Coalition: Boehner, Republicans drew new districts in secret

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By William Hershey, Columbus Bureau Updated 9:20 AM Tuesday, December 13, 2011

COLUMBUS — U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, and Republican leaders in the legislature shut out the public and Democrats from the process of drawing new U.S. House districts and created districts that give the GOP maximum political advantage, according to a report released Monday.

Spokesmen for Boehner, Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina and Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, denied the charges made by the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting in its report, “The Elephant in the Room.”

The report, based on emails and other documents obtained through a public records request, said the Republicans gained maximum political advantage for themselves in drawing the 99 new Ohio House and the 33 new Ohio Senate districts.

The Campaign for Accountable Redistricting is a 25-member coalition including the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Ohio Citizen Action. The report gave the Ohio GOP leaders a D- grade for shutting the public out of the process of redrawing the lines for Ohio’s congressional districts.

The report said that Boehner’s political team, led by Tom Whatman, and the Republican National Committee both worked behind closed doors to help come up with a U.S. House map that, according to the coalition’s analysis, includes 12 districts favoring the GOP and four favoring Democrats.

The Republican approach was “keep it secret, keep it safe,” Jim Slagle, manager for the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, said at a press conference.

Correspondence from Niehaus said the Senate president was committed to “a map that Speaker Boehner fully supports.”

The report also said that state Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, requested keeping Clark County in one U.S. House district but was turned down because that would have hurt the GOP political index for U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus.

Cory Fritz, spokesman for Boehner, said that Ohio House Speaker Batchelder had said he wanted input from Boehner and other Republican and Democratic stakeholders.

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise now to see our staff was involved in an advisory role,” said Fritz.

Mike Dittoe, spokesman for Batchelder, said in an email that the process was more open than in the past.

“The allegations alleged here are deliberately and maliciously salacious in order to garner headlines,” said Dittoe.

Jason Mauk, spokesman for Niehaus, said input came from a cross section of stakeholders.

The report also criticized the GOP for:

• Using $9,600 in public funds to rent a downtown Columbus hotel room for three months for a “secret redistricting office.”

• Paying two GOP staffers $210,000 in public funds to work as private contractors on redistricting maps.

Dittoe said the hotel room was needed because of the large amount of space needed for redistricting computer equipment and to not interfere with other government operations.

The two staffers — Heather Mann and Ray DiRossi — received fair compensation for long hours — 16 hours or more a day, seven days a week for three months at the height of the process, said Dittoe.

Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic chairman, called the report’s findings “absolutely alarming.”

Ohio Democrats are gathering signatures in an effort to put a referendum on the GOP-backed U.S. House map on the November 2012 ballot.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@Dayton DailyNews.com.

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