Opponents to Nuclear Bailout Start Television Ads to Combat Bailout Supporters Attacks

 

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts have been fighting House Bill 6, the “nuclear bailout bill”, passed by the Legislature in July. The group received permission to proceed on their petition drive the end of August. They are attempting to put the bill on the ballot in November 2020. On Sunday, they began their own television ad campaign to combat the ads being run by Ohioans for Energy Security, an organization trying to stop the referendum from getting to the ballot.

Gene Pierce, spokesman for the anti-bailout group said, “Ohioans Against Corporate Bailout’s new TV ad lays out the facts behind our campaign and asks Ohioans to support our petition drive to repeal House Bill 6’s billion-dollar bailout of FirstEnergy Solutions.”

Their press release noted, “The campaign is in response to the misleading advertising and intimidation tactics currently being employed by House Bill 6 supporters.”

Those supporters have been using television, radio and mail ads to convince Ohioans that China is trying to invade Ohio’s electric grid and that bailout opponents are being used by China to push the Communist country’s anti-American agenda.

“Their tactics have reached a new low with FirstEnergy Solutions’ win-at-all-costs campaign of misleading ads, intimidation of our petitioners by their “blocker teams” and even a fake petition designed to confuse Ohioans,” Pierce stated.

The Ohio Star verified that supporters of the bailout did hire “blockers” in an attempt to monitor and thwart petition circulators from getting voters to sign. According to a Dispatch post, “A Columbus woman hired as a ‘blocker’ to monitor petition circulators has been charged with criminal damaging for slapping the cell phone out of the hand of a man obtaining signatures on the House Bill 6 referendum.”

Gene Pierce expressed, “The lies, distortions and intimidation efforts from FirstEnergy Solutions show how desperately they want to protect their billion-dollar bailout from House Bill 6.”

House Bill 6 will generate up to $150 million annually for Ohio’s two nuclear plants, Davis-Besse and Perry, if it goes into effect. Once the petition drive to referendum the bill was approved by the Attorney General and Secretary of State, the law was put on hold. Circulators have until October 21, 2019 to acquire the necessary signatures.

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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star.  Follow Beth on Twitter.  Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts” by Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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