Category: School levy

Bill Cunningham and the Hot Fudge Sundae: Betting on a S.B.5 Referendum.

Want to hear leadership? Listen to this interview of John Kasich by Bill Cunningham from 700 WLW. Kasich is defending the Ohio State Senate Bill S.B.5 from Cunningham who has taken a surprisingly soft stance against the bill, surprising because Cunningham has a long history of looking for leadership in elected officials that take strong positions; yet he is now siding with politicians like Jessie Jackson and Todd Portune, which is highly unusual.

One of the reasons that Cunningham cites he is taking a soft position on S.B.5 is out of fear that the labor unions will be encouraged to put the bill on a referendum to be voted on by the voters of Ohio. Cunningham believes it’s easier and more conciliatory to the unions to allow them to be a part of the negotiation process, and it may take the edge off and avoid a referendum.

I never had illusions that S.B.5 would avoid a referendum. After all, when it comes to union activity, they have a history of pushing and shoving until they get what they want, so a referendum that is well financed by the union is a certainty one way or the other.

So when that referendum happens, I am making the formal announcement that I will bet Bill Cunningham a hot fudge Sundae that the referendum will be defeated when the unions do collect all their signatures and place it on a ballot. Cunningham predicts a 60-40 defeat in favor of the unions based on a 1997 decision regarding workers compensation. What Cunningham isn’t taking into account is the presence of the Tea Party Movement that was not in place in 1997. This time when the unions send out teachers and fireman wrapped in the flag, there will be a counter to them in Tea Party members all across this state telling the truth behind the pro-union campaign.

Even though the numbers of the Tea Party are less, I will take the enthusiasm of the Tea Party over the rhetoric of union organization in a head to head battle between right and wrong any day, and I firmly believe that this new political element will swing public opinion armed with facts the opposite way that Cunningham predicts.

Cunningham has also stated that if Shannon Jones had not introduced S.B.5 in its aggressive form that all the protests and anger created by the unions would subside. But the truth is, Wisconsin attempted such a minor reform, and we see that the intensity of the protests are every bit as radical, so it does Governor Kasich no good to negotiate because unions have not shown any interest in the past of doing such a thing. Only now, with a Republican majority faced with a nearly 10 billion dollar deficit, are there any cries from unions to “talk.” Kasich knows it will do no good to “talk,” and I respect his position because it represents many in this state that feel the same level of frustration.

So the real battle for S.B.5 will be decided by the voters in the state of Ohio whether or not Kasich plays nice. Any reform attempted will bring on union aggression. It’s unavoidable, because the unions are a radical organization that only understands forward advancement. They don’t know how to give back once it’s realized that they asked for too much.

If I’m wrong, which is about as rare as an eclipse, I’ll be happy to buy Cunningham a hot fudge sundae from UDF. But my bet is that these new elements that exist in the political landscape will tip the balance of power in a new direction not to the liking of the public sector unions.

To display this argument I submit exhibit “A.” Witness David Letterman talking to Rand Paul and you can see how the world of yesterday “thought” and how the world of tomorrow will “think.”

Letterman said, “I think he’s wrong, but I’m just not sure why.” A referendum against S.B.5 is referred to in much the same way by Cunningham. His political instincts tell him that S.B.5 is wrong, yet there is a part of him that understands what the Tea Party represents. The truth will be revealed in the tax payer as they vote on the battle ground of Ohio’s ballot boxes, and it won’t be in favor of continued union control over the public sector.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Lakota Lists 12 Million in Cuts: But What about the Wages?

During the meeting at Lakota East on February 23, 2011 it was discussed that Lakota was going to cut 12 million dollars from the budget. The contents of the news report and details of those cuts are included here as reported by the Pulse Journal for prosperity to record. Among the many things said are that Lakota needs a new revenue stream in order to survive into the future. Really?

This interview with Doc Thompson below is especially potent. If you have any doubt about impropriety among the public sector employees, then listen to this broadcast. If you want to continue walking around blind and gullible, than only read the latest news from Lakota also below. If you want the whole story then read the article and listen to the broadcast together, so take a break from your schedule and enjoy the broadcast. While you listen compare what you hear to the news released from Lakota, as reported by Lindsey Hilty, about the specific cuts announced by the Lakota Administration. I will save my closing comments for the end of that article.

By Lindsey Hilty, Staff Writer Updated 8:22 AM Thursday, February 24, 2011
LIBERTY TWP. — Tensions ran high at Lakota East High School Wednesday night as more than 200 concerned parents and community members listened to how cuts would impact students next year.
“We’ve looked at all areas of our budget — everywhere,” interim Superintendent Ron Spurlock said. “…We have to start living within our means.”

Many of the budget cuts, he said, likely could be permanent even with the passage of a levy.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Spokeswoman Laura Kursman said. “And it’s hard to communicate bad news.”
Another meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lakota West High School to hear about how $12.2 million in proposed cuts to the operating budget may be implemented pending school board approval.
Parents who can’t attend sessions are asked to fill out a survey on the district’s web site to help with some of the future tough choices.

“I’m very worried,” parent Tricia McCaffrey said. “The Lakota School District I moved in to eight years ago is not the school district I have now when it matters for my son. Losing electives and going to state minimums is not why I chose to pay Lakota taxes.”

Elementary reductions: $3 million, 50 employees cut
The goal is to maintain reading supports, supplemental classes taught by specialists, media center access and an accelerated gifted programs. To be cut: sixth-grade band; third-grade gifted program and services for grades four through six; gym, art, music and library time to 30 minutes each per week for grades one to six; one reading specialist per school; three media specialists sharing 14 schools; literacy coaches and two fewer English as a Second Language instructional aides.

Junior school reductions: $1.7 million, 25.5 employees cut
Reduce day from eight bells to seven with 26-minute study hall, four core content classes and two electives. Programs eliminated include wood shop, English double block, band team teaching, jazz band, an intervention math class and department performance supplemental contracts. There will be two fewer media specialists.
High School reductions: $1.9 million, 28 employees cut

Elective classes to be based on enrollment numbers with limited options, elimination of seventh bell; class size increases and 23.5 credits possible with 21 needed to graduate.

Special Services: $858,500, 19 employees cut
Six fewer special education aides, one counselor per junior school and reduced nursing aids.
Athletic reductions: $1 million cut

No funds for junior school athletics; $550 per high school athlete per sport with no family cap; supervision supplemental and sports information directors positions eliminated, and decreased transportation budgets.
Central Office: $874,143, 5.5 employees cut

Elimination of an assistant superintendent and several central office support positions. Changes to contracted services and a hold on filling positions also led to savings.
Transportation: $2.8 million cut

Already implemented in part, but in August, no student within two miles of school will receive transportation. This will impact half of Lakota’s student population.

Now, that they’ve announced the cuts, keep in mind that the average salary at Lakota is 62K per year for teachers, and those wages occupy over 75% of the total budget. When S.B.5 is passed in the Ohio State Senate and the House of Representatives, which will happen soon, the School Board will then have the power to begin discussing wage issues and other catastrophic costs that are currently being imposed by the teachers union. It would be my hope that the LEA would come to the School Board to renegotiate their very expensive contracts, but they won’t. So make sure to let the school board know that the best way for them to cut costs is to get their ballooning salary expenses under control.

After S.B.5 is passed the administration will not be able to blame the state for those costs any more. The power to control the costs of the district will fall within our district once again. So make sure you let them know that you know that. Because when it is discussed that a new revenue stream is needed, it is clear that the administration doesn’t understand the situation. A school can only consume revenue in the form of tax dollars. They cannot create revenue unless they sell something. Their solution is to implement some cosmetic cuts and ask for more money during the 2011 fiscal year. And that’s not going to happen. So what’s their plan besides asking for more money?

They don’t have one. They are going to have to think differently. Because asking for more revenue to feed wages they’ve allowed to escalate irresponsibly is not going to work. It’s a complete lack of management.

It’s time for a new plan, or to step away and let people who know what they’re doing to manage the situation. The old way won’t work because the community isn’t poised to pass another levy no matter how they chose to spin it with their new spokesman. “Lakota hasn’t passed a levy since 2005.” What will never be forgotten, because I’ll never let people forget it, is that after that levy was passed, in 2008, the LEA bent the community over backwards for increased wages which drove up the costs we are seeing today. So we won’t be traveling back down that path again, no matter how it gets manipulated to the public.

The union should have renegotiated their deal instead of letting employees be let go to preserve their own selfish interests. The cuts Lakota announced don’t begin to deal with the districts real problem, and does not deserve an approved levy in 2011. Once the administration brings the wages under control and the union agrees to some wage reductions, then we can discuss further funding from the community.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

I Don’t Want My Money Going to a Union: End of Story!

Why is it so difficult to understand that people like me, don’t want my tax money to go to a public union? I don’t want my money spent on union activity of any kind. End of story. I’m willing to go along with what society wants, but I personally think unions as an institution are un-American, socialist fronts and I want no part of them. I’ve thought that for years, well before it became popular. So to me, S.B.5 is not nearly strong enough.

Doc Thompson covers the latest with S.B.5 as Dan Hennessey of the Lebanon Tea Party reports from Columbus with a fantastic, and fair interview.

Virtually everyone covering this story of union influence assumes that public sector unions have always existed. And those that work in those unions actually believe they have a human right to certain benefits. I’ve said it more than once; unions have a right to exist. But I don’t want to pay for that activity because I do not believe in them. Their view of the world is unproductive and naive. Listen for yourself.  This audio clip is a song endorsed by SEIU.  Gives you a great insight to their mentality. 

I’ve worked in a union establishment during the 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush and was told by the union to vote for Al Gore. Well, I never paid any dues to the union, I had no desire to be a part of the union, and I certainly wasn’t about to vote for someone they told me to vote for.

I have told my union story in another article. Feel free to have a look. The short argument is that I, as an American citizen, should have a “right” not to feed an organization that I believe makes other Americans dependent, weak, emotionally soft, collectively oriented, psychologically off balance, and behave like a crime syndicate. I believe so strongly about it that I don’t even like to put money into the movie industry, because of the union activity. I feel the same about sports. I like both entertainment venues, but I do avoid spending money on those activities because they have large unions. I think there is a real danger of there not even being a professional football season this year because of the collective bargaining situation emerging in the NFL and it makes me sick!

It is disgusting to listen to union bosses complain that Governor Walker and Governor Kasich are rushing through legislation to bust unions, that there isn’t a place at the table for unions to negotiate. For years, the public unions have pushed politicians with EXTREME aggression. It’s always been a one way street. The union has superseded management in most every case. It doesn’t work. Union leadership has proven over the decades that they cannot self-regulate.

In Ohio only 655,000 people belong to a union both public and private. That’s 13.7 percent of the 4,787,000 people employed in the state. Yet this minority has dictated an extraordinary expense upon the tax payers through taxes improperly collected and distributed.

There are Republicans that cannot stomach their emotional attachment to the marketing tactics of firefighters, police and teachers in order to do what is right, because they are guilty in their past of pandering to these groups for their own climb to power. What those Republicans fail to understand is that what is going on in America is there is a real desire to do what’s right, even if it hurts.

The Republicans that are of that selfish ilk, they care about issues so long as their world is convenient. Those are the conservatives that have made the conservative philosophy look bad for years. They are Republicans because it makes them money. They are the first Judas’s to report to a Roman guard what goes on in the garden in order to save their own necks, and this again is a pathetic by-product of the unions which have subsequently weakened our society. Lawyers, and police heads that are Republicans, but benefit off of legal antics driven by union activity, they have difficulty thinking clearly. These people are the type of Republicans that say ending collective bargaining is a bad political move because the unions have the power to put the issue on a referendum to overturn such a law as S.B.5 proposes to do. Those Republicans are afraid that they will lose office holders in the next election if such bold legislation is created.

What those Republicans don’t take into account is that if collective bargaining is ended, and Ohio becomes a right to work state, and the economy begins to show signs of improvement by 2012, and 2014 the other 86.3% will forgive any anxiety that comes from S.B.5. If the unions attempt a referendum, the old school Republicans underestimates the ability of the Tea Party in Ohio to campaign against the referendum. They are content to allow 13.7% of the population to manipulate the rest of the state. We know there will be police, firefighters, and teachers wrapping themselves in the flag to manipulate the voting public. And we know the inner cities will vote their way. But times are changing and people are waking up. I believe a referendum against the organized crime tactics used by these unions could be turned against them if they’d try such a thing, and that is a battle I’d willingly take part in.

This battle that is taking place is more than Republicans versus Democrats, or Tea Parties versus unions, but of the establishment versus the new breed. I would contend that the soft position of some Republicans has more to do with control than anything. It has to be difficult for them to see that Shannon Jones, who is a fairly new senator has proposed such aggressive, sweeping legislation, because after all, for those that have been in the State House for years have toed the line and played the game. They desire to put their own touches to a bill like S.B.5 so they can stake their claims to the success.

I can say that I’m sick of the whole process. I don’t want my money going to unions. I don’t want to see my elected representatives playing politics either. I don’t care if that’s how it’s been done in the past. We’re talking about the future, and I don’t want to see that kind of thing going on. My position is that it should not be going on. Politics and political parties are something to be thrown out the window.

Do something bold, get rid of collective bargaining. Get rid of the money and influence built around the Democratic Party. And don’t play politics like it’s a football game where there are this many Republicans and this many Democrats and whoever has the majority wins. Take the chips off the table and the majority concerns with it. Take away the special interest of union influence and lets see what Ohioans really think politically, and we’ll have a better representation of what the state really wants from its elected officials.

I don’t want to support public unions with my tax money. Get it! Keep the firefighters, the police, and the teachers, but drop the union. Union influence is as wrong as the definition of wrong can be.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

A Democrat is Supporting S.B.5 Bill in Ohio: Putting people ahead of politics and emotion

As Columbus, Ohio fills with union protestors like expected, the “real” working people are left to other devices to participate in this issue. After all, the protestors are making the case for themselves why we should pass Senate Bill 5. The primary reason aside from all the financial reasons is it is obvious that the public sector will continue to function in their absence, because life is going on while thousands of them take off all at the same time to march on the Ohio capital.

Those of us with real jobs, where our value is missed even if we take off one day, must write, give interviews to newspapers, talk on the multiple talk radio stations, or vent our frustrations at the hundreds of tea party meetings that conjugate all across the state a few times a month.

The intent of the protests is to look like a unified force, and such a force is supposed to function to intimidate the election process. It’s worked in the past, and union bosses are hoping it will work this time. They have a list of Senator’s that they are hoping to intimidate which I’ve included below. But their overall strategy is to make the whole issue of collective bargaining appear to be an “us against them” kind of thing, or a “poor rising up against the rich.” These are tired diatribes however and because of these strategies over the years it has finally caught up with us. If S.B.5 is not passed or if it is passed but watered down to appease the mob, the people who vote it down will be held directly responsible. Because like any right thinking person who understands economics, this issue is not about political revenge, or rich versus poor, but is about balancing our financial books and creating a business friendly environment for potential jobs, and it crosses party lines.

Listen to Jeff Berding, a democrat from southern Ohio speak to Doc Thompson on 700 WLW about his support for S.B.5.

If you are a frequent visitor to this site you know that Jeff isn’t an isolated politician when it comes to understanding reason. There are hundreds of hours of such conversations documented here just like the one you just heard. I admit there are hundreds of thousands of words written here and many hundreds of articles, videos and sound bites, so it can be overwhelming. That information is here like a library to help discuss topics that aren’t covered by the popular press. You can search for that information by checking the calendar off to the side of this article.

You can also pull them up by Googling “Overmanwarrior” along with whatever topic you want info for.

What’s happening in the country is Americans saw what happened to our film hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California when he started strong only to be wiped out by the unions, unable to do anything to stop the financial bleeding in the state, much the way they are attempting to do in Ohio. The unions have a long history of this kind of thing, and it’s designed to scare politicians that the people elect to represent them, which actually subvert the process. That’s one of the biggest aspects of these protests that are wrong. Public Sector Unions use money they’ve made off the tax payer to lobby members of elected officials through strong-arm tactics to subvert the will of the people who elected those politicians. That’s a very bad thing. The people who are currently in the state house of Ohio, and Wisconsin are there because tax payers do not want to become the next California, and expect bold action to return our states to prosperity lacking deficits. And the people protesting and speaking out against S.B.5 are short-sighted and selfish. They are looking at their tiny sector of the economy, which has a major impact on the whole, and seeks to preserve their imposition on society.

Some Senators have given the unions hope because of comments these Senators have made, and they are the targets of these protests. The protests are designed to break these senators’s resolve to reason out of fear from reprisal or the possibility of not being re-elected.

Sen. Bill Sietz R – Cincinnati District 8

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-8068
Email: SD08@senate.state.oh.us
“While there is much in the bill I think is good, there are some things I think are decidedly a bridge too far,” said Sen. Bill Seitz,

Sen. Frank LaRose R – Fairlawn District 27

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-4823 (614) 466-4823
Email: SD27@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. LaRose, said he doesn’t believe the system is functioning as well as it should, but “I think that reforming collective bargaining doesn’t mean getting rid of it.”

Sen. Keith Faber R – Celina District 12

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-7584 (614) 466-7584
Email: SD12@senate.state.oh.us
The question is, what will the bill look like? Sen. Faber,, the Senate’s No. 2 GOP leader, said he was confident there would be “clear majority support in my caucus.”

Sen. Scott Oelslager R – Canton District 29

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-0626 (614) 466-0626
Email: SD29@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Oelslager, expressed the most definitive opposition to the bill. “I’ve been a strong supporter of collective bargaining my entire career.”

Sen. Gayle Manning R – North Ridgeville District 13

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, Ground Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 644-7613 (614) 644-7613
Email: SD13@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Manning, said she understands the teachers’ perspective, but she also understands the budget deficit and has not made a decision on the bill.

Sen. Bill Beagle R – Tipp City District 5

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-6247 (614) 466-6247
_Sen. Beagle, said the bill’s replacement of continuing teacher contracts with one-year contracts could be difficult to implement and is a fairness issue because administrators can have five-year contracts.

Sen. Jimmy Stewart R – Albany District 20

Majority Floor Leader
Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-8076 (614) 466-8076
Email: SD20@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Stewart, would not say whether he supports the bill, but he stressed he is searching for some middle ground with “some of my labor friends.”

Sen Jim Hughes R – Columbus District 16

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-5981 (614) 466-5981
Email: SD16@senate.state.oh.us

Sen. Hughes, said he is keeping an open mind on the bill and offered no commitments to its major provisions.

 

It’s not hard to see how some of these senators might be intimidated by the constant chants of “Kill the Bill.” To have emotional testimony from firefighters, police and teachers proclaiming that they are the hinge pins of society will work on your conscience if you are not a strong-willed person to begin with. After all, people are people and nobody wants to hurt anybody when it comes down to it. So it’s difficult to reason fact from fiction when emotion is used as the argument.

If you’ve worked on a school levy campaign like I have, you learn to see the false prophets and all the emotional testimony. Even though these are senators, it is hard to develop the experience needed to do what is right when people pull on your heart-strings. But that’s what has to be done. So be sure to send those fine people an email letting them know that they can walk that plank of sharks protesting in Columbus and you’ll be there for them. After all, think how it must feel to have hundreds, maybe thousands of emails, and letters filling their offices while they can’t even go to lunch without seeing a sea of protestors chanting at them. The protests are designed like torture, to alter people’s reality and make them think less clearly.

The reality is 15K, 20K or even 70K is not very many people. The real mass is out there in the plains and hills of Ohio, and they are busy working and watching. And if politicians waver from their task, those politicians will be removed and new ones put in place until reform does happen. It’s as simple as that.

If anyone questions the level of corruption at play here listen to Richard Trumka brag about his influence over the White House. If anybody hears this and doesn’t think there’s something wrong you’ve completely lost your way.

That is just another reason why all this public union business has to stop. It is an issue that transcends Democrats and Republicans. It’s too important to play politics with. And it requires courage in the face of adversity. The unions are betting that they can scare away enough Republics off S.B.5 through sheer intimidation. They don’t have to worry about the Democrats not voting their way, because they put those people in office……….with our tax money. Who do you think those Democrats represent? The farmers, laborers, businessmen, who aren’t, and don’t want to be represented by a union?

Congratulations Jeff Berding for reaching across the aisle and showing the kind of boldness these times require. It may hurt politically in the short-term, but it will give you a proud story to tell your grandchildren someday when they are looking for a hero and you can offer them one with your grand story. Because doing what’s hard is what we take pride in when life darkens around us.

And Senator Sietze, I was inspired by your speech last year calling on Governor Strickland to “lead.” Well, now you have a Governor willing to “lead.”

I personally think your reasonable comments about refining S.B.5 and reading it thoroughly is wise. But remember, the only reason Democrats and the unions are willing to talk now is because they pushed everything too far to the point of breaking the tax payer backs, and they see that it’s a real possibility of losing forever collective bargaining. The problem with Republicans, traditionally, is they always back off the throttle when they shouldn’t. It should be a positive to take the high road. But the political opposition never does, and if you “negotiate” too much, that window will close forever. We arrived at this point in history because Democrats pushed and pushed and pushed while good people took the high road.

I get the high and low negotiation process. I’ve done it myself many times. But when it comes to the kind of activity that goes on in collective bargaining, use the strong cards you have when you have them, and play the game to win in the long run. Not just to appease the current masses. It’s best to avoid a referendum process, but consider how many of those people in unions vote purely as Democrats because of their pay check. So long as there are public unions involved in politics we will never know what is the true nature of our Republic, because the numbers will always be skewed. Unions tell people how to vote and that’s a problem.

Being nice won’t fix this problem. It was imposed on all of us by years of greed and ruthless manipulation and it falls on us now to act with uncommon valor.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Teachers Cheat in Wisconsin: Lying about why they’re off work

During school levy campaigns, it doesn’t matter if it’s Lakota, Mason, Little Miami, Lebanon, just name the Ohio district and you’ll find a multitude of accusations of impropriety on behalf of the teachers. Teachers through their unions have learned how to “game” the system, and they’ll do whatever they can do to achieve results for themselves. This has been most obvious to those of us that work on anti-levy campaigns where State Revised Code prohibits school officials and administrators to use school resources to work on campaigns for levy requests, but they do it anyway.

Teachers and administrators participate openly in extortion tactics such as cutting busing to make transportation inconvenient on parents of the district, and other cosmetic cuts imposed for much the same reason. There is a level of arrogance in these school systems that you might experience from organized crime elements, yet we send our kids to these institutions and pay the tolls because we don’t have much choice. It’s easy for us to turn away from the crime because much of it is done in the gray areas of the law.

You can learn a lot by observing people while under duress, and now that there are protests in two states over legislation that is seeking to end collective bargaining, there’s a lot of duress from unions. The union rank and file is now out of their comfort zone and showing what they truly are, including President Obama, who has attached himself to the movement. And what we are seeing is much of what many of us feared in our deepest darkest anxieties. At the protests in Wisconsin teachers, the same people that we trust to teach our children are openly seeking doctor notes from physicians that have made themselves available to falsify documents to excuse those teachers while they protest.

Doc Thompson has some great sound bites with examples of this behavior which is extremely disgusting. He also has some great quotes from the testimony Jeff Berding who is a Democrat that has come out in support of the S.B.5. Jeff testified to collective bargaining abuses to Cincinnati’s personnel costs that are growing 18 percent annually. The city’s contract with police gives officers an average of $87 an hour for working holidays and can let workers retire with six-figure sums for unused leave, totaling $93 million. Listen to all that from Doc himself from the February 21, 2011 show.

If you really want to see what is behind this type of insidious behavior, look who emerged from his Clown Rally in Washington, Ed Schultz. It would seem that Ed couldn’t get a crowd to come to him, so he went to the crowd. Listening to these people says a lot about their mentality. What they are chanting has nothing to do with a middle class life style. What they want is essentially un-American. It is clearly socialist theories that people like Ed have been pushing for years. (That’s why the system is bankrupt, Eddie.)

It’s a good thing to know these things, because the next time these schools ask for a levy, people will know what is behind the numbers. So I encourage those protests to continue as they are and show us all what you’re made of. I’ve known for a long time. Now, it’s time the rest of America see it for themselves.


I wonder what the parents of those kids think? I’d be ashamed if my kid was participating in this vile, disgusting, hippie-like behavior. Maybe that’s why these kids are doing it, because their parents yearn for the radicalism of the 60’s. Maybe they get the ideas from MTV and through their music which again craves the radical 60’s. It’s probably a little bit of both those things topped off with the influence of radical teachers toeing the union line on a daily basis. My opinion is that nobody in the United States should behave like this. This behavior belongs in some third world country, because that’s what this behavior gets you. And to all you left winged hippie sympathizers, all you’re doing is proving Glenn Beck right. He called this behavior from you people over a year ago. If this is what education is all about these days, I want NONE of my money to go to it, because it’s not working.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

The Latest on School Choice: And Death Threats to Scott Walker

For the latest on what’s happening regarding School Choice up at the capital, here is some testimony from Representative Matt Huffman from Lima, Ohio given on February 16th, 2011. There are plans to expand the voucher program which is an encouraging sign for those of us that are pushing for 100% eligibility in the state.

Here are some testimonies from parents speaking for the merit of the School Choice program.

This program will go a long way to solving many of the education funding issues we have in the State of Ohio by introducing competition to the mix. I’ll post more as I get it. There’s a long way to go, but this is a big first step.

Now, for those who are on the fence with this issue have a look at these students and what they put on Twitter during the Wisconsin protests.  We need to pull our kids back into reason.  We need to bring competition to education so radical educators will lose their voice in the free market system.  It’s of utmost importance.   

If we just let this whole system go without serious reforms it will just get worse.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior

www.overmanwarrior.com

Ray Warrick Testimony on S.B.5

My good friend Ray Warrick from Mason testified on Collective Bargaining in Columbus on February 17th, 2011. Since I have video of his testimony I put it here to be watched instead of read. Listen to the rumble of the crowd outside who were able to watch the proceedings on a screen and hear what was going on in the chamber.

This is what it looked like outside that chamber.

Even though many union workers took the day off to be there, “paid for I might add,” there were some who managed to go up to Columbus and show public support for the bill. Mixed in with the chanting on this next video, “kill the bill,” are people yelling, “Pass the Bill.” It is easy to ascertain that many supporters of the bill are not present. They are the silent majority, while the many of the people against the bill were encouraged by their unions to take off work and protest. This shows the fundamental difference in philosophy.

Here is a short speech by Matt Mayer. I think he took the high class approach in the face of very intimidating union tactics. As Matt said, the people supporting the bill were routinely called “retarded,” by union members chanting from the crowd.

Here is how the news was covered in Toledo, where many just aren’t ready to deal with the cost collective bargaining has imposed on tax payers, particularly the mayor there who is trying to appeal to his political base.

Unions had almost 30 years to be “fair.” Instead they just kept asking for more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more……………………………………..

Only now that there are Republicans in place at all government levels in Ohio are they willing to “negotiate.”

I have news for those people who think like that. The Republicans did not just walk in off the street to take control of our government process. Ohioans all across the state looked at the situation and said they did not like the direction Democrats have taken the state. So they put Republicans in position to work on bills like S.B.5. They are doing their job. Taxpayers are tired of politics, and unions are wrapped up so tight with politics that it is inevitable that they will feel the impact of that wrath. But they did it to themselves and have only their leaders to blame.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Zombie Like Protestors: Who is responsible? The evidence points at President Obama.

According to The Huffington Post, Ohio is about a week behind Wisconsin. There is an organized plan, just as there is in Wisconsin, to swamp Columbus, Ohio with the type of radical behavior delivered to Madison.

So what’s going on in Wisconsin? Here is the platform for Governor Walker’s budget plans. Sounds pretty reasonable to me. The guy was elected by the citizens of Wisconsin to govern the state and balance the budget. If people wanted another democrat to further exacerbate their debts, they would have elected one. But they didn’t. So here is Walker’s proposal.

But listen to these people. Sounds like public education failed them miserably because they clearly don’t have a grip on reality. Where do they get these ideas?

Remember when everyone in the media said Glenn Beck was a crack pot for saying socialist were trying to undermine our society through social networking? Listen to these two kids. They believe what they are saying. Where’d they get their ideas?

Listen to these people, “it’s for the kids and their families.” They actually believe it. Where would they get that idea? Because it clearly isn’t, they are just repeating what they’ve learned from some other source.

Here is some of the rhetoric on the signs displayed in the protests. Look at the type of rhetoric written on them. Where did they get those ideas? They all seem so similar.

Now, we’ve seen this locally, but it’s a national tactic, where teachers use our kids to fulfill their political and financial objectives. These children have no idea why they are at the rally. All they do know is that they are off school and doing what their teachers told them to do.

So what’s behind all this crazy stuff? That’s right, it’s good ol’ George. It’s all about ideological issues according to him, even though he’s smart enough to become rich, so he’s being misleading. What he really means is that the millions he’s spent pushing left winged agendas are being rejected by the part of the country that is in the political center and to the right of that center. The ideology that he speaks of is the mark he left through his influence on all the people shown above that are protesting something they don’t understand.

And of course here is President Obama’s position on all this. Obama is simply a spokesman to people like Soros who definitely have an agenda to subvert the Constitution. The victims of this activity can be seen in these protests.

Now where do you think all these people get the ideas behind their rhetoric? Here is President Obama. Listen to what he says, and you’ll see that the protestors are asking for all the things he promised.

I was playing a video game today called Left 4 Dead 2 which is a game where a bunch of thoughtless zombies try to suck your blood. It’s a fun game intended to be action packed and scary. The zombies in Left 4 Dead reminded me of these protestors. The protestors look like us. Talk like us, but they are sick and diseased with something that is dangerous to all of us. And I blame people like President Obama for doing his part to make those poor souls sick on his rhetoric. Obama is responsible for doing his part in creating the hostile climate we are seeing in Wisconsin.

Listen to the generals of this new kind of war. Because that’s what it is.

It’s sad to see so many of our fellow citizens sick on these entitlement ideas. Like zombies, they seem to have lost all thought of their own and can only see the world based on their own needs. They spout the commands of their leaders without question and to hear them, and see them is a sad, pathetic sight.

They truly believe that if they display in mass that somehow the peer pressure will change the fate of our nation. Soon the zombies will descend on Columbus, Ohio by the command of their democratic leadership with direct support from the President of the United States who is under control by people Soros. And that’s not acceptable.

Even if all the zombie protestors which exist in the world take to the streets, they do not outnumber the normal thinking citizens that run these states and pay the taxes. Soon the protestors will learn how fruitless their endeavor is when they quickly prove how irrelevant they are to the public sector.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Lebanon Warriors rise up to Fight: Taking back their district

Here is an exciting announcement. The Lebanon School System has elected to place a levy on the ballot for the May elections.

That’s not the exciting part. Actually, it’s deplorable that the system is exploring a levy in this economic climate. But we all know now, and this is one of the benefits of Senate Bill 5 introduced by Senator Shannon Jones, is that it seeks to eliminate step increases as a state law, which will give school boards much more control over their local finances, because as things stand today expanding school budgets are more or less out of our control. Thank the teachers union for that.

When S.B.5 is passed, it will help enormously with the type of budget problems that give districts an excuse to put levies on a ballot. So until a bill like S.B.5 is passed, we have to stop the growth of this entitlement culture by turning off the money supply through tax revenue. So Lebanon is a levy that must be defeated in May.

But, as is typically the case in any institution that is built upon the foundations of entitlement, there are dark secrets. Deep, dark, illustrious soap opera type secrets that lead to massive amounts of corruption, at the tax payer’s expense.

Back when I first entered the arena of battling school levies, having web sites that functioned as whistle blowers of the type of corruption that drives up costs within school districts were virtually unknown. But I set one up with my daughter serving as the lead designer and it was a marvelous success. In fact, this blog site was born as a kind of newspaper that connected directly to our home site of www.NoLakotaLevy.com. It was needed so daily updates could be quickly added and spread virally through the community. It was so effective that it went a long way to defeating the Lakota Levy on it’s own merit, because it allowed people to learn exactly what the truth was by people in the community that really cared about the fate of the district, not just hired officials trying to justify their jobs and amount of pay. This is important because as tax payers we are the employers of these officials, so we need information that is accurate and cuts through the smoke screens to the truth.

The No Lakota Levy campaign worked very closely with Mason, and still does as a matter of fact. Mason employed their own web site to great effect, and as history now shows, their levy went down to defeat also.

So to defeat a school levy, a good web site is very important and that’s why I am very proud to announce the creation of Lebanon Schools Facts.com http://lebanonschoolfacts.com/ that was created to bring the Lebanon Levy down in flaming defeat!

Their site is very impressive. It looks like they took what they liked from other web sites like the Mason site and the Lakota site and dramatically improved them for their own use. It’s packed with information and appears to be only the tip of the ice berg for what will prove to be an entertaining and informative election season. I have some preliminary information that has been sent to me, and once the information can be confirmed, that web site will be the place to break the info, and it will be very beneficial to helping the voters of Warren County decide if they want to support all this activity with a larger imposition on their property taxes.

When launched earlier in the week, the website had over 400 hits in its first 24 hours. Oddly within hours of the launch Joe Roberts resigned from his athletic director position. And before the election in May, there will be a lot more drama as the layers of hidden information gets peeled back to reveal what’s really at the core of this issue.

And be it known that I am fully behind the Anti-Levy effort of Lebanon. My goal at this point is reform at the state level and I believe throwing more money at public education in its current form is no different than paying off mob bosses in a Las Vegas Casino.

So trust me Lebanon Warriors, I dedicate this song to your cause and the lyrics of that song will be yours. It’s a song I listen to almost every day and I think it’s appropriate for you Lebanon Warriors. Listen to the words and enjoy the battle cry!

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

The Need for Leadership: The trial of Arnold Schwarzenegger

This move by Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin to end collective bargaining is not a new issue. It’s certainly not revenge. That’s the way union leaders position their argument because they can’t argue actual facts.

Back in 2004 Arnold Schwarzenegger was the shining star of the Republican Party. Listen to his speech here.

But over his entire 8 year term, with all his celebrity, power, ability to reach across the aisle to Democrats, public sector unions blocked every attempt to get the escalating costs of California under control. Unions and state workers in general showed no desire at all to budge on any budget issues. Even small issues were “epic” battles.

This is the result to California.

This is a fantastic, closer look at California’s trouble.

Here is a closer, ground level look at California’s trouble. Look at the culture that has emerged there. You can see this in any state in the union.

Here’s what’s going on now, on February 19, 2011. This isn’t about Republican revenge on all the money Democrats have used to defeat Republican candidates with funds gained from public sector union dues. That’s a small minded analysis. The reason there are so many Republicans in office in State Houses like Ohio, and Wisconsin, and now at the Federal level, is because the entire country has watched our action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger fail to stop the bleeding in California. And the other states do not want to follow the path of California.

That is why there are collective bargaining reforms now after the last election. The ONLY reason union leaders want to negotiate now is because they know there are majorities in Ohio and Wisconsin that can actually eliminate these unions, and now they are scared. But they have showed NO sign of negotiating until we arrived at this point. They certainly didn’t look at the economic situation and offer ANY leadership.

The residents of these states put Republicans in office to get the costs under control. Nobody wants to become the next California, and we all will, if we don’t make major changes now. Those are the facts.

The original sin in all this is when President Kennedy signed through executive order to make public unions legal in the first place. Click here to read the history for yourself. That was a major mistake, and now must be undone, if we are to survive as an economically viable country in the marketplace of tomorrow.

So drop the emotion and get on board. There’s room for all of us. But we can’t afford public sector unions. They bankrupt states because it is not possible to always increase taxes to justify public union demands. So the whole concept has to be erased and rebuilt once the country regains the ability to control its own destiny, which it currently does not have.

If Arnold couldn’t make any ground in negotiations, there isn’t hope for anybody to. That is why Governors like Chris Christie, John Kasich and Governor Walker have emerged, because the public needs those types of people now, before it’s too late.

It’s much bigger than just politics. It’s about survival.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com