Citizens United Spends Big in Ohio
- If a woman in Virginia has a miscarriage without a doctor present, they ...
- Update: Barbara Parramore was taken into police custody Monday evening. T...
- The Florida teenager who was arrested two weeks ago for causing a small exp...
- As some of you might know already, Nuns on the Bus will be making a pass th...
- As the shutdown of LSU’s Earl K. Long Medical Center in northern Baton Ro...
- Neither soaking rain nor the lack of permit from the City of Atlanta preven...
- Spokane City Councilman Jon Snyder and President of Aging and Long Term Car...
- One of the consequences of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s policy of shrinking state ...
- The Boston Marathon bombings happened more than 2,700 miles away, but fo...
- On Saturday, as Texas hosted the National Rifle Association’s annual conv...
- Clean energy opponents turned to dirty tactics this week at the North Carol...
- Last week, an exchange between Jeff Flake, Janet Napolitano, and Chuck S...
Citizens United, the conservative political organization best known for the eponymous Supreme Court decision that last year altered the nation’s campaign finance landscape, will on Thursday begin blasting six-figures worth of advertisements throughout Ohio in support of limiting most state workers’ collective bargaining rights.
The ads, which are slated to target the Cincinnati market in particular, urge voters next week to support Issue 2, a referendum on killing a collective bargaining-curbing bill passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. John Kasich (R).
Recent polls indicate Issue 2 is likely to fail, which would be a boon for Democrats and unions stung throughout the year in several Midwestern states where Republican lawmakers have targeted collective bargaining rights in the name of balancing budgets.
Conservatives face “an uphill battle” on Ohio’s Issue 2, Citizens United President David Bossie acknowledged.
“But this is why we’ve decided to get in and play a role right at the end to educate the voting public and try to persuade them that this is the right way to go,” he said.
In the 30-second ad, which Bossie confirms will cost more than $100,000, an off-camera woman says in a cheery voice as pictures of schoolchildren flash on screen:
“It will permit us to pay teachers based on merit, not just seniority. Reward the best teachers for a job well done. Reform tenure so we can replace the others,” the woman says. “Unions need the right to bargain for wages. But we parents and educators deserve the right to run our own schools. Common sense reforms to help our children and grandchildren.”
The Ohio Democratic Party referred calls to anti-Issue 2 organization We Are Ohio, which panned the ad buy.
“It’s clear that Issue 2 supporters are losing their attack on our everyday heroes in Ohio,” We Are Ohio spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas said. “This is a desperate attempt by another shadowy out-of-state group that refuses to disclose the source of its money … the voters of Ohio stand poised to reject Senate Bill 5 by voting no on Issue 2 because it is unfair, unsafe and will hurt Ohio communities.”
Link to original article on Politico
States - Ohio
Ohio Articles
Teamsters Strike At Republic Services/Allied Waste In Youngstown, Ohio
Sanitation Workers Go On Unfair Labor Practice Strike; Co-Workers in Evansville, Ind. and Urbana, Ill. Refuse To Work In Show of Support YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sanitation workers employed by Republic Services/Allied Waste [NYSE: RSG] went on strike in Ohio last night to protest the company's violations of federal labor law. Workers at Republic's Carbon Limestone landfill outside of Youngstown put up a picket line instead of reporting to their shifts late yesterday. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO) The striking workers are members of Teamsters Local Union 377. They are exercising their rights under federal law to strike in protest of Republic illegally...
PR Newswire 29 Mar 2013 Hits:344 Ohio
Read moreOhio Fracking CEO Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Toxic Waste-Dumping Case
Ben Lupo, owner of D&L Energy and Hardrock Excavating, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal felony charges under the Clean Water Act. Lupo is accused of ordering the dumping of thousands of gallons of chemical-laced fracking waste into streams in Youngstown, Ohio. On the night of January 31, state investigators acted on an anonymous tip and caught Lupo's employees dumping oil and gas drilling waste - fluid, mud and oil - into a storm sewer that empties into a tributary of the Mahoning River, according to the Justice Department. Lupo admitted to state authorities...
Mike Ludwig | Truthout 16 Feb 2013 Hits:660 Ohio
Read moreOhio Governor’s Tax Plan Would Cut Taxes For Wealthy, Raise Them On The Poor
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has joined the growing list of Republican governors pushing income tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens of his state, and like those other governors, his plan would raise taxes on the poor to pay for it. Kasich’s plan would cut income tax rates by 20 percent and some business tax rates in half, and it would pay for the plan by levying sales taxes on goods and services that were previously exempt. Since sales taxes are inherently regressive, Kasich’s plan would raise taxes on the poorest...
Travis Waldron | Think Progress 08 Feb 2013 Hits:431 Ohio
Read moreJudge Blasts Ohio’s Last Minute Disenfranchisement Effort: ‘I Don’t Want To See Democracy …
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is fast becoming one of the most despised election officials in the country for his many attempts to restrict early voting and throw out legitimate provisional ballots. He’s also alienating federal judges left and right. After Husted issued a last-minute directive that could invalidate thousands of Ohioans’ votes, US District Judge Algenon Marbley did not bother to hide his impatience with the secretary’s hijinks. Husted’s directive, which was issued at 7 pm on the Friday before the election, openly...
Aviva Shen | Think Progress 10 Nov 2012 Hits:703 Ohio
Read moreOhio's Ballot Woes Could Delay Election Results for Weeks
Pollsters and pundits have trained their eyes on Ohio, where President Obama maintains a narrow lead over Mitt Romney just days before the election. According to exit polls, Obama’s lead is even stronger among early voters. But several recent developments threaten to disenfranchise many of these voters and plunge Ohio into a bureaucratic nightmare on election night. The Columbus Dispatch reported on Thursday that a data-sharing glitch and mistakes by election officials have caused thousands of absentee ballot requests to be rejected. While Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted maintains that...
Aviva Shen | ThinkProgress 03 Nov 2012 Hits:631 Ohio
Read moreBillboards coming in Ohio: 'Voting is a right. Not a crime!'
Those anonymous billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin that equate voting with a possible prison sentence are coming down, to be replaced in some cases by new ones that say, "Voting is a right. Not a crime!" After initially defending the billboards paid for by a "private family foundation," the advertising company Clear Channel has announced that it will take down the scary billboards. Their message -- "Voter fraud is a felony! Up to 3 1/2 years & $10,000 fine" -- has been presented now in dozens of...
Laura Conaway | The Maddow Blog 22 Oct 2012 Hits:563 Ohio
Read moreRyan says Romney won't raise middle-class taxes
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says the idea that Mitt Romney would raise taxes on the middle-class is a misperception being spread by negative ads from the Obama campaign. Ryan was asked by a supporter during a campaign stop Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to dispel the notion. The Wisconsin congressman says he and Romney have cut taxes in the past and plan to continue to do so if elected. Ryan joined 11 supporters over dinner at an Italian restaurant on Columbus' east side. The event gave...
Julie Carr Smyth | Yahoo News / Associate Press 17 Oct 2012 Hits:452 Ohio
Read moreSupreme Court allows early voting in Ohio
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that early voting can proceed in Ohio — a major win for President Obama. In a one-sentence order with no explanation, the court rejected Ohio Republicans' efforts to block early voting three days before Election Day. The court left in place a lower court's ruling that said early voting had to be available to all Ohioans — not just military personnel. Democrats initiated the legal battle over Ohio's early voting policy after state officials decided to eliminate three days of early voting...
Sam Baker | The Hill 16 Oct 2012 Hits:355 Ohio
Read moreOhio Republicans Appeal To U.S. Supreme Court To Curtail Early Voting
The move is designed to thwart voting by Democrats on the last weekend before Election Day. Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State John Husted is deteremined to stop upwards of 100,000 Ohioans—many of whom are African-American churchgoers who live in the state’s cities—from voting on the Sunday before Election Day in November. Husted has been smacked down by a succession of federal court ruling in his efforts to curtail early voting on the final weekend before Election Day on November 6 th. But on Tuesday, his office...
Steven Rosenfeld | AlterNet 09 Oct 2012 Hits:580 Ohio
Read moreOhio Secretary of State Subverts Voting Rights
Once again, political experts are predicting that the 2012 presidential election could be decided in the battleground state of Ohio, like it was in 2004. Remember what happened that year? George W. Bush won the state by a narrow 118,000 votes in an election marred by widespread electoral dysfunction. “The misallocation of voting machines led to unprecedented long lines that disenfranchised scores, if not hundreds of thousands, of predominantly minority and Democratic voters,” found a post-election report by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee....
Ari Berman | The Nation 09 Oct 2012 Hits:498 Ohio
Read moreBREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Upholds Decision Restoring Early Voting In Ohio
As the facts of this case demonstrated, cutting off early voting will endanger many voters’ ability to cast a vote. A unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision striking down Ohio’s recent law limiting early voting . Although the panel divided on its reasoning, all three judges concluded that the law has serious constitutional deficiencies. Themajority opinion was written by Judge Eric Clay, a Clinton appointee, and Judge Joseph Hood, a George H.W. Bush appointee. As the facts of this case...
Ian Millhiser | Think Progress 05 Oct 2012 Hits:544 Ohio
Read moreBREAKING: Ohio Secretary Of State Backs Down, Allows Local Officials To Set Early Voting H…
After previously trying to restrict early voting, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) today reversed course on his decision to block county boards of elections from setting their own early voting hours in the days leading up to the November election. Last month, Husted and Ohio Republicans led an effort to limit early voting hours in Democratic counties, including those with major cities like Columbus and Cleveland, while expanding early voting in Republican counties. After the ensuing uproar, Husted moved to restrict voting hours...
Scott Keyes | Think Progress 08 Sep 2012 Hits:510 Ohio
Read moreOhio's GOP Secretary of State Ignores Court Order To Expand Weekend Voting
The GOP's war on voting in this key swing state is getting uglier. Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State John Husted is playing with political fire. On Friday, a U.S. District Court ordered Ohio’s Secretary of State to open polling places on the weekend before November’s presidential election, issuing an ruling that said voting on that weekend could serve 100,000 voters, particularly minorities and the poor. Earlier today, Husted responded by thumbing his nose at that injunction—which relied on the federal Voting Rights Act—by issuing a directive telling Ohio...
Steven Rosenfeld | AlterNet 04 Sep 2012 Hits:533 Ohio
Read moreBREAKING: Federal Court Strikes Down Ohio Law Restricting Early Voting
Last month, President Obama’s reelection campaign filed a lawsuit claiming that a recently enacted Ohio law eliminating early voting in the three days before an election, except for members of the military, violates the Constitution’s guarantee that all voters enjoy equal access to the franchise. The campaign’s lawsuit called for the right of all voters to cast an early ballot be restored in Ohio — it explicitly stated that expanding the franchise, not taking early voting away from military personnel as well, was the appropriate outcome. In...
Ian Millhiser 31 Aug 2012 Hits:723 Ohio
Read moreConyers and Fudge Call for Investigation of Potential Voter Suppression in Ohio
Last Wednesday August 15th, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a directive requiring specific rules and operating hours for county boards of elections. Specifically, the directive eliminated early voting on weekends, and barred all boards of elections from being open on Columbus Day. The directive further raised questions about postage being paid for on absentee ballot envelopes. Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) released this statement in response: “The actions of the Ohio Secretary of State appear to have the effect of suppressing the...
Congressman John Conyers | Press Release 24 Aug 2012 Hits:445 Ohio
Read moreOhio GOP Election Board Member: Our Voting Process Shouldn’t Accommodate Black Voters
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s recent decision to prohibit early voting on nights and weekends in all districts has many concerned about the effect on voter turnout in the state, particularly among low-income and minority communities. But one Republican Party chairman is content to suppress votes among this vulnerable demographic. Doug Preisse, chairman of the Republican Party in Franklin County, which contains the city of Columbus, admitted in an email to the Columbus Dispatch that black voters would now have a more difficult time...
Aviva Shen | ThinkProgress Justice 19 Aug 2012 Hits:1132 Ohio
Read moreOhio Secretary Of State Removes Democratic Members Of Election Board For Supporting Weeken…
In a dramatic move, Ohio Secretary of State John Husted immediately suspended two Democrats on a county election board after they voted to allow weekend voting. Earlier, Husted issued a directive canceling weekend voting statewide. In 2008, Ohio offered early voting on the weekends and thousands of voters cast their ballot during that time. Husted issued an ultimatum to Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr., members of the Montgomery County Eleciton Board, to withdraw their resolution to maintain weekend hours or face suspension. The Dayton Daily...
Judd Legum | ThinkProgress Justice 19 Aug 2012 Hits:675 Ohio
Read moreNew poll tax
Voting rights are under attack in more than a dozen states, including Ohio. Legislatures, most controlled by Republicans, have passed laws to require voters to show photo identification, restrict early and absentee voting, and make it harder to register new voters. Now, the effort to keep some voters from the polls has moved from the Statehouse to the Lucas County Board of Elections. Republicans and Democrats on the local elections board can't agree on anything. Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, calls the board's inability to cooperate "pathetic" and has...
Toledo Blade Editorial 13 Aug 2012 Hits:724 Ohio
Read moreEarly Voting in Ohio
For the last four years, Republican lawmakers around the country have diligently tried to eliminate early-voting periods, which give people a chance to vote at their convenience. The reason is simple: early voting was wildly popular in 2008 – comprising a third of the vote – and many of the people who took advantage of it voted for Barack Obama. More than half of Florida’s early voters in 2008 were Democrats, and many black voters went right from their church pews to the ballot box on the Sunday before Election Day. That’s...
David Firestone | NY Times 06 Aug 2012 Hits:659 Ohio
Read moreWill Brewing Corruption Scandals in Ohio Have an Impact on November's Election?
Photo Credit: AFP Investigations by the FBI into campaign donations and strong-arm tactics in Ohio's Republican Party implicate big-name politicians, like anti-union Governor John Kasich. Ohio governor John Kasich has taken some hits since his election in 2010's Tea Party wave; the most famous was the “Citizen's Veto” of his anti-union legislation. 313,000 more people voted to overturn the law than had voted for Kasich himself a year earlier—and that was in an off year, with no big-ticket candidates on the ballot. And now he's...
Sarah Jaffe | AlterNet 01 Jun 2012 Hits:615 Ohio
Read moreOhio Passes One of the Worst Fracking Laws in the U.S.
Don't Frack Ohio On May 24, the Ohio’s State Assembly passed Senate Bill 315—one of the worst fracking laws in the nation—by a 21-8 vote in the Senate and a 73-19 vote in the Ohio House that approves new regulations governing hydraulic fracturing in the Utica and Marcellus shale formations running under nearly half of the state. The shale gas provisions are part of a larger energy bill that also addresses Ohio’s renewable energy portfolio standard. The bill heading to Gov. Kasich’s desk fails to reinvest in Ohio...
EcoWatch 31 May 2012 Hits:631 Ohio
Read moreOhio Drilling Regula…
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doctors given new access to the proprietary chemical recipes that oil and gas drillers use to crack into Ohio shale would be prohibited from…
Heard on the Hill — …
(Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call File Photo) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) will not seek a House seat in Washington state this year after losing a primary to a fellow Democratic …
Ohio Republicans Mov…
A proposed state budget bill would effectively strip federal funding to the family-planning organization. Sen. Nina Turner tells Abigail Pesta, “It’s a social, racial, and economic attack.” Ohio took…
Corporate Cash Strea…
Ohio will be a battleground come November, but the big money groups are spending lavishly now in hopes of unseating the Senate's best economic populist. Everybody expects Ohio to…
Ohio Bill Would Requ…
An Ohio State Senator is turning the tables on men seeking to regulate women’s access to reproductive health. Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) has introduced legislation regulating men’s…
Kasich turns down fe…
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said thanks but no thanks to immediate federal disaster relief Saturday, even as governors in Indiana and Kentucky welcomed the help. Kasich did not rule…
Cleveland City Counc…
Cleveland City Council, at it's regular February 27th meeting, joined other U.S. cities and the National Conference of Mayors, to call for Pentagon spending cuts and to bring our tax…
Backfired! 4 Ways th…
Definition: BACKFIRED 1. When a result occurs opposite to that which was planned or expected. E.g. The plot backfired. The 2000 presidential election opened the eyes of many in politics…
Ohio Lawmakers Intro…
The American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) influence weighs heavy in the Ohio's GOP-controlled legislature, where brazen attempts to crush the collective bargaining rights of public workers and change…
PDA In Your State
Take Action
Issue Team Calls
| Mon May 27, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM PDA ERA 3 State Strategy Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 787085# |
| Tue May 28, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections IOT Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 314363# |
| Wed Jun 05, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM Economic and Social Justice Issue Team Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 781761# |
| Mon Jun 10, 2013 @ 8:30PM - 09:30PM End Mass Criminalizations IOT Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 331473# |
| Tue Jun 11, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM End Wars and Occupations Issue Team Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 952870# |
| Tue Jun 18, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM Healthcare for All Issue Team Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 733525# |
| Wed Jun 19, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM Stop Global Warming Issue Team Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 661274# |
| Mon Jun 24, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM PDA ERA 3 State Strategy Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 787085# |
| Tue Jun 25, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections IOT Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 314363# |
| Wed Jun 26, 2013 @ 9:00PM - 10:00PM End Corporate Rule IOT Call (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 754227# |
PDA Issues
PDA is organized around several core issues. These issues include:
- End Corporate Rule
- Healthcare for All/Single Payer
- ERA 3 State Strategy
- Economic and Social Justice
- End Wars and Occupations
- Stop Global Warming
- End Mass Criminalization
- Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections
- Stop Voter Suppression
Each team hosts a monthly conference call. Calls feature legislators, staffers and other policy experts. On these calls we determine PDA legislation to support as well as actions and future events.
OH Legislators with ALEC Ties
House of Representatives
- Rep. John P. Adams (R-78)[17], State Chairman[20] and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. Ron Amstutz (R-3),[20] Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Marlene Anielski (R-17), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Peter A. Beck (R-67), ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Rep. Louis Blessing (R-29)[20]
- Rep. Terry R. Boose (R-58), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. Danny Bubp (R-88)[17]
- Rep. James Butler (R-37), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member and Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Alternate
- Rep. John A. Carey, Jr. (R-87), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Timothy Derickson (R-53)[17]
- Rep. Anne Gonzales (R-19), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Rep. Bruce Goodwin (R-74), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Rep. Cheryl L. Grossman (R-23), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Matt Huffman (R-4), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member[20]
- Rep. Kris Jordan (R-19)[17][20]
- Rep. Casey Kozlowski (R-99), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
- Rep. Ronald Maag (R-35), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member[20]
- Rep. Jarrod B. Martin (R-70), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member[17][20]
- Former Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-30), ALEC Member
- Rep. Kristina D. Roegner (R-42), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Cliff Rosenberger (R-86), ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Rep. Barbara Sears (R-46)[17], ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Rep. Todd Snitchler (former Republican State Representative; Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as of 2011)[17][20]
- Rep. Gerald L. Stebelton (R-5)[17], ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Michael Stinziano (D-25), ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Rep. Andrew M. Thompson (R-93), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Rep. Joseph W. Uecker (R-66)[17], ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R-75), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member[20]
- Rep. Ron Young (R-63), ALEC Member
Senate
- Sen. David Burke (R-26), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Sen. William P. Coley, II (R-4), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
- Sen. Bob Gibbs (former Republican State Senator; U.S. Representative (R-18) as of 2011)[20]
- Sen. Kris Jordan (R-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Sen. Tom Niehaus (R-14), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Sen. Frank LaRose (R-27), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
- Sen. William Seitz (R-8), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Co-Chair, spoke on "Saving Dollars and Protecting Communities: State Successes in Corrections Policy" at the 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting[88]