UPDATE: 05/15/2012 AT 1:22 PM
COMMENT
Kirk Schuring Quote
Your quote from Kirk Schuring is amazing. I believe he did nothing
to prevent the division of Stark County into three congressional
districts. I saw former Congressman Ralph Regula at Fisher Foods and he was disappointed in the division of the county into three parts.
ORIGINAL BLOG
For now, organized Ohio Republicans are basking in the knowledge that they have overwhelming domination over organized Democrats in statewide politics.
As a consequence of constitutionally required decentenial redistricting of Ohio's congressional districts and Republican need to ensure that the GOP dominate Congress, Stark County is being split up into three districts (the 7th, the 13th and the 16th) as of the November election.
Very few Stark Countians think this is a good thing. But state Rep. Christina Hagan (R - Marlboro) and Stark GOP chair and executive director Jeff Matthews of the Stark Board of Elections do.
After all, according to them, Stark Countians will have, as of January 1, 2013, three congresspersons representing the county.
The more the merrier?
Never mind that Stark County will likely be largely ignored because it is not - as a whole - a dominate factor in any of the three districts as it was in the old 16th congressional district.
Stark County was carved up by Republicans to enhance their chances of winning in Ohio's 16 congressional districts. They were able advantage themselves because they dominate the Ohio Apportionment Board which is composed of:
- Governor John Kasich (R)
- Auditor David Yost (R)
- Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)
- Senator Tom Neihaus (R) (president of the Ohio Senate)
- Representative Armond Budish (D) (minority leader in the House)
Most Ohioans do not think either political party is looking out for everydays.
Because the Statehouse Republicans were especially accomplished at being arrogant politicians and pretty much ensure in their redistricting scheme that the GOP will win 12 of 16 Ohio congressional seats, a group organizations headlined by the highly respected League of Women Voters said "enough is enough."
As a consequence of an analysis of the Republican redistricting plan (LINK: Ohio Redistricting Transparency Report [ORTR]), the League along with about 25 other organizations launched a petition drive to place on the November ballot a constitutional amendment that would rid Ohio of the "political spoils system" apportionment board setup to be replaced by a 12 member commission (LINK: Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission) composed of four Republicans, four Democrats and four political independents.
None of the commissioners can be actively involved in official party politics or have a immediate family member involved.
Some of the things (according the ORTR) that the Republicans did in their redistricting activities include:
The SCPR encourages Stark Countians to link up with the League of Women Voters and its cohorts and join in the effort to get the necessary 385,000 valid signatures needed to get the measure on November's ballot.
A source tells The Report that the petition drive which began on April 9th is picking up a head of steam that will be much like the drive that put SB 5 (the anti-collective-bargaining bill) on the statewide ballot as State Issue #2 which was soundly defeated by the voters.
Volunteers are combing through Stark County seeking out qualified voters for their signatures. Yours truly has signed one of those petitions.
Voters First Ohio is the activist organization which is managing the constitutional amendment effort statewide.
Ann E. Henkener is the lead person on the effort.
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