Media Center
Citizens across Ohio are coming together to Oppose Issue 2, check here for the latest news on who’s opposing Issue 2.
11/03/09: Press Release: Issue 2 Passes: Agribusiness rewrites constitution
The Farm Bureau-sponsored campaign to change Ohio’s constitution and give industrialized agriculture control over livestock issues succeeded with the passage of ballot Issue 2. Consumers, small family farmers and the neighbors of large, industrialized animal operations are the losers. Read More
11/01/09: Cleveland Plain Dealer: Issue 2 would provide mega-cover for mega-farms
Issue 2 isn’t a case of Farmer Goodfellow trying to fend off vegetarian geeks. It’s about a mega-business that wants an insider’s lock on Columbus decision-making. So, for instance, one group opposing Issue 2 is the Ohio Farmers Union. In contrast, Issue 2′s chief promoter, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, is a voice for agri-business. Read More
11/01/09: Delphos Herald: Farmers Union says ‘NO’
“We oppose Issue 2 first and foremost because it’s a constitutional amendment that would serve a narrow special interest. As the supreme law of the state, amending it should be reserved for issues concerning all Ohioans, so we don’t think this is the way to deal with this issue.” Read More
11/01/01: Ironton Tribune: Issue 2 isn’t right solution
State ballot Issue 2 is the wrong solution for a legitimate problem. Read More
10/30/09 Toledo Free Press: No on Issue 2
The idea of trying to protect farm animals and to protect us as consumers on face value is a good thing. While the intentions of Issue 2 may be to do that, it’s the lack of clear guidelines in how Issue 2 would make that happen that has given us pause.
Read More
10/30/09 Ohio Environmental Council Urges No Vote on Issue 2
The Ohio Environmental Council today announced its opposition to State Issue 2, a wide-ranging proposal to amend the Ohio Constitution in the name of “safe and affordable” food to establish livestock and poultry confinement standards. Read More
10/29/09 Farm Aid: Why Ohio Issue 2 Matters to You!
People have asked us how they can do more to help family farmers. Today, we have a clear step you can take – if you live in Ohio, VOTE NO on Issue 2 on next week’s November ballot. Read More
10/29/09 Sentinel-Tribune: Issue 2 is wrong way to create livestock board
Ohio needs a livestock care standards board – but establishing it through a constitutional amendment is the wrong way to create it. And for that reason Ohio voters should defeat state Issue 2 on Tuesday. Read More
10/28/09 Huffington Post: We Can’t Reform Health Care Without Reforming Food
Corporate agribusiness has invested nearly $1.2 billion (and growing) on lobbyists — more money than even the defense lobby. Naturally, much of this lobbying has been aimed at deregulating how food is processed and manufactured, as well as how corporate agribusinesses raise and process livestock. It’s an industry that’s entangled in everything from Big Tobacco to human trafficking and illegal immigration.Read More
10/28/09 Toldeo Blade: No on Issue 2
IT’S NOT often in recent years that we’ve been able to look to our northern neighbor for an example of good governance, but Ohio lawmakers would have been wise to follow Michigan’s example in how to regulate the treatment of farm animals. Read More
10/27/2009 Columbus Dispatch: Issue 2 foes speaking up
Opponents of state Issue 2 painted the constitutional debate yesterday as a battle of big guys and little guys: factory megafarms versus small family farms and consumers. Read More
10/23/2009: Press Release: Agribusiness Biggest Supporters of Ohioans for Livestock Care
Government report detailing political expenditures for Ohioans for Livestock Care (OLC), the pro-Issue 2 Political Action Committee (PAC) promoting the creation of the Livestock Care Standards Board, reveals that financial support for Issue 2 is overwhelmingly from corporate livestock interests. Read More
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10/20/2009: Columbus Dispatch: Justice calls state issue 2 misuse of constitution
State Issue 2, the Nov. 3 ballot proposal that would create an appointed 13-member state livestock-care standards board, is an “inappropriate use” of the Ohio Constitution, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor said last week. Read More
10/20/2009: Cleveland Scene: Don’t Swallow That
Amending the Ohio Constitution is a serious matter. Yet this is what the passage of Issue 2 would do. Although Ohio’s major newspapers have all written in opposition to Issue 2, many urban folks remain confused and uninformed about it, with only a few weeks before the November election. The slick promotional materials of the Farm Bureau have carefully disguised their agenda. Read More
10/15/2009: Dayton Daily News: Issue 2 is Un-American
Big agribusiness wants to change Ohio’s Constitution and prevent us, the voters, from having any future input. Issue 2 is downright un-American. Read More
10/01/2009: Dayton Daily News Editorial: Ignore the propaganda: No on Issue 2
“Often when voters are confronted with a proposed constitutional amendment whose purpose isn’t obvious, they’re skeptical. They suspect something is up. That reflex is the right one when it comes to Issue 2 on your Nov. 3 ballot.” Read More
9/30/2009: Ohio ACT Coalition Launched to Fight Agribusiness Initiatives–Press Release
“Ohio Against Constitutional Takeover (Ohio ACT), a new coalition representing Ohio farmers and consumers, has emerged to prevent corporate agribusiness from cementing its influence into the Ohio state constitution through the November 3rd ballot initiative known as Issue 2.” Read More
9/15/2009: League of Women Voters of Ohio Officially Oppose Issue 2–Press Release
“The LWV-Ohio board voted to OPPOSE passage of this issue because the amendment contains too much specificity to be in the Ohio Constitution” Read More
Most of the major papers in Ohio oppose Issue 2:
Columbus Dispatch: Wrong Approach–Editorial
“Don’t use state constitution to set livestock-care rules or other detailed policies.” Read More
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Herding Ohio leaders toward animal treatment laws that big agriculture likes –Editorial
“The General Assembly’s rush to add a “livestock standards” amendment to the Ohio Constitution is as unseemly as it is questionable. Someone at the Statehouse needs to be an adult.” Read More
Akron Beacon Journal: Hurry to Harvest–Editorial
“Amending the Ohio Constitution is serious business, changes made by a statewide vote achieving a permanency no enjoyed by statutes or regulations.”Read More
Dayton Daily News: Animal lovers, farmers both wrong–Editorial
“…nobody should be for settling food fights in the constitution.” Read More
