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Deadline To File To Overturn Controversial Nuclear Bailout Law A Week Away

Petition circulators have been gathering signatures since late August.
Andy Chow
Petition circulators have been gathering signatures since late August.

On October 21, the group that wants to overturn Ohio’s nuclear power plant bailout law is required to submit nearly 266,000 valid signatures to halt that law and put it before voters next year. But supporters of the bailout are waging an unrelenting fight to stop that.

The pro-bailout Ohioans For Energy Security has been urging people not to sign petitions that would put the bailout on the ballot – first with ads and mailers linking the campaign to China, and now targeting the people who've been hired to gather signatures.

The latest ad features a voiceover identifying a circulator as a "convicted felon" from out of state. A previous ad also encouraged Ohioans not to sign petitions by people going door-to-door to gather them.

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts spokesman Gene Pierce says the other side using information about their circulators found on required forms, and has been bullying some circulators and trying to buy others off to get them to quit the campaign. And Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts said another pro-bailout group is trying to get people who have signed to ask for their signatures to be removed.

The group has filed a federal lawsuit asking for a 90 day extension to get signatures. “We’re still on course, I believe, to make our deadline but it’s a battle, every day’s a battle," Pierce said. Pierce hasn't said how many signatures the group has collected so far.

A spokesperson for the pro-bailout group Generation Now has said monitors have been told to be polite, respectful, and to avoid inappropriate contact.

The pro-bailout forces have also asked the Ohio Supreme Court to rule that the plan is a tax and can’t be put to voters. No ruling on that yet.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.
Karen Kasler
Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.