For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





With defenders of Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s anti-union bill trailing in the polls and getting badly outspent by labor-allied groups, they’ve enlisted the help of one of the biggest names in conservative politics: Sarah Palin.

Palin’s voice can be heard on a new robo-call urging Ohioans to vote yes this Tuesday on Issue 2, which would uphold Kasich’s anti-union bill, better known as SB 5. Kevin Holtsberry of Columbus, Ohio, tweeted that he’d received a Palin robo-call on Friday afternoon. In the call, Holtsberry told Mother Jones, Palin accused President Obama of bankrupting the country and claiming Issue 2 would control spending in Ohio. Three others tweeted that they’d received robo-calls Friday afternoon featuring Palin.

Palin also stumped for Kasich’s bill on her wildly popular Facebook page, which boasts more than 3.5 million fans. Palin burnishes her cred as “a proud former union member and the wife, daughter, and sister of union members,” and then tells Ohioans to back Kasich’s bill to ban public-worker strikes and curb collective bargaining for 350,000 public workers, among other reforms.

Here’s her full statement:

OHIO’S ISSUE 2 As a proud former union member and the wife, daughter, and sister of union members, I’m encouraging you to learn the facts about Issue 2 in Ohio. To the hard working, patriotic, selfless union brothers and sisters in Ohio and throughout our country: I believe that Issue 2 is needed reform. It will help restore fairness to Ohio taxpayers and help balance the budget. As a former card-carrying IBEW sister married to a proud former Laborers, IBEW, and later USW member, I’m encouraging Ohioans to vote YES on Issue 2. Get the facts at www.BetterOhio.org.

Palin is only the latest celebrity, political or otherwise, to wade into Ohio’s union fight. Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have said they’re supporting voting yes on Issue 2, and former astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn appears in a recent ad for We Are Ohio, the union-funded group opposing Issue 2, urging Ohioans to vote no and repeal Kasich’s bill.