Friday, June 17, 2011
COLUMBUS — Opponents of Ohio’s new collective-bargaining law say they have collected hundreds of thousands more signatures than needed in their effort to let voters decide whether to repeal the measure this fall.
A spokeswoman for the group We Are Ohio said today it has gathered more than 714,000 signatures. They still must be checked by the state’s election chief to ensure enough are legitimate.
“It gives it one hell of a start,” said Dave Betras, the chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party. “It’s a long battle, but that’s a lot of signatures to collect.”
Betras likened the effort to curb collective-bargaining rights to “taking a sledgehammer to kill a fly” and said it attacks the working people of Ohio.
Mark Munroe, the county’s Republican Party chairman, said he wasn’t surprised at the number of signatures collected.
“I think we’ve always assumed that the opponents of SB5 were going to be able to gather enough signatures,” he said. “It will take a lot more votes than that for the issue to be successful on the ballot in the fall.”
For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com