Friday, January 6, 2017

The 'reasonable' Republican candidate just blocked a democratic vote on $15 minimum wage

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/20/1613000/-The-reasonable-Republican-candidate-just-blocked-a-democratic-vote-on-15-minimum-wage
"While Republicans in North Carolina thwart the democratic process of our Constitution by stripping the elected incoming governor of his powers, the Republican governor of Ohio—John “I love war” Kasich—is abusing his powers. Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday signed legislation blocking next year's special election vote on whether to raise Cleveland's minimum wage to $15 per hour, according to his office. Senate Bill 331 prohibits communities in the state from raising the minimum wage beyond the state's minimum wage rate, currently set at $8.10 per hour. State lawmakers passed the bill earlier this month at the request of Cleveland city officials and others, who sought to forestall a special election on the wage hike next May. Sounds to me a lot like big government making decisions for local municipalities? Bill 331 had started off as legislation that would allow pet stores to get around local ordinances and buy from inhumane “puppy mills.” Guess what? This bill is still going to be effective in that regard. The good news for Ohioans is that Senate Bill 331 makes bestiality illegal—so they can check that off their list of national problems they’ve handled—but it also limits communities from stopping telecoms from installing microantennas on street lights. What does the Ohio state Constitution have to say about all of these added-on pieces of legislation around a pet store bill? A bill that started out dealing with pet stores now intrudes on municipal decisions about utilities' rights of way and attempts to nullify the potential result of a Cleveland initiative - though the state constitution requires that "no bill shall contain more than one subject." There’s a war being waged in our country and it’s not on Christmas."