Tue 8/8 @ 6:30AM-7:30PM
Should an Illinois billionaire get to tell Ohio women what they can do with their bodies? Or whether Ohio voters can amend their state constitution to hold corrupt legislators, bulldozing unpopular policies into law, accountable?
That’s what’s at stake on August 8 when voters will decide whether Issue 1, which would silence the voice of Ohio’s voters and give unchecked power to that corrupt, gerrymandered Republican majority that doesn’t want to share, will pass.
The hypocrisy alone should make every person of every political stripe want to vote NO. “Protect the Ohio constitution from big-money out of state interests,” Issue 1 supporters lie. This week we learned that Lake Bluff, Illinois, billionaire, Richard Uihlein, already the biggest backer of stripping Ohio voters of their voice, dropped another $4 million into supporting Issue 1. Wake up, people. Issue 1 isn’t JUST about abortion: you can vote on that in November. It’s about turning Ohio into a failed democracy in which the minority can ride roughshod over the rest of us.
Here’s more on Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth:
“Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Uline shipping supply company located in Pleasant Prairie, WI, and major donors to Republican candidates, contributed more than $4 million to the Tea Party Patriots. The group participated in the rally before the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While the organizers have taken down their website, and many tweets, since the rally led to the mob takeover of the Capitol, Mother Jones and others have reported on the March to Save America, AKA the March for Trump, sponsors.”
According to Ohio Capital Journal, “The yes campaign committee, Protect Our Constitution, raised a little more than $4.85 million according to its filing. Nearly all of it came from a single individual who lives out of state.” That’s Uihlein. In fact both sides have a flood of out-of-state money, but the hypocrisy is primarily on the “Yes” side. The issue never should’ve been on the ballot at all, inviting the tsunami of special interest money.
If yes were to prevail on August 8, there’s no chance that women and LGBTQ+ people would have their human rights protected in Ohio, leading to a massive brain drain which is already starting, despite Mike DeWine’s sunny, vacuous promises to make Ohio a magnet for educated, creative young people. It would end any opportunity to re-balance outsized GOP power in the legislature: redistricting reform would be dead. The last thing Ohio Republicans want is to see their legislative majority go from the current 70% in the House and nearly 80% in the Senate to a more voter-reflective 55%. Then they might have to actually debate issues voters care about: education, health care, housing, the opioid crisis, gun safety and not whether a few trans girls are playing high school sports.
You can kiss goodbye such reforms as minimum wage increases (why certain hospitality trade groups advocate for voting yes, apparently oblivious to how a far-right social/political climate is bad for business), recreational marijuana legalization or sensible gun safety reforms. (Come on, right-wingers? What exactly is the problem with requiring guns to be locked up and inaccessible to children? Oh right —that big NRA check says no.)
There’s no good reason to vote yes on Issue 1 on (or before) August 8. All of the “reasons” the billionaire-funded “yes” campaign is feeding you are false. And the Uihleins, safe on their sprawling estate in suburban Chicago, won’t be impacted. But you will.
Call 216-883-5036 if you need a ride to the polls or to the Board of Election to vote early. Souls to the Polls happens Sunday August 7 @ 1-4pm.