BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- School districts that won Ohio's education-funding lawsuit crossed the line into political advertising with a videotape attacking a proposed sales-tax increase, the state's top elections official said Tuesday.
John Bender, chief elections counsel for Secretary of State Bob Taft, said the video is designed to influence the outcome of state Issue 2 on the May 5 ballot and must be reported as an independent campaign expenditure.
The ruling raises questions about the use of public money to influence elections, but the leader of the school coalition called it an attempt by state leaders to silence his group because it won the lawsuit.
William Phillis, executive director for the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, said the video stops short of telling Ohioans to vote against on the sales tax increase.
As a result, Mr. Phillis said, the publicly funded coalition shouldn't be required to register as a political action committee or report its expenditures as campaign spending.
Distributed to school superintendents, school board members and community groups, the 13-minute video portrays the sales tax and related legislation as an "ill-conceived, deceptive" response to an Ohio Supreme Court decision that ordered lawmakers to overhaul the way public schools are funded.
As simulated lightning flashes in a picture of the Statehouse bathed in eerie green light, the narrator says, "This Frankenstein collection of pieces and parts, put together in the late night hours, will not work."
"Our best bet is for the people to vote this sales tax down," Mr. Phillis says at the end of the video, dubbed "Too Little, Too Late."
While no formal complaint was filed with Mr. Taft's office, Mr. Bender said he reviewed the videotape and determined that it advocates opposition to Issue 2.
"Our goal is to educate people so violations of the law don't occur," Mr. Bender said. "We feel they should file."
Mr. Phillis said the video is the latest in a half-dozen produced by the coalition since it challenged Ohio's school-funding system in 1991. He said it provides "facts and analysis" regarding the state's response to the Supreme Court decision.
If the secretary of state's office thinks the video is a political advertisement, Mr. Phillis said, it also should scrutinize tax-supported entities such as the state Board of Education and state universities that advocate support for the tax increase.
"This is nothing more than pure, unadulterated harassment," Mr. Phillis said. "We have a right as a plaintiff in this case to analyze the state's response."
The coalition represents 550 of the state's 611 school districts and assesses each district 50 cents a student. It is registered as a non-profit corporation with the secretary of state's office. "This Frankenstein collection of pieces and parts, put together in the late night hours, will not work.' -- anti-sales tax video
