After weeks of alleging "goon squad tactics" designed to "run off and buy out" its House Bill 6 petition circulators, Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts has offered evidence that it says supports its claims.

Six sworn affidavits from petition circulators filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus detail attempts to persuade them to abandon their jobs, including offers of $2,500 and a plane ticket to leave Ohio.

The affidavits say they received phone calls and text messages from people identifying themselves as working for Ohioans for Energy Security, the group that supports House Bill 6 and its $1 billion bailout of a pair of nuclear power plants owned by bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions. Two recordings of telephone calls were submitted into evidence before U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr.

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts needs to gather the valid signatures of 265,774 voters by Oct. 21 to place a referendum to repeal House Bill 6 on the November 2020 ballot. But the group says its bid to do that is compromised by people who are bribing petition circulators to quit.

If the referendum is certified to the ballot, it would delay implementation of the law, which would charge most electrical ratepayers 85 cents a month, until after the 2020 vote.

Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Ohioans for Energy Security, which is mounting a multimillion-dollar campaign in hopes of derailing the ballot initiative, said that the "talent pool" for petition circualtors is limited so "approaching known petition professionals isn’t unusual. However, we will not hire individuals that we know have conflicting contract obligations. Again, we have followed the law."

In a letter to Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, Don Brey, a lawyer representing the pro-House Bill 6 group, wrote that circulators without contracts are at-will employees free to quit at any time. Gene Pierce, spokesman for the group, said workers "have been contacted with these buyout offers, even though all of our petitioners have oral contracts and most have written contracts."

In one affidavit, a circulator wrote that he was told, "I would be paid a 'retainer' of $2,500 to stop petitioning and leave the state of Ohio, and Ohioans for Energy Security would pay for the plane fare for me to return to my home state (which is Oregon) or anywhere in the continental United States."

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts' lawsuit is attempting to declare parts of state law governing the referendum process unconstitutional and to gain more time to collect signatures.

The group argues that the law requiring petition supervisors — but not circulators — to submit their personal contact information on forms filed with the Secretary of State chills their free speech rights. The group has filed forms for all of its 1,000-plus circulators, including non-managers, out of an "abundance of caution" to ensure they could not be charged with a felony for failing to file.

Sargus granted a temporary restraining order on Friday evening, forbidding Secretary of State Frank LaRose and city and county prosecutors from pursing charges against paid circulators for 14 days due to vagueness of the state law. He did not immediately rule on the First Amendment claim.

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts also is asking Sargus to give the group an additional 90 days to gather signatures because approval of petition wording by Attorney General Dave Yost took 40 days before the group could begin collecting signatures, eating into the time limit on its efforts.

FirstEnergy and its allies are believed to be funding the campaign against the referendum. Owners of natural gas-fired power plants, environmentalists are among those who support the effort.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow