Columbus Dispatch...
On the road, on the attack
By Joe Vardon  
October 6, 2011 

DAYTON — The labor coalition seeking to repeal Senate Bill 5 already has presented an array of attack angles, from raising issues of safety and fairness to assailing Republican Gov. John Kasich and GOP legislators who favor limits to collective bargaining for public employees. 

We Are Ohio went back to those tacks on Day One of its statewide RV tour yesterday and added a twist by going after the Republicans’ two chief talking points. 

Cincinnati firefighter Doug Stern, who starred in We Are Ohio’s first TV commercial, took on provisions of Senate Bill 5 that require all public employees to pay at least 15 percent of their health-care premiums and prohibit governments from picking up any portion of employees’ 10 percent pension contribution. 

“They’re reforms that are completely and utterly unnecessary,” said Stern at We Are Ohio’s kickoff event yesterday morning in Cincinnati. 

Building a Better Ohio, the Republican group defending the bill, used one of its TV ads to frame its argument that Senate Bill 5 promotes fairness by asking public employees to pay those portions of their health-care premiums and pension. 

But all of the state’s 55,650 employees already pay the full 10 percent toward their pensions, and less than 10 percent of all 360,000 public employees in Ohio receive a pension “pickup” from their employer. 

Stern said that as a Cincinnati firefighter, he also pays 20 percent toward his health-care premiums. A 2011 survey by the State Employment Relations Board showed that, on average, public employees are paying between 9.5 and 11 percent of their health-care premiums. 

“This clause is like a magician’s pretty assistant standing over there next to me,” Stern said yesterday afternoon in Dayton. “She’s there to distract from what the magician is really doing. In this case, it’s really cutting the collective-bargaining rights and safety of firefighters statewide.” 

Meanwhile yesterday, a secretly funded, Republican-friendly group based in Virginia emerged as a major player in the campaign, spending money for mailings urging Ohio voters to uphold Senate Bill 5. 

Barry Bennett, a Republican consultant in Washington and former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, is the chairman of Alliance for America’s Future, which is involved in campaigns across the country. He said his group has “a very-active mail program, and millions of Ohioans will hear from us.” 

As a 501(c)4 group, the alliance — which says it is not affiliated with Building a Better Ohio — can take in contributions of any amount but does not have to disclose a penny. The Ohio group says it will eventually disclose its donors. 

Mary Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is a board member for the alliance. The treasurer is Kara Ahern, Cheney’s former political director and a veteran GOP fundraiser. 

An official campaign email from Building a Better Ohio encouraging recipients to watch its “ Teachers” ad and contribute to the cause was sent to at least some teachers’ public email accounts. 

The email, which was sent Friday and obtained by The Dispatch, is addressed to supporters. 

Recent polling shows that Ohioans continue to favor repeal of Senate Bill 5 — a “no” vote on Issue 2 on the ballot — although We Are Ohio’s margin has shrunk from 24 to 13 percentage points. Polling also shows that Ohioans are largely in favor of the 15/10 health-care/pension provisions, a reason why Republicans continue to drive home those points. 

“Opponents of Issue 2 have staged hundreds of media events in recent months, only to see their poll numbers cut in half as Ohioans get the facts about these reasonable reforms,” Building a Better Ohio spokesman Jason Mauk said in a statement. 

“Voters are tired of hearing the scare tactics and lies being spread by people who don’t want to give up their grip on our public tax dollars. Ohioans want the facts, and we’re focused right now on taking our case directly to them in the next few weeks. This is a fundamental issue of fairness.” 

We Are Ohio’s statewide tour is designed to take advantage of the state’s early voting period, which began yesterday. 

About 50 people gathered outside the Hamilton County Board of Elections in downtown Cincinnati yesterday morning for the labor coalition’s first event. About 70 people filed into a former Baptist church in Dayton for an afternoon rally, followed by a march to the Montgomery County elections board to vote. 

Among those at the Dayton event were many African-Americans and members of Christian and Jewish faith-based communities. Rabbi David Sofian of Temple Israel told the crowd that he took time away from preparations for Yom Kippur to speak with them because the bill was “unjust, plain and simple.” 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch