Meet Mark Weaver.

Weaver is an Ohio political consultant who has been around the state for a long time, and had a pretty great track record before 2011. He was the campaign media consultant to Rob Portman’s successful Senate campaign in 2010, and even was an adviser to Ronald Reagan.

Last year, however, during Ohio’s fight to reform public employee union laws, he sold out and went to work for the unions.

A prominent Republican media consultant has been hired by police and fire unions to thwart plans by Gov. John Kasich and GOP lawmakers to kill binding arbitration and eliminate or alter collective bargaining.

Mark R. Weaver has been commissioned “to help us with our communication efforts as we try to educate the legislature on the realities of collective bargaining and not the sound bites,” said Jay McDonald, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio and a major in the Marion Police Department.

Remember how the unions lied so much in their ads that even the Cleveland Plain Dealer called them out? Weaver was their media consultant and one of the brains behind that campaign to kill reasonable union reforms in Ohio.

We have learned Mark Weaver has been working with someone else in Ohio. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine.
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We’ve all heard the axiom, “as goes Ohio, so goes the nation”. In fact, no Republican has ever won the Presidency without winning Ohio. And for this year’s GOP presidential primary, Ohio is the top prize in what is turning out to be a critical Super Tuesday on March 6th.

In fact, just yesterday analyst Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics identified Ohio as the key state between a Romney runaway and the possibility of a brokered convention.

So the viability of a three-way split probably comes down to Ohio, which has a fair number of evangelicals, though not to the degree that Tennessee, Oklahoma and Georgia do. Santorum has some strengths he can draw on in the Buckeye State, as his blue-collar message could play well even among Republicans there. If he wins, it means that we probably do have a deeply divided GOP, with Gingrich taking the anti-Romney vote in the South, and Santorum taking the anti-Romney vote in the Midwest.

So with Ohio holding such incredible importance to Mitt Romney’s hopes of becoming President, why is he betraying the very Ohio conservatives he needs to assure victory?

Let me explain.

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There was breaking news last week of an upcoming meeting that has been called for the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) State Central Committee. Below is an excerpt of the memo sent out to committee members.

> Proposed Amendment to the Permanent Rules of the Republican State Central Committee & Executive Committee of Ohio

Article I, Section 2:

At the first meeting of the State Central Committee following the election and qualification of its members, all of its officers, the chairman and co-chairman of the Ohio Republican Finance Committee, and the National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, shall be nominated and elected to the State Executive Committee, which shall then be merged into the Republican State Central Committee.

Proposed Amendment*:

For the purposes of these Rules, to be qualified, and thereby seated and sworn in as a member of the State Central Committee, a person shall have voted in the three immediately preceding Republican statewide primary elections, including in the year in which the person was elected.

Talk about trying to protect their established incumbents! To be seated on the committee, a person will have to have voted in the Republican primary in 2008, 2010 and 2012. This is a pretty brazen move by Chairman Kevin DeWine and his allies. This rule, if adopted, is clearly intended to make it harder for outsiders to be seated on the State Central Committee, even if they are elected to the position. (more…)

It has never been a secret in Ohio that there are tensions between Governor John Kasich and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine. However, earlier this month, DeWine took the squabble public, which Ohio’s press gleefully reported. Democrats and anti-Kasich liberal blogs are now using DeWine’s words against Kasich. The conservative blogosphere in Ohio has reacted unanimously. Some have been long weary of DeWine, while others have remained neutral, but not any longer.

Fellow BigGovernment.com contributor Jason Hart said on Third Base Politics:

Chairman DeWine has also taken heat for his allegiance to Jon Husted. Husted, a former speaker of the Ohio House, positioned himself as a conservative during the 2010 secretary of state campaign only to kneecap election reform a year later. When the House tried to pass a photo-ID voting requirement, Secretary Husted opposed the measure, handing a rhetorical victory to the Ohio Democratic Party’s race-baiters and class-warriors.

Whatever DeWine’s merits or Kasich’s mistakes, Ohio needs Republican leaders on the same page going into 2012. DeWine should step down, Kasich should offer a replacement conservatives can rally behind, and we should all get back to work against Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama.

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It’s been over two weeks since Ohioans rejected the reasonable government union reforms in Issue 2. Big Labor poured over $30 million into a campaign to persuade voters to stay with the status quo. But they also rejected a whopping 78% of school levies that requested additional funds to pay for the ever increasing costs of public union benefits. So in the end, the unions convinced voters that laying off more public workers is preferable to asking them to contribute a bit more to their own benefits.

Not two days later, there was already talk of a new union related referendum. Chris Littleton held a press conference to announce an initiative to amend the Ohio Constitution to make Ohio a “right to work” state.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The group of conservatives and Tea Party activists that won a landslide victory on Tuesday with Ohio’s “healthcare freedom” amendment wants to come back to voters with a new proposal — a “right-to-work” initiative.

Dubbed the “Ohio Workplace Freedom Amendment,” the issue would place into the Ohio Constitution a ban on requiring Ohioans to join a union as a condition of employment.

Littleton was also one of the key organizers behind Issue 3, which won easily, with fully 66% of voters rejecting forced healthcare in Ohio, despite an energized and mobilized Democratic turnout against Issue 2. It was a remarkable effort that several of us at 3BP were involved with, as well. A true grassroots only effort, there was no TV advertising on either side, and certainly almost no money behind the campaign. Littleton and the countless others are to be commended for their work. One might think that such a resounding victory means that we should forge full steam ahead on getting the right-to-work amendment on the 2012 ballot. One would be wrong.

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The city of Cincinnati is broke.

Their 2011 budget includes a $55 million deficit. Part of the problem is that Cincinnati public employees enjoy some of the most generous perks in the state.

The City Council-approved contracts include benefits that, among other things, permit manyworkers to draw 13 sick days a year, grant three weeks’ worth of compensatory time to public safety employees for holidays whether they work them or not, and entitle veteran police officers to nearly 10½ weeks of various leaves annually.

That’s bad enough, but here’s what makes it even worse. These employees can save up all those days and cash them in when they retire or leave for another job. It isn’t rare for these payouts to be over six figures.

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Part of the purpose of Ohio Senate Bill 5 is to keep local government officials from giving away the store and costing taxpayers unnecessary funds.  This gets to the root of the main difference between who is negotiating with private-sector and public-sector unions.

Private-sector unions sit across the table from a for-profit business. A business has to operate on its profits or go out of business. They aren’t likely to give too much away, because they are in some way personally invested. On the other hand, public-sector unions are negotiating with elected officials. While most are good managers of the public’s money, some are not. Elected official have no personal stake at risk, no “skin in the game,” since they are negotiating with the public’s money–other people’s money. Unlike a private company, you need not have experience or success to earn that management position; you simply have to get elected. As we’ve seen only too well with President Downgrade, getting elected doesn’t make you a good leader.

Cincinnati.com did an investigation into public contracts in effect around Southwestern Ohio. What they found are some crazy provisions from an out-of-control system that is tilted towards the unions in Ohio. (more…)

The city of Lancaster, Ohio recently closed one of its firehouses after laying off 13 firefighters.

Jess Lanning/Eagle-Gazette

LANCASTER — Engine House 3 has been shut down indefinitely, and Lancaster will have just two firehouses covering a city of 18.84 square miles and more than 37,000 people.

“It’s going to be a very fluid situation with all these changes going on,” said Lancaster Fire Assistant Chief Dave Ward.

The layoffs took effect on Monday. Engine 3 and Medic 3 are being stored at Engine House 3, 1596 E. Main St.

A huge tarp was put across Engine House 3, saying it was closed and that if you have an emergency need, call 911.

But Mayor David S. Smith is asking for an increase in the city’s income tax.

City officials are asking voters on Nov. 8 to approve a 0.25-percentage-point increase in the city income tax for five years, raising it to 2 percent. The increase would generate $2.5 million annually to help balance next year’s budget, Smith has said.

“It’s critical,” Ward said. “If this doesn’t pass, I anticipate city hall having to lay off more firefighters.”

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Over the past few weeks, we have brought your attention to how the unions behind the front group “We Are Ohio” are intertwined with the radical socialist/communist movement in America. First, we laid out for you who funds the vast majority of “We Are Ohio’s” campaign and how they have expressed not only support but provided coordination and accommodations for the “Occupy” movement, which is organized almost entirely by socialists who want to overthrow the American economy.

Then, we showed you that their “Statewide Youth Outreach Coordinator” is deeply involved in the “Occupy” protests around Ohio and openly decribes himself as a “revolutionary” whose goal is to implement communism in America. Now, “We Are Ohio” is hosting an official event with another radical self-admitted communist, Van Jones.

The American Dream Movement is flexing its muscle in Ohio. I’m coming to Columbus to be a part of it. This Thursday, November 3, we’re gonna Rock the Repeal of Senate Bill 5 and restore the voice of hard-working, middle-class Ohioans in their workplaces by voting “No” on Issue 2.

Yes, the “We Are Ohio” unions are bringing in the same guy who said this:

But in jail, he said, “I met all these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’” Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. “I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary.” In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. “I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th,” he said. “By August, I was a communist.”

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What happens when you look at the facts involved with Issue 2 instead of basing your decision on the emotional hysteria coming from unions bent solely on preserving their power? You find out that the need for reform is real, and that Ohio NEEDS Issue 2.

That what the newspapers from Ohio’s three largest cities found out when the looked past the rhetoric, and focused on the facts. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Columbus Dispatch, and the Cincinnati Enquirer all agree. Ohioans should vote YES on Issue 2. And what they say pretty much mirrors what we have been telling you.

Some key quotes from The Plain Dealer:

Ohio law must not impede reform, and it won’t if it creates a level playing field for public-sector workers and their employers.

Right now, that field is tipped in favor of the unions. Recognizing that reality does not mean we oppose public-employee unions or that we do not appreciate what their members do and the sacrifices some already have made…

In schools, the emphasis has to be on the progress of children, not the comfort of adults. In city halls and county offices, the impact on those who pay the bills — and the sheer magnitude of those bills — must be paramount.

Rules that made sense in 1983 do not make sense anymore. Ohio needs a fresh start…

When they mark their ballots, Ohioans cannot worry about what is best for any political party or interest group — on either side of this debate. They need to consider what’s best for the future of their children, their communities, their state.

They need to pass Issue 2.

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Cleveland’s schools are facing a $13 million deficit.  Because of this, the district is forced to make cuts to pre-school, sports, busing and textbooks.

But worry not, the Cleveland teachers union has a solution to these cuts.

Issue 2 will help Ohio schools deal with rapidly rising costs.  Vote YES.

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Folks, the Democrats and We Are Ohio unions will stop at NOTHING to preserve the government union advantage over the officials we elect to manage our tax dollars. They will say, and do, absolutely ANYTHING to stop the reasonable reforms in Issue 2 from taking effect.

• They lied to you about being able to bargain for safety equipment.
• They continually wage class warfare by asserting that unionized government employees are the entirety of Ohio’s middle class, when in fact, they are actually a tiny single digit percentage.
• The Plain Dealer and Politifact reported that they lied to you when they said Issue 2 would make it harder for nurses to care for patients, and also about legislators writing a supposed “loophole” into the law.
• Disgustingly, they somehow brought race into the debate by saying that Issue 2 would take us back to the days of Jim Crow laws.
• The continually cite a compensation report written by a questionable “researcher” who was caught on tape agreeing to “kill” information that didn’t meet the Ohio teachers’ union’s desired outcome.

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We have been warning about the bad news in the recent polls on Issue 2, and stated why the huge wins they show for the anti-reform side won’t be as big as the polls suggest.

Now, the Washington Post is reporting on a leaked memo from liberal mob Progress Ohio to the “We Are Ohio” union front group. They also believe it’s a LOT closer!

An internal memo from a key labor-backed group in the state is flatly warning that the polls are “flawed” and that a big win for labor is not even “remotely possible.” It adds that the right’s messaging has “worked,” and that there’s good reason to suspect that a “massive amount of voter confusion remains,” suggesting the fight could still go either way.
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If you’ve been following the Senate Bill 5 debate in Ohio, at some point you have surely seen the “We Are Ohio” union front group refer to studies written by Rutgers University professor, Jeffrey Keefe, for the Economic Policy Institute.  ”We Are Ohio” is the union front group who is spearheading the opposition to collective bargaining reform for Ohio’s public-sector employees.  The legislation is on the ballot for Ohio voters this November.  A “Yes” vote upholds the new reforms.  The study is a comparison of private-sector versus public-sector compensation, and is frequently cited by the anti-Issue 2 crowd.

EPI Researcher Jeffrey Keefe agreed to publish a study for the Ohio Education Association
and to kill any information that would be contrary to the outcome that OEA desired.

In July, “We Are Ohio” spokesperson Melizza Fazekas steered Columbus Business First reporter Jeff Bell to Keefe’s study.

The folks I interviewed said those trying to save S.B. 5 will hammer us with information on how the benefits and pay for Ohio’s public workers are better on average than those of us in the private sector. When asked that question, Fazekas quickly steered to me to a study on the compensation issue completed this year by Jeffrey Keefe, a labor and employment relations professor at Rutgers in New Jersey.

“We will combat it with the truth,” she said.

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By now you’ve surely heard about Mitt Romney’s famous visit to Ohio on Tuesday. First, he visited a call center where volunteers were doing work for Issues 2 and 3, but then declined to endorse the issues. Conservatives around the country jumped on him. Then it was revealed that he actually did endorse Issue 2 over the summer. Not only did this reinforce his dreaded “flip flop” weakness, Rick Perry jumped at the opportunity to embarrass Romney by declaring he fully supported Issue 2 and stands by John Kasich.

The next morning, Romney came out and said that, yes, he DOES indeed support, er…“question 2″, again strengthening the flip-flopper argument against him. Both conservatives and Democrats, including our old buddy ODP Chairman Chris Redfern, have had a field day with this. The entire visit was a disaster.

Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine, Mitt Romney, Ohio Governor John Kasich

But then a day later, Michael Brendan Dougherty from Business Insider claims that Romney was set up and used by Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine.

Yesterday, our source says, state GOP chairman Dewine took Romney to an event organized by Governor Kasich — and used him to try to damage Kasich.

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But GOP chairman Kevin DeWine, who did not support Kasich’s gubernatorial campaign, brought Mitt Romney, displaying his political clout. But apparently no one informed Mitt Romney what the Ohio ballot initiatives were about or whether he had a position on them. When asked yesterday if he supported Issue 2, Mitt Romney punted. “I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues,” Romney said. “Those are up to the people of Ohio.”
“It would have been a pretty simple thing to make sure Romney knew that he was going to a phone bank where volunteers were making calls on behalf of Issue 2 and that earlier in the year he endorsed Issue 2,” said one Republican with close ties to the governor.

It’s not the best kept secret that Kevin DeWine and Kasich aren’t close, to put it kindly. It’s also known that current Secretary of State Jon Husted wants to be governor, and that DeWine is fully behind him. But if there is animosity towards Kasich, what does it gain DeWine by embarrassing him now? If he damages Kasich, he also damages the Republican party in Ohio and hurts Husted’s chances in the future. Would DeWine really do that to satisfy a personal grudge of some kind?

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Yesterday on Third Base Politics, we shared with you how the anti-Issue 2 group “We Are Ohio” is made up of organizations that have given their full endorsement to a movement that seeks to overthrow the entire American economy, by violent means, if necessary.  In fact, 74% of the money behind We Are Ohio comes from the unions who have publicly praised a movement that consists of radical Marxists.

Occupy Wall Street and its various offshoots in other cities seems not to be satisfied until the society that has produced the most mass prosperity, the most advancements in technology and freedom, in human history, is replaced by the model more like the failed and deadly Soviet model.  And We Are Ohio is fully on board with that!

But not only do they support the socialists behind the Occupy movement, they even employ one.

Meet Will Klatt. He is a self-described “community organizer” and claims on his Facebook page to be the “Statewide Youth Outreach Coordinator” for We Are Ohio.

Since it appears often on his Facebook wall, and he is officially the Youth Outreach Coordinator, he is presumably the brains behind the Facebook group “We Are Ohio Students.” So, how is young Will reaching out to Ohio’s youth? By organizing and attending “Occupy” protests around Ohio, of course! Here is a part of his wall highlighting that We Are Ohio Students is directly endorsing, attending and organizing the Occupy Columbus protests.

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A couple of weeks ago, we wrote a piece about how the left wing in Ohio has such a burning hatred for Governor John Kasich, that they will use any and every piece of news about him to launch an attack. Even when he makes a decision that is an act of compassion, they write some scathing critique, portraying him as evil incarnate.  When he reduced Kelley Williams-Bolar’s crimes to misdemeanors, even the most reliably liberal Ohio personalities agreed he did the right thing.  But the union supporting blog Plunderbund criticized his decision after they themselves had previously said she should eventually be pardoned. We summed it up as follows:

And yet they attack anyway. Personally, I could go either way on whether Williams-Bolar deserves leniancy or not. But I bring it up to show that when you’re this rabidly hateful of someone, I guess you will use every single possible thing he does as a reason to attack him. Even an act of compassion. Even if it means contradicting yourself.

Last week, however, they and the AFL-CIO sunk to a new low.  Check out this headline they ran, quoting him: ”Kasich on public employees: ‘we are at war with these people’.”   The union webpage repeats the same story and quote.

Wow. That’s a pretty fiery statement by Kasich.  Except, they have no proof he ever said it!  Zero.

Do they have the governor saying this on video?   No.

Do they have audio of Kasich saying this?   No.

Are they quoting a piece from a reputable news source who was at the event where this supposedly happened?  No.

Want to know where they got this supposed quote? You aren’t going to believe this.  It came from one of those viral emails that gets forwarded around by hundreds of different people. You know, the ones where when you receive it, your first reaction is to check Snopes to see if it is a hoax or not. One of those emails. Some school superintendent named Mike Shreffler wrote an email saying “Kasich said this!” and all the We Are Ohio lefty union clones forwarded it to each other as if it were rock solid fact.

Let’s look closer into Plunderbund’s own post to see even more.

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Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern

Democrats have never been afraid to use the race card, but this is a new one. Senate Bill 5 and HB194 have nothing at all to do with race. But the union front group “We Are Ohio” and their Ohio Democrat lapdogs are airing a new radio ad that suggests that it is all about race.

As Democrats work to place Ohio’s Republican-backed elections law on hold through a referendum, they’re arguing that the measure is akin to poll taxes, grandfather clauses and other footnotes from America’s Jim Crow past.

But does the same argument apply to Senate Bill 5, the GOP-sponsored limits on collective bargaining for public employees that is currently subject to a referendum as state Issue 2 on the November ballot?

Democratic, labor and African-American leaders say yes.

We Are Ohio, the organized labor coalition seeking to repeal Senate Bill 5, is airing a radio ad that says “Gov. John Kasich and the Columbus politicians have passed two laws to take us back to the days of Jim Crow.”

Remember when we told you how the unions will say ANYTHING to hold onto their power? You’re witnessing that right now. Listen to some of the ridiculous justification for this outrageous ad.

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It was announced today that Columnist Connie Schultz has resigned from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper.

Recall that we posted a story a couple of weeks ago, with video of her filming Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel at a tea party event, apparently conducting opposition research. Mandel is the likely opponent for US Senator Sherrod Brown, who is also Schultz’s husband.  Brown is up for re-election next year.  Mandel, a former US Marine who has served two tours in Iraq, will be a formidable opponent.  Schultz was at the event to write a story about the tea party for the Plain Dealer, when she put her employer into an awkward situation by creating a clear conflict of interest when she filmed Mandel.

More often than not, we disagree strongly with her, but let’s give credit to Connie Schultz for doing the right thing here. She clearly recognized the situation she was creating for the Plain Dealer.  In her letter to readers, she explains why she is leaving the paper.

In recent weeks, it has become painfully clear that my independence, professionally and personally, is possible only if I’m no longer writing for the newspaper that covers my husband’s senate race on a daily basis. It’s time for me to move on.

Or did she only apologize, and then later resign, because she was caught?  You be the judge.  Click here to view the video that started it all.

We also have obtained a copy of a letter from the Ohio Republican Party to the Plain Dealer. Last week, they wrote and asked the PD not to let Connie Schultz write any more stories of a political nature, due to the obvious conflict of interest. They agreed to meet about the matter this week, but with today’s resignation, it appears that the matter is settled. Here is the letter:

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Here we go again, Ohio.

After being swept out of every statewide office, and losing the Ohio House last November, Ohio Democrats don’t think that that election has any consequences.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern

First, of course, they and their union allies spent over a million dollars to pay people to collect signatures and force a referendum to repeal Senate Bill 5, which contains reasonable reforms to government employee collective bargaining laws. That is now Issue 2 on the November 2011 ballot.

Next, they started a drive to collect signatures to repeal House Bill 194, which enacts common sense election reforms. It would eliminate the current loophole allowing someone to register to vote, and actually cast their vote on the same day, thus reducing the propensity for fraud. It also reduces the early voting period to 21 days. Somehow wanting you to believe that three weeks is not enough time to cast a ballot, Ohio Democrats call the bill “voter supression” and have again enlisted labor unions to finance and organize a petition drive. They have until September 30 to submit the required number of signatures.

Now, they are threatening another petition drive. This time, they are unhappy with the new Congressional districts drawn up by Republicans. It hasn’t even been voted on yet, let alone signed, but Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern is already weighing legal action or even another referendum drive. They are shocked and appalled that Republicans drew districts favorable to Republicans.

You may remember Redfern from when he referred to the majority of Ohioans who oppose Obamacare as “these f***ers”. Here are some things to remember when you consider Redfern’s newest source of outrage.

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