This year’s day after the election blog will not tick off nearly as many people as last year’s, Rent Is Too DAMN High. It is not for lack of effort. This year had fewer surprises.
Issue 2 Fails, (Almost) Everyone Wins
Senate Bill 5, the Kasich administration’s union busting overreach, has been overturned by Ohio’s voters. Our legislators weren’t forced to abandon the state. Instead, our citizens came through and restored balance to our system. We can only hope that the unions and the various public entities will now work together to help our cities and schools to balance their budgets. We are not a Right To Work State. Ohio’s voters have now decided that issue twice, once in 1959 and November 8, 2011.
But don’t feel badly for Governor Kasich. State Senator Nina Turner appeared last night on MSNBC’s The Ed Show. In front of an excited crowd, Senator Turner demanded an apology from Mr. Kasich for putting our state through this. The general opinion, both Tuesday evening and on today’s talk shows, was that he was politically damaged by this vote and that the Republicans would avoid him in 2012.
I respectfully disagree. If John Kasich’s goal was to be Ohio’s governor, then Senator Turner is correct. Unfortunately for Ohio, we simply got in the way of his ambition. By standing firm, he has cemented his position with the people who fund Republican campaigns, like the Koch brothers, and the network that promotes them. Unblinking in victory and unbowed in defeat, the governor sponsored by FOX will still garner polite interest for the #2 slot on next year’s ticket or a cabinet post in a future Republican administration. There are three years left in this term. He will not spend the time hiding in his office.
Beachwood City Council
We were to elect four of the five below. The names in RED are sitting councilmen. The names in RED ran as a slate. The slate was endorsed by the Sun Newspaper and by Beachwood’s mayor who, as usual, ran unopposed. The other guy, unendorsed and not a current councilman, is shown in BLUE.
Mark Mintz 2,663
Mark Wachter 2,462
Martin Horwitz 2,447
Fredric Goodman 2,405
Justin Berns 2,055
My mistake? I was 16 votes off. I thought Marty would finish 1st or 2nd. After all, he hadn’t been endorsed.