COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Third Frontier backers are pulling out the big names — and hoping for the big bucks — for a campaign aimed at getting voters to approve a $700 million bond issue to renew the state’s biggest economic development project during the May 4 primary election.
Jo Ann Davidson, the first woman speaker of the Ohio House in the mid-1990s and c0-chair of the National Republican Committee; and David Wilhelm, the Athens, Ohio, native best known for managing Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and who’s also a venture capitalist and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will co-chair the still Third Frontier campaign, said Dorothy Baunach, special adviser on the program to the Ohio Business Roundtable (pdf).
Cleveland attorney (Tucker, Elllis & West) and political campaign veteran Matthew Cox will manage the campaign, which though not officially begun hopes to raise $3.5 million, starting with Roundtable members, said Baunach, founding president of NorTech, the technology economic development organization in Northeast Ohio.
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Alex Shumate, a global managing partner in the Columbus office of  law firm Squire Sanders, is treasurer of the campaign, which has been named United for Jobs and Ohio’s Future, she said.
Begun in 2002 by Gov. Bob Taft, Ohio Third Frontier is the 10-year, $1.6 billion project to re-energize Ohio’s economy by investing in emerging technologies. Third Frontier invests in technology research, development, commercialization and entrepreneurship in five industries, including biomedical. The program that created an economic impact of $6.6 billion, 41,300 jobs and a return on the state’s investment of 10-to-1 in its first seven years will end in fiscal 2012 if it’s not renewed by voters.
A beginning step in the campaign will be introducing voters to Third Frontier. After doing a poll last summer, Business Roundtable leaders realized the average Ohio voter has little awareness of the program, Baunach said. The Ohio Department of Development has since commissioned hiVelocity, a slick e-newsletter about economic development in Ohio that tells Third Frontier “success stories.”
Baunach, Davidson and Wilhelm have been “interviewing people day and night for the last three weeks” for spots on the campaign. “A whole slew of folks were just finalized,” said Baunach, who expects the interviewing to be completed in the next week.
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The backers began their interviews before Feb. 3, the day the Ohio House and Senate compromised on a $700 million bond issue to renew Third Frontier, which will be presented to voters in May. On Feb. 10, the Ohio Ballot Board certified the Issue 1 language (pdf) that will appear on the May 4 ballot.
Though May 4 was determined to be the best ballot for the Third Frontier issue, it’s a primary ballot, meaning low voter turnout is expected. “Voter turnout might be 22 percent, which is pretty small,” Baunach said.
Economic development organizations and business chambers in Northeast Ohio will host a public informational session about the campaign from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Holiday Inn, Independence. Register for the event here. “That will be the first regional meeting of any size that we’ve done,” Baunach said. The campaign will also use social media, like Facebook, to “micro-target people” with Third Frontier messages, Baunach said.
And then there’s the fundraising in a “tough environment,” Baunach said. “Fundraising is going on in all the major cities. The Greater Cleveland Partnership is doing their kickoff Monday morning.” The major business groups are going to their members for donations, she said.
The campaign has until March 30, when early voting is expected to start, to reach voters with its message, Baunach said. There are about 80 days until the May 4 election. “This is a short campaign,” she said. “It’s going to get pretty intense, pretty fast.”
