The following is an Ohio Lakefront Group Press Release by OLG President Tony Yankel.
Columbus (OH) – With the Ohio Supreme Court primed to hear arguments in a case involving property rights, a recent statewide survey shows that 83 percent of Ohioans strongly believe Attorney General Cordray’s position is wrong.
The case concerns the attorney general’s attempt to allow the state to take control of private property along Lake Erie without compensating the Ohioans who own the property.
Cordray, advancing a legal argument made by disgraced former Attorney General Marc Dann, wants Ohio property owners to pay a lease fee to use the property they’ve owned for decades. The attorney general’s argument ignores 200 years of Ohio law that supports property rights.
In the survey, 83% of Ohioans said they “strongly disagreed†with the idea that the state “should be able to force property owners to pay a lease fee to use part of the property the person already owns.â€
“The survey confirms what we’ve known all along,†Ohio Lakefront Group president Tony Yankel said. “Ohioans think that paying a lease fee for property they already own is government intrusion on people’s rights.â€
Additionally, 87% of citizens surveyed disagreed with Cordray’s position requiring homeowners near a lake, stream, or river to open their backyards to use by the public.
Yankel pointed out that Ohioans simply don’t want the government taking control of their property and telling them what to do.
“The right to own private property is sacred in Ohio,†said Yankel. “Ohioans just don’t tolerate the idea that the government can take control of their property.”
The survey by Washington-based Advantage, Inc. was conducted during the first week of March. The 802-person sample has a margin of error of plus or minus three and a half percentage points. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case later this year.