Akron Beacon Journal...
State of distrust
August 16, 2011 

Ideally, Democrats and Republicans at the Statehouse would have worked together to rework collective bargaining for public employees. The approach would have been thoughtful and balanced, fitting for a law three decades on the books and successful in many ways. That is what has been appealing about recent efforts to avoid a massive collision at the polls in the fall. In June, cooler heads began to search for a compromise, a way to repair the excessively partisan law enacted by Republicans and remove from the ballot the labor-driven referendum on the measure. 

Of late, the advance of the moderates has fallen short. With an August 30 deadline looming for removing an issue from the ballot, the leaders of We Are Ohio, the campaign formed around the repeal, rejected the pursuit of a deal. Their position is understandable. The opportunity for compromise has been there from the start. If Democrats failed to offer an alternative in the spring, Republicans hardly signaled a willingness to bargain. 

Truth be told, the legislation became more partisan as it moved from the state Senate to the House. The House added provisions that had little to do with saving public money or improving the performance of government. For instance, House Republicans barred “fair share” payments to unions by non-union employees. Such steps aimed simply at reducing the political clout of labor. 

The repairs sought recently by the reasonable ones included removing such language. More, they sought to restore the right to strike for all non-safety employees and to refine further the process for binding arbitration. As many in Akron know, the arbitration regimen too easily has departed from reality, authority to run a city shifting from elected leaders to union bosses. 

So, yes, the time had come to revisit the collective bargaining law, holding to what has been effective, a tool for resolving disputes that once ripped communities. It is the responsibility of those with all of the power, majorities in the legislature, in charge of the governor’s office, to open the way to compromise. Perhaps Democrats and their labor allies would have said: No way. Yet Republicans failed to make a sincere effort. 

No surprise, the level of distrust now overflows, and the state faces what promises to be a rancorous and expensive campaign. One party got hammered in the legislative process, and now it seeks payback at the ballot box. 

Ohioans should hope for a miracle, the reasonable ones somehow producing a compromise, reflecting the middle ground of Democratic mayors frustrated with aspects of collective bargaining and the wish of Republican lawmakers to reap savings in the public sector. As it is, reason long ago exited the discussion. Now the drama will play itself out. The late hustling of the moderates has served as a reminder of what might have been. 

Read it at the Akron Beacon Journal