More anti-union action, this time in Ohio under new GOP Governor John Kasich (another former Fox News contributor, for what it's worth). From TPM:



The Ohio State Senate just passed the controversial SB 5, aimed a limiting unionized state employees' ability to collectively bargain or go on strike. In an indication of how divisive the legislation is in the Buckeye State, the final vote in the Senate was 17-16. The bill now moves to the state House, which like the Senate, is under Republican control. Gov. John Kasich (R) has endorsed the measure and is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk. Democrats united against the bill, and they needed seven Republican members to join with them to stop it. In the end they got six. Pushing the bill through the Senate has been tough for supporters of the plan, with the Republican leader of the state Senate removing two Republicans opposed to the measure to get the bill to the Senate floor today.

Say what? Yup. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:



Cincinnnati Fire Department Lt. Mark Sanders, president of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, ripped Senate President Tom Niehaus of New Richmond today for abruptly removing Sen. Bill Seitz of Green Township from a committee that narrowly approved Senate Bill 5 this morning, by a 7-5 vote. Another Republican, Sen. Scott Oelslager of North Canton, was removed from the Senate Rules Committee to avoid a split vote and get the bill to the 33-member Senate floor this afternoon. UPDATE: Seitz and Oelslager joined all 10 Democrats in voting against the bill, but fell one vote short. Here is Enquirer coverage of 17 to 16 vote passage of Senate Bill 5. "That's my senator," Sanders said of Seitz. "He represents my area. I don't have that voice anymore. What kind of democracy do we have? I think the Senate has forgotten Ohioans today." "We're going to leave no stone unturned," Sanders said of recourse should the full Senate pass the legislation that guts the state's 27-year-old collective bargaining law.

Well, that's one way to do it. Just imagine if Harry Reid had removed a Republican senator from a committee to pass an Obama bill through.

Yep, it's shady, and here's hoping Sanders and his brethren and sistren can claim a scalp come election time.

But the episode does serve as a reminder of something that has gone to my reading all but unmentioned in press coverage of these fights. At the state and local level, there is indeed such a thing as a pro-union Republican.

Various estimates I'm familiar with say that roughly 35% of public-employee union members are Republicans. Some are cops and fire fighters and work in other professions and trades that skew GOP, and some are conservative because of cultural issues and so on. They vote for Republicans, but they prefer voting for Republicans who respect basic bargaining rights, and the two given the boot above obviously do. So the union movement has a bit of leverage into the GOP at the state and local level, something that people on the ground in Wisconsin are well aware of.

I have to travel today and tomorrow, so this will be it for today, except for one surprise post coming shortly. I'll probably do one in the morning tomorrow.

