Ohio voters said no to the new collective bargaining law by a 21 percent margin. Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern says the referendum was successful, even in heavily Republican counties.
Redfern - It’s our job to reach out to those Republicans who still, by title, remain part of the GOP so they will stay with us in the long term.
So how does Redfern plan to keep these Republicans who voted his way on the collective bargaining plan in the fold? For starters, he says his party will focus on stabilizing local government funds that were cut drastically in the state budget.
Redfern - There are more Republican county commissioners and sheriffs in this state. It seems counterintuitive that we would push an agenda that would lift Republican officials up. But the fact is this is good for communties. Investing in local government funds would help keep from going back to voters so much and return to the long committment when it comes to providing funding at the local level.
And Redfern says his party also plans to make the case to voters that giving tax breaks to wealthy people does not translate into more jobs or better communities. While Republicans did cross over to vote for Issue 2, Democrats also crossed over to vote for Issue 3, a point that Ohio Republican Party Spokesman Chris Maloney makes.
Maloney- You had 76K more votes on Issue 3 than Issue 2. That’s the most glaring indication that you see a crossover of parties supporting one of these ballot initiatives.
Maloney says the fact that the health care amendment passed by such a large margin sends a strong message.
Maloney - We are encouraged by the vote on Issue 3. We think it provides wind at our back as we continue to paint Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown as twins of partisanship in the far left.
For his part, Democrat Redfern says Republicans shouldn’t read too much into that victory on health care. He notes there wasn’t much organized opposition to the plan to begin with.
Redfern - It was essentially a popularity contest. It’s akin to placing on the ballot who you think should be the homecoming queen. And it’s unenforceable.
Redfern says the fate of the new national health care law will be decided in court, not this constitutional amendment that Ohio voters approved.