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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > July > 28 > Entry
Editorial: No excuse for failure in redistricting reform
If Ohio is to end the ludicrous practice of letting partisan politicians draw legislative districts to suit themselves, the state legislature must approve a ballot measure in the next week, for the November election.
On Wednesday, July 28, one newspaper declared the hope dead. After that, however, phone calls and meetings among the various players did happen, with the expressed goal of revival. There is no excuse for failure.
The legislature is in recess and would have to be called back to Columbus. What’s needed is an agreement among leaders of both parties and some urgency.
One might think that agreement would be easily achieved, given that both houses have already voted to junk the current system. The House- and Senate-passed versions are close enough in spirit that it’s hard to imagine why a compromise can’t be reached — assuming the original votes were sincere.
Although the Senate measure was put up by Republicans, and the House measure by Democrats (who needed and won some Republican support to get the necessary super-majority), neither measure is inherently Republican or Democratic, conservative or liberal.
Kettering Sen. Jon Husted’s Senate measure would create a bipartisan board and require bipartisan votes to approve the new maps to be drawn after this year’s federal Census. The House version would entail a public contest to see basically who could draw maps that result in the most competitive districts that don’t squiggle all over the place.
Just making the process bipartisan — the heart of the Husted plan — would be an important improvement. Under the current system, the party that does best in certain statewide elections in 2010 gets to design the districts all over the state for the next decade. It gets to rope voters of the other party into a few districts. It gets a lock for itself on other districts that rightly should be play.
However, bipartisanship wouldn’t solve everything. The two parties could still collude to draw districts that are safe for their respective incumbents.
Not under the House plan. It injects more competition into elections, makes the politicians sweat more. If districts are more balanced between the two parties, candidates have to be more responsive to general public opinion than to the opinion of their party’s most strident factions.
Many of the 17 House Republicans who voted for the contest idea in the House plan said they didn’t really like the plan, because it entails complex formulas for judging the contest. But they wanted to keep the idea of reform alive. They were looking for a compromise, they said. The time has come.
If the contest has to be junked, that would be a shame. A bold, ingenious idea (from the League of Women Voters and other reformers), it would make Ohio a national leader.
Acceptance of that idea by one party — the Democrats — was a tribute to the power of the idea. But the newness and complexity put the other party on guard. The contest supporters didn’t get a single important Republican on board. Sen. Husted has been sincere in his bid for reform and willingness to compromise, but he has not gone to bat for the League-associated idea.
Now the reformers in both parties have to figure out what can be salvaged. Anything on the table — or even near it — is an improvement.
A crucial player is Democratic House Speaker Armond Budish. Gov. Ted Strickland has generally stayed out of the fight. He says that if he got involved, that could make the fight even more partisan than it is, a view that some Republicans share.
Speaker Budish has insisted he’s on board. Some people were beginning to wonder, until he finally did put the issue on the House agenda late in the last session, and it passed. So maybe late action is the pattern. If so, it can’t get much later.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Elections, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics, Ohio government, Ohio politics
Comments
By Max
July 29, 2010 10:02 AM | Link to this
“Gov. Ted Strickland has generally stayed out of the fight. He says that if he got involved, that could make the fight even more partisan than it is, a view that some Republicans share.”————Why throw a few punches when you can delegate the dirty work to the Sec. of State……? Unless it’s an imaginary ‘initiative’ tailored for any given community, Strickland sits on his hands. Husted’s idea, however, of another ‘commission’ just transfers the redistricting issue from a larger body of do-nothings to a smaller one. There may be no excuse for changing the current methodology; transposing the problem is not a solution. ‘Start thinking about Constitutional Amendments then we’ll know they’re serious.
By Connie
July 29, 2010 1:43 PM | Link to this
Thank you for this column. I totally agree that we need redistricting to be a bipartisan effort. I wish the Dems had reached across the aisle upon winning the House. That would have translated as both leadership and confidence.
By Vic
July 29, 2010 3:41 PM | Link to this
If a good reform package is passed I’m sure Gov Strickland will take credit for it. The Gov not being involved because of the appearance of partisonship is perposterous. He should be leading the Dems in the House to move this reform that will be good for all requardless of party.
By Dave B
August 7, 2010 8:03 PM | Link to this
I am tired of my vote not being worth anything. The state races for senate and house are determined in the partisan primary the general means nothing because the districts are so heavily tilted in one favor. Talk about fixing the race.