Clock ticking on [Ohio] strip clubs

Clock ticking on strip clubs

Restrictions could start soon if signature drive falls short

Saturday, October 13, 2007 5:49 AM

By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

This could be the last weekend when Ohio adult bookstores can legally remain open after midnight and touching a nude or semi-nude dancer in a club won't be a first-degree misdemeanor.

With a referendum campaign in shambles -- in part because former felons were paid to collect signatures in several counties -- a new state law tightening restrictions on adult-oriented businesses may take effect Monday or Tuesday.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner would trigger the new law if she declares that opponents have fallen short of the 241,366 valid signatures of registered voters needed to place the referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot. Monday is the deadline for county boards of election to send Brunner signature totals.

A legal challenge, most likely in federal court, may be the only thing that could stop the new restrictions from becoming Ohio law.

Both sides said yesterday that is a distinct possibility.

Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for the Vote No on Issue 1 Committee, said her group is not waving the white flag.

"This is not good news, but I still think it's too early to tell," she said.

Theis said as many as 50,000 signatures discarded by election officials are being contested.

"We always said if we failed here, we would challenge this on constitutional grounds."

Phil Burress, head of Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group that prompted state lawmakers to pass the adult-business rules via a petition drive of its own, said he was glad to see the opposition campaign collapse.

"This is a common-sense law that's going to reduce crime," he said.

But Burress said he expects a "last-ditch effort by the sex industry to go to federal court. We're prepared for that, too."

"There's a lot at stake here. There's more than 600 adult businesses, not just strip clubs but the pornography stores and the massage parlors."

Burress said Citizens for Community Values will ask Brunner and county prosecutors to pursue legal charges against people who fraudulently collected signatures.

After a first round of signature collection, opponents of the sex-business law came up 116,000 short of the number needed to qualify for the ballot. About two of every three signatures, many of them collected through the Craig Group, a Columbus consulting company, were found to be invalid for a number of reasons, including people who weren't registered voters.

The committee then switched strategies and hired Labor Ready and other temporary-help agencies to collect more names. The agencies were paid about $200,000, Theis estimated, and eventually submitted nearly 231,000 additional names. Part of the total was a carryover from the Craig Group's effort.

This time, the results may be even worse, in part because circulators in several counties were found to be former felons. While ex-felons can vote after their parole period expires, an Ohio law adopted in 2006 permanently prohibits them from circulating petitions for candidates or issues.

Trumbull County election officials found 14 felons had circulated petitions and threw out nearly 500 signatures. They forwarded the information statewide.

Problems also were reported in Licking and Perry counties.

Bryan C. Williams, Summit County elections director, reported that more than 100 petition pages, each with up to 20 names, were tossed because of the felony prohibition. He described the overall validation rate as "just awful."

Both Franklin County and Cuyahoga County elections officials yesterday told The Dispatch that their tallies, while incomplete, indicated they were tossing about three of every four signatures.