The campaign to raise cigarette taxes for the arts spent almost $1.5 million making its case to Cuyahoga County voters this year. That’s according to unaudited financial disclosures filed with the county board of elections.
The work paid off. Issue 55, as the tax was known on the ballot, won 71% and carried 964 out of 967 voting precincts countywide.
Assembly for Action, the Issue 55 campaign committee, found broad support without running traditional broadcast television ads. Ohio’s U.S. Senate race had that market cornered.
“We couldn’t afford to be on TV,” said Jeff Rusnak, the political consultant with R Strategy Group who guided the Issue 55 effort.
Instead, the campaign ran ads on cable TV, streaming services, radio and the internet. It spent money on consulting and field organizing. It also drew on the assistance of the county’s many arts and cultural groups. The Great Lakes Science Center spent more than $60,000 printing campaign materials supporting Issue 55, for instance.
Assembly for Action also dipped its toes into the social media influencer world. It sponsored a post by I’m From Cleveland, a popular Instagram account with 345,000 followers. Rusnak called the team-up a “natural fit” for the arts campaign. The campaign paid the account $2,000, according to a filing with the board of elections.
The tax will increase the price of a pack of cigarettes by about 40 cents, replacing a levy that’s been in place since 2007. It will raise an estimated $160 million over the next 10 years, keeping Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the entity that funds arts groups, running until 2035. Revenue had been falling as smoking rates declined.
The Issue 55 campaign’s donors included major arts institutions. Its $1.47 million in spending was more than that of the other big tax issue on the 2024 ballot, Cleveland’s school levy. Citizens for Our Children’s Future, the school levy committee, spent about $1 million on its winning campaign.
Assembly for Action is distinct from the nonprofit Assembly for the Arts, but they work alongside one another.
Campaign tactics aside, Issue 55’s first strength was that Cuyahoga County voters are fans of the arts, according to Rusnak.
“We have a great product,” he said. “The community is very supportive of the arts and values arts and culture.”
