Ohio’s overwhelming rejection of the union-busting Senate Bill 5 still has people buzzing, for good reason. As We Are Ohio pointed out, it was first election in the country on collective bargaining rights, and it wasn’t even close. Ohio has 88 counties and exactly six – count ‘em, six – of them voted “yes.” It was a blowout any way you look at it, and this despite a vigorous campaign of dirty tricks both inside and out of the state. Everyone who pitched in deserved every last bit of jubilation Tuesday night.

One interesting dynamic – and this is just an observation from the ground, not hard data – was the degree to which the “No On 2″ side seemed actual and the “Yes On 2″ side seemed virtual. In addition to opponents talking about it both in person and on social networks, there were loads of bumper stickers, people wearing buttons, putting out yard signs, and other tangible signs of support. All the “yes” side seemed to muster was lots of television ads and, of course, the endorsement of just about every major newspaper.

(As an aside, I don’t agree with Join the Future’s call to end endorsements. Papers can and should do them if so moved, but some transparency would be nice. They ought to include prior stances on related issues and not present them in a vacuum. For instance, a presidential endorsement should be accompanied by a listing of the paper’s five previous endorsements for the office. That might not be possible for every school board and city council seat, but it should certainly be doable on the big ones – and it would reveal political leanings that readers could take into account.)

The yard signs were interesting, incidentally. Instead of having one design, different groups did their own. We Are Ohio had this one:

The firefighters had this one:

And so on. I must have seen ten different mass produced signs, each with different colors, lettering, and so on. I don’t believe that was by choice; I think each group just designed and placed their own as they saw fit. It had the effect, though, of showing opposition from many different quarters – which was very effective.

People did their own home made signs too, of course, and my favorite was this one I saw while canvassing shortly before Halloween:

While it’s been lots of fun to dance on the grave of Issue 2, there are some cautionary notes. The big one is that John Kasich is still the governor of Ohio, and will be for three more years. In the wake of the defeat outlets were describing his tone with words like humbled and conciliatory, but sorry – I’m not buying it. This is a man with a visceral contempt for working people, and his Jerk Meter goes all the way to 11. He just got humiliated in front of the entire nation, and anyone who thinks he will respond with anything other than doubling down on his intransigence hasn’t been paying attention.

The most revealing part of his speech, with its supposedly new tone, was this: “There is no bailout because frankly, there’s no money.” So there is what’s next, people. He’s going to plow ahead with austerity and make Ohioans pay for defying his will. That’s how he rolls. And while it would be great to think he’ll take the advice of delightfully clueless wingnuts and just push ahead with trying to pass a tweaked version of Senate Bill 5, I think he’s got enough of an instinct for self preservation to avoid another frontal assault on unions. But he’ll keep looking to grind down the 99% by other means.

And really, for as great a victory as this was, it was still just a defensive one. We beat back an attack from the right; we didn’t advance any kind of new policy. If Issue 2 ends up being a singular event, its significance will be pretty substantially diminished.

Similarly, if the energy that it created is simply swung around and harnessed into re-election campaigns, its vitality will be sapped. Ohioans worked around politicians because they’d lost faith in politicians’ ability to act decisively in their interest. If all of that energy gets funnelled into re-elect Tim Ryan, re-elect Sherrod Brown, re-elect Barack Obama, look for it to diminish.

The reason it was so huge and resonated with so many people was because it allowed them to participate in setting the agenda – in changing the law, not just the actors. Finding a way to maintain that and to continue putting it to that use will be the real challenge going forward.

One of the reasons the Occupy movement has captured people’s imaginations is precisely because it bypasses a system that many believe to be broken (or even actively hostile to their interests). That’s what We Are Ohio had going for it, too. There are lots of people looking at the political implications of Tuesday’s result, but those echoes are much more remote than positive policy changes. John Kasich’s low approval rating won’t heat anyone’s house this winter.

The long-term implications of the citizen veto will be great if the effort transforms into a separate political actor; one that works with direct measures such as recalls and ballot initiatives to advance policies that benefit the rest of us. Since Kasich has already announced his intention to force more misery on the non-wealthy, here is an example of how that new political action could work next year: A state income tax of 15% starting at $1,000,000. No money available, governor? We’ll find some for you. Now hire some damn teachers.

That is something which would be of direct, immediate benefit to almost every resident, would involve the same kind of civic engagement Ohioans showed this year, and is something we could vote on at the ballot box. It could also be of enormous benefit to the politicians who want to declare themselves allies of the 99%. There would be plenty of opportunity for Ryan, Brown, Obama, etc. to lustily declare their support for the issue and thereby reap the political rewards. Citizen-driven measures and political exigencies do not have to be mutually exclusive.

But going with that model does flip the relationship between the two; it makes those running for office get behind the efforts of citizens, not the other way around. It also allows positive changes to get advanced, and quickly. And it would mean we could finally stop fending off punches and start throwing a few of our own. If that happens, then the citizen veto of Senate Bill 5 will not just be a victory on a single issue, but a herald of an entirely new politics.

Cross posted from Pruning Shears.

Rally at Ohio Statehouse (Photo: Ohio Afl-CIO, flickr)

The effort to get a citizen veto of John Kasich’s union-busting attack on the middle class is still a very big deal in Ohio, even as the Occupy movement picks up steam here (and everywhere!) If it has gone somewhat off your radar here’s an update. First, the latest polling shows overwhelming support for overturning the law. Opponents appear to have the public firmly on their side, and that offers a lot of encouragement as we go into the stretch run.

Some vignettes add color to those numbers, though. For example, Kasich has been stumping for it throughout the state. One of his first stops was Logan county – which, as Plunderbund pointed out, he carried with 64% of the vote less than a year ago. Logan is a Republican stronghold, it should be completely off any GOP governor’s to-do list. Yet there he was, shoring up support.

In another surprising development, the No On 2 campaign has actually outspent the other side by a big margin. I fully expected the out of state post-Citizens United fire hose of money to be turned on, but while there has been a certain amount of that so far it has been much quieter than expected. I doubt anyone is keeping their powder dry at this point; we are in the heat of election season and right now is the time to saturate the airwaves.

The relative lack of right wing messaging is something like the dog that didn’t bark. Is it possible they have already given up on this turkey and view any money thrown at it a waste? From a nonscientific “take it for what it’s worth” perspective, I seem to be seeing a lot more TV ads for No On 2. I’ve also seen No On 2 billboards and yard signs, but neither in support of it. Read the rest of this entry →

"Welcome to Ohio" Sign in Union City, OH by OZinOH on flickr

Last week the Ohio politics blog Plunderbund had a series of posts about the sudden and dramatic sense of desperation that had seized the right. The panic began with an editorial from the conservative Columbus Dispatch. It was so completely at odds with reality that even a casual follower of state politics might have taken it for parody.

It really has to be read to be believed. It has garden variety inaccuracy: “Neither side has reason for undue optimism about the outcome of this battle.” It has bizarre claims: “A monstrously expensive campaign…undoubtedly would create deep divisions not only among Ohioans, but within individual voters who see merit on both sides of the issue.” (Their worry for my potential cognitive dissonance is touching.) It has political wish fulfillment: “If only those millions of dollars could be redirected to the state’s most-promising economic-development initiatives”.

Worst of all, it claimed “John Kasich previously has made overtures to union leaders for compromise” and called on lawmakers to “determine if compromise is possible.” What was the compromise they wanted? Removal of Issue 2 from the ballot in exchange for some tweaks to SB 5.

Perhaps in another bit of kabuki designed to pave the way for Kasich to broach the subject, the Cleveland Plain Dealer followed with an editorial of its own calling for sweet, sweet compromise. This is the same group that warned last December: “Kasich and his fellow Republicans are setting up a battle royale with union interests.” When the actual battle royale was launched, though, where was the full throated condemnation? Where was the dire concern trolling we are seeing now about a “nasty, divisive, expensive war”? Read the rest of this entry →

"Welcome to Wisconsin!" by Great Beyond on flickr

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

Tuesday’s recall elections in Wisconsin were a stunning rebuke to the Republican party. As Craig Gilbert wrote back in March: “History tells us that most of the 16 recall attempts under way in Wisconsin are likely to fail. It also tells us that if three or four succeed, it would be entirely without precedent.”

Gilbert also noted that it marked the first time a local recall campaign was considered to have national (even international) scope and implications. Judging by how money poured in from both the left and right it certainly was national in funding, though national media did the lackluster job it’s done since the start.

How did it look at the end of the night? For only the fourth time in American history, two officials were ousted in a single year. In other words, an exceptionally rare success. Funny enough, there was almost universal triumphalism on the right, and on the left there were plenty of folks who sounded dejected. Why was that? Because there was an absurdly high bar set for success on the left: Three successful recalls. Something that has never, ever been done.

Three victories would have switched control of the state Senate from Republican to Democrat, which sure would have been nice! Instead the GOP maintains a 17-16 edge. But even a single recall is an enormous task, which is why before Tuesday there had only been seven individual ones in addition to the 3 doubles. Thirteen total in American history. Local activists may have been too close to appreciate the magnitude of what they accomplished, but it was an extraordinary result. Read the rest of this entry →

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

When the protests in Wisconsin erupted over the winter I remember having an exchange with Athenae. She had been holding her breath every single day because she was sure at any moment it would fall apart. There was good reason to believe that! Despite their unprecedented size the protests were informally but widely boycotted by corporate media. (Curiously, media outlets owned by multinationals tend to not have very robust coverage of union and labor issues.) There were the usual strategies to discredit the movement – including the heretofore reliable tactic of telling a whopping lie, getting the wingnuts to jump all over it and turning it into a zombie lie.

That’s how we are used to seeing it happen. There was no reason to think it wouldn’t, just like there was no reason to think the protests would keep going strong day after day after day, or that fourteen state Democrats would show more spine and initiative over the course of a few weeks than…well let’s not go there.

Yet somehow, the script got flipped. All the things that weren’t supposed to happen did, and all the things that were supposed to happen didn’t. The protests kept up and became the catalyst for a remarkable recall effort. On Tuesday recall supporters helped usher in a clean sweep of a Republican dirty trick effort, and there is a real chance that they will actually switch control of the Senate. It is a truly astonishing feat.

The leadership of local representatives and the ability of activists to achieve tangible, substantial results so quickly stands in stark contrast to the situation at the national level. Too few politicians in the capitol have been willing to wage sustained, vigorous and public fights on behalf of the middle class, and activists have had a terrible time attempting to shift policy from its current wealth-privileging position.

That has led to deep frustration with even those who are nominal allies on the left. My own Congressional representative (Tim Ryan) and one of my Senators (Sherrod Brown) say some very nice things, very stirring populist things about the importance of standing up for working families. Hell, the president says lots of nice things. However nice individual politicians may seem, what’s come out of DC for the last generation has been largely hostile to anyone who is not independently wealthy.

Free trade agreements like NAFTA have not protected the rights of workers or the environment, initiatives like the Employee Free Choice Act languish, and there has been a general apathy towards stagnating wages and worsening conditions. For several decades now it has mostly been one long losing streak in DC for regular workers. (There have been recent signs of life at the NLRB, though.)

Wisconsin has been different, and that inspired Van Jones and Move On to create what they call the American Dream Movement (ADM). There will be house parties launching the initiative this weekend (find one near you!) and it will attempt to harness that energy on a wider scale. Based on what I have observed in Wisconsin and participated in here in Ohio, there are a few things I think are critical for success.

The first is a direct and relatively immediate goal. Having a reward for activists is a big deal, and Wisconsin leveraged that brilliantly. Pissed off about the budget repair bill? Get signatures, make phone calls, get the recalls lined up, and just a few months later take your shot at flipping the Senate. Do the work and you get to go in the booth and vote on it. A big reward, relatively quickly.

Same in Ohio. Don’t like SB 5? Get signatures, make phone calls, get the citizen veto on the ballot. If we work like hell through the summer and fall we can spike the damn thing in November. A big reward, relatively quickly.

I hope the ADM tries for a similar dynamic. It’s hard to sustain enthusiasm for a movement that lacks that. Protesting at a big bank because it got a huge bailout or pays no taxes may be a satisfying way to vent some anger, but the remedy for that is in Washington. You know, the place the banks own. Directing all the gathering energy there seems like a good way to dissipate it.

One lesson of Wisconsin is that state and local efforts may prove more fruitful, and that using direct measures like referendums, recalls and ballot initiatives may be the last, best way for a frustrated citizenry to rouse its inert government to action.

Another lesson is that coalition building works. If you want an early clue to see how effective the ADM will be, see if it is partnering with unions, other activist groups and locally supportive officials to accomplish its goals. If it is largely working on its own, that’s probably a bad sign.

The most important lesson is this, though: Politicians work for us, we don’t work for them. Identifying issues that for whatever reason are not being addressed, and forcing them on the political system, could fairly radically re-orient our representatives’ approach. It’s tremendously powerful for citizens to join together and say “this is what we are working on. Pitch in if you’d like, we’d love the support and be grateful for it, but we’re doing this with or without your help.”

Working on issue advocacy puts the emphasis where it belongs – on policy, not personalities. Those who would be leaders will only be regarded as such to the extent that they are willing to affirmatively work on behalf of those whose support they seek. For too long Democrats have identified themselves first as not-Republicans, the party that would prevent those villains on the right from putting their master plans into effect. That is a negative ruling vision, one that emphasizes what won’t happen. The ADM shows the craving for a positive message, one that says: this is what we are working for, this is what we want to do – not just what we want to prevent.

I’m sure in most cases it is too late for direct measures for this November’s ballot. It will be interesting to see what the plans are for next year, though. At the moment I’m far more inclined to put my time, effort and money into a ballot effort for a middle-class friendly policy than I am to try to help elect a politician. Will the ADM prioritize initiatives? And what kind of policy prescriptions might be good candidates for such an effort?

Here is just one possibility: A 15% state income tax beginning at $1 million per year. Taxing the wealthy is broadly popular, would be very easy to write, and could be coupled with a promise by candidates to use the money to restore funding currently being slashed from state budgets. There are a lot of selling points. I’ll even throw out a few slogans (not mine – I heard them elsewhere): Taxes fight fires. Taxes teach children. Taxes patrol the streets.

Giving citizens the opportunity to gather signatures for something like that, and seeing the fruits of their labor by the time the next election rolls around, is a great incentive. The ADM can and probably will have many different parts to it, but I hope direct democracy is one of the big ones. Wisconsin showed that there is a tremendous desire for civic engagement, and that desire has been largely frustrated by a federal government unresponsive to public sentiment.

That desire is still there though, bottled up and more urgent than ever in the midst of a jobs crisis. People want to get busy, and the ADM could very well position itself as an outlet. In the absence of strong leadership from elected representatives, citizens might just create a largely self-organized and organic alternative. One way or another, though, the leadership void will be filled. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Move On’s event locator may be found here.

Last Wednesday We Are Ohio dropped off 1,298,301 signatures at the Secretary of State’s office to put the citizen veto of SB 5 on the ballot. For the time being that puts activists in a bit of a holding pattern. Enough signatures need to be validated to put it on the ballot in November, and since there are over a million past the threshold it will take some time. It’s very, very likely – but until it’s official, it isn’t done.

Provided that happens, the next step will be figuring out how to get the word out. Part of that will depend on the ballot language. Since the intent is to overturn an existing law it would be preferable to have it be a “no” vote. It also would help keep the message consistent through election day. Going from No On SB 5 to No On Issue X is smoother than telling everyone who signed a petition that they need to vote “yes” to overturn the law. For that very reason supporters of the law have an incentive to muddy the waters; the citizen veto could well be a “yes” vote precisely because those who want to preserve the law will be calling the shots on the ballot language.

Once summer starts winding down, right wing astroturf groups will start cranking up the Wurlitzer. State Policy Network front groups like Buckeye Institute (via) will start pumping out their anti-tax platitudes (corrected the broken link from your front page for you, dummies!) and the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity will parachute in with briefcases full of C notes.

Activists will need to counter their efforts the old fashioned way: door to door and neighbor to neighbor. We cannot compete with right wing funding; we will necessarily have to concede certain advantages to them. We will not be able to buy commercials like they will, so we have to be prepared to counter the messages that are sure to blanket the airwaves.

There are two other factors in play. The first is what I affectionately call the Tea Party Single Payer Amendment. While SB 5 has gotten all the attention, a group called the Ohio Liberty Council has pushed an effort to allow Ohio to opt out of ZOMGObamacare. Should it actually pass and get struck down, it seems we could end up being Constitutionally required to…implement a farther reaching health care package via federal waiver like Vermont did.

Unintended consequences notwithstanding, the goal seems to be to drive turnout on the right as a countervailing force to SB 5 activists. It probably will get more of the right’s base moving, meaning we will have to work that much harder to get the law overturned. It would probably be a good idea not to get too confident by polls showing solid support for a citizen veto. In an odd numbered year with a chunk of red meat hung out for reactionaries, it could be much closer than anyone expects right now.

That is particularly true in an off year election when getting out the vote is key, and that is where the other factor comes into play. Ohio just passed a law that bars poll workers from directing voters to the correct voting precinct if they go to the wrong one. In 2008, when workers were legally required to help, there were 14,000 wrong-precinct votes not counted. That problem will now get worse. State Senator Nina Turner objected that this disenfranchisement was most likely to occur in Democratic-leaning areas and tartly observed: “I guess the loss of votes for some doesn’t matter.” Considering that in person vote fraud is a Republican scam in general and that Ohio State Law Professor Dan Tokaji only knows of only one – one! – example of it in Ohio, it seems clear that the GOP’s longstanding vote suppression effort will be more successful this time around.

The conservative effort to support Governor Wall Street with saturation coverage and base-pleasing legislation is a wild card. No one can know in advance how much it will work or how to control for it. Getting out the vote is a little more knowable because it’s possible to aggressively reach out to those most likely to be hurt by the new law, and make sure they get to the right place. But both represent issues that could threaten the effort to overturn SB 5. There’s a good chance that emphatic majority support for repeal will be necessary but not sufficient. Activists would be wise to take nothing for granted.

One at a time, that’s how.

I know that’s a flippant way to put it, but all the big picture stuff risks losing sight of the most important thing of all: This happened because passionately committed individuals took it upon themselves to get the training and put themselves in a position to ask their friends and neighbors to support the referendum.

Yes, the organization was phenomenal, and yes a remarkably disciplined coalition sprang up with almost no notice. Yes, there are a huge number of people who greatly oppose the GOP’s union-busting law, and in many cases actively sought out petitions to sign. But what it took to connect leaders with the citizens who want to veto SB 5 was a small army of activists making sure popular sentiment had a chance to be expressed.

To any volunteer who has ever felt discouraged after pitching in on an initiative that didn’t go as well as expected: This is why you keep at it. You don’t know at the start how it will finish. You don’t know how many other folks are going to join in, or what kind of critical mass it takes for something to catch fire. You just get at it and keep at it, and every now and then you’ll be part of something that almost takes on a life of its own – and wildly exceeds even your most optimistic hopes. And it just feels great.

OK, so big picture. When the campaign began, the goal was to get around half a million signatures. We needed a little over 231,000 and the idea was to get more than twice that in order to have a generous cushion for the inevitable disqualifications. A couple weeks ago We Are Ohio announced it had collected 714,137 signatures, which was remarkable; we had over three times the number required and we still hadn’t gotten to the final push.

At that point the effort could have eased up considerably. The campaign had gotten almost half again the number it was aiming for. If not another lick of work had been done, it would have qualified as a remarkable achievement. But everyone involved in the campaign knew they could do more than just get the citizen veto on the ballot. They knew they could send an emphatic and unmistakable message by going way over the total.

Based on my own observation and general sense of how it was going, I pegged one million as the upper limit – the dream big and swing for the fences number. I didn’t really think it would happen because time was so short, and I figured anyone who wanted to sign already had. Still, I volunteered a few hours at a local fair over the weekend to sit in the local Democrats’ booth and collect signatures.

Read the rest of this entry →

Ohio is currently in the midst of working out its new budget, and with a Republican-dominated state government it is unsurprisingly chock full of bad policy. While a high level overview shows the GOP’s preferential option for the rich, seeing some details really highlights the impact elsewhere. What follows comes from an email attachment sent out by the City of Cleveland, and it shows how these Republican priorities will harm it. Keep in mind the numbers below are for one city; similar hardships will be inflicted on communities throughout the state.

One more thing before going into the numbers. Republican governors have been crying poverty in states across the country in order to justify slashing public services and having fire sales for public goods. Those of us fighting the attack on the middle class should rally support for restoring these cuts via a tax on the rich. A 15% income tax starting at $1 million per year would go a long way towards curing what ails state budgets.

A humble suggestion: That activists use referendum or ballot initiative processes to get an Elite’s Bracket on the 2012 ballot. Sympathetic candidates can pledge to use the revenue to restore funding currently being gutted – and let the unsympathetic ones run on a platform of defending the wealthy. I think voters would make their intent pretty clear.

Impact of State of Ohio’s Efforts to Redistribute Revenue

State Imposes Budget Deficit

The State’s proposed two-year budget begins July 1 and:

• Imposes a $35.7 million deficit on the City of Cleveland for the remainder of 2011 and 2012.
• Causes 321 layoffs and the elimination of 145 vacancies

Local Government Fund

• The local government fund is comprised of locally generated tax revenue that is sent to the State which then redistributes an appropriate portion of the money back to the local communities where the revenue was generated.
• In addition to reducing allocations by 50% in two years, the current budget bill, as written would give the County the ability to change the apportionment of LGF at the local level, upon approval of seventy-five per cent or more of the subdivisions located wholly or partially in the county. This provision could also impact the amount of LGF returned to Cleveland.

CAT and TPP

Commercial Activity Tax and the Public Utilities Tangible Personal Property Tax are also locally-generated tax revenue that the State redistributes back to local governments and the state’s proposed budget unfairly redirects this revenue, taking money earned in cities like Cleveland and redistributing at a disproportionately higher rate to suburbs and rural areas:

• The state budget originally called for a 30% reduction in CAT. It was amended to completely eliminate the funding for cities, like Cleveland, where CAT is less than 2% of their budget while communities where CAT is more than 2% of their budget will receive only a 30% reduction.
• The application and collection of CAT happens in large, urban areas with a lot of business activity, like Cleveland, not in smaller communities that do not have large business sectors. So, the tax is being imposed and collected here but is being given to other communities.
• A similarly amended formula causes large cities to lose the entire amount of tangible personal property tax (TPP) in the first year while allowing other cities to retain a portion of it.

State-Imposed Budget Deficits, 2011 – 2013

State-Imposed Staff Reductions

• Police
  • Laid Off: 81 Patrolman and 42 Cadets
  • Demoted: 2 Lieutenants and 15 Sergeants
• Fire
  • Laid Off: 51 Firefighters
  • Demoted: 4 Battalion Chiefs, 3 Captains and 10 Lieutenants
• Public Works:
  • Laid Off: 79
  • Vacancies unfilled: 114
• Building and Housing
  • Laid Off: 6
  • Vacancies unfilled: 4
• Other (Includes Public Affairs, Finance and Law)
  • Laid Off: 17
  • Vacancies unfilled: 13
• Municipal Court
  • Laid Off: 37
  • Vacancies unfilled: 8
• Clerk of Court
  • Laid Off: 8

SB 145 and Estate Tax

In addition to cuts in LGF and the elimination of CAT and TPP, the City of Cleveland faces additional loss of revenue in the amount of $73,500,000 from 2011-2013 from pending legislation:

Senate Bill 145

• SB 145 would apply to any municipality that collects greater than $100 Million in income tax per year
• Provides for a 10% credit for non resident workers.
• This credit would result in a loss of revenue to the City of Cleveland of approximately $24 million per year.

Repeal of Estate Tax

• If passed, the Estate Tax would end December 31, 2012.
• Due to the amount of time it takes to settle an estate we are projecting a $1.5 million reduction in 2013, which represents half of what is typically budgeted – $3 Million.
• After 2013, the City of Cleveland would receive $0 in Estate Tax, effectively removing $3 million from our budget annually 8

Potential Revenue Loss from Pending Legislation

The first phase of the effort to overturn John Kasich’s union busting law is almost complete. Last night I attended a meeting of local activists that has been getting together regularly throughout the process, and was filled in on some of the details. None of it was for official publication so I won’t release any numbers, but it looks like the totals will be pretty amazing. Even the rough preliminary estimations have blown way past the most wildly optimistic and ambitious benchmarks set by supporters. Watch for it soon, and hang on to your hats.

A few words on the process. We Are Ohio has been attempting to vet the returned petitions before sending them on to the Secretary of State in order to do a preliminary validation. The idea is to make sure the petitions sent back are as solid as possible, and to keep the number rejected to an absolute minimum. The more reliable the numbers are, the better chance we will know exactly where it stands.

The drop dead date for getting signatures to the Secretary of State is June 30th. We Are Ohio is trying to get its stragglers back by around a week before in order to check them. Anyone running an effort independent of We Are Ohio (or who procrastinates past roughly the end of next week) will have to get the signatures to Columbus themselves.

Starting July 1st we will enter something of a twilight zone. There will be no ballot-related activity for folks to engage in, and until it actually gets approved there will not even be a specific measure to promote. And obviously with summer vacation in full swing lots of people are off doing their own thing. So how to keep it in the public consciousness?

One way is to give it some visibility at fairs, festivals and so on. Any place where there will be booths for local community or political groups, there are opportunities for activists to get the word out. I am already signed up for one next weekend, and will likely help at several others in July and August. (If you’d like to help drop me a note in the comments!)

Another is the initiative being run by Proud Ohio Workers. According to its site it “was created to allow merchants across the state to show that they recognize public employee support for their shops.” It has created an interactive map showing the businesses that support the initiative, and they can show that support with a Proud Ohio Workers sticker. Customers who see it will obviously be reminded of the issue, and activists can help get the word out about them.

While it might be tough for an individual to throw some work to, say, a tool and die shop (not that you shouldn’t try!), just about anyone with a little disposable income can support a restaurant. Which is exactly what our family did last week. Here is one such place:

And a close-up of the Proud Ohio Workers sticker:

Right now most of the Proud Ohio Workers shops are small businesses. They have taken it on the chin in recent years, and with the union busting tactics of big corporations becoming increasingly brazen it might just be time to re-invigorate the Buy Local movement. Obviously, being local or small is no guarantee; there are certainly plenty of businesses willing to get behind SB 5 (via). But it seems owners tied to the community are more likely to be supportive of middle class issues.

In the post-Citizens United world consumers’ spending choices have a political dimension that would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago. It used to just be “buy American” or “look for the union label,” but now with groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council writing laws for state governments and Americans For Prosperity pouring in vast sums to support them, it is increasingly important to identify the many different grounds where state and local battles are being fought – and raise awareness on an issue by issue basis. (We should still look to support the longer term efforts of workers to organize large corporations, of course.)

Resources like the Proud Ohio Workers map are valuable tools in that effort. If we can keep reminding people of it, we can build momentum for having it factor into how money gets spent. If we can persuade people to, even once a month, check that map before leaving the house, we can show merchants that it is in their immediate as well as enlightened self interest to support worker friendly initiatives. That in turn could have an impact long after the fall campaign season gets cranked up.

The citizen veto effort continues to be energetically supported. A couple of weeks ago it had received 93% of the signatures required to get it on the ballot, and that was in only a third of the time allotted. Thursday evening I attended a petition signing event at a local restaurant. State representative Kathleen Clyde sponsored the event:

Other local leaders attended as well:

There was a table set up for petitions:

And it had a steady stream of voters coming over to support the effort:

Keep in mind this was just one event on a single night. There are events all over the place, groups like We Are Ohio have been getting the word out, local unions are sponsoring and publicizing similar events – there is just a tremendous amount of work being done to get it on the ballot. Everyone wants to do their part and no one is taking anything for granted.

If you aren’t actually in Ohio you might not have a very good sense of not just how widespread the opposition is, but how deeply folks feel about it. It’s not a sure thing; the carpetbagging astroturf campaign is almost certain to have lots of money to throw at supporting it. Presumably the airwaves will be blanketed with their propaganda come election season. But it’s hard not to feel encouraged by the degree to which people are already well informed on the issue, know the reasons it is such a bad law, and are willing to reach out to their neighbors to spread the word.