Public servants....we need to know our enemies and.....here they are.....one of them is a "Flasher!"
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"Sources told The Dispatch that veteran Statehouse lobbyist and political consultant Vaughn Flasher has been tapped to lead the campaign to keep Senate Bill 5, which would significantly weaken collective bargaining for about 360,000 public employees in Ohio."
As the coalition seeking to overturn Senate Bill 5 continues a robust signature-gathering effort, a coordinated defense of Ohio’s new collective-bargaining law is beginning to take shape.
Sources told The Dispatch that veteran Statehouse lobbyist and political consultant Vaughn Flasher has been tapped to lead the campaign to keep Senate Bill 5, which would significantly weaken collective bargaining for about 360,000 public employees in Ohio.
Republican Gov. John Kasich, who signed the bill, and GOP lawmakers who passed
it through the General Assembly also are expected to have a presence on the yet-to-be-named defense team.
Flasher worked with Republicans when they took control of the House in the 1990s and has directed campaign efforts for the Senate GOP since 2006, helping the party to a 23-10 majority, its largest in more than 40 years.
The group will file soon with the secretary of state’s office. Sources said the committee is expected to file in a manner in which all donors will be disclosed. This week, a poll released by Quinnipiac University showed that 54 percent of Ohioans favored repeal of Senate Bill 5. Yesterday, Kasich denied that the repeal effort was a referendum on his administration and predicted that voters eventually would warm to the law.
“I think that most people don’t really know what it even is,” Kasich said. “When people find out what it is, I think they’ll say, ‘Look, why am I paying twice? Why am I paying for my own health care and for somebody else’s?’
“But we’ll see. It’s a long way to November.”
We Are Ohio, the coalition of union supporters that is attempting to overturn the law, reported yesterday that it has collected 214,399 signatures. The group has until June 30 to collect the more than 231,000 valid signatures of registered voters needed to place a referendum on the November ballot.
We Are Ohio spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas said a sampling has shown a signature validation rate of about 60 percent. If that holds true, the group will have to collect about 400,000 signatures to have enough to make the ballot — although she is confident of getting 450,000 to 500,000.
Fazekas declined to comment on the group’s fundraising efforts. The Ohio Education Association will assess active members $54 apiece and support-staff members $25 to generate $5 million. State police and firefighters unions are expected to raise about $1 million each.
The group is using an army of volunteers that Fazekas said numbers 10,000, along with paid circulators. They’ve been collecting signatures for about a month.
“This is an unprecedented level of support from communities all across the state,” Fazekas said. “We continue to struggle to keep up with demand for petition (forms).”
Senate Bill 5 would eliminate binding arbitration as a way to settle contract disputes for safety forces and would ban strikes by all state and local government employees. It sets up merit-based pay, new requirements for what employees must pay for pensions and health insurance, and allows the governing body to select its own last offer to settle a contract.
The referendum might not be the only statewide ballot issue facing voters in November. The group seeking to place a constitutional amendment on the same ballot in an attempt to repeal a key portion of President Barack Obama’s health-care law says it has collected 330,000 signatures.
Jeff Longstreth, campaign manager for Ohioans for Healthcare Reform, said he expects between 550,000 and 600,000 signatures will be collected before the July 6 deadline.
The group, now a partnership between tea party sympathizers and Ohio Republicans, needs 386,000 valid signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would try to eliminate a requirement in the health-care law that nearly all Americans obtain health insurance.
jvardon@dispatch.com
jsiegel@dispatch.com
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Here is a link to Flasher's company: http://capitolstrategiesgrp.com/
Male - Early 40's
Address: 5320 Ainsley Dr
Location: Westerville, OH 43082
Phone: (614) 523-3090
Email: *******@ocpc.net
Capitol Strategies Group Llc
37 West Broad St # 405, Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: 614.221.6408
posted by Kathie Bracy at 11:04 PM
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