Senate Bill 5...bad for education...bad for Ohio

I need some help here.

An Ohio state Senator, Shannon Brown, has introduced a bill, Senate Bill 5, that will drastically change the landscape of education and public service in Ohio. Feel free to take a while and read the full text of the proposed bill here. Then call OEA' action line to be connected directly to your Ohio senator's representative's office.

So, if as I posted last week, the two major posits of Senate Bill 5 - that public workers are overpaid and that eliminating collective bargaining will reduce the budget deficit - aren't true, then why are a number of state governors & legislatures pushing to eliminate collective bargaining for public employees?

It's all about the power...

There's Newsweek's article "How Ohio's Budget Battle Could Decide Who Wins the White House"

...Any passions unleashed by the collective-bargain battle could alter the local political landscape heading into 2012—and potentially swing a crucial battleground state. “Something like this can tilt the balance one way or the other quite easily,” says John C. Green, a political-science professor at the University of Akron. “It really doesn’t take very much in Ohio.”
...
Kasich claimed to be unconcerned with politics, but his supporters are clearly hoping that his reforms lead to jobs, and that jobs lead to Republican victories at the ballot box (a likelier outcome without strong public-sector unions bankrolling their Democratic rivals).

...Yahoo's article "Is Ohio Senate Bill 5 a Partisan Measure Influenced by Political Donations"...

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the Ohio Education Association's total revenue for 2009 was $62,929,547. The Ohio Federation of Teachers union collected $2,291.583 that same year. The Columbus Education Association representing educators in Columbus Public Schools had revenue of $1,687,734. The Cleveland Teachers Union collected $4,174,528 for the year.

Where does all of that money go? According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a large portion goes to supporting Democratic candidates. During the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year, Ohio public employees teachers unions donated to 69 percent of the candidates running as Democrats in statewide elections. Nonpartisan candidates earned 6.7 percent of union dollars

...FoxToledo's "SB5: Political Power Play?"...

Because of Midwest manufacturing job losses, public employee unions representing teachers, police, firefighters, and others are the most powerful grass-roots groups with Democratic ties. Unions believe Republican-controlled state legislatures are trying to cripple them through the loss of the right to negotiate contracts.

Senate Bill 5 won't save nearly the money promised by its supporters.

Public employees aren't really overcompensated.

So, why does this bill exist?

Partially, this bill is to improve the quality of our schools. There certainly are a number of people who believe - because of publicity on the right - that teachers unions are somehow preventing students from learning.

In a much larger version, however, I believe that this bill exists so that Republicans can kill the power - negotiating power, sure, but much more importantly the fundraising and PAC power - of the unions. I find this absolutely fascinating and politically impressive, particularly in light of the Supreme Court decision last year that corporations can make unlimited donations to political candidates.

Brilliant, I tell you, brilliant move by the right.