Oct. 23--A federal judge has rejected a request by organizers of the House Bill 6 referendum for more time to gather signatures to place the nuclear-energy plant bailout repeal on the ballot next year.
U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. ruled on Wednesday night that Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts is not legally entitled to additional days to supplement its petition drive that failed to collect enough signatures by Monday's submission deadline.
In a ruling issued about 9:30 p.m., Sargus turned down the group's request for a preliminary injunction against Secretary of State Frank LaRose granting it more time -- a ruling that can be appealed to the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
Sargus ruled that the legal questions in the case do not fall within the purview of federal court, but rather are questions of state law that belong before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Comment was being sought late Wednesday from the state and supporters and opponents of the referendum effort.
House Bill 6 took effect Monday, although the 85-cent monthly charge on most Ohioans' electric bills -- to generate $1 billion over seven years to subsidize bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions' pair of nuclear power plants -- will not begin until 2021. The bill also continued a ratepayer surcharge to support two coal-fired power plants and reduced green energy standards.
Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts had asked Sargus to grant it up to 38 additional days to gather signatures, arguing unconstitutional state laws denied it access to the ballot.
The group argued that state law requiring the attorney general to approve summary language consumed 38 of the 90 days it was allowed to gather signatures, representing it constituted an unconstitutional restriction of free speech since petitions cannot be circulated until the approval is granted.
The group did not file its petition with the secretary of state by Monday's deadline, saying that its multimillion-dollar bid to gather 265,774 valid voter signatures was thwarted by its opponents' dirty tricks, including "bribes" to its petition circulators.
Lawyers for Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts revealed during a Wednesday hearing before Sargus that the group had gathered 221,092 signatures as of Monday, more than 44,000 short of the minimum number needed.
The fight following the Republican-dominated legislature's approval of House Bill 6 largely has pitted Akron-based FirstEnergy Solutions and its allies against natural gas interests who contend the bailout gives the nuclear plants an unfair advantage in the electricity-generation market.
Billy Rogers, president of Advanced Micro Targeting, which was hired to manage the petition gathering, testified Tuesday that sufficient signatures -- and another 130,000 to cover non-valid signatures subsequently disallowed -- could be gathered with the granting of the additional 38 days.
He said he concluded two weeks into the effort that 52 days was insufficient time to gather the needed signatures, particularly given the "ferocity" of the tactics used by opponents, led by the dark-money group Ohioans for Energy Security. It bankrolled more than $16 million in TV commercials against the referendum.
Rogers said he had never encountered a "more hostile environment" in the 40 petition campaigns conducted by his firm nationwide, saying that offers of bribes from House Bill 6 supporters and the intimidating tactics of "blockers" hired to harass petition circulators "made it impossible to do their jobs."
Bridget Coontz, a deputy attorney general representing Secretary of State LaRose, suggested in her arguments and questioning that the referendum campaign failed for reasons other than state laws. She said the campaign "underestimated" its main opponent -- Ohioans for Energy Security -- and lost out on its offer of "easier and higher-paying jobs" to referendum circulators.
rludlow@dispatch.com
@RandyLudlow
Source: INACTIVE-Tribune Regional
(October 23, 2019 - 10:29 PM EDT)
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