Democrats offer misleading, deceitful information
August 29, 2011

In their seven months as the minority caucus, Democrats have taken up the hobby of fiction writing. They are using the most desperate of scare tactics to misconstrue the real contents of Republican-backed legislation, especially Senate Bill 5 and the budget.

A recent example came from Rep. Dan Ramos of Lorain County in his Aug. 13 editorial, "Ohio choosing unemployment over new jobs." In it, he made several claims that were deceitful, bordering on blatantly irresponsible.

Ramos alleged that, under Republican policies, children will be stuffed into classrooms with 40 or 50 of their peers where they will be subject to outdated learning materials. He also claimed that they will be taught by teachers who are in "financial ruin, whose efforts aren't respected, let alone supported by their elected representation."

The idea of a person not being fairly represented sounds awfully familiar to me. My wife teaches at a public high school in the district, and, like all teachers, pays dues to the school's union. Last fall, that union ran a vicious and dishonest campaign against me and other fellow Republicans who were running for state office. My wife researched the union more closely and found that it contributed to many liberal social causes that she disagrees with. Some of them had no relevance to education whatsoever.

In short, she was helping fund causes she didn't believe in.

For Ramos to say teachers are not supported by their elected representation, while at the same time defending the sneaky and dishonest actions of some government union bosses is hypocritical. What my fellow representative is really saying is that Ohio's teachers are not being represented by Democrats-a scary thought, not for the teachers, but rather for his party.

Democrats are dependent upon government unions to stuff their pockets during the campaign season. In return, government unions are granted protection by Democrats when it comes to bargaining for taxpayer dollars. The public is left out of these back-scratching negotiations, and for many years was mostly unaware of it even taking place. But now, with states and local governments running massive budget deficits and jobs being eliminated from the private sector, taxpayers are learning about these backroom deals. Ramos and others in his party see this as a major threat to their political careers.

Nonetheless, had that been all he said, his arguments could merely be labeled petty and childish. When he mentioned our public safety officers, however, they became irresponsible and even dangerous. Ramos said our police and fire responses will be slower and that our streets will be less safe. His final prediction: "We'll lose mementos and purses; we'll lose loved ones."

Essentially, he is comparing election results to the burning of houses and the deaths of friends and family. That someone in an elected office would make such a reckless and insensitive statement exceeds the bounds of proper discourse.

Ohioans turned down liberalism and the Democrat party en masse last November because they wanted leaders who would actually be willing to make tough decisions. Now, all Democrats can find to do with their time is try to stir up a frenzy of anxiety and fear amongst the public.

Fear mongering is no way to lead.


State Rep. Andy Thompson
Columbus