Columbus Dispatch...
Money rains, rallies rock in Issue 2 slugfest  
November 6, 2011 

Karate Coyote headlined a “rock the repeal” rally at a Columbus union hall, Gov. John Kasich continued his pro-Senate Bill 5 push in northeastern Ohio and outside money began raining across the Buckeye State as the contentious Issue 2 campaign enters its final days. 

More than $5 million in TV ads will dominate the airwaves in the frantic final days of the hostile off-year election, with half of it being spent by “vote yes on Issue 2” groups that acknowledge they are underdogs in the fight to preserve Senate Bill 5, the controversial law curtailing collective-bargaining rights for public employees. 

In fact, the president of one of those out-of-state groups, Citizens United, is predicting that Issue 2 will be defeated on Tuesday. 

All the more reason, David Bossie said, for his group to pitch in more than $100,000 this week to help Republicans pull off the upset and keep Senate Bill 5 from being repealed. Citizen United’s ad buy is part of a nearly $2.5 million eleventh-hour TV ad blitz by supporters to rescue Issue 2 on Tuesday. 

“I, unfortunately, think Issue 2 will go down,” said Bossie, president of the Washington-based conservative political group whose famous U.S. Supreme Court case last year opened the door to unlimited campaign contributions from corporations and unions. 

Hoping for an upset that would demoralize unions and their Democratic supporters, Bossie told The Dispatch that he teamed with political operative Dick Morris to research and produce a 30-second TV spot that is hitting the airwaves in Cincinnati. The TV time will cost $101,070. 

Bossie said he has an ulterior motive for getting involved not only in Ohio but also in the bid to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and other off-year elections this fall. 

“We believe, from the 30,000-feet view, that every single one of these races is connected to defeating Barack Obama next November,” Bossie said. 

Both sides of the Issue 2 debate are getting help from outside Ohio. We Are Ohio has received more than $7.7 million in large donations from groups outside the state to help defeat the law, and beginning today it will get additional aid from the Washington-based International Association of Fire Fighters, which is kicking off a statewide bus tour. 

The pro-Issue 2 side is weighing in with significant end-of-campaign TV ad buys, counting money from multiple sources. Through Election Day, Building a Better Ohio will spend $1.87 million for statewide broadcast and cable TV time, including $301,928 in Columbus. 

The Issue 2 supporters are getting help from Restoring America, a group that was temporarily barred in Kentucky last month from running attack ads against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. 

Restoring America bought a total of $486,255 worth of broadcast and cable TV time in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus from today through Election Day. 

Rex Elsass, founder of the Strategy Group for Media, the media company for Kasich’s campaign last year, acknowledged that his firm places ads for both Building a Better Ohio and Restoring America. He said there was no coordination between those groups or with Kasich. 

While acknowledging that Issue 2 supporters face an “uphill battle,” Elsass said that for the first time they will be able match spending by the opponents in the campaign’s crucial stretch run. 

“I’m hopeful our megaphone will be as loud as theirs in the final days when people are focused most,” he said. 

For the first time during this Issue 2 campaign, Kasich was joined on the stump in both suburban Cleveland and Akron last night by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor. 

One of the scores of protesters outside at the suburban Cleveland event sneaked in to hear Kasich and Taylor speak. The protester caused a brief ruckus before she was escorted out of the building. 

In Akron, Kasich told about 500 people at a Summit County GOP dinner that his Development Department has offered financial incentives or otherwise participated in 191 projects since he took office, contributing to 27,554 jobs saved and an additional 13,596 commitments for new jobs. Those are increases of 37 projects and about 11,000 jobs saved and created since the week ending Oct. 15, when he first started reciting such statistics. 

In Columbus, a rally and concert to encourage “No on Issue 2” brought out about 200 people, including Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, a Democrat; state Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights; and activist Van Jones. 

Coleman said collective bargaining has saved the city $144 million, and he likened Senate Bill 5 to “pulling the rug out from under public employees.” 

“They say we’ll save money if we end collective bargaining,” Coleman said “We’ll save money through collective bargaining.” 

Jones added: “There is a wisdom in the heart and mind of working folk that needs to be respected at the table. It’s a depth of understanding that the bosses just don’t have on their own.” 

Read this and other articles at the Columbus Dispatch