an ger where it be longs – collaps e of our econom y. at the people who got us into this And now he wants to be in charge of mess, not Gov er nor Strick land and Ohio. other friends of our union who are try - Contras t his be havior and track re- ing to turn Ohio around. cord with that of our gover nor. When Photo Credit: Ja son Perlman, Ohio AFL-CIO There can be no doubt that the failed Ted Strickland took of fice in 2007, he OAPSE Ex ec u tive Di rec tor and Presi dent of the pol i cies of Re pub li cans George Bush, had to face the conse quence s of 16 Ohio AFL-CIO Joe Rugola de liv ers a com mon Rob Portman and John Kasich have years of bad state man age ment un der sense view of Ohio's future in his ad dress to the had di sas trous con se quences for our one-party Re pub li can rule. Cou ple that State Fed er a tion's 27th Bi en nial Con ven tion nation, and partic u larly for Ohio. Their with the ef fects of the na tional eco - trade poli cie s alone cost Ohio 141,000 nomic dev asta tion, and he had his After years of down siz ing and lay offs jobs in the last de cade and dev as tated work cut out for him. that ravaged our com mu nities , the GM our econ omy – not to mention the lives Our gover nor re sponded with pro- Lordstown plant added extra shifts to of those whose jobs were shipped to grams and pol icie s to strengthen Ohio. accom mo date a high de mand for its China. Of course, the loss of good He has governe d with a steady and en ergy-ef fi cient Co balt. And just man u fac tur ing jobs im pacted our pub - com passion ate hand and kept working weeks ago, the first Chevy Cruze lic budgets and threatened our jobs and fam ilies at the top of his agenda. When rolled off the assem bly line at our pensions . the na tional eco nomic re cov ery takes Lordstown af ter a $350 million invest - While we are on the subjec t of pen- hold, Ohio will be well posi tioned for ment in the plant by GM. These cars sions, it should be noted that on job growth becaus e of Ted Strick - are being built by union mem bers who Kasich’s watch as a man ag ing di rec tor land’s relent les s focus on new energy had been laid off, but were called back for Lehman Brothers , Ohio public pen - jobs and the re vital iza tion of our to work with the plant ex pansion. In sions lost $480 million when his firm industrial base. just that area of the state alone, more went bust. While Kasich wants to deny In fact, we are al ready see ing signs jobs are be ing added, includ ing 150 a sig nifi cant role with Lehman, he was that his plans are work ing for Ohioans. Con tin ued on Page 2 Fall, 2010 Con tin ued from Page 1 want to have a union by issu ing exec u - in teg rity, honor, com pas sion and com - po sitions at U.S. Endos copy, and more tive or ders to enable home health care mitme nt to Ohio’s mid dle class and at Exal Corp., which is plan ning a and child care workers to have a say on work ing fami lies. He has a re cord to $400 million expan sion to make state the job. He has supported our brothers back that up. of the art aluminum bottles. and sisters in the building trades John Kasich’s record speaks for it - How can Kasich ar gue that Ted through enforce ment of Ohio’s pre - self. He is an invest ment banker who Strick land has fos tered a neg a tive cli - vailing wage laws. And he is stand ing helped steer Lehman Brothers into mate for busi ness when all of this with firefighters as they work for ex- bankruptcy and trigger our reces sion, activ ity – and more, in cluding full capac - panded collec tive bargaining rights. while making a for tune in salary and ity tire manu fac turing in Findlay – has Gover nor Strickland has held the bo nuses. In his own words, he favors earned our state the num ber one ranking line on col lege costs, freezing tu i tion free trade and outsourcing of manu fac - in job growth in the nation? OAPSE for two years and cap ping any future tur ing jobs. He ad vo cates pri vat iz ing mem bers know better than anyone that hikes at 3 per cent. As a re sult, more every public sector job. And he wants growth in private sec tor jobs means an than 65,000 Ohioans attend univer si - to destroy unions be cause we “threaten incre ase in tax reve nues and stronger ties today than when he took office . our American val ues.” state and local gov ernm ents. And more than 140,000 workers have Sisters and brothers, your anger Even with a budget hole of $3.2 bil- recei ved job training to help get them is justi fied. Make sure you direct it lion, Gov ernor Strickland kept his through this tough eco nomic time. at those who let us down. com mitm ent to fully fund Ohio’s pub- On the other hand, John Kasich It’s a clear choice for gov er nor. lic ed u cational system and put the wants to turn the student loans pro- State Presi dent JoAnn Johntony and needs of our children first. The crush- grams over to Wall Street. He fa vors the OAPSE State Officers and ing weight of the national econom y char ter schools over public schools. He Executive Board have endorse d Ted means a longer timeline to com pletion. wants to outsource private sec tor jobs Strick land be cause he is a proven But when fully phased in, the gover - and privat ize pub lic sector jobs. And friend who supports the work OAPSE nor’s plan ensure s that Ohio’s schools he wants to elim i nate the state income mem bers do. We feel strongly that he are funded in ac cor dance with the state tax, which accounts for 47 percent of deser ves our endorse ment and your consti tu tion and that ev ery child in Ohio’s budget. So, for ev ery 100 em - vote. For more on the differ ence s be- Ohio is guaran tee d the same qual ity ploy ees where you work, 47 would be tween the can di dates, see page 3 . You pub lic ed u cation. He has made Ohio’s gone after budget cuts. can also read about our other endorse d schools his top prior ity, and now our For OAPSE mem bers – for all Ohio candi date s and why we support them. schools rank first in the Midwest and workers – there shouldn’t even be a You can vote now. When you do, fifth in the nation. question of who to support for Gover - vote for Ted Strickland. Vote for a He has stood with em ploy ees who nor. Ted Strick land is a man of better future for Ohio. Kasich Wants to Gut Gover nor How to Find Strick land’s Ed u ca tion Plan Your Elected f elected to the state’s top of fice, lev ies to pay for IRepub lican John Kasich is threat- schools,” said Rep re sen ta tives en ing to dis man tle Gov er nor Strick - Randy Weston, f you don’t know in which Con- land’s new school-funding model, OAPSE Di rec tor of Igres sional dis trict you live or can’t which is a consti tu tional, fair way to Po lit i cal Ac tion and re mem ber your state leg is la tive dis - pay for public ed u cation and requires Leg is la tive Af fairs.