get a lot more signatures than we need. there s just no doubt in my mine. our people as harold said, our people are fired up and ready to go like i have never seen them in my 26 years. i m very confident. this is going to be like a mini presidential election in an off year. harold, good to see you. michael, thank you for coming on. thanks for having me. thank you, chuck. up next, wait until you hear donald trump s exit strategy for iraq. actually, there s no exit. it belongs in the sideshow. you ll see it.
harold, let me start with you on this. look, you have been and the firefighters union is fairly traditionally democrat on the national level. but talk about the state level and the local level firefighters and the partisan diversity that they have shown over the years. well, chuck, you ve been watching us in the political arena for a long time. our principle is really always straightforward and that is that we will support those and the elected field to that support us and that makes us probably one of the more bipartisan unions in the country but our principle is very careful and that is you have to support us and the attacks now going on in wisconsin against workers, ohio, nebraska, tennessee, oklahoma, new hampshire and the list goes on are absolutely galvanizing our members. they have given us a lot of energy. and our members are going to
the videotape of the stop was clear that the police officer was professional and did absolutely nothing wrong and so before this started our members were apprehensive of the leadership in ohio and the thoughts on police officers and the respect level for police officers. harold, i want to talk, though there was one of the stories i looked at and looking at the local level and the issue of collective bargaining and where s flexibility and isn t and the story of mansfield, ohio, because this was a town struggling, basically bankrupt, needed wanted to renegotiate some of the contract with the firefighters, couldn t. laid off some workers. as you a sued on behalf and supporting your firefighters and understandable. you sued on behalf and then other folks had to get laid off. is that a story like that you say to yourself, we have to become more flexible? obviously, you re upset about the fight with governor kasich
darth vaders. they try and talk about the union bosses look. our union bosses are police officers. the president of the fop is a full-time police officer in marion, ohio, so i think the public is seeing through this image they re trying to create for public workers and teachers and police officers and firefighters and a bunch of nonsense, all about politics and all about ruining the unions, getting rid of the unions and they think it s maybe a little bit of class warfare and i think the public sees through that. harold, how much money do you think you ll have to spend and how much money is the labor movement going to end up spending in ohio and in wisconsin? we are going to be investing very heavily, chuck. as you know, just at the federal level we spent over $2.7 million and the political arena. we will be investing very heavily in wisconsin as well as in ohio to move that referendum forward and to repeal those senators.
you know, they re your neighbors, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters. they re not evil people, not darth vaders. they try and talk about the union bosses look. our union bosses are police officers. the president of the fop is a full-time police officer in marion, ohio, so i think the public is seeing through this image they re trying to create for public workers and teachers and police officers and firefighters and a bunch of nonsense, all about politics and all about ruining the unions, getting rid of the unions and they think it s maybe a little bit of class warfare and i think the public sees through that. harold, how much money do you think you ll have to spend and how much money is the labor movement going to end up spending in ohio and in wisconsin? we are going to be investing very heavily, chuck. as you know, just at the federal level we spent over $2.7 million and the political arena. we will be investing very