Individuals have contributed $26,371 for the proposed constitutional amendment, which would task a citizen panel to map Ohio’s legislative and congressional districts instead of state elected officials and lawmakers. Critics say Ohio’s method favors the party in power, currently the Republican Party.
The Ohio GOP and the newly-formed Protect Your Vote PAC say Voters First is a front group for liberal interests.
Protect Your Vote spokesman Mark Rickel said the filing shows the effort is not citizen-based but bought by special interests that donate heavily to political campaigns and lobby state and federal officials.
“Proponents of this amendment need to be more straightforward with Ohioans,” Rickel said in a statement Tuesday. “This amendment is little more than an effort by liberal special interests to change Ohio’s constitution for their own partisan gain.”
Protect Your Vote officially formed in late June but has been publicly quiet, holding a private event in Columbus in early July. The group reported $0 in contributions and expenditures on Tuesday’s report.
“They want to run a campaign the same way they drew the district lines — in secret rooms without transparency, accountability or public input,” Dan Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor and Voters First member, said in a statement. “We may never know the identity of the lobbyists and special interests behind their effort, because they will use every loophole to avoid disclosing their funders.”
Voters First also received in-kind contributions from AFSCME, the League of Women Voters, AFL-CIO offshoot Working America and America Votes, a national progressive political action committee that supports progressive ballot initiatives and expanding voting rights.
Other races
Also in the finance reports released Tuesday, Citizens for Blackshear raised $8,270 to support Montgomery County Recorder Willis Blackshear’s bid for re-election this November. Labor unions were among Blackshear’s largest contributors. Teamsters Local Union No. 957 PAC and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union CLC, each gave $1,000 to support Blackshear, who is a Democrat.
Republican Tim O’Bryant, who is challenging Blackshear for the recorder job, reported in April that he had not received any campaign contributions.
Former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin is getting a jump on fundraising to support her bid for a seat on the Dayton City Commission in 2013.The Friends of Rhine McLin raised $4,053 during the current reporting period bringing her total available funds to $14,384.88. No other candidates have yet announced in that race. McLin left the commission in 2010 after losing the mayor’s race in 2009 to Gary Leitzell.
The Montgomery County Republican Party Campaign Fund took in $21,201 in contributions, including $2,000 from the Conservative Business Coalition. The party listed expenses of about $18,293 including a $5,357 transfer into its Restricted Fund for office expenses and $4,601 was spent on a golf outing at the PipeStone Golf Club in Miamisburg.
Montgomery County Democrats reported raising $27,197.58 for the party’s Restricted Fund, which can be used for operating and maintenance costs associated with political party headquarters, including rental or leasing costs, staff salaries, office equipment and supplies, postage, and the purchase, lease, or maintenance of computer hardware and software. More than half of the contributions were transfers in from the party’s political account. Total funds available, including the $5,506.02 balance brought forward were $32,703.60. The party listed expenditures of $29,829.57, with the largest being $5,772 paid to the Montgomery County Treasurer for property taxes.
Candidates who filed post primary reports or had low fundraising were not required to file campaign reports on Tuesday.
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