Pops forwarded me this from someone else. I knew it was too long for Facebook so I thought I would post it here. Translation our governor is an a-hole.
Dear Staff,
I wanted to send this email to you for a week now. It has taken me the
better part of this week to make sure I form my words correctly and
present to you absolute facts. I am trying to do this below. I feel very
passionate that it is my duty as the superintendent of a legitimate
public school district (EAST HOLMES) to fill you in on an occurrence I had last
Thursday.
I was invited to hear Governor Kasich speak at a private "invitation"
only event. At first, I declined, but after more consideration, I
accepted and attended the event. Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder spoke
for about 5 minutes and then the Governor spoke for about 20. The
majority of people in the room were affiliated with the Republican Party.
When Batchelder spoke, he told this group point blank that Ohio is in the
financial shape it is in because public employees have been bilking the
state out of money for years. I promised myself that I would not become
outraged to the point where I had to leave, so I stayed.
The Governor spoke for about 5 of the 20 minutes on Senate Bill 5. I
thought you might be interested in some of the things he said. He told
the audience that public employees do not pay a dime into their pension
fund and that they do not pay a dime for their healthcare insurance. As
you know, this is a bold face lie. The public pension systems of Ohio
have noted that 98% of public employees DO pay 10% of their salary to the
retirement system. I hope you know that you do as well. Ten percent of
your salary goes to STRS and the school district does pay an additional
14% for you. This is no different from an employee who has a pension from
his or her company or a matched 401 (k). Nearly every professional
employee of any company that is worth its salt has one or both of these
benefits. Additionally, many public employees pay a percentage of their
health care cost. You pay 20%.
The Governor said that "we are at war with these people." He also
said that he wishes they would just accept Senate Bill 5 because he is
going to spend millions in tax payer money to defend it in the campaign.
He said if it goes down, he and the legislature are going to "ram it
through" in other legislation. He commented that his polls are showing
that as many as 70% of Republicans are going to vote the bill down and he
doesn't understand why.
He also tried to tell the people that he tried to sit down with union
leadership and they declined. I guess he forgot that the union leadership
approached him before Senate Bill 5 passed and he had the doors of the
State House LOCKED for the first time ever in history. He locked us out
of our building and said he was not discussing anything. His actions made that clear.Although many people in the room clapped when he said other things, no
one clapped during this Senate Bill 5 piece. He entertained about 10
questions. No one asked anything about Senate Bill 5. They all asked
about why he is selling the turnpike to a foreign nation and why he is
"selling jails" to private companies which may be foreign nations
when the major religions have deemed this immoral, unethical and unjust.
They also asked about tax abatements, Obama Care and Medicare in Ohio.
After every single question, he turned the tables around and made a
comment that public employees have caused Ohio to be in financial ruin
and that is why he was doing all of these things.
I understand that Ohio is in bad financial shape. I really do. I
understand that we need reform. You cannot "ram through" reform and
you cannot blame the state of the economy on the hard working people of
Ohio. The absolute thing that bothered me the most about the whole ordeal
was that he lied to the people in that room. He spread a bold face lie as
propaganda in order to make his bill look valid. It made me sick.
This Governor is a bully and the legislature is his posse. We have to
stand up to this bully AND to his posse. We need to make sure that our
family members, our friends, our neighbors-anyone who will
listen-know the truth and know that these lies are coming from
Columbus. If you don't stand up for yourself now, this will only be the
beginning of a downward turn from which we will never recover.Hang in there,
Thank you,
Joseph R Edinger
Superintendent of East Holmes Local Schools
I wanted to send this email to you for a week now. It has taken me the
better part of this week to make sure I form my words correctly and
present to you absolute facts. I am trying to do this below. I feel very
passionate that it is my duty as the superintendent of a legitimate
public school district (EAST HOLMES) to fill you in on an occurrence I had last
Thursday.
I was invited to hear Governor Kasich speak at a private "invitation"
only event. At first, I declined, but after more consideration, I
accepted and attended the event. Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder spoke
for about 5 minutes and then the Governor spoke for about 20. The
majority of people in the room were affiliated with the Republican Party.
When Batchelder spoke, he told this group point blank that Ohio is in the
financial shape it is in because public employees have been bilking the
state out of money for years. I promised myself that I would not become
outraged to the point where I had to leave, so I stayed.
The Governor spoke for about 5 of the 20 minutes on Senate Bill 5. I
thought you might be interested in some of the things he said. He told
the audience that public employees do not pay a dime into their pension
fund and that they do not pay a dime for their healthcare insurance. As
you know, this is a bold face lie. The public pension systems of Ohio
have noted that 98% of public employees DO pay 10% of their salary to the
retirement system. I hope you know that you do as well. Ten percent of
your salary goes to STRS and the school district does pay an additional
14% for you. This is no different from an employee who has a pension from
his or her company or a matched 401 (k). Nearly every professional
employee of any company that is worth its salt has one or both of these
benefits. Additionally, many public employees pay a percentage of their
health care cost. You pay 20%.
The Governor said that "we are at war with these people." He also
said that he wishes they would just accept Senate Bill 5 because he is
going to spend millions in tax payer money to defend it in the campaign.
He said if it goes down, he and the legislature are going to "ram it
through" in other legislation. He commented that his polls are showing
that as many as 70% of Republicans are going to vote the bill down and he
doesn't understand why.
He also tried to tell the people that he tried to sit down with union
leadership and they declined. I guess he forgot that the union leadership
approached him before Senate Bill 5 passed and he had the doors of the
State House LOCKED for the first time ever in history. He locked us out
of our building and said he was not discussing anything. His actions made that clear.Although many people in the room clapped when he said other things, no
one clapped during this Senate Bill 5 piece. He entertained about 10
questions. No one asked anything about Senate Bill 5. They all asked
about why he is selling the turnpike to a foreign nation and why he is
"selling jails" to private companies which may be foreign nations
when the major religions have deemed this immoral, unethical and unjust.
They also asked about tax abatements, Obama Care and Medicare in Ohio.
After every single question, he turned the tables around and made a
comment that public employees have caused Ohio to be in financial ruin
and that is why he was doing all of these things.
I understand that Ohio is in bad financial shape. I really do. I
understand that we need reform. You cannot "ram through" reform and
you cannot blame the state of the economy on the hard working people of
Ohio. The absolute thing that bothered me the most about the whole ordeal
was that he lied to the people in that room. He spread a bold face lie as
propaganda in order to make his bill look valid. It made me sick.
This Governor is a bully and the legislature is his posse. We have to
stand up to this bully AND to his posse. We need to make sure that our
family members, our friends, our neighbors-anyone who will
listen-know the truth and know that these lies are coming from
Columbus. If you don't stand up for yourself now, this will only be the
beginning of a downward turn from which we will never recover.Hang in there,
Thank you,
Joseph R Edinger
Superintendent of East Holmes Local Schools
