Ohio gives public chance at drawing political maps
By Andy Brownfield
Associated Press
Associated Press
Published: August 26, 2011 - 03:12 PM
COLUMBUS: Ohio is inviting residents to give suggestions on how state legislative district lines should be redrawn, but whether any will actually be incorporated into the final map is up to a panel that's not required to do anything with the input.
The outcome has gone both ways in other states that have allowed the public to give suggestions during the during the once-per-decade redistricting process.
California legislators are now required to incorporate suggestions from the public into their map, and residents say that has improved the fairness of the process. But voter advocates in Illinois are fighting the map legislators there came up with, charging in a lawsuit that the process was a farce. They say the map contained little, if any of the suggestions offered by residents.
Accused state rep urged to resign following drunk driving incident
Jarrod Martin also faces child endangering charges, says he won't step down.
Dayton Daily News
Jarrod Martin, the embattled Republican legislator who faces drunken driving and child endangering charges, says he wasn’t aware some constituents were calling for his resignation stemming from his recent brushes with law enforcement.
On Aug. 16, Martin, R-Beavercreek, told the Dayton Daily News he was not going to resign over three alcohol-related incidents because Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder III, R-Medina, and state Republican party leader Kevin DeWine asked him to do so.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/accused-state-rep-urged-to-resign-following-drunk-driving-incident-1240424.htmlPush for petition signatures uses scare tactics
Wooster Daily-Record
COLUMBUS -- Democrats are again pounding the pavement statewide looking for people willing to sign their petitions, this time to block Republican-backed election law changes from taking effect in advance of next year's presidential contest.
I know this because Barack Obama sent me an email telling me so.
Or, to be more accurate, his head campaign guy in Ohio dropped me and, I assume, thousands of others the message with hopes that we'd add our names to their lists.
http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/5088098
Gov. Kasich and Republican legislative leaders chastise Senate Bill 5 opponents
August 28, 2011
by MARC KOVAC | CAPITAL BUREAU CHIEF
Cuyahoga Falls News Press
Columbus -- With an empty table topped with place cards naming the state's top public employee unions and six empty chairs for dramatic effect, Gov. John Kasich and Republican legislative leaders chastised Senate Bill 5 opponents Aug. 19 for refusing to participate in last-minute negotiations to remove Issue 2 from the November ballot.
The governor did say his door would remain open to union officials who are willing to talk.
"But, you know, the train's left the station," Kasich said. "Our campaign's going to be strong. It's going to involve the grassroots. People are going to know what's going on."
On Aug. 17, Kasich, House Speaker Bill Batchelder and Senate President Tom Niehaus sent a formal letter to We Are Ohio, the group that spearheaded an effort to place Senate Bill 5 before voters, asking members to participate in negotiations that would lead to the removal of the issue from the ballot.
http://www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/5087269Stage is set for pleas of necessity from Kasich this fall
Aug 27, 2011
Chillicothe Gazette
Editor, the Gazette:
On Aug. 19, Gov. John Kasich stood in a room with Senate President Tom Niehaus, House Speaker William G. Batchelder and a lot of reporters.The three Republicans representing our state government who had originally opined on Aug. 18 that they did not want to get into a position of "negotiating in the press," began negotiating in the press on Aug. 19.
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20110827/OPINION03/108270312
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20110827/OPINION03/108270312
No comments:
Post a Comment