.bmp)
.bmp)
This spring Ohio's legislature passed legislation that placed new restrictions on sexually oriented businesses. A pro-family group that helped spearhead that legislation now says an investigative news report from a state media bureau confirms assertions that Ohioans are being tricked into signing a petition designed to help repeal the new laws.The Ohio-based family advocacy group Citizens for Community Values (CCV) has begun an education and ad campaign warning Ohioans to be careful of signing a petition that seems to be advocating the same adult business restrictions that the legislature already passed this year as part of the Community Defense Act.CCV vice president of policy David Miller says petition circulators are trying to utilize a 90-day window (from law passage to a September 4 effective date) to halt the measure and place it on the November ballot. A July radio report from Bill Cohen of Ohio's Statehouse News Bureau includes recordings that Miller says Cohen made of fraudulent descriptions of the petition given to potential signers."The signature gatherers will ask somebody to sign a petition to run strip bars out of town, to protect children, to regulate sexually oriented businesses," says Miller. "[They'll do] anything that they have to resort to-except telling the truth."Miller notes that according to state law, it is illegal to give fraudulent descriptions of a petition to potential signers-some he says Cohen's news report documents these petitioners doing."They have circulators of the petition on tape, on the air, flat-out deceiving people, asking the voters 'what did you want, what did you think this petition would do?'" the CCV spokesman points out."Clearly, there's a tremendous amount of fraud that is taking place-and we believe that the [Ohio] secretary of state needs to look into it."Miller warns they are further confusing the matter by telling potential signers that the state organization behind the new petition is called Citizens for Community Standards-a sound-alike for Miller's group.The petition is actually sponsored by a coalition called Dancers for Democracy, which includes sexually oriented business owners from Ohio and out-of-state financial donors from the adult business industry in California.As in the days of Noah...
