Anti-Union Legislation — the Governor is listening?

Kasich looks ahead

By Joe Vardon

The Columbus Dispatch – November 04, 2011 15:11 PM

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Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Issue 2 fails and Senate Bill 5 goes away.

What’s next for Gov. John Kasich?

He’s been asked time and again what he will do about helping local governments control their costs if Issue 2 is defeated – as polling suggests it will be. For instance, will he support a re-introduction of legislation that contains some provisions of Senate Bill 5, possibly relating to healthcare and pension contributions?

Or, more broadly, will he and Republican lawmakers re-introduce the same basic plan that, again, hypothetically, voters just rejected?

“You have to always listen to what your folks want, and you have to listen carefully,” Kasich said Thursday night. “And that’s exactly what we’ll do, win or lose.”

Earlier this week, Kasich also said: “If this doesn’t pass, I’m going to have to work with cities. I don’t have any money to bail anybody out, but what is it you’d like? What are the tools you’d like to have?”

Some have opined that the Issue 2 fight is a referendum on Kasich as governor. Even if that is the case, Kasich vowed that he wouldn’t curb his, ahem, enthusiasm for enacting his agenda.

“What, you think I’m going to quit?” Kasich said in a speech to the Summit County GOP Thursday night. “You think I’m going to get weak? There’s no way. We’re going to listen to what the people have to say. Hopefully we win. If we don’t, we’ll move on. But every day when we get up, every single morning when I wake up, I think about what are we doing to improve the lives of families and children and create jobs in Ohio.”

Kasich also hinted that his near-term new legislative agenda might include revamping worker training programs to match employment opportunities, controlling rising costs of higher education, and reworking K-12 funding.