Hey, Governor, are you getting the messages....all 1,298,301 of them?

Pro-union coalition to deliver more than a million signatures for SB 5 referendum

(Click images to enlarge.)

Columbus Dispatch, June 29, 2011
By Joe Vardon

The coalition leading the effort to repeal Senate Bill 5 will deliver nearly 1.3 million signatures to the secretary of atate today to place Ohio's new collective bargaining law on the November ballot.

A parade of more than 6,000, led by a banner proclaiming the "million signature march," rumbled through Downtown this morning.

We Are Ohio, the group leading the referendum effort, organized the march up Broad Street to Fourth Street, where a semi-truck carrying the 1,298,301 signatures in 1,502 boxes collected will be unloaded. The parade also included retired fire trucks, a drum line, bagpipes and loud motorcycles. It took about 15 minutes to pass.

Secretary of State Jon Husted has a staff of 60 ready to work on the signatures. Meeting the threshold also would stop the law from taking effect until the November election.

As of last week, the group had collected about 714,000 signatures. The previous record for a statewide petition effort: 812,978 for the 2008 measure putting a proposed casino for Clinton County on the ballot. That proposed constitutional amendment was trounced by voters.

Building a Better Ohio, the Republican-based coalition forming to defend Senate Bill 5, is adding current Ohio Senate Republicans' spokesman Jason Mauk as its communications director.

Mauk sent out an email this morning declaring that he is taking a leave of absence from his public job with the Senate to work on the campaign.

jvardon@dispatch.com