AFSCME Retirees’ $10,000 Boosts Ohio Campaign

by Cynthia McCabe  |  November 05, 2011

Retired steamfitter Howard Van Kleef announces a $10,000 donation to We Are Ohio on behalf of Ohio/AFSCME Retiree Chapter 1184 during the Council 8 convention. (Photo by Joe Weidner)

COLUMBUS, OHIO – There was something very satisfying about a $10,000 donation from AFSCME Retirees being used to fight back against a television ad that twisted the words of a fellow Ohio retiree and targeted the state’s public employees.

Just two days before “Grannygate” – when Issue 2’s backers twisted the words of great-grandmother Marlene Quinn to make it appear she was on their side when she most certainly wasn’t – the executive board for AFSCME Retirees authorized the sizeable donation to We Are Ohio. That’s the coalition fighting Gov. John Kasich’s anti-worker Issue 2.

“The unions are fighting for their lives, so to speak, with Issue 2,” said retired steamfitter Howard Van Kleef of Cleveland Heights, who announced the donation to a cheering AFSCME Council 8 convention in September. “We depend on them to help us. Now it was our turn to help them.”

That donation helped We Are Ohio purchase TV ads and print leaflets to educate state residents about the right wing twisting Quinn’s words, said Kyle McDermott, We Are Ohio’s deputy director.

“We were able to tell her story because of the help of AFSCME (Retiree Chapter) 1184,” McDermott said. “The Retiree contribution went a long way to get the message out.”

The dirty tricks from those desperate to pass Issue 2 don’t surprise Van Kleef and his fellow AFSCME retirees, but that doesn’t make the deception and the attacks on unions any less troubling.

“It’s like we’re going backwards,” Van Kleef said. “A lot of us grew up in the 20s and 30s. It took a lot of struggle and a lot of strikes to get what we had – the benefits, the pensions, health care. We feel that’s being taken away.”