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Redstate
Operating
Engineers Union Shovels $165,000 to Ohio Republicans
Anti-workplace
freedom smear campaign: Check. Buy off GOP squishes: Check.
By:
Jason Hart
March
13th, 2014
Last
year Ohio Republicans received $165,450 from International Union of
Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 18, whose campaign against Right to
Work has demonized workplace freedom as poisonous and communist.
IUOE
Local 18 gave $12,000 — the union’s largest campaign contribution
all year — to Governor John Kasich. Unlike Ohio’s other big labor
unions, IUOE Local 18 contributed nothing to Ed FitzGerald, Kasich’s
Democrat opponent.
In
the months leading up to and following the introduction of three
workplace freedom bills in the Ohio House, IUOE Local 18 contributed
$10,000 to Senate President Keith Faber (R-Celina) and $8,350 to
House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina).
Every
member of Republican leadership in the Ohio Senate received at least
$4,800 from IUOE Local 18 in 2013. House Majority Floor Leader
Barbara Sears (R-Monclova Twp.), a close ally of Gov. Kasich, was
among the 11 Republican legislators the union gave $5,000 or more.
In
total, 33 Republican officeholders including potential future
gubernatorial candidates Mike DeWine and Jon Husted received
donations from IUOE Local 18 last year. The union funneled $69,450 to
state representatives and $69,000 to state senators.
There
are 23 Republicans in the Ohio Senate; IUOE Local 18 donated $2,500
or more to 13 of them.
IUOE
Local 18 shares its Cleveland offices with Keep Ohio’s Heritage,
which was created in 2012 with $1,000,000 from IUOE’s national
headquarters. IUOE Local 18 President Richard Dalton is the treasurer
for Keep Ohio’s Heritage.
The
union paid Dalton $142,338 in 2012, while IUOE Local 18 Business
Manager Pat Sink was paid $167,263. A total of 26 of the union’s
officers and employees were paid six figures in 2012, based on IUOE
Local 18′s
annual report to the U.S. Department of Labor.
As
part of IUOE’s campaign to keep union dues mandatory, Keep Ohio’s
Heritage warned Ohioans in five media markets that workplace freedom
is “meant to kill unions and worker protections — just like what
is done in communist countries.”
Keep
Ohio’s Heritage has bought billboard space along major highways
across the state for the hammer and sickle graphic shown here.
Meanwhile,
IUOE Local 18 was spending $165,450 to kill workplace freedom —
which would allow Ohioans to opt out of paying union bosses like
those at IUOE Local 18 — in the state legislature.
Republican
Officeholder Contributions from IUOE Local 18 in 2013
Gov.
John Kasich $12,000
Senante
President Keith Faber $10,000
Rep.
David Hall $8,850
House
Speaker Bill Batchelder $8,350
Attorney
General Mike DeWine $7,500
Sen.
Bill Beagle $6,000
Sen.
Frank LaRose $5,800
Sen.
Gayle Manning $5,800
Senate
Majority Floor Leader Tom Patton $5,800
Sen.
Kevin Bacon $5,500
Rep.
Kirk Schuring $5,350
Rep.
Anne Gonzales $5,000
House
Majority Floor Leader Barbara Sears $5,000
Republican
Senate Campaign Committee $5,000
Senate
Majority Whip Larry Obhof $4,800
Senate
President Pro Tempore Chris Widener $4,800
Sen.
Troy Balderson $4,500
Sen.
Randy Gardner $4,500
Sen.
Jim Hughes $4,500
Sen.
Scott Oelslager $4,500
Rep.
Ross McGregor $4,350
Rep.
Marlene Anielski $3,350
Rep.
Anthony DeVitis $3,350
Rep.
Mike Dovilla $3,350
Rep.
Tim Brown $3,000
Rep.
Mike Duffey $3,000
Rep.
Brian Hill $3,000
Rep.
Terry Johnson $3,000
Rep.
Al Landis $3,000
Rep.
Margaret Ann Ruhl $3,000
Rep.
Ryan Smith $3,000
Sen.
John Eklund $2,500
Secretary
of State Jon Husted $2,500
Rep.
Mark Romanchuk $1,500
A
total of 78 percent of all IUOE Local 18's political donations went
to Republicans last year.
The
$165,450 IUOE Local 18 gave to Republicans in 2013 was more than
triple the union’s total reported 2012 campaign spending of
$50,150.
Read
the article with links at Redstate
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