Upon this announcement The Cincinnati Enquirer interviewed me for my comments. I gave a frustrated response to the questions which can be read here. The answer to Lakota’s budget trouble is rather easy.
At some point Ohio will have a Right-to-Work amendment to our Ohio Constitution which will break up the union monopoly forever. This will happen because Indiana is going to get it, and Ohio will have to follow to remain competitive economically.Once the unions no longer run our public schools, we can then see how much money education will really costs. But not until that time should any additional funds be allocated for public education under any circumstances. Because it is obvious that the school board and administrations have no control or courage to even ask the labor force to take a 5% cut to save those 42 jobs that are in jeopardy. I know a portion of the teachers of Lakota are willing to take a pay cut, because I asked one of them on 700 WLW, and they said in the affirmative, “Yes I would take a pay cut to save the jobs of teachers.” Listen for yourself.
It is obvious that, with the continued rejection of school levies in Lakota, schools will need to make further cuts to streamline operations. I believe it is incumbent on the teachers of this district to be sure that the next round of cuts be initiated by the labor force. It is time for teachers to stop giving their labor away for free. Make gone the days of 50-70 hour work weeks. Work only to the hours stipulated by your contract. Take the hours you used to devote to grading papers, offering extra help, and improving your presentations and put them toward the attention of your families. To make up for the loss of step increases, use the extra time you have previously given to your district for free to seek out a second job. Contract out any remedial help to struggling students. To take pride in your work, you must realize that your labor is valuable. Stop giving it away for free when clearly the times of public support have changed. When the public can no longer afford the system of the past, it is the public, not the labor force, that will have to decide how to counterbalance the shortfall.
“On Tuesday, Senate Bill 5 was rejected throughout Ohio as draconian overreach. Now they are trying to reach into the private sector,” said Chris Redfern, chairman of Ohio Democratic Party. “They’re inviting a challenge.”
This comment came on the announcement that a group not associated with Governor Kasich, not associated with the Koch Brothers, not even associated with the Republican Party is seeking to place on the ballot the ability for Ohio to become a right-to-work state. See the press conference for yourself here.
But wait……………………..the unions are already upset? I thought they said they could “compromise” and be reasonable. Listen to Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio.
“Just two days ago, Ohioans spoke with one clear and emphatic voice, and voted by an overwhelming margin to support our everyday heroes and their right to collectively bargain. Yet, today their voices are already being ignored, even after Gov. (John R.) Kasich and legislative leaders have promised to listen and reflect on Tuesday’s vote.”
People who are not in a union do not take their marching orders from politicians like you in the unions do. John Kasich is not our commander as Richard Trumka and Barack Obama are yours. We do not bow down to an authority figure that takes money from us and gives it to progressive politics. We are a people who desire freedom, even if we are in the minority.
Many of the reporters I spoke with on Election Day wanted to know what I was going to do to “celebrate” on that very contentious night. “I’m going to play Wii Golf with my wife,” I told them, which garnered some strange looks.
That wasn’t the worst comment. Here’s another, “I just don’t think people, who don’t have children in school, think about what the ramifications really are. They just don’t want to pay more money. Trust me, I don’t want to pay more money, but I have to make a commitment to the community I live in,” said Felice Fishman parent of two children in the Lakota school district.
“It is very frustrating,” said Chiqui Aull, who is a parent of two in the Lakota school district. “It doesn’t make sense to vote against it because everyone who owns property in West Chester just had their property go down.
“It is sad because people moved to West Chester for Lakota because of the school system and they could end up choosing Mason or Fairfield, who just passed a levy.”
That is why the No Lakota Levy says that before there is ever another levy attempt that the administration at Lakota should sit down with the teachers union (LEA) and require them to bring their compensation costs into the range of the approved budget. That’s what the election was all about, what is the “approved budget.” This community is not in the mood for the silly union games of extortion, of inconvenience in order to force higher taxes. It is the responsibility of the employees of the Lakota School District to maintain the high level of service we expect. And we expect our management to control the costs. Not for the costs to control management!If there are members of the LEA who don’t want to comply with this fact, then look for a job in a different district and see if they are willing to pay for the bloated salaries. Those employees could be replaced easily with more affordable and eager young professionals.
“You look tired,” Mr. Predator says to a little girl in his high school class.
“Yes, my mom and dad are……….having trouble,” says the little girl.
“Oh, that can be so hard on the kids. I’m sorry to hear about that.”
The little girl looks up at Mr. Predator. “Thanks.”
Mr. Predator puts his hands on the shoulder of the little girl. “Any time you need Mr. Predator, just let me know.”
Mr. Predator then proceeds to find reasons to deal exclusively with the little girl and manages to use her to arrange conferences with her mother.
“I can see that you are having difficulty in class. Will you give your mother my email address here at the school and tell her I’d like to speak with her about getting you some help?”
The little girl looks up at Mr. Predator bright-eyed and grateful. “Yes, thank you for all your help.”
The little girl goes home and gives her mother the email address to Mr. Predator.
Soon the mother contacts Mr. Predator and they are exchanging frequent emails. The mother angry at her husband over marital difficulties finds the divorcee Mr. Predator’s flirtatious advances inviting and soon Mr. Predator is sending emails to the mother such as, “You are a hot little cougar.”
Mr. Predator goes up to the little girl, “You look tired.”
“Mommy and Daddy were fighting. It was awful.”
“Oh,” says Mr. Predator. “I’m so sorry to hear such a thing. That’s really hard on the kids. What were they fighting about?”
The little girl looks up at her teacher. “They were fighting about you, Mr. Predator.”
Mr. Predator pretends to be shocked. But the little girl isn’t done. “Mr. Predator, why did you write in my planner that it was your birthday, and for me to get you an expensive present? I don’t have any money. My daddy thinks you wrote that for mommy to see.”
The couple resolved their differences and came to terms with the marital difficulties they had been experiencing, and once the smoke cleared they assessed with a fresh perspective the folly of their circumstances.
“How did you meet him?” asks the father.
“Through our daughter, it’s Mr. Predator. He is her teacher. He said she needed ‘extra’ help.”
“So he was using our kid to actually get to you,” the father says bluntly.
When the father learns that the teacher Mr. Predator has simply been moved to a different school he goes to the school board for help where Joan Powell takes an interest and reveals that there have been other problems at this particular school and that there wasn’t much she could do about it. This shocked the father. “Doesn’t the school board have any power to help with this?”
“No.”
So the father turned to Ron Spurlock, who genuinely tried to help with the situation. Being the assistant superintendent, his hands were tied also. So when the new superintendent was hired in Mrs. Mantia, the father tried to get a straight answer out of her. “Again, there isn’t anything we can do. It’s consenting adults.”
“Don’t you people have control over your employees?” the father pleaded.
“Do I need legal counsel?”
“I’m not talking about legal counsel,” the father said. “I just want someone to take responsibility for something.”
Public schools are too concerned with legalisms when they should be concerned about community values. I have watched and seen many people like this father get isolated as a “trouble-maker” by administration officials and turned into a radical in the courts of legal perception. “Mr. Father, you don’t have a case. Your wife engaged in a relationship with our teacher.”
“But the teacher used our child to start the relationship, at school. My wife was vulnerable and because of my child being in Mr. Predator’s class, he learned about that vulnerability. He sent home messages to contact my wife and lure her into his arms. He seduced her and he used my child to do it!”
Blank stares from the administration. “Mr. Father, we are very sorry but there is nothing we can do.”
The father is frustrated that all any of the administrators are concerned with is covering their asses. “Are you happy knowing you have an employee who has these behavioral tendencies still on your payroll?”
Behavioral tendencies are those nasty little things that indicate a person is prone to trouble. In this case once Mr. Predator had been suspended for the investigation he was simply moved to another high school. Without clamping down on the behavior, the teacher was simply told, “watch out, keep things on the down low. This father is out to get you.”
This is why wives should not typically go to night clubs with their girlfriends, because going to such places are an advertisement that you are on the market and looking. Men should not do the same, because in so doing, they are inviting opportunities for sexual relations outside of the sanctity of their marriage. The same holds true for a man taking a female friend to a social event, or out for lunch. Most of the time, probably 80% of the time, the man is searching for an opportunity to have some sort of sexual relationship with a woman using such activities as the introductory platform. The married couple must navigate those activities carefully and among themselves without social interference.
As I was looking at a Move Forward Lakota Levy sign at a traffic light where the people who placed it stuck it directly in front of one of our No Lakota Levy signs so people couldn’t see our sign, I had to laugh at the behavior. It was symbolic of many of the problems discussed here, were parents put on blinders to the behavior of a school in a belief that they will get an excellent product if they simply toss money at it. But Lakota seems to have an administrative tendency whether it is the story of this father upset that a Lakota teacher seduced his wife through his child within his classroom, or Ryan Fahrenkemp taking pictures of the kids in his classroom on a field trip in states of undress, or even the golfer who committed suicide. The alarm flags were up but nobody acted. The tendency of the administration at Lakota is to MOVE FORWARD, there is nothing to see here.
As if the No Lakota Levy campaigns were not enough, my work on Issue 2, my occupations, and my family, I have been working through a critical edit and rewrite on my new book tentatively titled The Tail of the Dragon. My publisher is exploring a title change however to capture the epic quality of the story to something like Legend of the Misty Mountains. But it’s still early. So my mind was spinning late in the night as I was thinking about all these tasks at the same time when a friend of mine from those Misty Mountains sent me the picture you see displayed here.
I would say, “This book is about how politicians use public officials and legal manipulation to climb into power. That is the essence of how the governor in the story is using the police unions to solidify his bloc voting in a run for the White House.”
She said, “That is certainly an important part of the story, but it’s not the main theme. This is a pirate story. The main character is a pirate, and a violent one at that. This is also a love story, and a journey of self-discovery. It’s much more epic than the political subplot.”
My anger at systems, at orthodox, at wasted money, at stupidity has its roots in this elementary concept. I think we should all be freer as a people, but to be free, it requires people to be somewhat intelligent and to think. It is evident that we are being herded about like animals in a barnyard by masters who consider themselves above us in the political class. If one of those animals declares, “I’m not an animal, I’m a human being” trouble is not far behind that declaration.
I am willing to pay a certain price in taxes for my friends and neighbors who aren’t so self-reliant. But I am not willing to pay too much.I am not willing to support the unions which these employees are a part, because I do not support progressive politics, and the AFL-CIO is a progressive organization as defined by Richard Trumka. I do not want my money in his pocket, and if I give too much money to police, firefighters, and teachers who then give with union dues money to any group backed by the AFL-CIO, my money ends up in his pocket, which is theft from me. I see all progressive groups as detrimental to the kind of America I want to live in.
I am sick and tired of listening to moochers declare what heroes they are because they stand between criminals and the public, how they run into a fire when I run out. Such people are no different from the soldier who says to a naive 19-year-old girl in a bar just before he goes oversees, “I may be killed tomorrow, so will you sleep with me tonight?”
“Oh, you’re such a hero,” says the young girl. “Yes, I would love to be your last time.”
This is what people make in America on average by salary range.
Salary range: $20,000-$29,999
1. Personal home and care aides: $20,280
2. Manicurists and pedicurists: $22,150
3. Funeral attendants: $23,880
4. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers: $25,340
5. Dietetic technicians: $28,530
Salary range: $30,000-$39,999
6. Veterinary technologists and technicians: $30,580
7. Travel agents: $32,450
8. Dental assistants: $34,000
9. Police, fire and ambulance dispatchers: $36,470
10. Massage therapists: $39,780
Salary range: $40,000-$49,999
11. Surgical technologists: $40,710
12. Law clerks: $41,960
13. Flight attendants: $43,350
14. Firefighters: $47,270
15. Health educators: $49,060
Salary range: $50,000-$59,999
16. Food service technicians: $50,850
17. Respiratory therapists: $54,200
18. Anthropologists and archaeologists: $57,230
19. Editors: $58,440
20. Public relations specialists: $59,370
When I tell some of these local public workers that they make too much, and they used emotion, the heroics of others to get it from the public in the form of tax increases, I hear back that I’m being cheap. “Can’t you afford just $24 a month more to support your local public servants?”
“I would if they were broke, or even making a middle-class wage, but they are doing exceptionally well. They don’t need an increase. I need that money to pay for my Netflix account. That’s more important to me than giving someone who has too much even more.” Is that selfish? No, because for many, some people may not be able to pay their cable bill, or the cell phone bill, or may have to give up Netflix so a public worker can have a 2 to 3% increase on a top salary of over 70K per year. Give me a break!
Brian and Shannon have a wonderful conversation about this very important bill. Be sure to listen to the entire broadcast especially the callers after the interview.
“Hi!” the man said enthusiastically. “I wanted to talk to you about Issue 2.”
I smiled as he handed me the literature which was in favor of the repeal attempt. My wife had come out behind me and grabbed her forehead when she heard that a spokesman from the “other side” was in our driveway. “You came to the wrong house” she said.
The man’s smile disappeared as he studied our faces. “Why’s that?”
My wife gently pointed at me, “that’s Rich Hoffman.”
“Crap………..Well, you never know who’s door you’re going to knock on.”
I put my arm around the guy and said, “Dude, it’s alright. We’re definitely on opposite sides of this situation, but we can still get along…..even if you’re wrong.”
The man was holding out the literature for the repeal attempt, which I took. “Thanks,” I said, “I was wondering what you guys were handing out to people.”
The man smiled slightly and shook my hand. “Well, thanks for your time, and have a good day.”
“You too,” I said as the man turned and headed back to his car. I could feel my wife burning a hole in my back with her gaze.“What? I was nice.”
“Suspiciously nice,” she said. “What are you up to?”
I feigned surprise. “Now what makes you think I’m up to something?”
“Because I’ve been married to you for over 20 years.”
I held up the literature from We Are Ohio. “Because it’s nice to have the other side bring you information and place it on your doorstep. It saves me some research time. I’m grateful to the fellow, as time is a precious commodity.”
• Issue 2 strips away important Collective Bargaining Rights. This was hilarious since there isn’t anything anywhere which states that collective bargaining is a “right.” It is a privilege that has been abused. Click on this article to see how.
• Issue 2 Endangers us All. This is another one that brings about laughter. It’s the old “panic” trick which schools use to trick people into more tax money spent. “You’ll be safer if you pay us more money.” This behavior actually equates to mob type extortion, because the only real danger comes from the public employees themselves, because if they walk off the job, homes could burn down, criminals might roam with impunity, and kids would be in a classroom that has no teacher because they are on strike. The only danger is that if Issue 2, the public employees in a fit might retaliate by laying down on the job. It’s even documented that some public employees have actually burned down the homes of their tax opponents in the past or encouraged violence in other “indirect” ways.
• Issue 2 Hurts our Economy. This comes from people who most probably have difficulty balancing their check book if they didn’t have a 43.4% wage and benefit advantage over the private sector. They are people who have little knowledge of production, but are simply service oriented employees who think they know the miracle of money and production. It is these types of individuals who think that “job creation” is done by government and not the wealthy.
• Issue 2 is an Unfair Political Giveaway. Here comes the classic class warfare ploy. It’s “us (the worker) against them (the management).” In the minds of the radicalized public worker “management” is always against them and they treat negotiations like a football game, where you gain yards against the defense which is management. It doesn’t matter who is on management’s side, they are all villains to the radicalized union member, and this especially true of public workers represented by a union.
We finished our dinner with our stomachs sore from the laughter and again contemplated the public employees who have grown over time to become entitled, to expect everything in their lives to move forward, but to never give anything up. Their idea of giving back to the community is to take wage freezes and giving back personal days, which many in the private sector don’t get and never will. Giving back things you have not yet received is not giving back. But to the public employee, it is! As a group the public employee is desperately out of touch and they have no plan on what to do with the day after the election if they succeed in a repeal attempt. Their plan is to raise taxes to deal with the budget deficits, and that’s why we laughed so hard over our dinner. The idea of just how out-of-touch these people are is something that might be unbelievable on a stand-up comedy act. Yet, with a straight face, they hand out literature and protest with silly signs in the back of pickup truck to “repeal Issue 2, so we can keep everything the same for us, the public employee.” But they have no plan other than taxing the rich. Their argument is one of shallow water in a jagged stream filled with a dye that discolors the water which they applied so that nobody can see just how shallow their water is, and what they hide just under the surface. The answers to most of the reasons we need Issue 2 is articulated in the Brian Thomas, Shannon Jones interview. But also, all the reasons we should vote for Issue 2 also comes from the literature of We Are Ohio. Upon examination it is clear there is no helping these people since their perspective is tinted with extremely high expectations. And only time will heal them while we must help them put their feet upon the ground of reality once again after decades of neglect and pay-offs.
In the meantime all we can do is laugh and vote YES for Issue 2 on November 8, 2011.
For the answer to everything click the link below!