OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

Date: Feb. 22, 2011
Location:
Issues: Labor Unions Criminal Justice

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STATE SEN. NINA TURNER (D), OHIO: Well, we are working very hard in the state of Ohio, Ed. And as you highlighted, folks or citizens of the state were locked out of the People"s House. In Ohio, we call our state house the People"s House and it"s certainly unconscionable that they would be treated this way.

You know, this is an attack on middle class and working class families, our police officers, our teachers. They are our neighbors and our friends. And I thought--I never thought I would live to see the day that our state would declare war on its public sector employees. It is totally unconscionable.

And although my Republican colleagues here do not need the Democrats for a majority, certainly, we will continue to speak out and speak out loudly to shaken--to awaken the sleeping giants and be the moral consciousness of this state.

You know, a good friend of mine always says never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Well, the truth of the matter is it is unfair to lay the structural budget deficits in the state of Ohio at the feet of our public sector employees.

SCHULTZ: Well, they not only want to do that in the three states we"re focusing on tonight, but in Ohio, they are determined to end collective bargaining. And how--how are you going to stop them from doing that if you don"t have the numbers?

TURNER: Well, you know, Ed, if we don"t have the numbers, we can put an initiative on the ballot and that will require us to go out and collect signatures and let the people, the citizens of the state of Ohio have the final say. You know, in a recent poll--

SCHULTZ: Are you prepared to do that?

TURNER: We are absolutely prepared to do that, Ed. And also, a recent poll in the state of Ohio shows that over 50 percent of the citizens in this state do not support eliminating collective bargaining in the state. So, this bill needs to be done away with. We need to go back to the table.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

TURNER: Bring the entire--all stakeholders to the table and let"s talk about what it means to balance the budget. Let"s talk about what we need as a state, but never should we attack our public sector employees in this way.

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