A USG bill earmarking $1,000 toward the creation of a program to promote the passage of Issue 2 passed Wednesday night, but not without a considerable amount of arm-twisting and persuasion by the bill’s sponsors, USG President John Carney and Vice President Greg Krabacher.”Issue 2 is a pro-student bill,” Carney said. “What we need to be looking at is what’s best for students and specifically students at OSU.”The USG program will work to send pro-Issue 2 information packets to other student governments and high school student leaders, as well as fund materials workers will hand out at voting sites the day of the referendum. The passage of Issue 2 would raise Ohio’s sales tax by 1 percent, generating $1.1 billion in new revenues. Supporters argue these funds can then be used to meet the Ohio Supreme Court’s order that legislators come up with a more equitable way to fund public education. The Court ruled Ohio’s current system unconstitutional in March of 1997.”We can take from one hand and give it to another or we can increase the pot,” Krabacher said. “And increasing the pot protects students at Ohio State.”The fate of Issue 2 has far-reaching implications for higher education in Ohio including OSU, Carney said.”One speculation is, if this doesn’t pass, they’re going to go back and look at the money they do have and start cutting budgets. That includes higher education,” Carney said. “We want to help guarantee students aren’t going to make up the difference in higher tuition.”The USG vote to spend funds to further Issue 2’s passage followed a bizarre turn of events after a vote to bypass committee meetings and immediately deal with the plan failed. The vote’s failure meant the proposed support would languish in committee for at least the next two weeks which, considering the referendum vote on Issue 2 is a little over three weeks away, would effectively render the USG legislation moot.”I haven’t been disappointed with this group all year,” Carney said after senators voted to send the bill back to committee. “But you’ve disappointed me tonight.”USG Senator Dan Eisinger, who marshaled support to defeat the USG bill, believed Issue 2’s questionable effectiveness made creating a program to support its passage unwise.”This doesn’t fix the problem, it’s just throwing more money into a broken system,” Eisinger said.However, following the bill’s defeat, Eisinger and his supporters inexplicably allowed the senate to adjourn and then immediately reconvene, reopening the issue to debate and its ultimate passage.”The plan was to raise enough questions to get it delayed a week. Because there is no meeting next week it would have been delayed two (weeks),” Eisinger said.But the delay was avoided after senators, with some informal cajoling from Carney and Krabacher, voted to deal with the bill last night. From later comments it seems this was what Eisinger planned all along.”I’ve been involved in politics for seven years,” Eisinger said afterwards. “I tested my political deviousness tonight and I won.”