New pro-SB 5 panel to swing into action today
The new pro-Senate Bill 5 committee also is expected to go live today with a website. The committee will be chaired by Vaughn Flasher, a longtime Statehouse lobbyist and political consultant who in recent years has helped Senate Republicans build the strongest majority they've had in four decades.
Flasher, however, will not be the face of the campaign as it contemplates how to turn on its head opponents' arguments that the law is a GOP attack on Ohio's middle class, working families, and organized labor.
Meanwhile, the Ohio chapter of the Washington-based Americans for Prosperity is raising money to conduct its own door-to-door grass-roots campaign to sell the merits of Senate Bill 5 to voters before the Nov. 8 election.
"We'll be working together, but not technically together. We'll be sharing information and working toward the same goal," said Rebecca Heimlich, state director of the tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation. "We've had our plans for a while and have started fund-raising. We talked to [supporters of Senate Bill 5] a couple of weeks ago, and we will continue to communicate."
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests started by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations and also has been fueling the "Tea Party" efforts.
AFP's messages are in sync with those of other groups funded by the Koch Family Foundations and the Koch's other special interest groups that work against progressive or Democratic initiatives and protections for workers and the environment.
Accordingly, AFP opposes labor unions, health care reform, stimulus spending, and cap-and-trade legislation, which is aimed at making industries pay for the air pollution that they create.
"The more than 10,000 volunteers who make up We Are Ohio continue to remain focused on our goal of collecting more than 450,000 signatures before the June 30th deadline," said Michael Weinman, treasurer for We Are Ohio. "While supporters of SB 5 appear to be working behind the scenes with special interests, the faces of We Are Ohio continue to be hard-working middle class families who deserve the right to work one good job, pursue the American Dream for themselves and their children and be part of the middle class."
We Are Ohio is an unprecedented grass roots movement which has more volunteers gathering signatures than any petition drive in Ohio history. In just one month, We Are Ohio collected 214,399 total signatures.
"The facts remain the facts, SB 5 is an unfair attack on police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses and others who serve and protect our communities," said Weinman. "This bill will be devastating to local economies in small and large towns across Ohio and fails to create badly needed jobs. We are confident Ohioans will see SB 5 for what it really is, an unfair law that will destroy jobs and harm communities."
We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together to repeal SB 5, the unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety. We Are Ohio includes public and private sector workers and employees, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, pastors, small business owners, Republicans and Democrats, local elected officials and business leaders, students, Moms, Dads, family members, and your neighbors.
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