The regulations...why we have to pay attention

Yup, coming down to The Pike on Friday afternoon. Looking forward to meeting the folks from Woodlawn and Lincoln Heights.

Thought I'd take a moment to provide a glimpse into the sort of panicked world that this petition signing drive leads to. In our petition circulation training, Ann Bayou, our local OEA rep, conveyed a number of things that we have to be careful of...

• can't sign at school unless we rent the room (if one political side gets free access to school, the other side has to get the same free access)
• can't use school email to discuss the petition drive in any way
• can't spill anything on the petition or scribble a pen anywhere or tear the petition apart in any way at all
• have to keep every petition purely one county (all Hamilton, all Butler, all whatever)
• opponents trying to sabotage the process

The last one echoed particularly strongly to me when I got this email from Ann Bayou (our OEA local rep) today on my personal email. I'll admit to having some skepticism what with the total lack of location, specifics, or anything else, but I thought I'd point out that these are the thoughts that are floating around with the campaign. (Just to be clear, this didn't happen to me but supposedly did happen to another petition circulator here in Ohio.)

These are the reasons we have to be careful and follow the absolute letter of the law when it comes to these petitions.

Hello, everyone,

We all knew it was just a matter of time, but the shenangins have already started with regard to the OEA members' petitions and when / where  they are being signed.

The following information was sent to me as the OEA staff reassigned to the We Are Ohio campaign in Southwest Ohio by another LRC.  I am forwarding it to all OEA Professional Staff so that you are able to share this information with members as you deem appropriate.  The We Are Ohio campaign has indicated that they expect legal challenges to the petition signature effort, and we are hopeful that those challenges will be unsuccessful.  At the same time, however, I think we can all agree that it's imperative for our members to be reminded of the important points made in this email from a local leader:

Sincerely,
Diana

As past and current officers, you need to be aware of a potential issue.  I am suspicious of a series of phone calls I have received...

Last week on Wednesday I got a message here at school from someone named Steve Osborn who claimed to be a Union Arm Worker.  He asked if I had a petition to repeal SB 5 that he and his family could sign.  He left his phone number.

I called back and said that I did not have a petition and that I was not sure where  he could sign one yet, but I would find out and call him back.

Later that day I spoke with a friend who is very involved in the referendum efforts and she indicated that this was suspicious for a few reasons:

• If he was a union worker, his union would be who he would turn to for signing.
• The opposition is looking for illegal activity among the union groups and taking signatures during the school day is not permissible.
• It is possible that he was trying to get me to allow him to do just that...sign or admit to letting others sign during the school day.

Now suspicious myself, I never called him back.

I got a call from him just this morning.  The audio sounded funny...was I being recorded?  He asked how the signature collection was going here and asked if we had petitions in the building.  He offered to bring me a petition so I could collect signatures.  I told him we had petitions and did not need him to bring one.  He asked for clarification and said, "So you have petitions at school now for people to sign?"  And I said no..."not at school during the school day.  Some people have petitions and people can sign after school hours."  Then I told him I needed to get back to my students and he should contact the Warren Co. Democratic Office for any questions he might have and I hung up.

I FELT THAT HE WAS TRYING TO GET ME TO SAY THAT THE PETITIONS WERE BEING CIRCULATED DURING SCHOOL HOURS OR THAT I WOULD INVITE HIM TO SCHOOL TO OBTAIN HIS SIGNATURE.

I'll admit that I'm a little bit of all freaked out with the awesome weight of responsibility that comes with circulating these petitions sometimes. Thankfully it's easy to remember that this issue matters.

If we fail, we lose a lot, but the students of Princeton and the students of Ohio lose even more in the long run.

I promise to be a little more light-hearted in tomorrow's update, folks.