MasonBuzz.com

Mason City Manager Eric Hansen. Provided photo

Mason officials are among local suburban communities that have downplayed the immediate impact of Ohio’s Issue 2 this past week on city budgets.

Mason City Manager Eric Hansen said the Issue 2 vote’s repeal of Senate Bill 5 wouldn’t have had any immediate effect on the city’s finances.

“(Issue 2) may have changed the long-term trajectory, but the loss in revenues is immediate and long-term. So the math didn’t add up.”

The Enquirer’s Steve Kemme and Amanda Seitz reports that Issue 2′s defeat hasn’t induced panic among other local communities that might gained some financial benefits from its passage.

Communities are far more worried about the loss of Ohio’s estate tax revenue in 2013 and the continued reduction of the state-provided Local Government Fund. Both of these cuts were supported by Republican Gov. John Kasich and the GOP-controlled General Assembly, the same ones who offered Senate Bill 5 as an antidote to local governments’ money woes.

Ohio’s $55.8 billion budget, signed by Kasich in July, slashes the Local Government Fund almost in half over the next two years. That fund provided $665 million for local governments this year. The state budget also eliminates the estate tax, 80 percent of which has gone to local governments.

For many communities, the Local Government Fund and the estate tax revenues accounted for half or more of their budgets. Almost half of Delhi Township’s general fund budget in 2010, for example, came from estate tax revenue. Local Government Fund money made up 29 percent of the $2.1 million general fund budget of Butler County’s Liberty Township last year.

The Issue 2 vote’s repeal of Senate Bill 5 will have, at worst, a minor impact on the communities’ immediate and long-term financial health, according to The Enquirer’s sampling of communities in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties.

In a March press conference with other local elected officials, Mason Mayor Don Prince expressed his support that Senate Bill 5, the collective bargaining bill, could help local governments control costs if it becomes law.

Prince, who was a member at Procter & Gamble for 25 years and is the son of a police officer and a firefighter, insisted that his was not an anti-union position, but a pro-tax position.

Ohio voters defeated Issue 2 Tuesday by overwhelming numbers from across the state.

The referendum repealed SB 5, a collective bargaining overhaul that would have restricted collective bargaining rights and set minimum levels for public employees’ contributions toward their health care costs and retirement benefits.

In Warren County, considered to be among the most conservative counties in the state, Issue 2 narrowly passed, 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent.   The county was one of only six counties in Ohio to vote for the issue.

Posted in: City Council, Election, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: budget, city council, city manager, don prince, election, election 2011, eric hansen, government, issue 2, mason, mayor, ohio, public employees, sb 5, sb5, senate bill 5, taxes, union

The Ohio State NAACP and faith leaders across the state are calling on Building a Better Ohio to denounce comments made by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Mason on Friday.

Speaking at the “Yes on Issue 2″ pancake breakfast, Huckabee jokingly urged the crowd of 350 to call on their friends and family with advice that appeared to suggest how they can support the measure, which will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.

“Make a list…  Call them and ask them, ‘Are you going to vote on Issue 2 and are you going to vote for it?’  If they say no, well, you just make sure that they don’t go vote.  Let the air out of their tires on election day.  Tell them the election has been moved to a different date.  That’s up to you how you creatively get the job done.”

• Audio: Listen to Huckabee’s speech (quoted part above is about 12 minutes in)

Building a Better Ohio and the Warren County Republican Party sponsored the event.

MasonBuzz.com was the first to report the story.  The comments by the 2008 presidential candidate and Fox News host have since gained national attention, appearing in such media outlets as the Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Politico and on MSNBC’s The Ed Schultz Show.

“Huckabee’s disgusting comments show that Building a Better Ohio and its corporate-funded supporters will do anything, even advocate for illegal tactics, to keep Ohioans from voting against Issue 2,” said NAACP Ohio Conference President Sybil Edwards-McNabb.

“These types of comments are worrisome because could incite further attempts to suppress the vote of Ohioans.  It is time for Building a Better Ohio to denounce Huckabee’s disgraceful remarks.”

• Get the latest updates on this story by following @MasonBuzz on Twitter or on Facebook

Jason Mauk, spokesman for Building a Better Ohio, said yesterday that Issue 2 opponents are “doing a phony soccer flip” over Huckabee’s comments.

“Huckabee has clearly been using the voting joke for years, and no one takes it seriously, except the Democrats who immediately cry voter suppression,” he said. “He should probably get a better joke, but opponents of Issue 2 can stop the phony outrage and get back to the real debate.”

Huckabee made similar comments in 2009 while campaigning for Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell.

Opponents of Issue 2 say the former governor’s comments are no laughing matter.  The point to House Bill 194, the bill passed by the Republican Ohio General Assembly that would cut the time of early absentee voting from 35 to 21 days and limit in-person early voting at boards of elections around the state.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is currently reviewing the more than 389,000 signatures gathered to put a referendum on the bill on the Nov. 2012 ballot.

HB 194 – which Republicans say is simply an effort to make the same election rules apply in all of Ohio’s 88 counties –  is nothing more than a “voter suppression bill” that would “disenfranchise many Ohioans,” says Rev. Joel L. King Jr., a first cousin of Martin Luther King, Jr. and chair of the Columbus Civic Betterment Community.

“Voter suppression is no laughing matter,” he said.

Posted in: Election, Government, News, Tea Party |

Tags: Tags: arkansas, building a better ohio, election 2011, faith leaders, fox news, government, governor, host, issue 2, jason mauk, manor house, mason, mike huckabee, ohio, ohio state naacp, politics, public employees, sb 5, sb5, senate bill 5, union, voter suppression, we are ohio

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s comments in Mason on Friday have gained national attention and are now ‘blowing up’ say Democratic and liberal groups.

As reported by the Enquirer’s Politics Extra blog, the story has been picked up in Politico, which noted:  ’Huckabee didn’t say he was joking, though the laughter suggests his audience knew he was; a similar riff in Virginia in 2009 drew criticism from Democrats.’

The Huffington Post wrote about it today, and quoted We Are Ohio’s Melissa Fazekas: “These comments reflect an entire campaign of deceit from Issue 2 supporters. They are willing to go to any extremes to keep Ohioans from letting their voices be heard…Enough is enough.”

Liberal Mother Jones picked it up too, adding:  “Given that the fight over SB 5 has been a front line in the national clash over union rights, what happens on November 8 will hardly be a joke.”

Comedy Central’s Indecision blog noted that, “…maybe voter disenfranchisement is not the best subject for jocularity considering the accusations that Ohio Republicans are currently engaging in active attempts to disenfranchise voters via the state’s legislative body…”

All that prompted a blast email from Ohio AFL-CIO spokesman Andy Richards:

It is blowing up Nationally now… The question still remains will Building a Better Ohio denounce these comments since they happened at one of their events and will they finally apologize to Marlene Quinn for their ad twisting her words? Jason Mauk has some answering to do.

UPDATE, 6:23 p.m.: Jason Mauk, spokesman for Build a Better Ohio, which sponsored the event on Friday, says Issue 2 opponents are “doing a phony soccer flip” over Huckabee’s comments.

“Huckabee has clearly been using the voting joke for years, and no one takes it seriously, except the Democrats who immediately cry voter suppression,” he said. “He should probably get a better joke, but opponents of Issue 2 can stop the phony outrage and get back to the real debate.”

Update, 10:37 p.m.: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz played MasonBuzz’s audio recording of Huckabee’s comments on The Ed Schultz show this evening.  “Republicans are playing dirty” by making it harder for people to vote,” said Schultz. “Republicans aren’t confident about the issues so they’re trying to suppress the vote. For Mike Huckabee to joke about voter suppression when his party is actively trying to prevent people from voting is sleazy psycho talk.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update, Oct. 18: MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews also played MasonBuzz’s audio recording of Huckabee’s SB 5 comments in Mason.  “Need proof some Republicans want to try and keep you from voting?” Matthews asked in the lead-in.  “These guys love to say ‘I was just joking’ after they make their right-wing points.  It sounds like he was going for the laughs there, but you do get the point.”

MasonBuzz will continue to monitor this story and will update the blog.

Posted in: Election, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: afl-cio, andy richards, arkansas, ballot, bill, building a better ohio, cincinnati, city council, comedy central, democrat, disenfranchisement, don prince, election, government, governor, huffingtin post, huffpo, indecision blog, issue 2, jeff berding, manor house, marlene quinn, mason, mayor don prince, mike huckabee, mother jones, ohio, politico, politics, presidentian candidate, public employees, referendum, repeal, republican, sb 5, sb5, senate bill 5, suppression, unions, voting, warren county republican party, we are ohio

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee galvanized hundreds of supporters of Issue 2 Friday in Mason – by jokingly urging them to stop opponents from voting.

The 2008 presidential candidate and Fox News host drew laughs from a packed room with advice that appeared to suggest how they can support the measure, which will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.

In addition to personally committing to vote and engaging in prayer, Huckabee advised the crowd of 350 to reach out to their friends and family in support of Issue 2.

“Make a list…  Call them and ask them, ‘Are you going to vote on Issue 2 and are you going to vote for it?’  If they say no, well, you just make sure that they don’t go vote.  Let the air out of their tires on election day.  Tell them the election has been moved to a different date.  That’s up to you how you creatively get the job done.”

• Audio: Listen to Huckabee’s speech (quoted part above is about 12 minutes in)
• View photos of Huckabee and the post-event “Values Voter” bus rally
  

Ohio Democrats immediately pounced, accusing Huckabee of advocating “criminal activity.”

“Add this to the list of despicable tactics from supporters of Issue 2,” said the statement from party spokesman Seth Bringman.  “These tactics include accusing middle class supporters of defecating in the Statehouse and, more recently, attacking a woman whose great-granddaughter was saved by heroic firefighters.”

Huckabee and other Republican and Democratic supporters of Senate Bill 5 spoke at the “Yes on Issue 2″ breakfast and rally at the Manor House.  The Warren County Republican Party and Building a Better Ohio sponsored the event.

Issue 2 is a petition-driven referendum to repeal Senate Bill 5, a collective bargaining overhaul that limits the ability of public workers to negotiate for wages, working conditions and pension benefits.

The bill would also make public employees contribute at least 15 percent of their health care costs and to pay at least 10 percent of pay toward pension contributions.

Huckabee defended SB 5 as a “reasonable, common sense” approach to Ohio’s budget woes while deflecting criticism that it is anti-union.

“In every state and in every municipality in this country, there is a huge crisis going on.  In Ohio, an 8 billion dollar one.  And that has to be made up somewhere,” he said.  “I don’t know how many Ohioans you’re willing to put out of work in order to fund a bigger and bigger and bigger government.”

Huckabee’s message resonated with Sandra Tugrul of Lebanon, who agrees that budget cuts are necessary.

“We have to find a way to balance the budget in Ohio and the only way to do that is to cut costs,” she said.  “The policemen and firemen are important, but there’s a point where we have to tighten our belts.”

Jack Chrisman of Lebanon gathers around the "Values Voter" bus for a post-breakfast rally supporting conservative candidates and issues in Ohio. The Enquirer/Rachel Richardson

Democrat Jeff Berding, the former Cincinnati council member who left council earlier this year after he opposed the party on a union issue, spoke in support of Issue 2, saying he knows he no longer has the support of Democratic voters.

Berding said that the current collective bargaining system is tilted unfairly towards unions and that taxpayer money is misused to provide free, or nearly free, health care, pensions and automatic raises for public employees.

“The unions care too much about the pay, the perks, the pensions, but not too much about the public,” he said.  “The current political bargaining system doesn’t give you a seat at the table.  Issue 2 gives you a seat at the table.”

Mason Mayor Don Prince said that Huckabee’s visit demonstrates the growing influence of Warren County voters.

The county, one of the fastest growing counties in the state, is heavily Republican — it voted for John McCain over Barack Obama by over 2-1 in 2008; and, in 2010, gave Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich 54,536 votes to only 22,271 for Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland.

“Warren County, and specifically Mason and Deerfield Township,  is becoming a well known area of conservative values,” he said.  “On a national and state level, politicians pay attention to Warren County.”

Huckabee’s folksy appeal held clout with many supporters, like Michelle Seigel of Mason, who says she’s a member of the Mason Tea Party and fears public employee layoffs in the event of an overturn of SB 5.

“He was amazing,” she said.  “I feel I need to do more.  I need to make some calls.”

Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: arkansas, ballot, bill, building a better ohio, cincinnati, city council, democrat, don prince, election, government, governor, issue 2, jeff berding, manor house, mason, mayor don prince, mike huckabee, ohio, politics, presidentian candidate, public employees, referendum, repeal, republican, sb 5, sb5, senate bill 5, unions, warren county republican party

State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, and State Rep. Connie Pillich, D-Montgomery, will square off in Mason tonight to debate Issue 2, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Issue 2 is a petition-driven referendum to repeal Senate Bill 5, a collective bargaining overhaul that limited the ability of public workers to negotiate for wages, working conditions and pension benefits.

The debate, which will be held at Cedar Village, 5467 Cedar Village Drive, Mason, begins at 6 p.m. It’s hosted by the Northeast Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

The two lawmakers are expected to debate the merits and impact of the legislation on the state and its public workers. Chamber members will then facilitate questions from the audience.

Space is limited to the first 100 attendees, so arrive early to guarantee a seat. For more information, call the NECC at 513-336-0125 or go to www.necchamber.org.

Will you be attending this debate? What questions would you pose to the candidates?

Posted in: Events, Political events |

Tags: Tags: cedar village, connie pillich, debate, democrat, issue 2, John Kasich, mason, montgomery, negotiating rights, northeast cincinnati chamber of commerce, ohio, public employees, republican, sb5, senate bill 5, shannon jones, springboro, union

State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, and State Rep. Connie Pillich, D-Montgomery, will square off in Mason on Sept. 22 to debate Issue 2, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Issue 2 is a petition-driven referendum to repeal Senate Bill 5, a collective bargaining overhaul that limited the ability of public workers to negotiate for wages, working conditions and pension benefits.

The debate, which will be held at Cedar Village, 5467 Cedar Village Drive, Mason, will begin at 6 p.m.  It’s hosted by the Northeast Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

The two lawmakers are expected to debate the merits and impact of the legislation on the state and its public workers.  Chamber members will then facilitate questions from the audience.

Space is limited to the first 100 attendees, so arrive early to guarantee a seat.  For more information, call the NECC at 513-336-0125 or go to www.necchamber.org.

Will you be attending this debate?  What questions would you pose to the candidates?

Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: connie pillich, democrat, issue 2, negotiating rights, northeast cincinnati chamber of commerce, public employees, public workers, republican, sb5, senate bill 5, shannon jones, state representative, state senator, union