Nearly half the money raised came from Partnership for Ohio’s Future, a political committee affiliated with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce that does not reveal its donors. The first contribution to the effort was $850,000 from American Action Network, a right-leaning, nonprofit “social welfare” group that also does not disclose donors but reported $27.5 million in revenue on its 2011 tax filing.
The group’s expenditures include $3.8 million for advertising, $165,000 for automated phone calls and $40,000 to Jim Nathanson of Dayton for consulting.
Voters First, the group pushing the constitutional amendment to reform Ohio’s redistricting process, reported $3.6 million in contributions and $2.5 million in expenditures since July. Expenditures included nearly $1 million for printed materials
Before Thursday’s filing, the Ohio Republican Party was the only known contributor to the anti-Issue 2 effort, which began running statewide TV ads in mid-September. Issue 2 would create a citizen commission to decide Ohio’s legislative and congressional districts, replacing the current system where lawmakers and state elected officials draw lines that often protect incumbents.
Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for Voters First, said the opposition’s contributor list reads like a “Who’s Who” list of Ohio special interests: $300,000 from coal-producing Boich Companies, more than $100,000 from the Associated Builders and Contractors association and $250,000 each from American Electric Power, Duke Energy and First Energy companies.
“Anybody who is regulated dug deep and dug often,” Theis said. “We have a lot of utilities that find themselves for the first time in a long time with a utility-friendly Public Utilities Commission [of Ohio].”
On the other side, labor unions are bankrolling the effort by Voters First to reform how Ohio draws congressional and legislative districts. The Ohio Education Association has contributed $2.4 million in cash and in-kind contributions since March. The next biggest donors are state and national AFSCME ($1.2 million), National Education Association ($1 million) and the state and national AFL-CIO ($540,000.)
Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Protect Your Vote, said the Voters First’s report reveals the organization leans left.
“It’s almost downright hypocritical that they say they want to take politics out of the redistricting process yet take almost all of their funding from organizations that are highly political and align with one particular party,” LoParo said.
LoParo noted that Voters First also accepted money from nonprofit organizations that do not have to disclose donors.
The Ohio Organizing Campaign made an $800 in-kind contribution to knock on doors for Voters First, according to the report. America Votes, which describes itself as a progressive advocacy group, has contributed little more than $35,000 in staffing costs.
Voters First received 612 contributions from individuals since June, with an average contribution of $53. Protect Your Vote reported nine individual contributions, with an average contribution of $33,730.
Final expenses for both groups won’t be known until post-election reports are filed in December.
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