Left-wing billionaire George Soros and his tinfoil-hat brigade are spearheading a package of so-called “reform” initiatives on the ballot in Ohio today.

Red State has a useful backgrounder on the measures.

Paul Weyrich weighs in here.

Newsday reports: Angry Kerry Supporters Seek Ohio Reform

Ohio State Sen. Gary Cates writes:

The proposed amendments are backed exclusively by a coalition of Democrats and liberal special interest groups deceptively calling themselves Reform Ohio Now (RON). Contrary to the group’s claims, key supporters include the Rockefeller Foundation, Common Cause, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Stonewall Democrats, AFL-CIO, Ohio Environmental Council, and dozens more of liberal special interest groups outside of Ohio.

The effort in Ohio is among several similar proposals being promoted and funded nationally by some of the same well-funded, radical liberal groups that tried to overturn Ohio’s 2004 presidential election in favor of John Kerry. The RON gang relies heavily on out-of-state support, 47 percent of the signatures used to get the issues on the ballot were solicited by paid, non-Ohio residents. The Toledo Blade recently reported that so far, 92 percent of the $1.2 million raised by RON came from special interest groups outside of Ohio.

The proposals represent a frightening and destructive effort by out-of-state liberal forces to rewrite Ohio’s election laws, empower special interest groups, dismantle safeguards against fraud and abuse, and create an unregulated elections oversight bureaucracy that is less accountable to the voters.

Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Peter Bronson mocks the Soros initiatives:

Issue 2 is one of four (2-5) peddled by Reform Ohio Now, a confederation of unions, Democrats and do-gooders at Common Cause, with help from billionaire George Soros, the checkbook behind MoveOn.org and other purple Kool-Aid fanatics.

It gives absentee voters a “do-over” provisional ballot, so they can vote twice. Democrats assure us they will straighten it out later – the way they “straightened out” those dimpled chads in Florida.

Issue 3 is a union monopoly on politics, disguised as “campaign finance reform.” It pinches the money hose down to a trickle – as if it won’t spring a leak somewhere else. And while it chokes donations from corporations and the rest of us, it gives unions a free pass, without disclosure of donors.

Issue 4 would take redistricting away from elected officials and give it to five appointed board members who are accountable to nobody, with unlimited spending power and no review by the courts. We don’t need district surgery by a bunch of unelected political hacks with box-cutters.

Issue 5 is pure payback – sour grapes from sore losers. The Tinfoil Hat wing of the Democratic Party still thinks they wuz robbed and Kerry won. According to their “stuck on stupid” theory, it was all the fault of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Issue 5 would take control of Ohio elections away from the secretary of state and give it to an appointed board to be named later – no accountability, no local control, no spending limits.

Here’s late-breaking news: It was a fair election and Kerry lost. So should all of these issues that rig the rules for a union-Democrat takeover of Ohio (Issues 2-5) or spend Ohio into deeper Republican debt (Taft Issue 1).

I intend to vote against all of them. Twice if they let me.

To borrow a phrase: Heh.

***
More blog coverage:

Bizzy Blog’s Ohio election analysis here and here.

Previous:

Election watch