With the supreme irony being it was the Democrats who fought tooth and nail to keep the Jim Crow laws on the books.

(Columbus Dispatch) — As Democrats work to place Ohio’s Republican-backed elections law on hold through a referendum, they’re arguing that the measure is akin to poll taxes, grandfather clauses and other footnotes from America’s Jim Crow past.

But does the same argument apply to Senate Bill 5, the GOP-sponsored limits on collective bargaining for public employees that is currently subject to a referendum as state Issue 2 on the November ballot?

Democratic, labor and African-American leaders say yes.

We Are Ohio, the organized labor coalition seeking to repeal Senate Bill 5, is airing a radio ad that says “Gov. John Kasich and the Columbus politicians have passed two laws to take us back to the days of Jim Crow.”

The ad, airing in six urban markets, including Columbus, then mentions both the elections law — House Bill 194 — and Senate Bill 5, and encourages listeners to sign a petition to place the elections law on the 2012 ballot and to vote to repeal Ohio’s new collective bargaining laws in November.

“It’s harsh wording, but it’s not necessarily inaccurate,” said professor Horace Newsum, chairman of the African-American and African studies department at Ohio State University. “It’s hard to swallow when you hear Jim Crow, but what the ad is really saying is, don’t take us backwards to a moment in history none of us are proud of.”

Jason Mauk, spokesman for Building a Better Ohio, the Republican group trying to defend Senate Bill 5, said “it’s one thing to argue that Issue 2 takes Ohio back.

“But it’s another thing entirely to argue that Ohio would resort to racism if Issue 2 succeeds,” Mauk said. “Ohio deserves better than race baiting and ads like this have no place in Ohio politics. They should be ashamed to put an ad like that on the air.”