By Noelle Skodzinski
People often say that no publicity is bad publicity, but the latest news around ResponsibleOhio—which recently submitted signatures to get an initiative on the November election ballot to legalize and regulate marijuana in The Buckeye State—does not seem to bode well for ResponsibleOhio's already contentious legalization efforts. ResponsibleOhio, however, is crying foul, suggesting it's being "punished."
ResponsibleOhio is now under investigation by the office of the Ohio Secretary of State. "Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today named David Bowers to serve as a special investigator to review discrepancies in the petitions submitted by ResponsibleOhio in their effort to place a constitutional amendment before voters this fall," according to a press release issued Wednesday by Husted's office.
"Significant disparities remain between the number of petitions and signatures ResponsibleOhio claimed to have collected and the number the group actually submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office," explains the press release. "There are also discrepancies between the hard-copy petitions and what should have been identical electronic copies of those petitions. Such discrepancies, if the product of fraud, are subject to criminal penalties up to a fifth degree felony."
Also according to the release, "Secretary Husted will also exercise his authority under section 3501.05 of the Ohio Revised Code to subpoena [ResponsibleOhio Executive Director] Ian James and any relevant records in the possession of ResponsibleOhio and The Strategy Network to aid in the investigation."
Last month, Responsible Ohio was issued a warning from Secretary Husted when the county boards of elections discovered that The Strategy Network, which manages ResponsibleOhio’s petition drive and where James is CEO, "was submitting an alarming number of fraudulent voter registration forms," as stated in the press release.
“Fraud and sloppiness have more in common than being the devastating cause of undermining voter confidence, they are illegal and will not be tolerated by my office,” Husted commented.
Last week, ResponsibleOhio issued a press release stating that the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office announced that ResponsibleOhio has qualified for the required number of petition signatures in 73 of Ohio’s 88 counties, exceeding the 44-county minimum requirement. However, the organization “did not reach the statewide threshold of 305,591 [signatures],” ResponsibleOhio Spokesperson Faith Oltman told Cannabis Business Times. “We still need to collect about 30,000 valid signatures to reach that mark.” The group reportedly had 10 days, by law, to do so.
According to a report in Cannabis Business Times, the group had initially turned in 695,273 signatures; it was required to collect the equivalent of 5 percent of the total vote cast for governor last year, or nearly 306,000. As signatures were reviewed in various counties last week, however, many were found to be invalid. For example, "the Franklin County Board of Elections found more than half of the submitted signatures submitted for that county to be invalid, according to various media reports," reported Cannabis Business times. (At least two media outlets reported that 42,773 signatures on petitions circulated in Franklin County were valid, with 63,581 not valid.)
In response to the announcement regarding the investigation from the Secretary of State's office, ResponsibleOhio Legal Counsel Larry James issued the following statement: "No good deed goes unpunished. We found discrepancies between the number of part petitions we turned in and the number the County Boards of Elections reported that we turned in. We brought these very discrepancies to Secretary Husted, and now he's trying to punish us for pointing them out publicly. In doing so, we were merely exercising our first amendment right to raise legitimate challenges and concerns."
ResponsibleOhio Legal Counsel and Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas issued the following statement: "Instead of working with us and addressing the problems within his office and at the County Boards of Election, Secretary Husted has slapped us with a subpoena meant to silence us and chill any future opposition. He even deputized a former prosecutor to investigate us, then bragged about his past success gaining convictions, all in a further attempt to frighten, harass and silence us. The good news is, we're going to get to the bottom of this. We will not be silenced and ultimately it is Secretary Husted who will have to answer for his actions, and those of the County Boards of Election, in a court of law."
ResponsibleOhio Executive Director Ian James issued a statement as well in response to Secretary of State Jon Husted's announcement: "When collecting signatures and registering Ohio voters, The Strategy Network follows the letter of the law. We are confident in our process, and we are currently reviewing the Secretary's requests.
"In the meantime, we will continue to gather signatures from Ohio voters who want the chance to vote in November to repeal marijuana prohibition and end the failed War on Drugs in our state."
ResponsibleOhio's legislative proposal has been criticized for its "cartel-like" naming of 10 cannabis cultivation sites reportedly to be owned by the campaign's financiers. Well-known marijuana enthusiast and lifestyle media brand High Times went head-to-head with the group, referring to it as "IrresponsibleOhio," in a back and forth with ResponsibleOhio's Executive Director Ian James.
Recently, Ohio NORML, one of the state's oldest and most widely known marijuana advocacy organizations, ousted its president for supporting ResponsibleOhio's initiative.
Opponents of ReponsibleOhio's proposal recently posted a video on YouTube where they show that they were asked repeatedly to leave a public forum held by ResponsibleOhio, before the event began, because they were reportedly disruptive at previously held forums.
In June, state lawmakers were working to pass a resolution to prevent groups from installing private property rights in the Ohio Constitution, as "casino owners did and the advocates for legalizing marijuana want to do this fall," reported the Dayton Daily News, referring to ResponsibleOhio's marijuana legalization proposal. One opponent of ResponsibleOhio's initiative referred to this as the "Ian James resolution."
According to Cincinnati.com, "James ... ran the victorious 2009 campaign to write into Ohio's constitution the language to allow four casinos to operate."
James also "has run signature-gathering campaigns for initiatives on marriage equality, the minimum wage and payday-lending reform," reports Cincinnati.com.
