Zanesville Times Recorder...
Ohio has a congressional redistricting travesty
Written by Bob Brems Sr.
Sep 25, 2011 

The Republican-dominated redistricting committee for the state of Ohio has spit in the face of Ohio voters with their new, heavily partisan, grossly gerrymandered Ohio Congressional District map that already has passed the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. This gross misuse of political power is the reason most people have tuned out of the political process because it reeks of political self-interest, not the public’s interest. This is not what the people want from their government. 

The results of this redistricting expose the charade that was played before the people of having hearings around the state to get the public’s input to the redistricting process. Graphical online mapping tools were made available to the public by the Secretary of State’s office to supposedly give the public a chance to draw their own maps and submit them for consideration. This was all a sham. The public certainly did not recommend anything like this monstrosity that will dominate Ohio politics for the next 10 years. 

I, a registered lifelong Republican, took part in the redistricting sham. As you might remember, I published my suggestion for redistricting in this paper in May. I sent that along to Gov. John Kasich and Secretary of State Jon Husted without even getting the courtesy of a reply from either office. I was one of two people who provided testimony at the Redistricting Committee’s public meeting July 20 in Zanesville, where I again presented my suggestion for redistricting. While I was treated respectfully, listened to and questioned, I got the distinct impression that they merely were going through the motions. Finally, on Sept. 7, at a meeting with Husted in the offices of the Zanesville Times Recorder, I presented my plan again. After looking at it, he remarked that he had looked at my map the previous week and had found it politically fair. Whether he was blowing smoke or not, only he knows. However, since the new map came out a few days later, he had to know that what was being proposed for adoption was a far cry from what I had submitted. 

Now I am not so naïve as to think that a map prepared by an apolitical member of the public had any chance of being adopted or even given serious consideration. In fact, I embarked on this endeavor as a lark. However, I am extremely disappointed and angered at the result, so much so that I have decided to close my checkbook to all Republican candidates and political organizations in the 2011 and 2012 election cycles. I also have chosen to drop my support for Senate Bill 5. I urge other disenchanted Republicans in Ohio to show their displeasure likewise 

If all politics is local, perhaps the Republican state office holders in Ohio will learn that spitting in the face of the electorate is not appreciated. 

Robert Brems Sr. is a citizen member of the Coshocton Tribune Editorial Board. His suggested redistricting map was published earlier in the Times Recorder. 

Read this along with the map at the Zanesville Times Recorder