Ask any Ohioan, especially in Northeastern or Appalachian counties, if she or he is better off because of how the incumbent legislature divides voters over so-called social issues. Meanwhile, though it’s been noted before, it demands repeating till someone at the Statehouse grabs the ball and runs with it:
- In 1969 – when Richard Nixon was in the White House, and the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar,” was that year’s No. 1 national hit song – Ohio’s per capita personal income was 100.68% of the national average. In 2023, Ohio’s per capita personal income was 88.14% of the national average.
- As the Columbus Dispatch recently reported, “a dire report issued by the Ohio Department of Development in 2023 projects that the state’s population will fall by about 675,000 people, a drop of 5.7%, by 2050, if current trends hold [while] the U.S. population is expected to grow 17.3% during that period.”
- Last month, roughly 3.05 million Ohioans (26% of the state’s residents) were enrolled in the federal-state Medicaid health-care program. (The monthly income limit for an Ohio Medicaid client age 19 to 64 is $1,670.) Next time you attend your child’s or grandchild’s athletic event, look around and imagine that every fourth person in the stands is a Medicaid client. That’s the scope of Ohio Medicaid.
So how does our rigged-district General Assembly respond to these stark facts? Bash transgender Ohioans. Or limit women’s health options. Stoking such “issues,” a General Assembly candidate can win a GOP primary election, because rigged districts can make party primaries decisive in electing legislators.
That’s why Issue One takes district-drawing (for the General Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives) out of the hands of political ward heelers.
Issue One would empower a 15-member Citizens Redistricting Commission, composed of Democrats, Republicans and independents, to draw fair districts. And Issue One would forbid current or former officeholders and lobbyists to be commission members.
No wonder a band of Republicans ... economical ... with the truth – drum major: lame duck Secretary of State Frank LaRose, of Upper Arlington – do all they can to lie about Issue One. Just as bad, a shameless Ohio Supreme Court GOP majority refused to rein in lying ballot language concocted by a board LaRose chairs.
Supreme Court Republicans’ refusal to overturn Ballot Board lies could be a foretaste of things to come: If Ohioans do OK Issue One, it’s slam-dunk certain Issue One’s enemies will do everything they can to tie it up with lawsuits.
That’s why this year’s Supreme Court elections are vital to preserving democracy in Ohio. Seeking re-election are Democratic Justices Michael P. Donnelly and Melody J. Stewart, both Greater Clevelanders. Their respective GOP challengers are Judge Megan Shanahan, of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court and Justice Joseph T. Deters, of Cincinnati, once Hamilton County’s prosecuting attorney.
Seeking an open Supreme Court seat is Democratic Judge Lisa Forbes, of the Cleveland-based Ohio Court of Appeals (8th District). Her GOP opponent is Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins.
If voters OK Issue One, keep Justices Donnelly and Stewart on the Supreme Court, and add Judge Forbes, that could assure Issue One a fair shake if the Statehouse gang sues to block it: After all, fairness is what Issue One is all about.
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. You can reach him at tsuddes@gmail.com.
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