Committee Calls on Bill Faith To Retract False Statement

Columbus― The Committee of Ohioans For Financial Freedom today demanded Bill Faith immediately retract completely false allegations he made about circulators allegedly paying two individuals $1.00 to sign a petition, or face serious legal actions.

“The Committee has investigated this allegation of two homeless individuals allegedly being paid $1.00 for their signatures and found it to be completely false, and so we have asked Bill Faith to immediately retract this false allegation, and any references to it on his website or any other website maintained by his organizations,” said Ohioans For Financial Freedom’s Kim Norris.

In a letter to Bill Faith from William Todd, representing the Committee, Todd says, “The Committee has diligently investigated this allegation and has determined that it is completely and utterly false and without any foundation in fact. As you are acutely aware, the Committee did not obtain the Attorney General's certification of its summary of the law to be referred until late in the day on July 10, 2008. Consequently, allowing time for the printing of the petition forms, circulation of the Committee's referendum petition did not begin until July 12, 2008. It was, therefore, impossible for either Mr. Schirmer or Ms. Smithers to have signed the Committee's referendum petition in June, let alone to have been paid for doing so.”

The letter points out that the Committee was required to collect at least 1,000 signatures for each of its three preliminary petitions submitted to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General for their certifications, all of which were submitted to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General on June 9, 25, and 27, 2008. The Committee reviewed the signatures collected for these preliminary petition efforts, and discovered that no signatures from Butler County were collected for any of these three preliminary petitions. This is consistent with the Secretary of State's certifications for the Committee's three preliminary petitions, all of which indicate that no signatures were submitted from Butler County for any of the preliminary petitions. So, neither Mr. Schirmer nor Ms. Smithers signed any of the Committee's preliminary referendum petitions.

Also, the Committee has reviewed all of the part-petitions and signatures collected thus far from Butler County and neither Mr. Schirmer's nor Ms. Smithers' signature appears on any of the Committee's part-petitions, at least through August 12, 2008, the date this allegation was made.
Ohioans For Financial Freedom is currently circulating petitions in Ohio with summary language approved by the Attorney General. It:
Repeals section (3) of H.B. 545 offering consumers more lending options
Allows for short-terms loans to be made under H.B. 545

Repealing Section 3 of H.B. 545 means protecting 6,000 good-paying jobs with benefits, protecting Ohioans’ financial freedom and protecting consumers’ rights to privacy about their personal financial choices.