LABOR'S OHIO WARNING TO GOP

This week’s resounding vote in Ohio repudiating a Republican antiunion law should provide a clear warning to the congressional deficit-reduction super committee, especially its GOP members.

The lopsided ballot-initiative result repealing Republican Gov. John Kasich’s prized SB 5 legislation restricting collective-bargaining rights for public employees reaffirms a lesson evident from the past three decades of budget wars in Washington: It is virtually impossible to sell voters on a significant retrenchment of public benefits without bipartisan support and a compelling case that the changes are linked to broadly shared sacrifice