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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Rich Bindell (202) 683-2500

Issue 2 PAC Tries to Distract Ohio Voters by Stifling Ads

Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

WASHINGTON

"As the campaign over Issue 2, a proposal to create the Ohio
Livestock Care Standards Board, comes down to the wire, the livestock
industry is trying one last trick to squelch the debate. Recently,
Food & Water Watch placed radio ads throughout Ohio to warn Ohio
voters that Issue 2 would create a board that is dominated by factory
farms. The Ohioans for Livestock Care PAC pressured the media to pull
our message off the air by contacting Clear Channel Communications,
Inc., owner of the radio stations currently set to run our ads. Now,
they have filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission alleging
that the ads contain "false statements" about how Issue 2 would put the
livestock industry in charge of writing its own rules, and that factory
farms put the public at risk for diseases like E. coli and swine flu.

"Ohio Against Constitutional Takeover (Ohio ACT), a coalition of
organizations opposed to Issue 2, has demonstrated that the creation of
the "Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board" is not a true attempt to
improve farm animal care and provide Ohio with safe, locally grown
food, but merely a power grab by big agribusiness to protect their own
interests. Ohio ACT has exposed the major corporate livestock
interest groups who have given large contributions to support Issue 2.
On top of the millions of dollars in contributions from out-of-state
agribusiness interests, at least 71 factory farms have provided
donations to support Issue 2. "Our opposition has taken to using
cheap campaign tactics in order to continue to hide behind a false
pretense of representing authentic Ohio farmers. They have attacked
our ad campaign, not because our message is false, but to distract Ohio
voters from the real issue at hand. We hope Ohio voters will see their
actions as another example of how challenging it can be to take on
industrial-sized special interests, and exercise their right to oppose
Issue 2 on November 3."

To hear the ad the opposition does not want you to hear, please visit https://www.ohioact.org/.

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

(202) 683-2500