Why Marriage Matters Ohio, the four-month old campaign by a coalition of civil and human rights groups, has brought on PR counsel and a political strategist to lead its campaign to repeal a state constitutional amendment and legalize same-sex marriage in the Buckeye State.
Paul Werth Associates of Columbus was tapped for strategic communications. Senior VP Kimber Perfect, who was Ohio's chief marketing officer, leads the account with support from A/S Amanda Wurst, former press secretary for ex-Gov. Ted Strickland.
WMMO, backed by the Equality Ohio Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Ohio and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, among others, has also hired strategist Michael Premo to manage the campaign. Premo is fresh off a successful legal campaign for marriage equality in New Jersey.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage, an effort that gained steam in the wake of the Supreme Court's U.S. v. Windsor decision in June.
Ohio voters in 2004 amended the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman and forbid civil unions and domestic partnerships. The WMMO campaign seeks to repeal the amendment, likely through a via ballot initiative in 2014.
Polls have Ohio residents evenly split on the issue.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
Public Strategies Washington has added Abbie Sorrendino, a former aide to now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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