Campaign effort for Ohio’s Third Frontier bond issue to emphasize jobs

By CHUCK SODER 

2:50 pm, February 23, 2010

Most Ohio voters aren’t familiar with the phrase “Third Frontier.” And those campaigning to renew the state’s technology-based economic development program aren’t about to teach them. The newly formed campaign to renew the Third Frontier initiative are leaving the name of the acclaimed program out of much of the material they will use to convince voters to pass the $700 million bond issue, which will appear on the May ballot. Instead, the material will refer to the renewal as “Issue 1” and will use the tagline “United for Jobs and Ohio’s Future.” Campaign officials, who spoke this morning at an event at the Holiday Inn in Independence, said using the name “Third Frontier” won’t help the campaign effort since so few voters are familiar with it. They cited an Ohio Business Roundtable survey conducted last summer that said about 16% of voters were familiar with the program. But voters don’t need to know the name of the program to get a sense of how important it is to Ohio’s economy, said Rebecca Bagley, president and CEO of NorTech, a technology advocacy group based in Northeast Ohio. “Many of us are going to have to shift how we discuss the Third Frontier because it really is about jobs and Ohio’s future,” Ms. Bagley said.She and several other officials involved with the campaign effort gave marching orders to the crowd, which consisted mainly of people supporting the renewal effort.

Campaign co-chair David Wilhelm, who has managed campaigns for politicians such as former president Bill Clinton and vice president Joe Biden, encouraged the crowd to be aggressive in promoting the renewal effort on their own, citing how the previous $500 million bond issue to support the Third Frontier passed by the “not-so-awesome” margin of 53% to 47% in 2005.

“Do not wait for us,” said Mr. Wilhelm, who also is president of private equity firm Woodland Venture Management in Gahanna. “There are 200 people in this room. There are three or four on the campaign.”

Former state representative Jo Ann Davidson, the other co-chair, emphasized the need to move quickly because an increasing number of voters are voting early by mail.

Campaign officials said they plan to advertise on television and by mail in addition to placing phone calls. They also have set up pages on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and they are encouraging supporters to download the campaign logo from their web site, unitedforjobsohio.com, and to put it in their e-mail signatures.