Ohio House Aide Convinces All 99 Members to Sign Pack of Trading Cards Featuring Lawmakers

Once per decade, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce produces a deck of trading cards with the names and faces of every sitting state lawmaker. One legislative aide with a penchant for collecting political memorabilia set out to collect as many signatures from the featured lawmakers as possible and managed to secure the autographs of all 99 Ohio House members on their respective cards.

Adam Headlee, 25, has decorated his office with collectible campaign buttons, historic photographs and founding-father bobbleheads. He said that after he was initially able to get a couple lawmakers he knew well to sign the cards, he began to wonder just how many he could obtain.

"Could I get 10? Could I get 20? Could I get 30?" he said.

Headlee, who works under Republican state Representative Adam Bird, said that he was pleasantly surprised to find that lawmakers from both parties helped him achieve his autograph goals and seemed to enjoy helping him.

"Silly as it may sound, there's a very subtle lesson of unity underlying all this, because everybody thought their trading card was cool," he said. "Starting off, I thought, statistically speaking, at least one of the 99 is going to tell me to go pound salt and won't sign their card. But, the closer I got, everybody was a good sport about it."

Headlee made certain rules for himself as he pursued the signatures. Notably, he wouldn't interrupt legislators as they conducted official business in committee or on the House floor.

He noticed that he ran into many of the same lawmakers repeatedly at first, because they shared something—party, geography, a policy interest—with his boss, who is from the village of New Richmond.

Headlee fairly easily collected his first 60 signatures. He'd catch people in the halls or on the streets around Columbus' Capitol Square. Many representatives didn't even know the cards existed.

"There were several members who I don't think realized they'd had a baseball card made of them," he said. "I always liked to see the smile on a member's face when I got to explain where these came from."

The Ohio Chamber distributes the cards at its annual policy conference, spokesperson Courtney Whetstone said.

Attendees this September received a rubber-banded packet of about 20 cards when they arrived, then more cards when they attended additional events, she said.

"They were randomized, and certain packs were held back for the second day, so you had to be there both days to get them all," she said. "They were really aggressively being traded."

Headlee pulled a string with a friend to get a complete deck, he said, which also includes cards for Ohio's 33 state senators, one for Republican Governor Mike DeWine, and a group of cards showing current members as they looked in 2001.

He took to carrying his cards everywhere, tucked into his jacket pocket along with an official House signing pen. He thought it a nice touch, but the pens sometimes smudged on the shiny cardstock.

Representative Kent Smith, a suburban Cleveland Democrat, offered a lesson when Headlee tracked him down at a vintage baseball game on Statehouse grounds: Use a Sharpie. Smith had been signing trading cards for fans for years, as a veteran announcer for the Burning River and Chicago Outfit roller derby leagues. Permanent marker, he told Headlee, was the way to go.

One lawmaker, a Democrat, asked to sign in blue. Some dated their cards. One lawmaker, a minister, added a "God Bless You." Another, hoping to confound historians, scribbled "Drink more Scotch." Representative Latyna Humphrey, a newly seated Columbus Democrat, happily signed her district's blank card, just above the "To Be Determined."

As Headlee's stack of unsigned cards dwindled, the aide had to be more deliberate. He asked mutual acquaintances for key introductions, pigeonholed members after committee hearings or called their offices for appointments.

Finally, on the Thursday before lawmakers broke for the holidays, Headlee got his 99th signature. It was from House Democratic Leader Emilia Sykes, whose frenetic schedule during the past two months had included a role in the high-profile, deadline-driven redistricting process.

"She's obviously very busy," he said. "I was thinking maybe that's a bridge too far, I might not get the chance."

But a member who had already signed their own card briefed Sykes on Headlee's project and arranged for them to meet.

As she signed with a gracious smile, Headlee said it bolstered his hopes for the future of politics in these fractious days. "That somebody cared enough about my little project to do that, I was very grateful."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.