Cleveland Plain Dealer...
We Are Ohio, labor-backed group that fought SB 5, will remain active in Ohio politics  
March 16, 2012 

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- We Are Ohio, the labor-backed organization that led the fight last year against Senate Bill 5, announced today that it will remain an advocate for middle-class Ohioans, even though the SB 5 fight is over. 

“That’s what we’re saying today: We’re here to stay,” Dennis Willard, a spokesman for the group, said today at a news conference in Columbus. 

Willard said We Are Ohio will focus its efforts on the repeal of House Bill 194 — a controversial elections bill that Democrats and others call a “voter suppression” bill — and on educating voters about why it opposes a budding initiative to make Ohio a right-to-work state. 

We Are Ohio still has about $700,000 in its campaign account, after raising $42 million to help defeat SB 5, the collective bargaining law that would have restricted public workers’ collective bargaining power. Voters overwhelmingly repealed the law in November. 

Willard said the group has not been actively fund-raising since the election. 

The group will play a supplemental role in educating voters about HB 194. Another organization called Fair Elections Ohio, which already has enlisted the support of organized labor groups, has led an effort to repeal the bill. 

It is still possible lawmakers will repeal HB 194 before the Nov. 6 election, when it is scheduled to appear on the ballot. 

Senate Republicans have embarked on a course to repeal HB 194 and replace it with another election reform bill that would take effect before the November election. That plan has slowed a bit while Republicans seek bipartisan support for a replacement bill. 

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