Efforts to use a constitutional amendment to give women in Ohio the vote in 1912 failed, but Ohio voters that year adopted the revolutionary concept of the citizen initiative — allowing average citizens to propose and pass amendments to the Ohio Constitution to counter Statehouse corruption and special-interest influence. One hundred and eleven years later, Issue 1 on the Aug. 8 ballot seeks to narrow those rights. In a guest column today, journalist Mike Curtin, an expert on Ohio constitutional history, looks at the history of the citizen initiative and what prompted Ohio to become the 13th state to adopt it. Shutterstock
Issue 1 aims at the heart of Ohioans’ citizen initiative powers. Here’s how we won them
“As the stench of corruption worsened, Ohio produced more strong reform leaders than any other state. Most notable were the Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow of Cincinnati’s Vine Street Congregational Church, Cleveland Mayor Tom L. Johnson, the Rev. Washington Gladden of the First Congregational Church of Columbus, and Toledo Mayor Samuel M. “Golden Rule” Jones.” by Mike Curtin
