If you live in Ohio and have followed coverage of Issue 2 (or watched a college football game in the past month) you’ve heard of “We Are Ohio,” the group trying to kill government union reform. You may also know We Are Ohio describes itself as a bipartisan, grassroots movement speaking for Ohio’s middle class.

Would you be surprised to learn the group’s July report to the Secretary of State listed $4.2 million from D.C. unions, more than $2 million from Ohio unions, and less than $40,000 from individual donors? [Update, 10-20-2011 - I missed a number of lines when sifting through data for the previous version, including half a million dollars from SEIU in D.C.! Corrected chart follows.]

Simply put, We Are Ohio is a union front group. Why do you think the folks rescuing Ohio from Senate Bill 5 so rarely discuss what’s in Senate Bill 5? Because few informed taxpayers would oppose commonsense government union reforms, including:

• Requiring public employees to pay a small share of their health insurance costs
• Requiring public employees to pay a small share of their pension costs
• Ending automatic raises paid regardless of merit
• Ending mandatory “fair share” fees charged to non-union workers
• Restoring to elected officials many decisions currently made by union bosses

We Are Ohio exists to protect the flow of taxpayer dollars from government offices into union coffers. Every action – from the more than $800,000 spent on their signature drive to the shameful ads we see today – is a means to this end.

We Are Ohio’s campaign is full of dishonesty and race-baiting; union bosses make big bucks spewing class warfare; unions mistreat their retirees; unions silence their own workers; unions attack public employees who step out of line. Would any of these things be true if government unions represented Ohio’s middle class?

Ohioans, don’t fall for We Are Ohio’s self-serving lies. When you vote this fall, Vote Yes on Issue 2!

Cross-posted from Ohio Liberty Council.