richielion - n.j. didn't go begging the feds for any help despite their pension debt, so ohio doesn't have to either. n.j.'s elected officials sat with all concerned parties re the pension and benefit debacle and deficit and came up with reform that all parties felt was what was needed and could be passed at this time to sustain future retirements. once the reform was passed, gov christie boasted about how HE had made the future retirement pkgs sustainable [though, todate, he has still failed to make his much reduced contribution]! and now the gov of ohio is forced to do the same - bargain and negotiate! had he just buckled down and done this from the beginning EVERYONE would have suffered far less aggrevation and voters would not have made him appear to have lost a battle.

you post that this was a singular win for democrats; in hind sight one could say that the other side of that coin was that the election of kasich was a singular win for republicans. either way, such statements are shortsighted in that there are public union members in both parties as there are private sector employees in both parties. this win was a win for the principle of collective bargaining - more a democratic principle and practice than a republican one, nonetheless. democrats call it collective bargaining while republicans call it negotiation...either way...this win insures that all parties will provide input to the two sides responsible for reaching a resolution.

the vote to uphold the right to collective bargaining and the vote to to reject the requirement that every citizen have health insurance seems to tell me that ohioans are all for protecting the rights of the individual.