Ohio Dems criticize GOP's proposed US House map
By ANDY BROWNFIELD, The Associated Press Updated 6:56 PM Tuesday, September 13, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio — New U.S. House districts proposed by Ohio Republicans include one that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland and a crescent touching parts of 13 counties from Appalachia to Amish country, and the map would pit six incumbents against each other in contests for three congressional seats.
The map that will affect Ohio congressional politics for the next decade would force face-offs between Republicans Mike Turner and Steve Austria in southern Ohio, and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur for a district along the Lake Erie shore. The map would squeeze Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton into the district of Republican Jim Renacci.
State Senate gave pay raises to staff members
by JULIE CARR SMYTH | Associated PressColumbus -- Staffers for both Republicans and Democrats in the Ohio Senate got pay raises this summer in the aftermath of state budget cuts and the passage of a law limiting public employee unions, state records show.
Payroll data reviewed by The Associated Press show 19 Senate caucus employees -- not quite 20 percent of the staff -- got pay hikes since July worth about $160,000 combined. Four employees -- the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, finance director, and clerk -- saw bumps of more than $8,000 a year each on salaries already around $100,000.
http://www.hudsonhubtimes.com/news/article/5095243
Ohio Republicans release proposed congressional map
From staff and wire reports
Published: September 14, 2011 - 12:37 AM
COLUMBUS: New U.S. House districts Ohio Republicans have proposed include one that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland and a crescent touching parts of 13 counties from Appalachia to Amish country.
The proposal would pit six incumbents against each other in contests for three congressional seats, including Republicans Mike Turner and Steve Austria in southern Ohio and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur vying for a district along the Lake Erie shore.
It would squeeze Democrat Betty Sutton into the district of Republican Jim Renacci.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-republicans-release-proposed-congressional-map-1.234861
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-republicans-release-proposed-congressional-map-1.234861
GOP plan for new congressional districts draws fire
Democrats say they won’t support moving primary
By Jim Siegel
By packing high concentrations of Democratic voters into four districts, Ohio Republicans have gerrymandered a new congressional map that leaves them a good chance to hold as many as a dozen seats for the next decade.
The GOP, which controls all of state government, unveiled a map yesterday that is likely to be acted on quickly in the House and Senate in the next 10 days. It seeks to eliminate one Republican and one Democratic seat, turning the GOP’s current congressional majority from 13-5 to a likely 12-4, while boosting a few vulnerable Republican incumbents. Ohio lost two seats because of slow population growth in the past decade.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/14/gop-plan-for-new-districts-draws-fire.html
Most in area may get new representation
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/14/gop-plan-for-new-districts-draws-fire.html
Most in area may get new representation
New GOP map pits Steve Austria and Mike Turner against each other.
10:26 PM Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS — A Republican-drawn map unveiled Tuesday creates a jigsaw puzzle of 16 new congressional districts, several odd-shaped, that would appear to give the GOP a clear advantage in the decade ahead.
Despite efforts by minority Democrats to put on the brakes to allow for more public input, House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, plans a vote by the full House by Friday before sending it on to the Senate, also controlled by Republicans.
House Democrats back away from deal on moving the primary date
Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 12:45 PM Updated: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 4:31 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Unhappy over a new congressional map expected to be passed quickly by majority-party Republicans, House Democrats are backing away from a deal to provide votes for legislation which would move the 2012 primary date.
In a letter sent today to House Speaker Bill Batchelder, Minority Leader Armond Budish called it "wholly unacceptable" for Republicans to vote the new congressional map out of the legislature within 72 hours. GOP forces need seven Democratic votes to pass legislation to move back the primary date with an emergency clause attached to it. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/09/house_democrats_back_away_from.html
Congressional districts are a creature of partisan politics
Published: Wed, September 14, 2011 @ 12:00 a.m.
Youngstown Vindicator
There’s got to be a better way of designing congressional districts that represent Ohio as a state in which Republicans and Democrats can fairly compete.
Ideally, independents and third-party candidates should also have a shot, but we’re talking here about the possible, not the improbable, and Ohio and most states function in a two-party environment.
Political junkies and even college and high school students have been able to use a computer to draw relatively clean, compact and competitive congressional districts, but don’t look for the Ohio General Assembly to follow suit.
Redistricting plan would splinter Stark County
By Robert Wang
Posted Sep 13, 2011 @ 03:57 PM
Last update Sep 14, 2011 @ 08:06 AM
CANTON — You and your neighbor down the street soon could have different congressmen.
Ohio House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a redistricting plan that divides Stark County into three congressional districts, which local officials believe will severely weaken the county’s clout on Capitol Hill.
Under a draft map released by the Ohio House State Government and Elections Committee, nearly every Canton and Massillon resident would find themselves in the same district as some residents of Richland County. Nearly all of Canton and Massillon and most of Stark County would be in the Ohio 7th Congressional District, starting in the 2012 election.
Ohio House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a redistricting plan that divides Stark County into three congressional districts, which local officials believe will severely weaken the county’s clout on Capitol Hill.
Under a draft map released by the Ohio House State Government and Elections Committee, nearly every Canton and Massillon resident would find themselves in the same district as some residents of Richland County. Nearly all of Canton and Massillon and most of Stark County would be in the Ohio 7th Congressional District, starting in the 2012 election.
6th District Survives, 17th Becomes 13th
Sept. 14, 2011 6:48 a.m.
Youngstown Business Journal
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The survival of the 6th Congressional District in the decennial statewide redrawing of Ohio's congressional districts came as a surprise to political observers here and in Washington, D.C..
Rumored for months to be on the endangered list, the district now represented by U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson in the U.S. House of Representatives was among those retained when the Government and Elections Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives unveiled the proposed new boundaries. Due to national population changes, Ohio lost two congressional seats, requiring lawmakers to draw 16 districts from the 18 Ohio now has.
http://business-journal.com/th-district-survives-th-becomes-th-p19971-1.htm
Budish Withdraws Support of May Primary over Redistricting Timeline
Hannah Report 9/13/11
In protest of House Republican plans to vote on a new congressional map this week after it had only been introduced on Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) withdrew support of his caucus for legislation that would move the primary back to May.
Budish sent a letter to House Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina) complaining that there was a complete lack of transparency in the redistricting process and saying that, as a result, "it appears that you have abrogated our agreement."
The debate turns partly on the success of Fair Elections Ohio, the campaign spearheaded by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to seek a referendum to overturn HB194 (Mecklenborg-Blessing), which included a provision to move the primary to May. The group's failure to collect enough signatures to make the ballot by the Sept. 29 deadline would render moot Budish's protest.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187105
In protest of House Republican plans to vote on a new congressional map this week after it had only been introduced on Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) withdrew support of his caucus for legislation that would move the primary back to May.
Budish sent a letter to House Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina) complaining that there was a complete lack of transparency in the redistricting process and saying that, as a result, "it appears that you have abrogated our agreement."
The debate turns partly on the success of Fair Elections Ohio, the campaign spearheaded by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to seek a referendum to overturn HB194 (Mecklenborg-Blessing), which included a provision to move the primary to May. The group's failure to collect enough signatures to make the ballot by the Sept. 29 deadline would render moot Budish's protest.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187105
BUDISH CALLS OFF PRIMARY DATE DEAL AS GOP INTRODUCES LEGISLATION
Gongwer 9/13/11
Shortly before House Republicans were scheduled to take up legislation Tuesday to delay the 2012 primary election, Democrats publicly bowed out of a previously announced agreement to support the plan.House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) sent a letter to Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina) saying his caucus would not back a previously announced plan to push back the Presidential Primary from March to May.
An hour later, Rep. Lou Blessing (R-Cincinnati) offered sponsor testimony on the proposal (HB 318
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801770203&newsedition_id=8017702&locid=2
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