Cleveland Plain Dealer...
Secretary of State Jon Husted rejects redistricting petitions, but Democratic group forges ahead with lawsuit
By Reginald Fields 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Wednesday blocked efforts by a Democratic group trying to challenge the newly drawn congressional districts approved by Republicans last month. 

Husted’s decision to reject petitions for a referendum, which were submitted by Ohioans for Fair Districts, was expected and now sets in motion a legal battle the Ohio Supreme Court is taking up this month. 

At issue is whether Ohio voters will get a chance to vote on the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s plan to reconfigure the state from 18 to 16 congressional districts, a necessary change due to slow population growth. 

Republicans, already smarting from a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot challenging the state’s new collective bargaining law, sought to make their work on the congressional map referendum-proof by including an appropriation in the bill, House Bill 319. 

Republicans added $2.75 million to the bill to help local boards of election to make changes to accommodate the new district boundaries. 

The Ohio Constitution says appropriations are not subject to referendum. Husted followed that rule on Wednesday in rejecting Ohioans for Fair Districts’ summary petitions, which are a required first step toward a referendum.

Previous Plain Dealer coverage 

    Ohio Dems seek high court ruling on Republican redistricting funding rider (Oct. 5, 2011)

    Ohio Republicans approve state legislative districts for the next decade (Sept. 28)

    GOP-drawn legislative map makes Republicans a virtual lock to hold Ohio’s legislature (Sept. 26)

    Ohio’s new congressional map: Find your district (Sept. 15)

    Ohio Democrats weigh congressional and constitutional options for changing new congressional map (Sept. 15) 

“House Bill 319, as passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by the governor, contained an appropriation and took effect immediately,” Husted, a Republican, said in a statement. “It is therefore not subject to referendum.” 

But Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern, who chairs Ohioans for Fair Districts, said the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in an earlier case that bills containing appropriations can be subjected to a referendum when a substantive policy issue is at hand. 

In 2009, an all-Republican Supreme Court allowed a referendum challenge to former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan to allow video lottery terminals, slot-machine style gambling, at the state’s seven horse racing tracks. 

“I suspect if the Supreme Court holds very close” to its collective thinking, “they will rule in our favor on this particular case,” said Redfern. “The VLT issue came out of the legislature as part of the midyear budget and contained an appropriation and they allowed it to go to referendum.” 

Ohioans for Fair Districts sued on Sept. 28, two days after Republican Gov. John Kasich signed HB 319. Husted’s ruling on Wednesday rejecting the petitions now gives the case official standing with the Supreme Court. 

“The right of referendum provides an important check on the actions taken by the government; therefore, no governor or legislature has the power to nullify the right by including an appropriation in legislation or by inserting a section making a bare assertion that such legislation is exempt from referendum,” the lawsuit states. “This, however, is precisely what has been attempted in the present case.” 

The court required both sides to file briefs on Wednesday and then respond to each other’s briefs by Thursday. 

If the court rules against the group, Redfern said he next will file a federal case against Husted and Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, who is Husted’s attorney in this matter. 

Redfern said there is also movement toward bringing a constitutional amendment that voters could decide as early as November 2012. If such an amendment were approved, the congressional lines would have to be immediately redrawn instead of waiting until the next scheduled, once-a-decade redrawing of districts in 2021. 

The new district redraws Cuyahoga County’s 11th District, a seat now held by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, to dip down into Summit County and Akron to maintain the district as a majority-minority district. 

The new map, which Republicans defend as constitutional, also places Cleveland’s Dennis Kucinich and Toledo’s Marcy Kaptur in the same district, meaning the two longtime Democratic members of Congress will have to face each other in a primary. 

In addition to Redfern, Ohioans for Fair Districts includes state Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland, and state representatives Kathleen Clyde of Kent and Matthew Lundy of Elyria. Former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin also is a member of the group. 

Read this and other articles at the Cleveland Plain Dealer