Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge James Evans handed the anti-casino crew a partial victory today. The judge found enough evidence of shenanigans (excuse the legalese) to intervene, but stopped well short of enjoining the petition drive.
- It is therefore Ordered that Defendant Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee and all persons who act in concert or participation with Defendant Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee are enjoined from misrepresenting the contents, purpose or effect of the initiative petition proposing an Amendment to the Ohio Constitution to authorize a single casino with each of the cities of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
What does it mean? Basically that if circulators are caught dealing from the bottom again the judge can levy fines and possibly a harsher injunction.
Some unsolicited strategic advice based on the discussion in the comments to the last post. If the plaintiffs do find evidence of further misrepresentation, they should do discovery to establish how the circulators are paid. If they are paid per circulator, you can make a case for enjoining the practice (which is generally a pesitilent practice, infesting the political practice with this sort of low-level fraud.)
1 comments:
To continue from the previous comment, I wonder why it is that per-signature payment hasn't been made illegal. It seems to me that it intrinsically creates a perverse incentive to acquire as many signatures as possible with no regard to the method.
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