Speaker Batchelder Clips
September 27, 2011
GOP-drawn legislative map makes Republicans a virtual lock to hold Ohio's legislature
Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 6:00 PM Updated: Monday, September 26, 2011, 8:29 PM
Under calculations done by Jim Slagle, head of the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, 51 of 99 House districts will be "solidly" Republican with recent voting histories favoring GOP candidates. Another 10 districts would lean Republican, and only 20 House seats would feature "competitive" races, according to Slagle.
"They made it as close to a lock as they could," Slagle said. "You'd need a real major, major shift" to Democrats beyond what was seen in 2008 when President Barack Obama was elected to tip the Ohio House into Democratic hands, he said. He said the Ohio Senate map features 17 solid GOP seats and four that are GOP-leaning among the 33 districts in the chamber controlled 23-10 by Republicans.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/09/gop-drawn_legislative_map_make.html
New map squeezes state Dems
Republicans redraw Ohio House, Senate districts to their liking
5:46 AM, Sep. 24, 2011
Written by
Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS - A Republican-controlled board released its proposed map of new state House and Senate districts - and it could spell trouble for Democrats.
Similar to what they did with congressional redistricting earlier this month, Republicans reconfigured state districts to help the party keep control of both chambers of the Ohio Legislature for the next 10 years. The districts are redrawn to reflect changes in population after each census.
It will be tougher for Democrats to get elected beginning in 2012. The Senate has had a Republican majority since 1985 and by the looks of the map, the House, which the GOP regained control of in 2010, solidified its hold there, too.
For voters who are neighbors, this means they could be voting in different districts and choosing between people they don't yet know. And it's more likely Democratic voters may be represented by a Republican or at least live in a district that leans more Republican than they are used to. Statewide, some Democrats will be pitted against fellow Democrats.
For voters who are neighbors, this means they could be voting in different districts and choosing between people they don't yet know. And it's more likely Democratic voters may be represented by a Republican or at least live in a district that leans more Republican than they are used to. Statewide, some Democrats will be pitted against fellow Democrats.
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110923/NEWS0108/309230062/New-map-squeezes-state-Dems?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Republicans Unveil Redrawn General Assembly Districts
Referendum Campaigns Target Valley
Sept. 26, 2011 7:02 a.m.
By George Nelson
By George Nelson
Youngstown Business Journal
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The campaign to overturn Senate Bill 5 picks up steam this week as Trumbull County office of We Are Ohio officially opens, giving organized efforts to repeal modifications to collective bargaining law for public employees a more visible presence in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The Mahoning County office of We are Ohio opened last month in Struthers, the Columbiana County office last week. Phone banks have been taking place at the Trumbull office, 208 N. State St. in Girard, for about two weeks, reported Maggie Henderson, local We Are Ohio spokeswoman.
Meantime, another campaign nears its deadline to place a separate referendum on the 2012 ballot to revoke changes made to Ohio's voting system under House Bill 194 and preserve a wider window for early voting, among other provisions tightening identification requirements.
http://business-journal.com/referendum-campaigns-target-valley-p20050-1.htm
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The campaign to overturn Senate Bill 5 picks up steam this week as Trumbull County office of We Are Ohio officially opens, giving organized efforts to repeal modifications to collective bargaining law for public employees a more visible presence in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The Mahoning County office of We are Ohio opened last month in Struthers, the Columbiana County office last week. Phone banks have been taking place at the Trumbull office, 208 N. State St. in Girard, for about two weeks, reported Maggie Henderson, local We Are Ohio spokeswoman.
Meantime, another campaign nears its deadline to place a separate referendum on the 2012 ballot to revoke changes made to Ohio's voting system under House Bill 194 and preserve a wider window for early voting, among other provisions tightening identification requirements.
http://business-journal.com/referendum-campaigns-target-valley-p20050-1.htm
Republicans Unveil Redrawn General Assembly Districts
Hannah Report 9/23/11
Republican-drawn General Assembly districts were unveiled Friday in advance of Monday's meeting of the Apportionment Board, which has the authority to finalize the lines for the next decade. Maps must be published by Wednesday, Oct. 5.
The response from the minority leaders in both chambers was quick.
Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) said, in a prepared statement, “The new state legislative districts turn the Ohio Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act on their heads and take partisan gerrymandering to a new extreme. These new districts divide communities more than 250 times and disenfranchise voters throughout the state. Democratic voters have been quarantined into a third of these new House districts, despite the fact that they represent 50 percent of Ohio’s voters. http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187211
The Republican-drawn plan drew a stiff rebuke from the legislature's top Democrats, who suggested it would violate the state constitution and federal law that prohibits restrictions to minority voting rights.
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801850201&newsedition_id=8018502&locid=2
POLICY GROUPS SAY CONFERENCE'S APOLITICAL DEBATE AN EXAMPLE FOR LAWMAKERS
The conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, left-leaning Center for Community Solutions, and the non-partisan Greater Ohio Policy Center are collaborating to entice elected officials to attend a daylong conference in Columbus Dec. 8 where panel discussions will target numerous hot topics.
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801860207&newsedition_id=8018602&locid=2&link=news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801860207%26newsedition_id=8018602%26locid=2
Republican-drawn General Assembly districts were unveiled Friday in advance of Monday's meeting of the Apportionment Board, which has the authority to finalize the lines for the next decade. Maps must be published by Wednesday, Oct. 5.
The response from the minority leaders in both chambers was quick.
Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) said, in a prepared statement, “The new state legislative districts turn the Ohio Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act on their heads and take partisan gerrymandering to a new extreme. These new districts divide communities more than 250 times and disenfranchise voters throughout the state. Democratic voters have been quarantined into a third of these new House districts, despite the fact that they represent 50 percent of Ohio’s voters. http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187211
REDISTRICTING/REAPPORTIONMENT
Hannah Report 9/23/11
As with the House, the Senate wasted little time hearing and passing HB319 (Huffman), the bill redrawing Ohio congressional districts. The final version, also agreed to by the House this week, includes an appropriation of $2.75 million in General Revenue Funds to inoculate it against a possible referendum and ostensibly to help county boards of elections to prepare for the new districts and deal with a certain March 6 primary -- a provision also added to HB319.
However, a March primary may not be that certain given comments by Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina), who told reporters he prefers a May primary and said Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) does also. He went on to suggest they may be looking for a vehicle to attach an amendment to.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187224
As with the House, the Senate wasted little time hearing and passing HB319 (Huffman), the bill redrawing Ohio congressional districts. The final version, also agreed to by the House this week, includes an appropriation of $2.75 million in General Revenue Funds to inoculate it against a possible referendum and ostensibly to help county boards of elections to prepare for the new districts and deal with a certain March 6 primary -- a provision also added to HB319.
However, a March primary may not be that certain given comments by Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina), who told reporters he prefers a May primary and said Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) does also. He went on to suggest they may be looking for a vehicle to attach an amendment to.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187224
Lottery VLT Contract, Ballot Issue Advertising Funding Clear Controlling Board
Hannah Report 9/26/11
The Controlling Board approved Monday the Ohio Lottery Commission's request for nearly $17 million to pay for a central system to manage video lottery terminals (VLT) at Ohio's racetracks, as well as payments to gambling consultants hired by the Kasich administration.
The state also is set to pay about $2.1 million to print information on three ballot issues in newspapers throughout Ohio after the board released $1.6 million from its emergency-purposes fund to supplement the $475,000 the state budget allotted to Secretary of State Jon Husted for ballot advertising.
The board approved $9.1 million for Intralot Inc., the contractor who runs lottery games now, to add installation of the VLT central system to its current contract. An additional $7.6 million is to go toward paying the consultants, although Lottery Commission Interim Director Dennis Berg said some of that money will be reimbursed to the commission by the Casino Control Commission.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187227
The Controlling Board approved Monday the Ohio Lottery Commission's request for nearly $17 million to pay for a central system to manage video lottery terminals (VLT) at Ohio's racetracks, as well as payments to gambling consultants hired by the Kasich administration.
The state also is set to pay about $2.1 million to print information on three ballot issues in newspapers throughout Ohio after the board released $1.6 million from its emergency-purposes fund to supplement the $475,000 the state budget allotted to Secretary of State Jon Husted for ballot advertising.
The board approved $9.1 million for Intralot Inc., the contractor who runs lottery games now, to add installation of the VLT central system to its current contract. An additional $7.6 million is to go toward paying the consultants, although Lottery Commission Interim Director Dennis Berg said some of that money will be reimbursed to the commission by the Casino Control Commission.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187227
Joint Conference Aims for Factions to Put 'Good Public Policy' Ahead of 'Winning'
Hannah Report 9/26/11
Jumping off their joint proposal for an overhaul of Ohio's tax code, three policy organizations with often disparate philosophies are planning a conference in search of agreement on how to address the state's broader problems.
The conference, titled "Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity," will run all day Dec. 8 at the Renaissance in downtown Columbus, 50 N. Third St. It is sponsored by the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Center for Community Solutions. The three groups came together during budget season to urge a comprehensive review of state tax expenditures to determine which are still effective and necessary, a task the Senate Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee plans to begin in November. (See The Hannah Report, 5/18/11, 9/19/11.)
Big-name speakers lined up for the event include well-know supply-side economist Arthur Laffer, Clinton-era federal budget director Alice Rivlin and foreign policy scholar Walter Russell Mead, who will the deliver the dinner keynote address.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187231
Jumping off their joint proposal for an overhaul of Ohio's tax code, three policy organizations with often disparate philosophies are planning a conference in search of agreement on how to address the state's broader problems.
The conference, titled "Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity," will run all day Dec. 8 at the Renaissance in downtown Columbus, 50 N. Third St. It is sponsored by the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Center for Community Solutions. The three groups came together during budget season to urge a comprehensive review of state tax expenditures to determine which are still effective and necessary, a task the Senate Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee plans to begin in November. (See The Hannah Report, 5/18/11, 9/19/11.)
Big-name speakers lined up for the event include well-know supply-side economist Arthur Laffer, Clinton-era federal budget director Alice Rivlin and foreign policy scholar Walter Russell Mead, who will the deliver the dinner keynote address.
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=187231
GOP-DRAWN MAP COMBINES SEVERAL DEMOCRATIC GENERAL ASSEMBLY SEATS
Gongwer 9/23/11
The Apportionment Board's proposed General Assembly map released Friday would set up three potential primary contests among incumbent Democrats and pit three Democratic House members against Republicans in GOP-leaning districts.The Republican-drawn plan drew a stiff rebuke from the legislature's top Democrats, who suggested it would violate the state constitution and federal law that prohibits restrictions to minority voting rights.
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801850201&newsedition_id=8018502&locid=2
POLICY GROUPS SAY CONFERENCE'S APOLITICAL DEBATE AN EXAMPLE FOR LAWMAKERS
Gongwer 9/26/11
Three policy groups with different political perspectives said Monday they aim to put partisan discourse aside in exchange for substantiate policy discussion during a planned December conference.The conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, left-leaning Center for Community Solutions, and the non-partisan Greater Ohio Policy Center are collaborating to entice elected officials to attend a daylong conference in Columbus Dec. 8 where panel discussions will target numerous hot topics.
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801860207&newsedition_id=8018602&locid=2&link=news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=801860207%26newsedition_id=8018602%26locid=2
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