Toledo Protests Balancing State Budget on Backs of Working People and Families

This afternoon, about three dozen people from Northwest Ohio gathered in the chambers of the Lucas County commissioners at Government Center in downtown Toledo to protest Gov. Kasich’s State of the State address which balances the state’s budget on the backs of working people and their families.  This demonstration and press conference was organized and sponsored by Jobs with Justice Toledo and the local Service Employees International Union.  Occupy Toledo also joined forces to call for a budget that meets human need not corporate greed.  Included in the gathering were labor activists and union members, elected officials, educators, health care workers, persons living in poverty, persons of faith, and God knows who else!  The event was intended to counter and respond to Gov. Kasich’s bully pulpit.  The governor claims to have created jobs in Lucas County, when, in fact, any recent job creation occurred despite his leadership not because of it.  Rumor also has it that the sun has risen in Lucas County every day since the governor was elected.  The governor seems intent on managing the state’s budget by breaking the budget of local government, counties and municipalities.  Over $70 million of Lucas County tax revenue that previously was returned to the county, is now being retained by the state.  This year alone, Toledo public schools has had to deal budget cuts totaling $400 per pupil, and already strained system.  Meanwhile, at the state, under the governor’s leadership, we are privatizing and selling off the people’s assets while simultaneously acting surprised that government somehow doesn’t turn a profit.  Well, Gov., the government is supposed to serve as a vehicle for benefiting the common good, not as a tool for generating private profit.  When profits come before the people, sooner or later, prophets will come before the people! Let us make it so.