News Digest from the Bedford/Walton Hills Democratic Party for Friday, August 12, 2011

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Bedford/Walton Hills Democratic Party News Digest Friday, August 12, 2011
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Here are today’s items of interest. This is a compendium of some of this week’s most important news.

Any questions, or should you have an item of interest, please let me know.

-Democratic Leader Andrew Mizsak
REMINDERS OF EVENTS:  Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Outreach Booth at the Cuyahoga County Fair…going on everyday through August 14th, 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM, Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea. 

 DEMS DAY Picnic Event…Sunday, August 14th, 2011, from 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Egbert Picnic Shelter, Bedford Reservation in the Cleveland Metroparks. The Shelter is located off of Egbert Road in Bedford. Fundraiser for Councilwoman Paula Mizsak. Tuesday, August 16th, 2011; 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. Sirna’s Café. 795 Broadway Avenue, Bedford. $35/person. Solon/Glenwillow Democratic Club Meeting. Wednesday, August 17th, 2011. 7:00 PM. Cuyahoga County Public Library – Solon Branch.
SPECIAL ATTENTION:  T-SHIRTS CAN STILL BE ORDERED…They are $10 each. Please let me know ASAP if you would like them.  FLYER for Dems Day Event. th C.A.U.S.E. event   FLYER for the Parma Democratic Party Steak Roast
SPECIAL RECOGNITION!!

TODAY’S LEAD STORY: BIG EVENT WEEKEND!!!  We Are Ohio canvass in Bedford Heights (and Bedford) 
 
WEEKEND NEIGHBORHOOD WALKS FOR NO on ISSUE #2  Saturday, August 13, 2011
 Shift #1 - 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
 Shift #2 - 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 Sunday, August 14, 2011
 Shift #1 - 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

 Shift #2 - 3:00 PM - 5:00 P  Bedford Heights Reed Pool & Park 
  Contact: Field Organizer Michael Houser 216.496.4347
From the United Auto Workers:
Support Verizon Workers’ Fight to Defend Middle-Class Jobs

The war on collective bargaining goes on, this time at Verizon. Despite making $19.5 billion in profits and paying out $258 million to its top 5 executives in the last four years, Verizon wants to take back more than 50 years of collective bargaining and destroy middleclass jobs.

Verizon has refused to move from a long list of nearly 100 concession demands. CWA and IBEW have taken the unprecedented step of striking until Verizon stops its Wisconsin-style tactics and starts bargaining seriously.

Verizon’s demands include: freeze pensions for current workers and eliminate them for future workers, allow contracting out and offshoring of more jobs, slash sick leave, completely gut health care plans for current and retired workers, and eliminate disability payments for injured workers.

How You Can Help

Adopt Verizon Wireless stores to picket and leaflet. Download the leaflet at cwa-union.org/verizon Sign our petition at cwa-union.org/verizongreed

"Like" us at facebook.com/UnityatVerizon2011
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From the Ohio Democratic Party:
Ohio Democratic Party http://ohiodems.org/r/B/MTc3NzI/NDk1MjEw/0/0/aHR0cDovL29oaW9kZW1zLm9yZy8jISMh

Dear Supporter,

So far, 2011 has proven to be a year of many fights.

We’re fighting attacks on Ohio’s workers.
We’re fighting attacks on Ohio’s environment.

We’re fighting attacks on Ohio’s families.

As we gear up for battles in 2011 and 2012, let’s show our opponents that we’re willing to stand up and fight to rebuild the American dream of good jobs and strong communities.

Join the Ohio Democratic Party and thousands of other Ohioans for the Stand Up for Ohio festival on Saturday, August 20 from noon until dusk at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus.

This free festival will feature music from Grand Funk Railroad, The Ohio Players, and Over the Rhine. It’ll also have poetry from Ohio’s own Nikki Giovanni. Click here for the day’s full line up.

http://ohiodems.org/r/B/MTc3NzM/NDk1MjEw/0/0/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5icmluZ2F3ZXNvbWViYWNrLmNvbS8jISMh

Not only will there be great entertainment, but we’ll hear from Ohioans that are leading fights to repeal SB 5 (now No on Issue 2), restore funding to education, protect the environment and keep voting simple, easy and accessible to all people.

Will you join us?

Click here to RSVP for the Stand Up for Ohio festival on August 20.

http://ohiodems.org/r/B/MTc3NzQ/NDk1MjEw/0/0/aHR0cDovL3N0YW5kdXBmb3JvaGlvLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvP2V2ZW50X2lkPTM2IyEjIQ

The entire event is free and open to the public. There will be "Built by Ohio Workers" displays, games and activities for children, and information from organizations fighting for Ohioans every day.

Join us at noon on August 20 at the Ohio State Fairgrounds and stand up and fight for the American dream in Ohio!

Sincerely,
Your friends at the Ohio Democratic Party

Paid for and authorized by the Ohio Democratic Party, not authorized by any federal candidate or campaign committee. Chris Redfern, Chairman, 340 East Fulton St, Columbus, Ohio 43215.
From Progress Ohio: 
Readers of Shadows know that hypocrisy and distortions of the truth are nothing new to politics but Governor John Kasich and his Friends in the Statehouse have taken it to new levels.

They claim to care about the middle class, but slam through extreme legislation like SB5, which will decimate collective bargaining and create a downward cycle in our local communities.

They talk about creating Jobs and then slash billions from our local government and schools, leading to an estimated 51,000 job losses across the State.

They talk about making elections more secure and then push through HB194, a blatant partisan attempt to stop eligible votes from counting and to restrict the ability of citizens to participate in our democracy.

Here at ProgressOhio, we have started a Kasich’s Cons Web Series to highlight the many examples of lies and distortions from Governor Kasich and his cronies.

In this week’s video, we review our findings from the last few weeks and lay out the facts so far:
1. Governor Kasich doesn’t respect us.
2. Governor Kasich doesn’t think we can Repeal SB5.
3. Governor Kasich is WRONG.
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS WEEK’S SHADOWS ON HIGH AND SEE THE LATEST KASICH’S CONS VIDEO

Please Remember this Fall "NO" is a beautiful word. Join Us!

Follow Us!

Support Us!

From Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio): We all wish we’d gotten a better deal to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations. But this fight isn’t over. And just because you and I won’t be in the room when the new deficit reduction committee is working on the next deal doesn’t mean we can’t make our voices heard.   Click here to tell the Democrats to stand up for progressive principles! My new petition calls upon Democrats on the "super committee" to hold fast to three progressive principles: 1. Oppose any plan that ends Medicare as we know it. 2. Protect Social Security -- a program that isn’t responsible for the deficit. 3. Demand that big corporations and the wealthy share in the sacrifice. Any deal that doesn’t meet these criteria is a bad deal for the middle class -- and progressives should band together to urge Democrats to stand strong. Sign my open letter and ask Democrats to unite around these principles! Defend Medicare. Protect Social Security. Share the sacrifice. Every Democrat should stand proudly behind these three principles. And every progressive should demand that of our representatives on the "super committee." Now is the time for us to make our voices heard and shape the debate before it begins. So click here, sign my petition, and let’s stand up for our progressive principles!

From the Public Education Network Weekly News Blast for Friday, August 12, 2011 (Edited):   ========================================== Why they marched In a speech at the Save Our Schools march in Washington, D.C., Linda Darling-Hammond explained why she and thousands of others had rallied -- to challenge the "aggressive neglect of our children": "We are here because we want to prepare children for the 21st-century world they are entering, not for an endless series of multiple-choice tests that increasingly deflect us from our mission to teach them well," she told the crowd. "We are here to protest the policies that produce the increasingly segregated and underfunded schools so many of our children attend." The march attested to the fact that "it is not acceptable for the wealthiest country in the world to be cutting millions of dollars from schools serving our neediest students... It is not acceptable to have schools in our cities and poor rural districts staffed by a revolving door of beginning and often untrained teachers, many of whom see this as charity work they do on the way to a real job." However, Darling-Hammond stated, public education has a secret weapon: "the members of communities and the profession like yourselves who are committed first and foremost to our children and who have the courage to speak out against injustice." The speech is reprinted in its entirety on Valerie Strauss's Answer Sheet blog in The Washington Post. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/3ultpm3   With White Hats like these... An Ohio judge has ordered charter-school operator David L. Brennan to turn over a detailed accounting of how his for-profit management company White Hat spends the millions of tax dollars it receives each year, The Columbus Dispatch reports. The state's law "clearly and unambiguously requires operators of community schools to provide their governing authorities with a detailed accounting of how public funds are spent," Judge John Bender wrote in a 12-page decision. Last year, charter schools in the Akron and Cleveland areas sued to terminate or renegotiate contracts with White Hat, saying their input was ignored and White Hat ran the schools "as they deem fit regardless of many legitimate objections, questions, and challenges that the (community schools) have raised." Under contracts with the schools, White Hat receives 96 percent of the state aid schools are given. Bender's decision means White Hat must turn over a broad range of financial data, including how much is spent on teacher salaries, computers, textbooks, and other classroom equipment; an inventory of personal property for each school; how much is spent on lobbying state lawmakers or making political contributions; and funds paid Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast "Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit." August 12, 2011

From the Ohio AFL-CIO: North Shore CLC Kickoff Attracts 200+ The North Shore AFL-CIO Central Labor Council kicked off its Cleveland campaign to repeal Senate Bill 5 yesterday, packing the LIUNA 310 Hall with more than 200 labor leaders and activists. The diverse group, which included members from AFGE, AFM, AFSCME, AFT, AFTRA, APWU, ATU, CWA, GCIU, IAFF, IATSE, IBEW, IRON, IUDE, IUEC, LIUNA, OAPSE, OCSEA, OPEIU, SEIU, UA, UAW, USW and UTU, allies from ADA, America Votes, the Cuyahoga Democratic Party, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Metro Health, MoveOn and many more, was visibly impassioned about voting "NO" on Issue 2 to veto the bill on November 8. "I’ve never seen labor so energized and enthusiastic," said Brenda Adrine, a retired systems analyst and member of AFGE Local 3238. Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary of the North Shore Labor Council, called the campaign to defeat Issue 2 a collective effort. "Everyone — private sector, public sector and building and construction workers and union leaders came together with our allies and talked to hundreds of thousands of people to put this on the ballot," she said. "We stood together, and we’re fired up and ready to work to defeat this." Applegate added that she felt confident labor and allies would vote down Issue 2. "We’re going to win this fight because folks in Ohio realize this isn’t just an attack on public sector employees. It’s an attack on us all," she said. Similar CLC Leadership Events are taking place across the state this week and next as we begin executing a plan to reach our universe of more than 1.6 million middle class Ohioans. But we can’t do it alone. Please, join us at a CLC Kickoff Meeting in your area. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll need your help to make sure that all working Ohioans know what’s at stake on November 8. E-mail killthebillohio@gmail.com with your contact information to sign up and volunteer for the campaign. Thank you — for all that you do. In solidarity, The Ohio AFL-CIO

From Craig Lindell, Vice President of the Solon Democratic Club:
 Become involved in what is happening in Solon and Ohio
The Solon Democratic Club is pleased to invite you to a meeting Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 7:00PM.

The meeting is in the meeting room of the Solon Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library. Located at 34125 Portz Parkway, Solon, OH 44139, off SOM Center Road

Topics The next step now that the Referendum Petition has been certified for the November 2011 ballot

SPAN of Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio)
 SB:112 Health Care for All Ohioans: Co-Sponsored by Senators: Mike Skindell and Nina Turner

 HB:287 Ohio HC Security Act: Co-Sponsored by Representatives: Mike Foley and Bob Hagan

New Wards in Solon due to population changes from the 2010 census

Our website is http://www.solondemocraticclub.com/

The following link to the Ohio House Democratic Caucus website will also help you keep informed of the latest email updates regarding the referendum to rescind SB5. 13 http://ohiodems.org/

All are welcome.
Thank you for all you do! Onward to Victory!
-Andrew
"Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor."
JOHN F. KENNEDY, speech, Aug. 30, 1960 http://action.weareohio.com/page/event/detail/canvass/wzs  24780 Eldridge Road  Bedford Hts, Ohio Help Reject SB5  DEMS DAY!  FLYER for Councilwoman Mizsak’s Fundraiser  FLYER for August 20
TODAY’S ATTACHED DOCUMENTS: