The decision leaves more than a quarter-million Ohioans without medical coverage. It will cost the state's taxpayers at least $400 million in the next two years. It would have given more than a quarter-million Ohioans health insurance where they are now otherwise without it.
Ohio's far-right House Speaker William G. Batchelder is orchestrating a "multistate rebellion" against the "Obamacare" money. The Free Press obtained documents in 1997 showing Batchelder to be a secret member of the ultra-right-wing Council for National Policy (CNP) that had several white supremacists and far-right-wing Christian fundamentalists on their roster. (Batchelder once publicly described co-author Harvey Wasserman as hailing from "the fever swamps of the far left.")
The legislature has also voted to defund Planned Parenthood, leaving the nearly 100,000 Ohio women who've been receiving them without services ranging from birth control to cancer screening to HIV testing.
And it's given an enthusiastic green light to fracking in a state where the public opposition is strong, and the process has been definitively linked to at least one earthquake.
On April 16, the House Republicans pushed through an amendment prohibiting the teaching of comprehensive sexual education in Ohio schools. Public school curricula must now teach abstinence only. Parents and guardians can now sue teachers for condoning pre-marital sex in any form. Such "gateway sexual activity" includes risquà © behavior like "hand holding." A $5000 fine comes with each teaching offense that somehow relates to pre-marital sex.
But, finally, it seems, there are limits, even in Tea Party Ohio. In 2011, the Republican House introduced union-busting legislation for both the public and private sector. The last time the Ohio GOP pushed a so-called right-to-work initiative was in 1958.
But when what became known as Senate Bill 5 was put to a public vote, the Ohio electorate rose up to crush it by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin. After serving as the poster boy for this union-busting maneuver, Kasich's popularity fell to 32 percent.
This year he has very publicly distanced himself from Batchelder and his anti-union cohorts in the Ohio House. With the economy on the uptick in Ohio, he recently obtained his highest approval rating ever, at 52 percent.
But the Tea Party Republicans in the House don't lightly take no for any answer. They've even gone so far as to attack Kasich's tax plans, which apparently don't swing enough of Ohio's public revenue to private corporations.
Early this spring, the Ohio House passed yet another right-to-work bill. With all the moneyed enthusiasm of a mob of Lemmings, the Buckeye far right geared up for another assault on the basic rights of working people.
But this proved too much even for Ohio's Senate. Kasich may face a tough reelection fight next year. If he wins, there's a high likelihood it will be followed by a run at the White House.
With a core of loyal personal supporters, Kasich killed the bill. By portraying himself increasingly as a moderate, Kasich's approval ratings seem destined to continue moving up.
Whether Ohio's corporatocracy is forced to yield anything else to a core Democratic electorate remains to be seen. But even with a very aggressive moneyed elite in firm control, there are still some limits on how far the extreme right can push Ohio's working people.
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman have co-authored six books on election protection, including WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO? , now at www.freepress.org, along with Bob's FITRAKIS FILES. HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE US is at www.harveywasserman.com. This article was first published at progressive.org.
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