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Cincinnati firefighter: Republicans are attacking middle class

Cincinnati firefighter Doug Stern - who campaigned hard to repeal Senate Bill 5 in last year's election - told the crowd at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night that the Republican Party is guilty of an assault on working people - particularly public employees like firefighters and police officers.

"Republicans must stop obstructing the middle class,'' said Stern, a member of Cincinnati Firefighters Local 48 to the crowd at Time Warner Cable Arena. "They must pass the president's jobs bill."

Stern told the crowd about Senate Bill 5, a bill passed by Ohio legislative Republicans that would have curtailed collective bargaining powers of public employees unions, representing firefighters, police, teachers and others.

Organized labor - with help from the Obama campaign organization - mounted a successful referendum campaign to repeal Senate Bill 5.

"Sixty-three percent of Ohioans went to the polls and said no,'' Stern said, to the cheers of the crowd. "They said enough of this vilification of people who work for a living."

Stern concluded his four-minute speech by telling the Democratic delegates that "this firefighter - this former Republican firefighter - stands with you today."

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.