COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voters of both parties in every
corner of Ohio helped defeat the state’s new collective bargaining law
Tuesday by a wide margin, sending a message that Gov. John Kasich said
he would need time to fully digest.
All but five of Ohio’s 88
counties opposed the law, more than half with upwards of 60 percent of
the vote, according to final unofficial results.
The nationally
watched campaign dominated the general election, though a largely
symbolic amendment to the state constitution snubbing federal health
insurance mandates won by an even stronger margin in even more counties.
With
99 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, more than 61 percent
of voters had rejected the union-limiting Senate Bill 5. Nearly 66
percent had supported the health care amendment.
A third ballot issue raising the age limit for judges from 70 to 75 was rejected with 62 percent of the
vote.
In local elections, two Democratic mayors — Columbus’ Michael Coleman and Akron’s Don Plusquellic —
easily won re-election bids.
Victorious issue campaigns said voters of every political stripe are fed up.
"I
think it says people are tired of the excuses and the political games
and the attacks on working people and their ability to make a living,"
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said of the rejection of Kasich’s
collective bargaining overhaul.
Jeff Longstreth, who managed the
successful Healthcare Freedom Amendment campaign, said voters supported
opting out of the 2009 federal health care law for similar reasons.
"Ohioans
and Americans understand. They don’t want forced government health
care, they don’t want to be told what to buy, what to eat, what to
drive," he said. "What a lot of people in Columbus and Washington, D.C.,
don’t understand is we don’t send our elected representatives there to
take our liberty away."
Kasich congratulated opponents of the
contentious, union-limiting law he signed in March — and said he would
be deciding how to move forward.
"I’ve heard their voices, I
understand their decision and frankly I respect what people have to say
in an effort like this. And as a result of that, it requires me to take a
deep breath, you know, and to spend some time reflecting on what
happened here."
Cincinnati firefighter Doug Stern said he hopes
lawmakers would be willing to work with firefighters and other public
workers should they try again to change collective bargaining.
"We
want the ability to sit down at the table," said Stern, who has put in
15 years with the fire department. "We live in the communities we serve.
We don’t want them to do poorly."
Unions, Democratic
organizations, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and President Obama all praised
voters’ rejection of the bill, which would have limited the bargaining
abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers.
The health care
vote was largely symbolic. Voters chose to let the state opt out of a
provision of the 2009 federal health care overhaul, which mandates that
most Americans purchase health care — a decision that’s not really a
state’s decision.
Dale Butland, a spokesman of opponents, said the campaign was "based on a lie" about the
Obama-backed bill.
"And
because of that lie, the amendment we’ve now added to the Ohio
constitution will jeopardize and possibly invalidate a host of already
existing laws and regulations that we rely on to protect the vulnerable,
ensure public health, and regulate the medical and insurance
professions," he said in a statement.
Ohio voters also rejected
allowing judges to remain on the bench through age 75, keeping the age
limit at 70 and potentially affecting 10 percent of sitting judges over
the next six years.
The fight over the collective bargaining law
attracted unprecedented attention for a non-presidential or
gubernatorial election year.
The effort to turn back the
bargaining law pitted unions representing police, firefighters,
teachers, prison guards and other government employees against
Republicans at the Statehouse seeking to limit labor’s reach and reduce
government costs.
The measure, which appeared as Issue 2 on the
ballot, would have allowed bargaining on wages, conditions and some
equipment. It would have outlawed public worker strikes, scraps binding
arbitration and prevents promotions based solely on seniority.
We
Are Ohio, the union-backed coalition opposing the law, had raised $24
million as of mid-October, building off anger over the bill that
prompted days of Statehouse protests earlier this year. Building a
Better Ohio, the proponent committee, reported raising about $8 million.
___
Associated Press writer JoAnne Viviano contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.