Ohio Republicans are once again accused of trying to make it harder for citizens to speak out. The GOP denies this, as they did three times before.
There was particularly chaos at the Ohio Statehouse last week as lawmakers debated how to get President Joe Biden on the ballot. They continued to fail, so the Democratic National Committee became involved in solving the problem.
“The Biden campaign will announce today that it has a way to put Joe Biden on the ballot, working through Democrats and the Democratic National Committee to ensure Joe Biden is on the ballot” – Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D)-Lakewood) he said.
Even though Biden may already be on the ballot, there’s still a lot of work to be done in the special session — which is why Laura Irvin drove two and a half hours from Lorain County to testify against House Bill 1.
“Those of us who want fair districts, which is the majority of Ohioans, we know what you are planning,” Irvin told lawmakers on the Government Oversight Committee.
The governor’s proclamation consisted of two parts – a crackdown on Biden and a reference to foreign contributions to election campaigns. The Ohio Board of Elections says foreign contributions are already illegal, but Republicans say there is no mechanism to enforce the law.
GOP lawmakers are proposing bills they say would impact oversight of donations, but opponents say the GOP is simply trying to make it more tough for citizens to access ballots.
HB 1 supervises the attorney general’s office in investigating alleged foreign contributions if the Ohio Election Commission (OEC) reports a case.
“This gives the attorney general very broad authority to step in on … frivolous complaints brought to the OKE,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo (R-Arlington). “To step in, prosecutorial authority shifts from district attorneys to the attorney general — and I remind you that the attorney general also has to give final approval to the ballot language, so there is a conflict of interest.”
Each of the people who testified against HB 1 on Wednesday expressed concerns that Attorney General Dave Yost “will be the front-runner.”
Under Ohio law and numerous nonpartisan prosecutors we contacted, Yost could have asked a court to freeze his campaign account to investigate “foreign interference.”
It also gives the AG modern powers to investigate the campaigns of statewide candidates and state school boards.
“It’s not about foreign money — it’s about killing voting initiatives, harassing the people who organize these initiatives and donate to these initiatives, the legal volunteers, the legal donors,” Russo said.
But Irvin’s biggest concern is House Bill 271the Senate Foreign Money Act, which would make it more tough for civic movements to access ballots.
“They want to silence our voices,” Irvin said.
HB 271 was actually an unrelated bill when it passed the House, but the Senate amended it to add donation language.
MPs added SB215, draft campaign finance bill. In early March, Republican senators passed a bill aimed at halting foreign donations to state and local election campaigns. This could be in the form of a direct donation from outside the country or a donation to an entity such as a political action committee (PAC).
The bill also prohibits a lawful eternal resident of the U.S., also known as a green card holder, from making contributions or expenses related to ballots or candidates.
Requires all group meetings to be registered to obtain PAC status, which means submitting disclosures to the government and making it more tough to collect signatures.
Under the bill’s original language, all groups trying to get on the local or statewide ballot would be required to register as a PAC; however, state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said HB 271 changed it to only require registration for statewide election campaigns.
“If you’re going to collect and spend money to support signature collection, to support a ballot initiative, you have to report your money,” McColley said.
Irvin believes this is a direct result of 2023.
“They’re definitely angry because they keep losing,” she said.
Republicans were 0/3 on ballot initiatives: protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and eliminating majority rule.
“This has been an issue for a long time – it certainly gained momentum last year with three ballot issues,” said Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima). “We mentioned the tens of millions of dollars that have been spent.”
Ahead of the November 2023 election, the main abortion rights group — Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR) — raised three times the amount that the opponents made.
Many Republicans like Huffman have since cited this as one of the reasons Issue 1 was passed.
Data from the state’s campaign finance disclosure website show that 501(c)(4) has spent about $11.5 million on groups advocating for abortion access and maintaining supermajority rule on election ballot issues. OURR and the organization’s former name, Ohioans For Reproductive Freedom, received approximately $6.4 million. One person, one vote brought in about $5.1 million. Another $550,000 was spent on redistricting the reform group Citizens Not Politicians.
The fund, although it does not have to disclose its donors, has received over $200 million from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss since 2016, according to data Related press.
But Huffman said the legislation isn’t just about last year.
“I think it’s a good time to do something about it, whether it’s the minimum wage … redistricting or any other voting issues that may be on the ballot before the end of the year,” the president said.
Irvin said that’s why redistricting reform is so needed. A proposal to end gerrymandering will likely be on the November ballot.
Right now, politicians like Huffman are drawing maps even though they directly benefit from the process.
In a one-on-one interview after the November election, DeWine said he regretted not being involved in the map-making process and that it was a “mess.”
It’s not just about redistricting, but it’s probably also about minimum wage reform. As supporters prepared to put a proposal to raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 on the November ballot, Republicans introduced their own wage raise bill to “push back” on the constitutional amendment.
This is an absurd situation, Russo said, because if Republicans really cared about foreign contributions, they would actually accept Democrats’ numerous proposals to disclose where the money comes from in elections. Former House Speaker Larry Householder, now a convicted felon, learned the demanding way that shadowy money can be used in malicious ways and go undetected (that is, until the FBI taps your friend’s phone and whistleblowers start running out for informal activities). restaurants with a special agent).
The will of the people
But this feels like a repeat of the August special election.
Summer Issue 1 would raise the threshold for constitutional amendments from 50% + 1, or a straightforward majority, to 60%. That means 40% of Ohioans could choose law.
This was directly related to the limitation of November issue 1 devoted to abortion.
It was opposed by groups across the political spectrum, including law enforcement, labor unions, teachers, and social justice organizations, because it affected more than just abortion. Raising it to 60% would also make it more tough to pass issues such as electoral reform, a minimum wage augment and municipal bonds. Some Republicans argued that it was a huge government move and a power grab.
After failing, abortion and recreational marijuana appeared on the ballot in November.
Dozens of House Republicans have spoken out or proposed legislation to prevent the abortion amendment from taking effect. click here to see a timeline of each major announcement or proposal.
State house leaders backed down and now say no current plans to overturn No. 1, but lobbyists say anti-abortion groups are planning a modern constitutional amendment to overturn November’s No. 1, and another is planning a 15-week period to put the proposal to a vote.
When it comes to marijuana, many citizens have contacted me, spoken on the House floor, and rallied online to protest the Senate’s major restrictions on weed policy.
In the face of the backlash, McColley said he was not acting against the will of the people because he believed voters didn’t actually know everything they voted on.
These are just a few of many examples, which is why Irvin is fighting so demanding for redistricting reform.
What’s next?
It is unclear whether any of these bills will be adopted by the end of Thursday’s special session, but lawmakers say they will continue working on them before the summer break.
Moreover, there is still no lasting solution to the Biden debacle. DeWine is calling on lawmakers to amend the 90-day arbitrary deadline law by the end of this week.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
