The people who organized a referendum against Ohio’s union-stripping bill, SB5, say that if Governor John Kasich and company want to negotiate about it now, they should start by repealing it themselves. Governor Kasich called a press conference yesterday to say that he was ready to talk, that he’s open to hearing the grievances of the people.
On Monday, the Columbus Dispatch reported that key staffers for Mr. Kasich had taken leaves to work for the campaign against the referendum and preserve SB5. That the governor on Wednesday suddenly waved the white flag, as Rachel put it on last night’s show, might have something to do with poll results showing the November repeal of SB5 leading by 24 points.
We Are Ohio has the whip hand now, and they’re not about to give it up. “They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2,” a spokeswoman says. As you can see from the tweet above, the response from the bleachers is less conciliatory than that. If you can get an offer to tone down the bill, what else can you get thrown in for free?
Bonus throwing: video from Ohio Capital Blog of the governor’s office tossing the Progress Ohio representative from yesterday’s presser — before it started and the governor offered his message of compromise. As @srgbriggs notes, Progress Ohio has been all over Mr. Kasich on SB5. After the jump, last night’s segment in full.
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