Speaker Rosenberger 71% Want Change

Cleveland.com Editorial Nov. 14, 2015

Congressional redistricting reform cannot be shoved to Ohio House's back burner: editorial

Ohio voters made it irrefutably clear on Nov. 3 that they want the state's General Assembly districts drawn fairly. Issue 1, a bipartisan plan sponsored by then-state Reps. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, and Vernon Sykes, an Akron Democrat, drew "yes" votes from 71 percent of those voting on the measure, which carried all 88 counties.

Issue 1 changes how Ohio will draw its 99 state House and 33 state Senate districts after the 2020 Census.

State panel wants congressional redistricting reform

The goal is to present the General Assembly a proposal for drawing congressional districts that is similar to one voters approved overwhelmingly Nov. 3 that amended the process laid out in the Ohio Constitution for drawing legislative districts for the Ohio House and Senate.

The next step toward fairness should be an equally bipartisan mechanism for drawing Ohio's 16 U.S. House districts. But based on post-election comments by Ohio House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican, it appears that reforming how Ohio draws congressional districts will be a tough sell in Columbus. Rosenberger has to find a way to make it happen.

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Congressional districts are now drawn by the Ohio General Assembly. When the Republican-run legislature last redrew them, in a bill Republican Gov. John Kasich signed in September 2011, Butler County Republican John Boehner, then the U.S. House's speaker, had as much to say about the new district boundaries as anyone at the Statehouse. Aim: to maximize the number of Republicans in Ohio's congressional delegation. Boehner succeeded: Of 16 U.S. House members from Ohio, 12 are Republicans, four, Democrats, from a state that twice backed Barack Obama.

Public documents obtained by Ohio voter advocates show a key representative of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was central in drawing the state's disputed congressional map.

Now pending in the General Assembly is a reasonable plan for fairly drawing Ohio congressional districts, sponsored by state Sens. Frank LaRose, a Copley Township Republican, and Tom Sawyer, an Akron Democrat.

The LaRose-Sawyer bill is a good starting point for legislative action. But there are two obstacles.

Problem One: Public pieties aside, Ohioans now in the U.S. House, regardless of party, likely don't want to change how Ohio draws its congressional districts because, after all, Ohio's current method got them where they are – in lavishly paid and essentially lifetime jobs.

Reforming congressional redistricting apt to take time

Reform has backers on both sides of the aisle, but it could be some time before voters see another ballot proposal. Ultimately, the most important opinions may come from those who hold the congressional seats that would be affected.

But Ohio voters have signaled they're tired of business as usual, which brings up Problem Two: Speaker Rosenberger wants "to see a conversation continue to happen" on redistricting, he told cleveland.com's Robert Higgs.

With all due respect, the General Assembly has talked itself hoarse about congressional redistricting; the outrages today's method allows are self-evident. Action is what Ohioans want -- not more talk.

This editorial was updated at 4:05 pm to correct the party affiliation for former state Rep. Matt Huffman of Lima.