The People Deliver

[flickr photo=5884954835]On a sunny June 29th day, 1 day ahead of the deadline, 6,200 people paraded down Broad St. to deliver 1,298,301 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State's office. By far the largest signature collection effort in the history of Ohio, and over a million more than the 231,149 needed to qualify for the November ballot - guarantees voters are now certain to have a chance to vote NO on SB5 and repeal it.

The Secretary of state will now distribute the petition books to the respective 88 counties for verification, a process which must be completed by July 26th.

[flickr photo=5885016235]

The parade itself was marked with drums, pipes, chants and spontaneous singing. Colors across the rainbow, and people from all walks of life, young and old participated. Indeed, you don't collect over a million signatures with a broad community wide effort from tens of thousands of people.

[flickr photo=5885529610]

In related news, it was announced by the supporters of SB5, that Jason Mauk, the Senate Republican Spokesperson will be taking a leave of absence to become the voice of SB5 - cementing the fact that the only true support for SB5 comes from Republican officeholders looking for partisan payback, rather than sensible policy.

[flickr photo=5885579848 size=medium]

Today, over a million Ohioans from across the political spectrum sent a powerful message to those partisans - a message that will be carried through to November and the repeal of SB5.

In the meantime, enjoy today.

[flickr photo=5885605292 size=medium]

Chamber of Commerce risks massive backlash

Attacking your neighbors, friends and family is hard, attacking your customers is just plain dumb

Tea party members are squarely in its corner, and it's widely assumed that conservative corporate entities from inside and outside Ohio will pony up at the appropriate time.

But will the real leader of the pro-Senate Bill 5 movement please stand up?

Those opposed to Senate Bill 5 - the new law that limits collective bargaining for Ohio's public employees - have a political action committee, are gathering signatures and are identifying multimillion-dollar revenue streams to fund a referendum campaign this fall.
[...]
Kasich has said he will campaign in favor of the bill, and he used a campaign fundraising email last week to talk about his support of the bill. But he and his staff are deflecting questions about who will lead Senate Bill 5's defense.

Tea party officials and business people say they simply don't know, and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine said preliminary discussions to answer some of these questions are under way.

Many businesses simply do not support S.B.5, and those that do may find themselves on the wrong end of a public relations backlash. Hundreds of thousands of people adversely affected by this extreme legislation are also their customers and neighbors. We see this playing out in microcosm in Youngstown

Three more companies have left the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber as a result of the chamber board’s endorsement of Senate Bill 5

As OhioDaily notes

What will it take for this Chamber to realize that they ought to be helping to strengthen businesses in this challenged area and not endorsing partisan bills that weaken its workforce?

Local businesses that threaten their customers are going to come under intense scrutiny, and for what gain?