Zurie Pope, Ohio Capital Journal

Brought forward on Feb. 16, House Bill 6 — otherwise known as the Save Women’s Sports Act — has become one of the most contentious laws being debated in the Ohio Statehouse.

The law targets trans athletes, banning them from women’s sports teams by stating, “No school, interscholastic conference, or organization that regulates interscholastic athletics shall knowingly permit individuals of the male sex to participate on athletic teams or in athletic competitions designated only for participants of the female sex.”

Testifying before the House Higher Education Committee March 8, Republican state Rep. Jena Powell, the bill’s primary sponsor, described the law as a necessity for collegiate sports.

“The reason we have women’s sports divisions is because biological males will always possess physical and biological advantages over girls,” Powell said, referring to the idea that transgender athletes are stronger than their cisgender counterparts.

The term “biological males” as it relates to gender identity is rejected by the LGBTQ+ community as politicized and inaccurate, with the term “gender assigned at birth” being the preferred construction.

Only six transgender girls play sports in Ohio, out of 1.5 million public school K-12 students. Both the Ohio High School Athletic Association and NCAA have well-established rules around transgender participation.

A study analyzing scientific literature about trans athletes between 2011 to 2021 conducted by the group E-Alliance found that “Available evidence indicates trans women who have undergone testosterone suppression have no clear biological advantages over cis women.”

Nevertheless, Powell claimed that accommodating trans athletes was a form of discrimination that “turns back the clock over a half century on advances we’ve made for women.”

Since being proposed in February, 80 people have submitted testimony against HB 6, ranging from representatives of civil rights groups like the ACLU of Ohio, to academics and religious leaders.

Nonetheless, the proposed bill passed in the House Higher Education Committee, with a vote of 8-6 in favor. HB 6 was later added into HB68, which bans gender affirming care for trans youth.

When asked to discuss HB6, Democratic state Rep. Jessica Miranda could barely contain her outrage.

“I cannot state strongly enough how opposed I am to working on legislation that is a complete and utter waste of time,” Miranda said.

The version of the bill passed by the Education Committee didn’t include the laws’ most controversial elements. Specifically, a provision authorizing inspection of trans students genitalia to prove their gender was removed after substantial pushback.

Those changes to House Bill 6 came not from consensus building in Columbus, but lobbying groups with an interest in the bill’s passage.

Initially, legislators and lobbyists agreed the bill should pass unamended.

In texts obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal through public records requests, state Rep. Brian Holmes voiced this attitude to Center for Christian Virtue lobbyist Nilani Jawahar.

“We are all focused on the same target,” Holmes wrote, “just trying to find the best way to address it.”

Acknowledging it was unlikely HB 6 would be approved when paired with numerous other bills, Jawahar still expressed gratitude “to the House for not concurring in the Senate’s changes to Save Women’s Sports.”
Continuing, Jawahar said, “we have the will to get this done right, and shouldn’t compromise on that.”

“Our office has had occasional, infrequent contact with CCV over the past general assemblies concerning issues important to their organization,” replied Representative Adam Holmes in an email to the Ohio Capital Journal on April 6th. “Many of our constituents have specific interest in maintaining fair playing environments for women who participate in competitive athletics.”

On April 27, 2021, Center for Christian Virtue’s Jawahar emailed Powell and state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus.

“Attached is a comp doc explaining the changes that were made to the Save Women’s Sports Bill,” Jawahar wrote, the email’s subject line reading “SWS Sub Bill Changes.”

The attached documents showed CCV’s line-by-line revisions, softening language and tweaking provisions while keeping the law’s intentions unchanged.

“The word “knowingly,” was added so schools/colleges that accidentally allow a male on the female team without knowing his actual sex will not be penalized,” wrote CCV.

Another revision addressed the body examination segment, stating it had been removed “to avoid possible invasive examination of children’s bodies,” replaced instead by language stating that nothing in the bill could be construed as “restricting,” students from participating in athletic teams “that are designated as male, or co-ed.”

Despite already deciding what changes were needed, lawmakers and CCV left journalists to guess what the final draft might look like.

“I feel pretty confident when the debate around this issue comes back in the fall, it will come out,” Aaron Baer said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch, two months after the email was sent.

The Center for Christian Virtue wasn’t the only lobbying group involved in HB6’s creation.

Matt Sharp, Senior Counsel with Christian fundamentalist firm Alliance Defending Freedom, testified on the bill’s behalf.

“HB 6 protects opportunities for young women in athletics by ensuring they are not forced to compete against men playing on women’s sports teams,” Sharp said in his written testimony submitted to the Higher Education Committee.

Sharp’s involvement extended beyond offering testimony.

On Jan. 23, Powell and Stoltzfus, alongside CCV Policy Director David Mahan, attended a Zoom call with Sharp to discuss HB 6.

“Thanks for jumping on the call with Matt earlier,” wrote Mahan in a follow-up email with the subject title “West Virginia Bill Language and Opinion.”

“Regardless of whether you decide to go with birth certificate language or not,” Mahan continued, “he asked me to be sure to reiterate the importance of the cause of action.”

Mahan then attached the aforementioned bill, detailing West Virginia’s HB 3293, which banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, and was signed into law on March 29.

Notably, the law was eventually blocked by a federal court, with District Judge Joseph Goodwin issuing a scathing opinion.

“A fear of the unknown and discomfort with the unfamiliar have motivated many of the most malignant harms committed by our country’s governments on their own citizens.”

Mahan, Powell, and Stoltzfus didn’t reply to requests for comment from the Ohio Capital Journal.

Sharp also advised the Center for Christian Virtue and their allies in the Statehouse on how to circumvent discrimination laws.

Emailing Aaron Baer on Dec. 2, 2020, Sharp explained the loopholes in the Americans with Disabilities Act’s qualifications for intersex persons, using them to prove House Bill 6 couldn’t be perceived as discriminatory.

“The Americans with Disabilities Acts protects individuals who have a ‘gender identity disorder,’ as long as it results from physical impairments, or other sexual behavior disorders,” Sharp wrote. “If a person’s gender identity does not result from a ‘physical impairment,’ such as those that are based solely on internal self-perceptions of identity, then it is not covered by the ADA.”

Baer then messaged Stoltzfus to relay the information, writing “intersex kids can choose which league they want to be in, and this bill would not change that.”

Powell echoed Sharp’s sentiments three years later during her testimony for the Save Women’s Sports Act, saying “for the few individuals who are born intersex, their abilities to compete will not be hindered in any way by this bill.”

Noticeably, the U.S. 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last August that gender dysphoria is covered by the ADA.

The Alliance Defending Freedom has played an outsized role in the wave of anti-trans legislation overrunning American statehouses.

Classified as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, ADF has been an essential player in the anti-trans legislative movement nationwide.

Mother Jones recently obtained emails showing ADF lobbyists coordinating with South Dakota lawmaker Fred Deutsch in 2019, on a bill that would criminalize providing gender affirming care to trans children under sixteen.
Reporting from NBC News in 2017 showed that anti-trans bathroom bills across 15 states were copies of model legislation ADF created.

Matthew Sharp has advocated for, and submitted testimony in favor of, anti-trans laws in Kansas, Arkansas, and West Virginia, among other states. Sharp even gave testimony supporting Ohio’s HB68, remarking “every child deserves a natural childhood.”

The ADF’s influence can even be felt overseas, with the group advocating for laws in Europe requiring state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people.

Meanwhile, an analysis of text from 130 anti-trans bills by the Associated Press found their language matched the language found in model legislation created by interest groups like the Family Research Council.

When contacted about his work on House Bill 6, Sharp responded in an email.
“Lawmakers often seek advice from experts in law, policy, and other fields as they craft legislation,” Sharp wrote on April 4. “Alliance Defending Freedom is routinely called upon to provide legal expertise regarding legislation that protects fairness in women’s sports, like HB 6.”

The Rev. Jess Peacock, who uses they/them pronouns, believes in the same god as Aaron Baer and Matt Sharp, they said.

They’re the Minister of the Community Church of Chesterland, and submitted written testimony against House Bill 6. It was in their testimonial that the distinctions between Peacock’s view of Christianity and a group like CCV’s showed most clearly.

“As the pastor of a congregation that has been open and affirming to the LGBTQ community for thirty years, I believe we must protect the most vulnerable among us,” Peacock wrote. “And right now, the most vulnerable population within this state and within this country is queer youth.”

To Peacock, the Bible is a story of “ongoing inclusivity, ongoing openness,” and described the dictates of Fundamentalist groups driving the anti-trans movement as “antithetical to Christianity.”

Peacock knows firsthand how dangerous anti-LGBTQ hatred can be: Their church was firebombed after they tried to host a drag story hour, with authorities later confirming the assailant was a member of White Lives Matter Ohio.

“All of us, myself included, were shocked by what happened,” Peacock said about the experience, calling it a “massive example of the level of hate that exists all over the country,” and placing the blame on pundits and elected officials spreading misinformation about the LGBTQ community, saying they are “complicit in this rising tide of violence.”

As for the young LGBTQ people who would be impacted by HB 6 and similar laws, the Peacock said only this: “No matter where you fall on the sexual spectrum — the gender spectrum — everyone deserves acceptance; everyone deserves love.”

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

Public records obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal show how the law moved through the process, with lawmakers often ignoring moderation suggestions proposed by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and a law firm that lobbied on the law.

Taking elements from two election bills previously introduced in the Statehouse — House Bill 294, and Senate Bill 320 — House Bill 458 instituted sweeping changes to how elections are administered in Ohio.

Alterations include mandating the use of photo IDs, passports, or driver’s licenses to vote, and limiting counties to one ballot drop box. The law also mandated citizenship status on IDs and excludes county-issued veterans’ identification and college IDs from the list one can use to vote.

Such restrictions received significant backlash, with Democratic law firm the Elias Law Group filing a lawsuit the day the law was passed.

Regardless, Ohio’s Republican leaders insist the new voting restrictions were necessary, despite no evidence of significant voter fraud, by impersonation or otherwise. Total possible voter fraud in the 2020 election was a microscopic 0.0005%.

Nevertheless, DeWine said the new restrictions were needed to combat concerns about voter fraud, which have been pushed politically by his own party without evidence.

“Election integrity is a significant concern to Americans on both sides of the aisle across the country,” DeWine claimed in a statement.

DeWine also touted what he sees as moderation of the law’s voting restrictions, congratulating the general assembly for “working with my Administration on changes to House Bill 458 to ensure that more restrictive proposals were not included in the final bill.”

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s Press Secretary Rob Nichols similarly touted the DeWine administration’s involvement in the process.

“While no legislation is ever perfect, the House and Senate leaders listened to many of our concerns and made some improvements to the bill,” Nichols wrote in an email responding to OCJ when asked the extent of SOS’s work on election reform. “Overall, the legislature approved some much-needed reforms that will benefit both voters and elections officials, while continuing to make Ohio one of the most honest and accessible voting states in the nation.”

But documents obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal through a public records request reveal a complex web of bureaucrats, lawmakers, lobbyists, and outside powerbrokers, united in their efforts to pass the new voting restrictions, including the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.

Records show that the Secretary of State’s Office supported most of the House GOP’s voting restrictions, haggling out various details. In some cases where the office pushed for more moderation, their recommendations were not followed by lawmakers.

Regardless, LaRose has been publicly supportive of the law as passed.

Ohio Secretary of State input

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Official photo.

On Dec. 9, 2022, Frank LaRose’s Chief of Staff Jason Mauk submitted a memo to Senate GOP legal Counsel Frank Strigari, outlining the secretary’s issues with HB 458.

Since Dewine signed the law, military families have voiced opposition to it, saying the mail-in ballot rules curtail the ability of service members to vote.

Mauk appears to have foreseen the blowback that the law’s rigid deadline for mail-in ballots would cause, especially among the armed services, and warned against it.

“We have concerns with restricting the return of such ballots by election day,” Mauk wrote. “This provision has the potential to disenfranchise voters, particularly those living and serving overseas.”

Mauk asked the Senate to “allow for ballots to be returned by the postal service for at least five days after election day.”

Eventually, lawmakers settled on a four-day cutoff.

Asked if his colleagues in the secretary’s office were concerned that the four day cutoff — below the deadline recommended by Mauk — might endanger voters, press secretary Rob Nichols indicated it could have been worse.

“They wanted zero,” Nichols said. “We said that might disenfranchise voters, asked for at least a five day return deadline, and they cut it down to four.”

Asked again if the four-day cutoff would harm voters, Nichols replied, “We enforce the laws; we don’t make them.”

Asked for comment, Ohio House Republican Majority Leader Bill Seitz responded in an email, “I do not think there will be any impact on service members being disenfranchised by our new law.”

In communications, Mauk from the Secretary of State’s Office also argued counties should be allowed to have multiple ballot drop boxes on site, writing they “respectfully ask the Senate to allow up to three drop boxes on board office property.”

He also fought against immediate disclosure of drop box surveillance.

“This office has serious concerns about the burden placed on the county boards of elections in requiring immediate disclosure of drop-box video surveillance records,” Mauk wrote. “The immediacy of this requirement is problematic.”

Nevertheless, the provision remained in the final bill and drop boxes were limited to one.

Likewise, Mauk recommended creating a “secure, electronic method of verifying voter registration data,” using information from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

One of the benefits from this system, Mauk claimed, is that it could deter non-citizens from voting.

“It also helps to ensure non-citizens are not able to submit a voter registration accidentally, or intentionally,” he wrote.

The final bill mandates all driver licenses and state IDs held by a non-citizen “include a notation designating that the licensee or cardholder is a noncitizen,” which civil rights advocates believe may endanger immigrants.

Byers Minton & Associates

Another aspect of the election law process made clear by the records is the involvement of the Columbus law firm Byers, Minton & Associates.

Byers Minton is one of Ohio’s largest lobbying firms, with clientele ranging from Apple to the Cleveland Browns, and the Girl Scouts. Byers Minton’s public position on election reform is rarely mentioned on its website, social media, or other communications.

The firm’s weekly update on events at the Statehouse failed to mention HB 458, instead prioritizing DeWine signing a spending bill. The election bills are referenced once, at the bottom of a list including everything passed by the Statehouse during its lame duck session.

But behind the scenes, records show an apparently close relationship between Byers Minton’s lawyers and the lawmakers producing the election legislation.

Founder Bill Byers was involved at the earliest stages of the eventual law’s development. Records show Byers helped arrange favorable testimony, though some of his suggestions for election law changes, such as automated voter registration, were not followed by lawmakers.

Republican Ohio House Majority Leader Bill Seitz. Official photo.

For the original bill, House Bill 294, Byers helped arrange witness testimony from former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson to speak on its behalf.

“Please find a witness slip and proponent testimony for Trey Grayson on HB294,” Byers wrote in an email June 9, 2021, to one of Seitz’s policy advisers. “Please let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

One month earlier, Byers was included in an email from Seitz’s legislative aide going over the bill analysis for 294. “Let us know if you have any questions/comments,” the aide wrote.

Byers would also be included in a thread on the final draft of HB 294 from Oct. 5 of last year, featuring multiple revisions.

Asked about this, another legislative aide for Seitz said Byers’ actions were within the purview of Byers Minton’s regular duties.

“Bill Byers lobbied on behalf of the Secure Elections Project,” wrote the legislative aide in a response email to OCJ. “Byers simply offered valuable input on the bill on behalf of his client.”

Byer’s interest in election law would later extend to SB 320, the other predecessor bill to the one that was eventually passed, which was introduced by Republican state Sen. Teresa Gavarone.

On Oct. 13, 2022, Byers sent an email to a Gavarone staffer as a “follow up to our discussion.”

In it, Byers argues for the cost-saving potential of automated voter registration and verification, and the wastefulness of provisional ballots.

“Processing provisional ballots imposes significant costs on county election officials,” Byers said.

Byers also portrayed decreasing the amount of provisional ballots as a financial windfall.

“Reducing the number of provisional ballots cast in the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, would have resulted in an additional $830,721 in savings to county BOEs,” Byes said.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Lab, 1.7 million provisional ballots were counted in 2016 nationally, and accounted for 1.2% of all votes in the 2018 midterm election.

“Thank you!,” the aid replied to Byers.

Six days later, the aide emailed Byers once more, saying Gavarone “would like to meet with you to get more Info,” and requested “Frank(LaRose)’s attendance during that meeting with us.”

Asked to discuss the details of these meetings, no one from Gavarone’s offices responded.

As for Byers Minton, asked for comment, Andrew Minton replied, “My firm does not give comment to the press on any issue or for any reason.”

Cincinnati NAACP President Joe Mallory submitted testimony against House Bill 294, writing it “creates unnecessary boundaries to the vote.”

Speaking about the election reform bills as a whole, Mallory was livid when asked for comment.

“These anti voter policy changes are not about improving the election process, it’s about erecting barriers and decreasing access,” Mallory said. “What we have is a super majority rushing anti voter bills through a lame duck session. They are perpetuating a fraud on Ohio voters and the democratic process, with the false narrative of Election security and modernization. It is disingenuous.”

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

VANDALIA — “Are we ready to welcome Donald Trump back to Ohio?” asked Republican Ohio U.S. Senate nominee J.D Vance to a crowd of over 1,000 supporters at the Dayton Airport Tarmac on Election Eve.

Joe Biden won Montgomery County by 50.3% in 2020, and Dayton itself spearheaded many progressive causes, from marijuana legalization to banning conversion therapy. Nowhere could be found traces of the region’s liberalism, as the Dayton airport transformed into the temporary headquarters of Trumpism.

Unlike the chilly autumn evening waiting outside, the rally was garish, colorful, and extravagant. Attendees were constantly bombarded with audio-visual reminders of their cause, and its righteousness. “Save America,” projected on screens. American flags hanging from cranes, barricades, and seats. Eighties hits like “In the Air Tonight,” and “Macho Man,” blared from sound systems at the highest volume. Rallygoers themselves wore “Trump won,” buttons, Infowars hoodies, and Second Amendment shirts. And everywhere far-right influencers could be found, to mingle among their followers and promise they’ll keep up the fight.

Similarly, conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, the 2020 presidential election, and American schools were repeated by attendees like mantras, with talking points viewed as gospel by many rallygoers.

”The election was rigged,” said Ronda Hercules, when asked about the previous presidential election’s outcome. “President Trump is my president,” said Hercules, who later, when asked about the alleged fraud, replied, “the machines changed votes.”

Among other topics like “crime,” and “the border,” an attendee named Karen — she preferred not to give her last name — named one of her biggest issues this election cycle as “the rigging of the election.” Karen also disparaged “big tech,” “the media,” and other institutions, believing they collaborated to fix the presidential election results, and create a “one world government.”

Tonya Henry attended her first Trump rally in “2016 in Cincinnati,” and had followed Trump’s political ascent ever since. Henry’s admiration eventually brought her to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, to view Trump’s “Save America,” rally, and watch as his supporters overtook the U.S. Capitol. Despite all evidence showing the riot was instigated and led by Trump supporters, Henry proposed an alternative version of events. “I think the FBI was a part of it,” Henry argued, with the help of “black blocks, more commonly known as Antifa.” Henry even alleged she saw “busloads,” of people being sent to Capitol Hill that day.

These ideas — stemming from misinformation spread on social media — have been thoroughly debunked by experts on several occasions.

Fear of the LGBTQ community was equally prevalent among rallygoers, with trans people being a specific target of consternation. “I don’t want them pushing it on children,” said Nicole Betty-Sue, in reference to “transgenderism.” Sue was also fearful of “drag queens reading books to children,” and a “natural boy,” competing in “women’s sport.”

Sydney G. — who preferred anonymity, due to being a schoolteacher — defined herself as a “Christian,” believing that the United States was “founded upon,” Christianity’s teachings. Teaching students about LGBTQ gender and sexuality is “perverted,” according to Sydney, and “not developmentally appropriate for kids at that age.” To her, the problem lies not with Democrats, but with education as an institution, calling it a “inherently progressive,” entity.

Both the claims of election fraud and allegations of “grooming,” in America’s schools, are false, and can be easily disproved. They’ve also led to violence against demonized minority communities and individuals.

On Nov. 4, a bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma was struck by a Molotov cocktail for hosting drag queens. Patriot Front members were arrested for planning to disrupt a pride parade in Idaho, and proud boys have targeted LGBTQ venues for months. Likewise, Paul Pelosi — husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — was assaulted by an assailant who believed the 2020 election was stolen.

Meanwhile, election workers across the country have received death threats. But an assortment of political and media figures took the stage to validate and amplify audience members’ paranoia.

MyPillow CEO and prominent election denier Mike Lindell posed for photos with rallygoers, with surrounding viewers expressing their “love,” for him. Asked about what evidence existed for the wide scale electoral fraud he alleged, Lindell responded “it’s all coming,” and that people should “stay tuned,” before walking off.

Rather than dialing down attacks against Pelosi, Trump and his team exacerbated them. Video compilations were broadcasted on projectors, with a narrator comparing Trump to a “lion,” being hounded by “jackals,” as footage of Nancy Pelosi played. Trump himself called Pelosi a “animal,” during his speech, gaining ripples of laughter from the crowd.

Every target mentioned above was deemed “communism,” an ideology that loomed large over the night’s proceedings. “You have to crush the communists,” Trump told his supporters, the same people he alleged were “killing our country,” and turning it into a “police state.”

Simultaneously, Trump praised Xi Jingping, General Secretary of China’s Communist Party, for usage of the death penalty against drug dealers. Proudly proclaiming he would support enacting “the death penalty for drug dealers and traffickers,” Trump rhetorically asked the crowd what is done to drug dealers in China.“They kill em,” replied one attendee, drawing laughs and cheers from others.

Trump also proposed imprisoning journalists for not revealing their sources, mockingly saying “if the reporter doesn’t want to reveal it, bye bye.” Michah Wagers fully endorsed Trump’s idea. “If they’re gonna leak something, they should say the names.”

Not everyone present that night was a lifelong Republican. Scott Myers was a “registered Democrat,” previously voting for Clinton and Obama. “So was my father,” Myers explained. Then “you get the housing market crash,”and obsequiousness from the Obama White House which dissuaded him from voting Democrat again. First backing Trump in 2016, he seemed “not to be paid off,” and him getting into office “surprised everybody.”

The Ohio Democratic Party has worked hard to gain the trust of voters like Myers again. Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Tim Ryan’s campaign has attempted to replicate the populist appeal that enamored working class voters in Ohio. Trump disparaged Ryan repeatedly during his speech, confirming “he’s not with me,” and calling him another “do nothing, radical Democrat.”

Rhetoric espoused from the podium didn’t impress at least one attendee. Jamie Perez wasn’t a Trump supporter. He simply had “never been to a political event” and wanted to “know what it’s like to attend a political rally of this scale.” Perez found the event “underwhelming,” and similar to a “county fair,” in its aesthetics. Discovering politics in 2018, Perez quickly found himself on the “progressive left,” and spent most of the rally “practicing not engaging.”

After seeing the consequences of Trumpism first hand, Perez emphasized the country’s situation was “very reminiscent of 1920s Germany,” in the use of ultra-nationalism to rile up base level support. “Dictators around the world do the same thing,” he said.

Regardless, the Republican Party appears poised to win the midterm elections. Forecasts show a Republican takeover of both Congressional houses, and gubernatorial candidates like Kari Lake and Joe Lombardo- who’ve embraced electoral fraud messaging — are likely to become governors in important battleground states.

What’s more, Secretary of State candidates like Mark Finchem and Jim Marchant have a chance of controlling their state’s election processes, running for office with the explicit goal of contesting results in 2024.

“The vote counter is more important than the candidate,” noted Trump during the Dayton rally.

Visibly disturbed, Perez felt he was watching something unprecedented — and destructive to American democracy — being born.

“Some people say it can’t happen here. It absolutely can.”

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

NOW WATCH: 'We're on a highway to climate hell': Climate Summit kicks off with grim predictions

'We're on a highway to climate hell' Climate Summit kicks off with grim predictionswww.youtube.com

An Ohio bill that would send public education money to private schools if a student chooses to attend one was written with help from religious lobbying group the Center for Christian Virtue and a think tank that promotes charter schools.

Ohio House Bill 290 — colloquially referred to as the “Backpack Bill” — would allow “families to choose the option for all computed funding amounts associated with students’ education to follow them to the public and nonpublic schools they attend.”

Introduced by state Reps. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, and Marilyn S. John, R-Richland County, on May 11, 2021, HB 290 creates a voucher system in which state dollars follow students even if they begin attending private, religious, or charter schools.

The Center for Christian Virtue’s (CCV) support of HB 290 has been well known, with CCV President Aaron Baer speaking at a press conference for the bill last October.

CCV created a website on its behalf, and said it “empowers families to choose the educational option that best meets their needs” in a press release.

Initially, CCV’s role in introducing HB 290 would appear minimal, relegated to cheering on John and McClain.

However, documents obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal through a public records request reveal CCV’s involvement in HB 290 has been more extensive than previously known, and included the advice and promotion of outside groups like Heritage Action and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

This past February, a legislative aide for McClain emailed a draft of the bill to CCV legislative liaison Nilani Jawahar and CCV lobbyist and Ohio Christian Education Network Assistant Director Corrine Vidales, records show. Also included in the recipients were John’s legislative aide, and legislative and legal affairs staffers for Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague.

In the email sent on Feb. 8, 2022, McClain’s then-aide says she submitted the document “for your review” and asks they let her know if “there are any additional thoughts or comments I can pass along to LSC” — the nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission that assists lawmakers with the technical drafting of legislation.

“Thanks for forwarding this,” responded CCV-affiliated Ohio Christian Education Network Executive Director Troy McIntosh the next day. “I think this accurately reflects the discussion we had.”

When McIntosh asked if McClain and John are drafting a sub bill with phased-in eligibility for private school students, the aide answered saying, “I can have another version drafted with the phase in,” and asked for “examples or guidance in terms of what I should instruct LSC to do.”

CCV’s guidance didn’t end there.

In an email from Feb. 14, Vidales summarized talking points for McClain and John ahead of their Feb. 15 testimony before the Ohio House Finance Committee.

“Not funding private schools, we are funding families,” Vidales said. “If you think it’s defunding public schools, why? If parents have the option to leave, will they? Accountability- if a private school fails, families can leave. Public schools don’t have this.”

Vidales also sent emails sharing numbers on pandemic learning “in advance of our strategy call today,” and an attachment of CCV counterarguments against claims in a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Ohio’s private school funding program that was brought by the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, a group of 100 public school districts.

Vidales said McIntosh would be following up with studies about parent satisfaction, which he later did.

In her testimony, John said, “Child outcomes are better, and parent satisfaction — one of the best metrics of student success — is significantly higher,” referencing the two studies shared with her by McIntosh the previous afternoon.

Both studies were created by EdChoice, an Indiana-based think tank that advocates for school choice. Ohio’s private school voucher program is also called EdChoice.

John later said that HB 290 is not an “anti-public school bill” but rather a “pro-child, pro-parent, pro-family bill.” Throughout the two legislator’s testimonies, CCV president Aaron Baer can be seen watching in the background.

Amid the Columbus City Schools strike this week, the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday, the Center for Christian Virtue purchased advertising on six billboards around Columbus promoting a website for the legislation. The website attacks the Columbus school district as “failing students,” and promotes private schools.

The Center for Christian Virtue wasn’t the only interest group involved in creating the backpack bill.

McIntosh sent a draft of the bill to Stephanie Kruez, a regional director for Heritage Action, the policy arm of the right-wing think tank, The Heritage Foundation.

In 2021, Mother Jones published an article in which Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson admitted to crafting voter restriction laws in states throughout the country, using “sentinels” to give them a “grassroots, from the bottom up, kind of vibe” and occasionally drafting the laws on behalf of lawmakers.

Responding to McIntosh on March 16, Heritage Action’s Kruez admitted she hadn’t had the conversations yet on what changes would be “essential for Heritage to support the bill,” but said Heritage is “looking to get more involved in school choice bills going forward, and more active in state legislatures in general.”

Kruez mentioned having “ran the text by Johnathan Butcher,” Heritage’s policy analyst, and then went over the bill, pointing to specific lines with revisions and comments.

Some are complimentary: “Lines 71-76 are very good,” and some critical, “Lines 61-63 on page 3 will hurt in a court case.”

Other suggestions included, “Lines 104-110 should be outsourced to a private contractor,” and “it needs an appeals process for parents who violated the statute intentionally or unintentionally.”

Addressing the idea of phasing in private school students, Kruez also said, “It’s typically better to start with just public school students as eligible and then add private school students later, but this strategy is different from state to state.”

McIntosh emailed her back the next day calling Kreuz’s comments “helpful” and saying CCV would “love to have Heritage’s support behind this.”

McIntosh then forwarded the thread to McClain and John, asking them to “take a look and see if you think there are things we could implement to improve the bill.”

“Would be great to win their support for this,” he said. “Some of their feedback is helpful, some I really don’t understand where they are coming from.”

Kruez, who answered the phone by stating her name when contacted by the Capital Journal to discuss her work on HB 290 — and what role Heritage Action plays in school choice bills across the United States — hung up.

Heritage Foundation data analyst Connor McCarthy was asked if such line-by-line reviews with lawmakers of proposed legislation are a common occurrence with Heritage Action.

“Heritage Action for America allows unprecedented mobilization of and communication with concerned citizens who want to be part of the national dialogue with members of Congress, and they work closely with experts at The Heritage Foundation to promote Heritage policy and hold our nation’s leaders accountable,” he said.

A legislative aide to John included in the email chains was also asked about Heritage Action’s influence on HB 290.

“HB 290 was crafted by Representatives McClain and John through stakeholder meetings with internal and external sources, other state agencies, and members of the public. They also looked at legislation that has been crafted and/or passed in other states,” he said.

On May 24, CCV held a luncheon for lawmakers at the Statehouse on HB 290 hosted in partnership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is an organization of conservative and right-wing state legislators known for producing model legislation for introduction in state legislatures across the country.

In a May 6 email invitation to state Rep. Phil Plummer, records show, Mcintosh calls the get together a “lawmaker policy luncheon” where HB 290 will be discussed. Promotional material for the event called it the “Backpack Bill Briefing.”

Plummer did not respond to requests for comment.

The Center for Christian Virtue also did not respond to requests for comment.

An earlier version of this article misstated Rep. Plummer’s first name.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

Ohio House Bill 290 — colloquially referred to as the “Backpack Bill” — would allow “families to choose the option for all computed funding amounts associated with students’ education to follow them to the public and nonpublic schools they attend.”

Introduced by state Reps. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, and Marilyn S. John, R-Richland County, on May 11, 2021, HB 290 creates a voucher system in which state dollars follow students even if they begin attending private, religious, or charter schools.

The Center for Christian Virtue’s (CCV) support of HB 290 has been well known, with CCV President Aaron Baer speaking at a press conference for the bill last October.

CCV created a website on its behalf, and said it “empowers families to choose the educational option that best meets their needs” in a press release.

Initially, CCV’s role in introducing HB 290 would appear minimal, relegated to cheering on John and McClain.

However, documents obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal through a public records request reveal CCV’s involvement in HB 290 has been more extensive than previously known, and included the advice and promotion of outside groups like Heritage Action and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

This past February, a legislative aide for McClain emailed a draft of the bill to CCV legislative liaison Nilani Jawahar and CCV lobbyist and Ohio Christian Education Network Assistant Director Corrine Vidales, records show. Also included in the recipients were John’s legislative aide, and legislative and legal affairs staffers for Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague.

In the email sent on Feb. 8, 2022, McClain’s then-aide says she submitted the document “for your review” and asks they let her know if “there are any additional thoughts or comments I can pass along to LSC” — the nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission that assists lawmakers with the technical drafting of legislation.

“Thanks for forwarding this,” responded CCV-affiliated Ohio Christian Education Network Executive Director Troy Mclintosh the next day. “I think this accurately reflects the discussion we had.”

When Mclintosh asked if McClain and John are drafting a sub bill with phased-in eligibility for private school students, the aide answered saying, “I can have another version drafted with the phase in,” and asked for “examples or guidance in terms of what I should instruct LSC to do.”

CCV’s guidance didn’t end there.

In an email from Feb. 14, Vidales summarized talking points for McClain and John ahead of their Feb. 15 testimony before the Ohio House Finance Committee.

“Not funding private schools, we are funding families,” Vidales said. “If you think it’s defunding public schools, why? If parents have the option to leave, will they? Accountability- if a private school fails, families can leave. Public schools don’t have this.”

Vidales also sent emails sharing numbers on pandemic learning “in advance of our strategy call today,” and an attachment of CCV counterarguments against claims in a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Ohio’s private school funding program that was brought by the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, a group of 100 public school districts.

Vidales said McIntosh would be following up with studies about parent satisfaction, which he later did.

In her testimony, John said, “Child outcomes are better, and parent satisfaction — one of the best metrics of student success — is significantly higher,” referencing the two studies shared with her by Mclintosh the previous afternoon.

Both studies were created by EdChoice, an Indiana-based think tank that advocates for school choice. Ohio’s private school voucher program is also called EdChoice.

John later said that HB 290 is not an “anti-public school bill” but rather a “pro-child, pro-parent, pro-family bill.” Throughout the two legislator’s testimonies, CCV president Aaron Baer can be seen watching in the background.

Amid the Columbus City Schools strike this week, the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday, the Center for Christian Virtue purchased advertising on six billboards around Columbus promoting a website for the legislation. The website attacks the Columbus school district as “failing students,” and promotes private schools.

The Center for Christian Virtue wasn’t the only interest group involved in creating the backpack bill.

Mclintosh sent a draft of the bill to Stephanie Kruez, a regional director for Heritage Action, the policy arm of the right-wing think tank, The Heritage Foundation.

In 2021, Mother Jones published an article in which Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson admitted to crafting voter restriction laws in states throughout the country, using “sentinels” to give them a “grassroots, from the bottom up, kind of vibe” and occasionally drafting the laws on behalf of lawmakers.

Responding to McIntosh on March 16, Heritage Action’s Kruez admitted she hadn’t had the conversations yet on what changes would be “essential for Heritage to support the bill,” but said Heritage is “looking to get more involved in school choice bills going forward, and more active in state legislatures in general.”

Kruez mentioned having “ran the text by Johnathan Butcher,” Heritage’s policy analyst, and then went over the bill, pointing to specific lines with revisions and comments.

Some are complimentary: “Lines 71-76 are very good,” and some critical, “Lines 61-63 on page 3 will hurt in a court case.”

Other suggestions included, “Lines 104-110 should be outsourced to a private contractor,” and “it needs an appeals process for parents who violated the statute intentionally or unintentionally.”

Addressing the idea of phasing in private school students, Kruez also said, “It’s typically better to start with just public school students as eligible and then add private school students later, but this strategy is different from state to state.”

Mclintosh emailed her back the next day calling Kreuz’s comments “helpful” and saying CCV would “love to have Heritage’s support behind this.”

McIntosh then forwarded the thread to McClain and John, asking them to “take a look and see if you think there are things we could implement to improve the bill.”

“Would be great to win their support for this,” he said. “Some of their feedback is helpful, some I really don’t understand where they are coming from.”

Kruez, who answered the phone by stating her name when contacted by the Capital Journal to discuss her work on HB 290 — and what role Heritage Action plays in school choice bills across the United States — hung up.

Heritage Foundation data analyst Connor McCarthy was asked if such line-by-line reviews with lawmakers of proposed legislation are a common occurrence with Heritage Action.

“Heritage Action for America allows unprecedented mobilization of and communication with concerned citizens who want to be part of the national dialogue with members of Congress, and they work closely with experts at The Heritage Foundation to promote Heritage policy and hold our nation’s leaders accountable,” he said.

A legislative aide to John included in the email chains was also asked about Heritage Action’s influence on HB 290.

“HB 290 was crafted by Representatives McClain and John through stakeholder meetings with internal and external sources, other state agencies, and members of the public. They also looked at legislation that has been crafted and/or passed in other states,” he said.

On May 24, CCV held a luncheon for lawmakers at the Statehouse on HB 290 hosted in partnership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is an organization of conservative and right-wing state legislators known for producing model legislation for introduction in state legislatures across the country.

In a May 6 email invitation to state Rep. Christopher Plummer, records show, Mcintosh calls the get together a “lawmaker policy luncheon” where HB 290 will be discussed. Promotional material for the event called it the “Backpack Bill Briefing.”

Plummer did not respond to requests for comment.

The Center for Christian Virtue also did not respond to requests for comment.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.