Supporters of FirstEnergy Solutions launch a racist, anti-democracy “yellow peril” campaign

Jarvis DeBerry, columnist at cleveland.com and a member of the editorial board.

CLEVELAND -- "The mailer from Ohioans for Energy Security purports to be looking out for America and American interests, but what is more American than giving the people a say in how their tax dollars are spent? What’s more American than people who feel passionately about an issue, walking the streets and knocking on doors in the attempt to persuade other people to feel the same?

That’s the irony in the bail-out supporters’ mailer. By suggesting that their political opponents ought to be reported for their political activity, they’re acting like the repressive government they’re pushing us to us fear.

If we accept the group’s position that it’s OK to report our political adversaries, then all is already lost. There’d be no need for any foreign power to control us."

--Jarvis DeBerry, cleveland.com

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More disclosure needed on dark money interests funding untrue ads

COLUMBUS -- "Greater disclosure from dark money groups is needed to tamp down “fear mongering” political rhetoric such as the ads from a dark money group fighting a potential referendum on the Ohio’s nuclear bailout bill, two community groups said Thursday.

The League of Women Voters and Common Cause Ohio are calling on state lawmakers to adopt new campaign finance rules that would shed more light on the sources of funding for dark money interests.

Representatives from those groups said during a press conference Thursday that they are concerned about an aggressive campaign by Ohioans for Energy Security, which supports Ohio’s relief package for First Energy Solutions’ nuclear power plants. In mailers and television ads, the group has tried to link opponents to China and called on people to report the location of those collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to repeal the law."

-- Rick Rouan, Columbus Dispatch

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End the damaging and precedent-setting anti-HB-6-referendum overkill

CLEVELAND -- "It’s blaring in our faces: China’s Communist regime could gain control of Ohio’s electricity grid if voters repeal House Bill 6, the new state law to make Ohio electricity customers bail out the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants along with two coal-fueled power plants (one of them in Indiana).

The purported scheme is preposterous.

In plain English, it’s a lie.

But the TV ads and mailers demonstrate the over-the-top demagoguery of Ohioans for Energy Security. The dark-money group is so determined to keep Ohioans from getting a crack at HB 6 at the ballot box that it’s setting a new and dangerous low for campaign tactics in Ohio."

-- Editorial Board, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

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