The group behind the November ballot issue that would change the process for drawing lawmakers’ district lines has raised more than $23 million this year from large and small donors, most from out of state.
But Citizens Not Politicians has also made a move to subvert a possible investigation into the dark money raised by the group.
Fundraising filings with the Ohio Secretary of State's office for July show the group raised $23,033,930.78 since January. There are hundreds of donations listed.
"It's the whole range," said Chris Davey, spokesman for Citizens Not Politicians. "We have received significant donations from a number of good government organizations and we've also received really small donations — $1, $2, $3, $4 donations — from people who just want to fix this problem."
The largest donation was $6 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a progressive dark money group that's received contributions from Hansjörg Wyss, who's from Switzerland but lives in Wyoming and is estimated to be worth $10 billion. That group was cited by Republicans as a reason to outlaw foreign money in ballot issue campaigns, though the Ohio Elections Commission had issued an opinion in 2021 that contributions from foreign nationals to ballot issue campaign were also illegal. That law was passed in a special session in May.
Strategy has drained group's cash on hand
In that filing, Citizens Not Politicians reported spending $24,847,295.69. Of that, $16.8 million was spent on TV ads that haven’t aired yet.
"It's a smart strategy," said Davey. "We know that the airwaves are going to be crowded this election year. And so we wanted to make sure that we reserved our time and that we are going to have the ability to make our case to Ohio voters."
The filing reports the group has no cash on hand, so for now there are no funds to spend closer to the election. But that also leaves no money to look into if Republican Attorney General Dave Yost wants to investigate whether the funds violate that new state law on foreign contributions to ballot issue campaigns.
'We do want to make sure that we are not subject to a witch hunt by the politicians on our finances," Davey said. "So we've taken appropriate measures to ensure that we are in full compliance with the law and to ensure as best we can that they can't monkey around and try and throw marbles under our feet with a witch hunt investigation.”
Several prominent Republicans have criticized the amendment, which would replace the elected officials on the Ohio Redistricting Commission who approved maps that were ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered with a 15-member panel of Republicans, Democrats and independents, with current or former politicians or lobbyists banned. Gov. Mike DeWine has urged voters to reject it, and has promised to work with lawmakers in the next General Assembly in January on a plan like Iowa's, which does not use partisan data in drawing its maps.
