Clearing The Air

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Ohio groups finds massive fraud and alleges illegal activity involved in enacting statewide smoking ban

Opponents of Ohio's indoor-smoking ban said yesterday that they have uncovered evidence of "massive" voter fraud on the part of ban proponents..

The group, Opponents of Ohio Bans, said the petition that placed the smoking ban on the 2006 statewide ballot was tainted by numerous irregularities, such as 47 felons gathering signatures and signature-gatherers in 77 counties wrongly listing the American Cancer Society as their employer....That is not allowed under state law.

The new allegations mirror claims raised during the 2006 campaign. However, opponents of the ban say there's now even stronger evidence of wrongdoing.

"What we found is astonishing," said Pam Parker, co-owner of Parker's Tavern in Grove City and co-chairwoman of Opponents of Ohio Bans. "There are petitions that never should have been validated."

They are also threatening a class action lawsuit for the hundreds of bars they claim went out of business because of the ban.

"We're losing money in our businesses because this never should have gone to a vote and it went to a vote anyway. Winter's coming and we're not going to have the few customers we do have, because they aren't going to go outside and smoke," said Pam Parker from Parker's Tavern in Grove City.....who spoke yesterday at a news conference with Pat Carroll, president of the Buckeye State Liquor Permit Holders Association.

More online here.

Ohio's experience with business closings and job losses due to smoking ban is not unique. Around the globe tens of thousands of establishments have closed due to unnecessary rent seeking, government over-regulation......eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs.