Ohio campaign to overhaul redistricting process will be hard fought
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2012, 6:00 PM Updated: Sunday, August 12, 2012, 10:58 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Republicans who control Ohio government got together last year to draw the state's congressional boundaries -- a process that would affect elections for the next decade -- they holed up in a Columbus hotel room out of public view, taking cues from an aide to powerful U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.
The result? A collection of oddly shaped districts that seemed to guarantee overwhelming electoral success for the GOP.
Democrats and good-government advocates cried foul, but there wasn't much to be done.
Now Ohio voters can dramatically change the system. But would the new process be any better?
Some potent arguments -- and likely tens of millions of dollars -- will go toward trying to sway voters one way or the other.
A proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot, backed by a group called Voters First Ohio, would replace elected officials now in charge of drawing the lines with a 12-member commission that would exclude state and federal politicians whose districts are at stake.
Pass bill to bring Ohio puppy mills to heel: editorial
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2012, 7:13 PM
In February, Ohio's Senate unanimously passed a bill to regulate so-called puppy mills, but the House has kept this long-overdue measure bottled up in committee. That's wrong. Ohio has become a haven for high-volume breeders, adding another doleful distinction to the state's terrible reputation for indifference to animal welfare.
The House and its Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee must approve this long-overdue measure so the House can send the bill to Gov. John Kasich. The bill, sponsored by Columbus Republican Sen. Jim Hughes, would require the state Agriculture Department to regulate high-volume dog breeders -- establishments with "adult breeding dogs that produce at least nine litters of puppies in any given calendar year" and sell "60 or more adult dogs or puppies per calendar year."
The committee's chair, Rep. Dave Hall, a Millersburg Republican, said he'll probably hold hearings on the bill when the House returns to session in September. In fairness, Hall's committee has had a hefty agenda. Example: Ohio's new exotic-animal law. Workload aside, though, there's nothing complex about Hughes' bill, and it is clearly needed. Hall's committee and the House should pass it in September. If that requires a nudge from House Speaker William Batchelder, a Medina Republican, so be it. Hughes has worked steadily and constructively to get this completely nonpartisan bill to Kasich. The House should do the same.
Manufacturing Task Force Holds Public Hearing
Hannah Report 8/10/12
In an effort to learn more about what the state can do to encourage growth in the manufacturing industry, the Ohio House held its first 21st Century Manufacturing Task Force public hearing Thursday.
The Timken Company hosted the task force at its Canton office. Members of the group welcomed a panel of manufacturing executives from the steel, polymer, ceramic and paint and coatings industry.
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