Last November, voters rejected an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment after Republicans lied about its purpose and added confusing language to the ballot initiative.
The initiative’s purpose was clear — vote yes and gerrymandering would end in the state.
But the GOP, with its Ohio Supreme Court lemmings in tow, changed the language to “create an appointed redistricting commission not elected by or subject to removal by the voters of the state.”
Who would want a bunch of unelected and unaccountable people in charge of making elections fair? Who would like that? Of course, Ohioans voted no and killed the effort based on the willful and duplicitous change.
Republicans celebrated Issue 1’s defeat as a victory for democracy and insisted they were doing what was in the best interest of the state.
Well, not really, Alex Triantafilou said.
Triantafilou, chair of the Ohio Republican Party, said the GOP set out to confuse voters about the initiative’s intent.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘We’re confused! We’re confused by Issue 1.’ Did you all hear that? Confusion means we don’t know, so we did our job,” Triantafilou said in remarks before the Sandusky County Republican Party And reported by the Freemont Messenger. “Confusing Ohioans was not such a bad strategy.”
The admission is one part refreshing and one part stunning.
It’s refreshing because Triantafilou showcased the lengths political parties will go through to keep power and did so without pretense. His remarks go right up there with former Senate President and current House Speaker Matt Huffman who once bragged about his illegally gerrymandered super majority. “We can kind of do what we want,” he mused.
But it’s stunning because gerrymandering isn’t a partisan tug-of-war. Two-thirds of Republican voters somewhat or strongly oppose gerrymandering, according to a Baldwin Wallace poll. That’s about the same as Democrats. Clearly, the state is firmly against rigging the political system for one party.
But Triantafilou proudly called those GOP voters gullible dolts susceptible to shenanigans. The party that’s supposed to look out for conservatives instead used them to meet the needs of powerbrokers.
What comes next? What other lies are politicians cooking up? What other deception is in our future?
The deception strategy has also robbed Ohioans of their right to fair and open elections that will produce the best candidates. The GOP has a veto-proof majority in the statehouse and, echoing Huffman can do what it wants — including duping its supporters.
Most importantly, the confusion strategy chips away at democratic principles already fraying under the weight of dishonesty.
But wait, there’s more! State lawmakers have made it easier to lie. Last November, they snuck in a provision in a nondescript bill about technology that gives the Attorney General the power to reject ballot initiatives based on title.
You know what that means. If the GOP doesn’t like ballot language, the sitting AG (more likely than a Republican) can reject it just because. Yes, they’ll have some made-up reasoning, but voters will know the score.
We should commend Triantafilou (I’m being serious) for saying the ugly part out loud.
Politicians don’t care about voters, not even their supporters, as long as they get what they want.
Remember that the next time your party says it’s acting in your best interest. The confusion strategy shows otherwise.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.