| | Abstract: | Ohio Citizen Action (f. 1975), is a statewide environmental organization known for its successful canvass-based tactics. It also has worked on campaign finance reform and consumer rights issues. Founded in 1975 as the Ohio Public Interest Campaign (OPIC), it was initially a coalition of union, senior citizen, church, and community groups that worked on issues such as job loss and economic problems stemming from plant closings, community reinvestment, tax abatement,and financial issues, among others. It became part of Citizen Action, a national coalition of consumer and public action groups from several states, in 1980. Citizen Action at its founding was composed of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Illinois Public Action Council, Massachusetts Fair Share, Ohio Public Interest Campaign, and Oregon Fair Share, and had a central office located in Cleveland. It eventually grew to have affiliates in 34 states. However, the national group had some political disagreements and several state affiliates separated from it, including the Ohio group which became Ohio Citizen Action in 1989. The national group eventually disbanded, but Ohio Citizen Action is very active currently, focusing much of its efforts on what it calls "good neighbor campaigns" since the late 1990s. "Good neighbor campaigns" use the strengths of community organizing combined with canvassing and other techniques to stop polluting at major industries. Ohio Citizen Action has had various successes addressing a wide range of issues. As OPIC, it began fighting for advance notification of plant closings shortly after its founding. This became a nationwide campaign that resulted in federal legislation that became law in 1989. It was sponsored by Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) who championed workers' and consumers' rights. Due to his tenacity in working on such issues, Ohio Citizen Action honored him after his retirement by establishing the Ohio Citizen Action Howard M. Metzenbaum Award in 1995, awarded to individuals who exemplify Metzenbaum's tenacity in fighting for issues that Ohio Citizen Action and Senator Metzenbaum would support. Ohio Citizen Action (as OPIC) also worked on stopping downtown tax abatements in the city of Cleveland and was involved in the debate over the sale of Muny Light. In 1983 it won an anti-trust suit against three northeast Ohio grocery chains for price fixing that resulted in a $20 million dollar award going to one million Cleveland, Akron, and Lorain area households. This was the largest consumer anti-trust settlement in United States history. It also led a movement to pass toxic substance right-to- know legislation in Cleveland and other cities, which became a model for federal right-to-know laws and the Toxic Release Inventory in 1986. As OPIC transitioned into an organization with dues paying members, it changed its name to Ohio Citizen Action in 1989 and began to focus more on the "good neighbor campaigns" described above. It also became more active in the movement for campaign finance reform supporting the successful initiative for term limits for state legislators and winning the campaign for electronic reporting of campaign contributions in Ohio. Ohio Citizen Action, both non-profit and non-partisan, was in 2012 still an active organization with 80,000 members statewide. It continued to train young activists and promote its causes through door-to-door and phone canvassing. It focused on environmental and public health issues as well as money in politics and consumer issues. Since 1995 the group presents the Ohio Citizen Action Howard M. Metzenbaum Award, mentioned above, each year to an Ohioan that exhibits Senator Metzenbaum's "principled tenacity". The collection consists of agendas, annual reports, charts, correspondence, flyers, legislation, lists, magazine articles, maps, meeting minutes, memoranda, newsletters, newspaper articles and clippings, notes, press releases, reports, and testimony. | |
