Mapmaking pols see to their own jobs rather than those of Ohioans: Thomas Suddes
Published: Saturday, September 17, 2011, 9:05 AM Updated: Saturday, September 17, 2011, 12:53 PM
Gassy rhetoric aside, the Statehouse spat over Ohio's congressional districts isn't about you. It's about them: the former high-school student-council presidents and hick-town mayors who've "graduated" to the legislature.
As far as they're concerned, next stop: Washington. So when General Assembly members look at congressional maps proposed for Ohio, you aren't in the picture -- they are. That's why no one at the Statehouse seemed to notice last week when census data, reported by The Columbus Dispatch, revealed that Ohio's median per-household income has hit a 27-year low.
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/09/mapmaking_pols_see_to_their_ow.html
Published: 9/17/2011
Dems won long-ago bid to alter Ohio congressional map
BY JIM PROVANCE
TOLEDO BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
TOLEDO BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
COLUMBUS -- There was a Democrat in the White House, and Republicans controlled the Ohio governor's office and the General Assembly. Minority Democrats turned to voters to scrap a GOP-drawn map that changed the boundaries of Ohio congressional districts.
It wasn't 2011, but 1915. And 96 years later, Democrats hope history could repeat itself as they threaten to take a new, proposed congressional map directly to the people in hopes they'll reject proposed districts that some have described as the Lake Erie "green swamp thing" and the Columbus-area "Pac Man."
Voters, 53 percent to 47 percent, rejected the 1915 map. The next year, an effort to invalidate that vote worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the right to a state referendum of a congressional redistricting law.
If opponents of the proposed 2011 map succeed in collecting at least 231,147 valid signatures of registered voters within 90 days of Gov. John Kasich's signature, the bill would be shelved at least until the results of the November, 2012, election are known. But while Ohioans may have the right to take such a map to voters, a federal court likely would take the issue out of their hands before then, according to Lee Strang, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Toledo.
State House OKs new Congressional district lines
September 18, 2011
by Marc Kovac | Capital Bureau ChiefTallmadge Express
Columbus -- The Ohio House OK'd a controversial congressional redistricting plan Sept. 15, sending the legislation to the Ohio Senate for its consideration.
The final vote was 56-36, with majority Republicans and several Democratic members of the black legislative caucus supporting the bill and minority Democrats and several GOP lawmakers opposed.
The vote followed a couple of hours of debate in which Republicans said the maps should be passed without delay to avoid the possibility of a federal court drawing the districts for Ohio.
http://www.tallmadgeexpress.com/news/article/5096722
Groups favoring Ohio's clean energy standard unite to oppose Senate Bill 216
By JAY MILLER
2:48 pm, September 19, 2011
A group of Northeast Ohio public and nonprofit officials today came out against Senate Bill 216. The bill would repeal's Ohio 3-year-old clean energy standard that requires utility companies to increase their purchase of electric power from renewable energy sources.
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, Cleveland Foundation president and CEO Ronn Richard and other advanced energy advocates including executives of LEEDCo, the nonprofit that hopes to build wind turbines in Lake Erie, are coming together to defend the advanced energy industry that is building in the state and needs the certainty that utilities will buy energy from renewable sources to attract more investment in energy businesses.
State Sen. Kris Jordan of Powell introduced the bill earlier this month. It would repeal the renewable portfolio standard passed in 2008.
That law requires that the state's electric utilities get 25% of their power from advanced and renewable energy sources by 2025 and that half of the renewable power — from wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and other clean energy sources — come from Ohio generating sources. The law also capped the cost increases due to advanced energy generation at 3%.
That law requires that the state's electric utilities get 25% of their power from advanced and renewable energy sources by 2025 and that half of the renewable power — from wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and other clean energy sources — come from Ohio generating sources. The law also capped the cost increases due to advanced energy generation at 3%.
http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110919/FREE/110919866#
REDISTRICTING/REAPPORTIONMENT
Hannah Report 9/16/11
In the space of three days, House Republicans introduced, pushed through committee and passed on the floor a new Congressional map the appears to give the party a good chance of winning 12 of the 16 new districts. Three African-American Democrats voted for HB319, while five Republicans opposed it. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) were drawn together into a district that stretches along Lake Erie, while Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Lorain) was drawn into Rep. Jim Renacci's (R-Wadsworth) district. Republicans set up their own primary battle by drawing Reps. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) and Mike Turner (R-Centerville) into the same district. The map also creates a new Franklin County district that would be easy for Democrats to win but whose creation helps create more strongly Republican districts for Reps. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and Pat Tiberi (R-Westerville).
Democrats decried not just what they said was blatant gerrymandering but also the fact that almost all chance of public input into the process was granted before the actual maps were revealed. The Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, which staged a public contest to draw more competitive maps, said its formula showed Republicans' map scored lower than every other map submitted during the contest. Illinois Rep. Mike Fortner was announced as the winner of the contest, following his win in the contest for re-drawing General Assembly districts.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187153
Hannah Report 9/16/11
In the space of three days, House Republicans introduced, pushed through committee and passed on the floor a new Congressional map the appears to give the party a good chance of winning 12 of the 16 new districts. Three African-American Democrats voted for HB319, while five Republicans opposed it. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) were drawn together into a district that stretches along Lake Erie, while Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Lorain) was drawn into Rep. Jim Renacci's (R-Wadsworth) district. Republicans set up their own primary battle by drawing Reps. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) and Mike Turner (R-Centerville) into the same district. The map also creates a new Franklin County district that would be easy for Democrats to win but whose creation helps create more strongly Republican districts for Reps. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and Pat Tiberi (R-Westerville).
Democrats decried not just what they said was blatant gerrymandering but also the fact that almost all chance of public input into the process was granted before the actual maps were revealed. The Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, which staged a public contest to draw more competitive maps, said its formula showed Republicans' map scored lower than every other map submitted during the contest. Illinois Rep. Mike Fortner was announced as the winner of the contest, following his win in the contest for re-drawing General Assembly districts.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187153
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