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Unions get ready for a battle over Senate Bill one and a conversation with Democratic candidate for governor, Amy Acton.

That's this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

The higher education bill that bans most diversity, equity and inclusion, or Dei programs and university faculty strikes, is expected to be signed by governor Mike DeWine.

After passing the Senate in February.

And then the House Republicans say Senate Bill one would combat what they see as liberal indoctrination at public universities.

All Republicans say 42 senators and three representatives voted for the bill.

Those five GOP lawmakers joined all Democrats in voting against it.

Students and faculty groups have been loud and their opposition this time.

And in the last session, when a similar version stalled before getting to the House floor.

But with DeWine signature likely, unions are gearing up to fight it.

I talk with Scott Dimauro with the Ohio Education Association, which is, in full disclosure, an underwriter of this program.

We heard concerns from the student groups, the Ohio State faculty groups about Senate Bill one.

What are your concerns, first of all, as a union of educators?

Right.

So representing many higher education faculty and staff and then, you know, a much larger segment of K-12, teachers as well as, support staff.

You know, we're really concerned about just undermining collective bargaining rights.

You know, the Ohio collective bargaining law has been in place since 1984.

It has brought labor peace, to this state.

And it gives working men and women an opportunity to have a voice over their working conditions, which are the learning conditions of our students.

And so any effort and this is really the most significant undercutting of collective bargaining since that was attempted, with Senate Bill five back in 2011.

And, of course, that was the collective bargaining law that would have changed things for police unions and teachers and all that, that which ended up being repealed through an effort from unions.

Absolutely.

And it's interesting that even though there isn't a direct impact on unions like police and fire, organized labor was absolutely unified in opposing Senate Bill one, because we do recognize this principle that an attack on one is an attack on all.

And you start turning back the clock and you start taking away a voice from one segment of public employees in the state.

Where's that going to go next?

Supporters of Senate Bill one have said it's clear that unionized faculty members are looking out for themselves and not worrying about the student population.

And they should know that the university exists for the students and not the faculty, and therefore, it's appropriate to put faculty in that limited list of employees who can't strike in Ohio.

What do you say to concern to that kind of a statement?

I mean, I think that's rhetoric that really just belies the underlying, attack on on unions and on higher education.

What is really happening is it's taking away a voice from people, who have dedicated their lives to serving students.

When higher education faculty bargained for, various conditions in their contract.

That is also about bargaining for quality education for the students that they serve.

Our collective bargaining law provides a level playing field between management and labor, between the board of trustees and, the people who work in the classroom every day.

And this is really upending that balance.

The complaint has been that unions, faculty unions could use a strike as a way to negotiate, and that would potentially interrupt students academic careers, kids who are very, very close to graduating.

And it's not fair to them.

What do you say?

Yeah, I think they're, trying to use worst case scenarios as a way to instill fear in people and kind of, you know, create this hysteria around that issue.

The reality is, is that faculty strikes just like all public employee strikes in Ohio, since the passage of the collective bargaining law, are exceedingly rare.

The last one that that I remember we were part of, was at Youngstown State.

It lasted, I think, for three days.

But it was an important opportunity for, faculty to be able to advance their interests.

And interestingly, during that strike, they had significant support from students on campus.

And that's what helped drive a settlement.

So.

So I think those kinds of concerns are really, mischaracterizing the real aspect of what happened.

Interestingly, student groups have been marching with faculty members in opposition to Senate Bill one.

Governor Mike DeWine is getting pressure to veto this.

He has said it is likely he'll sign or he'll probably sign it.

What do you think will be the effect if he does sign it?

Well, I think it's kind of, you know, one, we'll see what happens in terms of, like, shifting the balance and, you know, disempowering disenfranchized disenfranchizing people who work in colleges and universities in Ohio.

I think that, in turn, is going to make it much difficult, much more difficult for the state to attract and retain good people, to serve as faculty.

I have heard many people say, hey, this law passes.

I'm going to start looking for a job somewhere else.

And then that then contributes to what is already a concern about brain drain here in the state of Ohio.

You lose some of your best faculty.

You're also, potentially going to have a harder time attracting and keeping good students in our colleges and universities.

Is there a possibility we could see a push back like we saw with Senate Bill five?

You know, I think we're looking at all our options, to see, you know, what, we're going to do and where we're going to go next.

We are constantly talking with other unions, about this.

So it's a little too early to say on that part.

Senate Bill one also requires post tenure performance reviews, a civics course focused on American history and free market capitalism and so-called intellectual diversity.

In discussions of issues, the bill describes as controversial.

There were two changes in the House version a clarification that the bill does not prevent universities from providing services for people with disabilities, and a carve out for programs that need to comply with the EEI standards for legal compliance, accreditation or licensure.

Debate in the House went on for more than two hours, with a few interruptions by demonstrators and some complaints from lawmakers that speakers were not addressing the bill.

The 2026 primary is May 5th.

That's almost 14 months away.

There are three Republican candidates in the race already.

The long shot, former Morgan County Board of Education president Heather Hill, the new entrant, tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy and the one had been planning his run for a while.

Attorney General Dave Yost.

While that GOP race has gotten most of the attention so far, the first well known candidate overall to announce a run for governor is a Democrat, though at one point she was likely assumed to have been a Republican.

Doctor Amy Acton was picked by governor Mike DeWine as his first director of the Department of Health, where she was when the Covid pandemic hit.

Since leaving that job, she's headed up a few nonprofit initiatives, done a lot of speeches and travel to the Democratic National Convention last year.

I sat down with Amy Acton, talk about her campaign.

So you are running to win in a state that's been run by Republicans for the last few decades.

You have to go through a brutal and expensive campaign to win, and then you would have to deal with President Trump and Republicans on the national level for the first two years of your term.

Why do you want this job?

Thank you for asking that in such an interesting way.

You know, one of the things, Karen, that happened for me during Covid, certainly in my time with the governor, but really in my whole career, is that I have really been able to bond with Ohioans.

And you don't go through what we went through.

Wanting 11.7 million people to survive the hardest crisis we've ever had, wanting businesses to get to the other side of this and getting schools back open.

You don't go through all that without falling in love with the people of Ohio.

And, you know, everywhere I go, and I get a chance to travel all over the state.

Ohioans tell me what they're struggling with.

They also share with me their dreams and their ideas for Ohio can move and be better.

So I'm running for governor.

Because I refuse to look the other way.

While we continue to go backwards on so many measures in this state, people are struggling and and a lot of it is due to special interests, some bad actors.

And I keep hearing from Ohioans the ready for change that you were.

Governor Mike DeWine is director of health and mostly focused on smoking and vaping, youth homelessness, the opioid crisis.

And then the pandemic hit in 2020.

You became the face of the state's response to Covid.

And I know because I anchor the live press conferences on Ohio's public radio and television stations where we I introduced you and the governor, you resigned in June of 2020 as you were the target of ugly, vicious and sometimes anti-Semitic protests, sometimes featuring people who were armed.

Yeah.

Is that why you resigned?

And if so, does that make it so that you aren't ready for a leadership role?

Because you would be a target as governor?

Right.

Well, you know, it was an honor of a lifetime to serve in that position.

I would do it a million times over.

And, you know, this is one of the times the press got it wrong.

You know, I stepped down ultimately, because I wouldn't sign orders, orders that were coming from the speaker of the House at the time, Larry Householder, that frankly, were not part of the House duties that I had.

That said, I promised the governor I'd keep advising him, which I have, continued to, to fight for the things that I think Ohioans need, some of which are still in his budget right now.

And, and and that said, I have had the privilege of traveling all over the state since, as you know, I was approached to run for office once, again, I had the privilege of being trained by folks who have helped a women governor since Ann Richards.

And I very thoughtfully approach this.

And again, I'm running because I'm a doctor, not a politician.

So this is unusual.

But being by the governor the way I did side by side, you mentioned the opioid epidemic.

We did a great settlement, that is now there to treat addiction in perpetuity in Ohio.

Unlike our tobacco settlement, a lot of that filled potholes.

But the governor and I worked.

I was very privileged.

He let me work on issues that were outside of just the Department of Health.

We worked on traffic safety and some economic development issues for us in the water.

A Legionella Legionella outbreak and and a hospital that was brand new, picked, and we had uranium leaking.

I don't know if you remember that, vaping, as you mentioned.

And so it's a privilege, to see how the levers work.

This isn't an easy job.

And I got to see the not glamorous parts of it side by side with him as well, and certainly leading in a crisis.

You have dealt with conspiracy theories regarding health throughout this whole thing.

Throughout the pandemic and even beyond.

And it seems possible, if not likely, that you would be running against a Grandma swami who has dealt with a lot of and pushed a lot of conspiracy theories related to health, fairly recently on the Covid vaccine, saying that he regrets being vaccinated.

How do you push back on things like that, especially since he's going to say he launched a pharmaceutical company.

How do you push back on some of these conspiracy theories that you would be facing?

Right.

Well, you know, one of the things my my communication was studied, actually, it's being taught in universities now.

We actually received, Profile and Courage award from the JFK library.

I would love to say it was something I was taught, but it actually just is who I am.

I'm a doctor.

I'm not a politician.

So when you saw me on air, I you saw that I was a problem solver and a public servant.

And what they say about my leadership is that I was brutally honest with Ohioans.

I think we can all take the truth, because when you put the cards on the table, that allowed Ohioans everywhere to solve the problems they were facing.

And I think that is true in every leadership job I have done.

I asked more of people.

I helped unite them instead of pitting them against each other, which is what we see a lot of these days.

And most importantly, I did empower people and I believe very much empowering people in communities.

They have the ideas for solutions.

And so remember, in Covid, I asked more of us and I just want to say this, people, back to your last question.

You know, people say, are you tough enough for this job?

One of the many, many things I've done in my life is start an initiative here in Columbus on kindness.

And I refuse to accept that kindness is weakness.

I think everywhere I go in this state, people are longing for leaders who put public service the common good, common sense, above, above our own special interests or that, you know, you know, I welcome all folks to this race, I really do.

I beg that both parties put forward people who put public service in the greater good of the state, a willingness, you know, problems don't care if you're Republican or Democrat.

In the end, the kinds of things that governor does is for all of the people.

And so that's what I am committed to.

It's been an honor to serve, and I really hope to earn everyone's support.

Again, you mentioned the toughness thing.

I think people look at your delivery and you were very calm and and stable during the pandemic in those first, especially first couple of weeks when everything was crazy and no one knew what was going on.

I think there are people who don't think that that shows that you're tough.

They think that you're not.

Then are you worried you're not going to be taken seriously because you do have a calming presence.

You're not fiery and and bombastic.

You know, everywhere I go around the state and people, tell me of the time, you know, of the time of Covid, definitely.

And we had a slogan back then not being not made by me, made by the people of Ohio, that we need to act on love, not hate and kindness, not fear.

And we know that fear and intolerance are just as contagious.

People are literally and intentionally pitting us against one another.

I don't believe in that.

And I'm fierce and my commitment to kindness, it comes from my childhood.

I had a very rough childhood.

I went through many, many things before I was, removed at the age of 12, including being homeless in the middle of winter.

And I remember so much the people, the helpers, the people who ran to the fire, the people who refused to look the other way when they see something they can't unsee.

I'm so blessed that there were helpers.

My whole life.

Schools.

You'll hear me talk a lot about public school because it saved my life.

Libraries and librarians saved my life.

But it was strangers to people who saw Hungry Kid walking to school and pulled me and my brother up on their porch and fed me breakfast.

So you're going to see me?

I know Ohioans, I know, one of my opponents thinks maybe we don't get ahead because we're lazy and mediocre.

Those aren't Ohioans.

I know.

I see folks struggling, just to get a little more breathing room.

And so, I believe in the power and the spirit of the people of Ohio.

I will be going everywhere in the state listening, it's early in the campaign.

So what you're going to see me and my campaign doing is going everywhere to listen to folks, and I hope they'll come find me and share with me what's on their mind.

There are a lot of issues that Democrats want to talk about.

They want to talk about vouchers, which will get $2.4 billion in governor Mike DeWine proposed budget, if that stays or could increase or decrease whatever the houses that the crisis in housing and in child care as well statehouse corruption which you've talked about, special interests, which you've also talked about, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, those are just a few.

What are you sure?

Yes.

What is your top issue?

What do you think is the most important issue that you'll be focused on?

Well, first of all, my very top thought is that we need leaders who are public servants again, who are willing and demonstrate, just like I did, and ability to work on both sides of the aisle.

You know, I got many, many things accomplished even before Covid with this legislature and with President Trump.

But more importantly, you know, people are struggling with, things like costs, they're struggling.

What I'm hearing from Ohioans is, you know, not just the cost of gas and eggs, but it's childcare.

It's aging in place.

It's not, having a property taxes gets so high that you can't age in place.

People are also talking about safety.

Whether it's safety in a school, but also people are getting exhausted by the chaos there and the cruelty, they're really looking for leadership that helps unite us to one another, that solves problems, that brings diverse groups of people around a table, to work together to move our state forward.

If you don't mind.

I mean, I just want to point out, one of the things that we're looking at here is that in my adult life time, and I am 59 years old, we went from having some of the best health outcomes in this country to some of the worst.

We don't live as long or healthy lives in this state.

Education.

Public education was invented in Ohio.

Saved my life.

I'm married to a 40 some year, elementary school teacher and a coach.

Schools are vital to our ability to our workforce, to.

We need a state of the art educational system.

We had a wonderful funding formula that was bipartisan.

We need to fully fund that, and we need to move us forward in education.

It will be one of my top issues.

And believe me, that's everywhere in the state.

In 70 counties, there are only is a public school.

It is the way of life.

We are already the governor and I did many programs to layer on mental health around the schools, to layer on health care.

I think we need to take that money, invest in that.

Our gross domestic product in the state, our growth is 45th and our biggest export is young people.

And now we have a brand.

Unfortunately, if you've heard of the.

So Ohio, Generation Alpha, which are middle schoolers and high schoolers, all over this country, have a meme, an a saying to say that is so Ohio.

And what they mean is cringe and backwards.

That is not who we are.

That's not going to help our economic development plans.

So my belief is that Ohioans are ready for change.

They're ready for leadership.

Again, that puts common purpose back forefront, use this common sense on common sense issues that we all share and then moves us forward to the common good.

And I see I see a bright future for Ohio, but we need to row together, just like we did in Covid.

Democratic strength in Ohio has largely been decimated by statehouse statewide losses for many, many years.

Here, that includes fundraising power.

How are you going to raise enough money to take on whoever you're a Republican opponent is going to be?

Well, thank you for saying that.

I know, I don't know if our viewers follow this as closely as a lot of us now do that are in this world.

But, you know, since Citizens United, it's a travesty.

Our last Senate race, as you know, was over $500 million.

If you combine both sides, to be in this world, you have to raise money.

And I'm very blessed, to be getting a great response.

And, having people that are supporting us all over, all over this country, but mostly in Ohio.

And in the beginning, it's been most exciting to see the small dollars.

I think people feel like if I give 5 or $10, it doesn't make a difference.

But I tell you out there, it means a lot to me because together, if enough of us do that, that really does add up.

It's a shame that money is so much of this, but I'm very much interested in creating a movement.

I want this race to be a movement of the people.

And we're very lucky to be able to do that.

But in the end, money won't be enough, you know, you need a certain amount.

And I certainly need it to stand up an excellent team.

But in the end, I think it's going to take a certain sort of leadership that, again, brings people back to the table to solve problems and, and a belief that we can and will be the best in education and the best in health and can have an amazing economy.

So I'm not afraid of that.

Karen.

It is a daunting part of this, and I hope to take Ohioans behind the scenes.

They kind of got used to me being a little bit direct to camera, being honest with them.

And I want to take them on the journey of civic life as well.

What does it mean to run for governor?

I'm not a self-funding billionaire.

I'm an ordinary person married to a teacher.

But I saw the power of Ohioans.

You know, we talk about the hate, but I saw love.

There was no order that I could rate that would have flattened a curve in Ohio.

But we did flatten the curve.

We did save a lot of lives, and we reopened quicker.

And it was because Ohioans rode together.

And that's the kind of campaign I want to run.

The last two election cycles, 2022 and 2024.

In 2022, Mike DeWine beat Nan Whaley with two thirds of the vote.

In 2024, Donald Trump won with 55% of the vote.

What have you and your campaign learned from those losses that you can take to have a better outcome for Democrats this time around?

Thank you.

Well, first of all, you know everyone, I'm not a pundit.

I'm a doctor.

I'm not a politician.

But what I can even hear is that people want us to listen more.

And one of the most important things in my campaign is I've already been out for over six months.

I was helping other folks working on gerrymandering and other issues, but I will be out there on the ground again.

I will.

There is no corner of the state that I will not be.

If you invite me, I will come because I think it's just so important.

People.

People know the best ideas out there.

Ohioans can tell you what they're struggling with.

But also there's all sorts of innovation, right here in Ohio that we need we need to hear from the leaders.

That said, we're very fortunate.

We have some polling out just this week.

That does show us, with very high favorability.

And also out ahead, out ahead of out, ahead of the other competitors.

So we know there's a path.

And I just especially for, folks at home, you know, I think this is a long road.

It's two years.

But what I can tell you is I will be listening to you.

I'm here because I've.

My whole life has been about public service.

I did get the opportunity to lead during one of the hardest crises.

But my whole life has been doing this work.

And, it would be an honor and a privilege to serve Ohio.

We'll continue to follow the race for governor over the next year and a half.

You can see my interview with Dave Yost and our archive at State news.org.

And that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News for or find us online by searching State of Ohio Show.

We'll keep you up to date via Ohio State House alerts.

If you register through this QR code text, state News to this number or go to this website.

You can also hear more from my colleagues Joe Ingles and Sarah Donaldson and me on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Every Monday morning.

Thanks for watching and please join us again next time for the State of Ohio.

Okay.

This is.

The perfect.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans as well as dental, vision, and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP Porter Wright, is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at Porter.

Right.

Com Porter Wright inspired every day in Ohio Education Association, representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at o h e dawg.