Rarely do voters in any state get to confront the arrogance and greed of public employee unions at the ballot box.
When taxpayers get that chance, as in Wisconsin (the birthplace of government worker unions), they vote to defeat government of, by and for the staff and re-institute government of, by and for the people.
Such an opportunity is now before the voters of Ohio.
Issue 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot is a referendum by WeAreOhio.com of Senate Bill 5, which was championed by Ohio's new Republican governor, John Kasich, and passed last March by the new Republican majority in the Ohio Legislature.
S.B. 5 removes pension and health issues from collective bargaining while retaining collective bargaining rights for wages and hours for about 400,000 government workers in Ohio.
S.B. 5 prohibits public worker strikes, prohibits government unions from charging "fair share" dues to employees who opt out of union membership, and authorizes increases in government employee contributions (up to 15 percent) for health insurance and pensions.
A "yes" vote will keep S.B. 5, and a "no" vote will repeal it.
A similar reform effort in Wisconsin resulted in a nationally televised confrontation but has resulted in "unexpectedly" balanced budgets in school districts and city governments. School teachers have not been fired, cops are on the beat, firefighters at the ready.
Wisconsin has fallen out of the national media because Gov. Scott Walker and the Republicans were right and the unions were wrong. Reform has saved teacher jobs that were in jeopardy because of falling tax revenues.
