Repeals of strip club, lead paint curb laws end

The strip club issue will
appear on the ballot, but the votes won’t be counted.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Separate drives that aimed to ask voters to repeal one law regulating strip clubs and another curbing lawsuits over illnesses caused by lead paint have met their end.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state’s elections chief, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, was within her authority to reject petitions that sought to keep the strip club law the Legislature passed in May from taking effect.

Vote No on Issue 1, a campaign committee acting on behalf of strip club owners, submitted too few valid Ohio voter signatures to put the referendum on Tuesday’s ballot, Brunner said. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld Brunner’s position.

The law, which went into effect last month, prohibits dancers from touching patrons or each other and requires that nude dancing end daily at midnight. The opponents are pursuing another case in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the law as a suppression of free expression.

The proposal will appear on ballots statewide because the ballots needed to be certified by Brunner’s office by Sept. 7, when there was doubt over whether the Vote No group would collect enough signatures. Any votes on the matter will not be counted, Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega said.

Also this week, Brunner refused to accept petitions filed on behalf of consumer groups and trial lawyers trying to overturn a state law that places limits on the amount plaintiffs can collect in lawsuits against companies that at one time may have manufactured paint containing lead. Ingesting chips or dust from lead-based paint can cause developmental problems or even death in children.

Brunner said the group trying to file the petitions by a Tuesday deadline indicated they did not have the 241,000 signatures required to make the 2008 ballot. The number needed represents 6 percent of the total vote in the 2006 election for governor.