Mayor Mike Bell is the face of S.B. 5 in the first Building a Better Ohio TV ad.
/ File photo
COLUMBUS -- Toledo Mayor Mike Bell will make his face known on the Senate Bill 5 issue in a TV commercial that airs on Wednesday.
Bell advocates the necessity of the new law, which restricts public-employee collective bargaining, for balancing local government budgets. The ad dramatizes the mayor's service as a Toledo firefighter by combining pictures of Bell in uniform with shots of a firefighter holding hands with a child and the Toledo cityscape.
The ad focuses on government cutbacks and employee layoffs that result from unbalanced city budgets and urges voters to choose S.B. 5 in the upcoming November election.
"Years ago, I lost my job as a firefighter because my city ran out of money,'' Bell says in the ad. "That's why I support Issue 2. I know firsthand that Issue 2 will give communities the tools they need to get spending under control and balance their budgets without raising taxes on you or laying off good employees.''
It's all part of the "Building a Better Ohio" group's campaign--the main supporters behind the law. S.B. 5's opposition committee, We Are Ohio, aired its first political ad last weekend.
Union president Roger Wise told the Associated Press that "heavy-handed political maneuvering against worker's rights" is "class warfare."
The law also bans public employee strikes and effects more than 350,000 teachers, police officers, state employees and others.
What do you think about the mayor's decision to be the face of the politically-charged Senate Bill 5 issue? Will it sway voters? Weigh in below and on our Facebook page.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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