Redstate

By Kevin Holtsberry Posted in Culture — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

A lot of people like to complain about how the Ohio Republican Party is out of touch, in shambles, etc. (I don't think that is entirely fair, but that is an argument for another day.) Well, perhaps the leadership in Congress could learn a thing or two from the Republican leadership in the Ohio House.

Last night Speaker Husted managed to get the Democrats on record for their hypocrisy and blatant partisanship.

For the rest of the story, read on.

The Republican Party dominates statewide politics in Ohio. They control the General Assembly, the Governorship, all statewide offices, and have a majority on the Supreme Court. This has of course frustrated and incensed the Democrats as they stew in their minority status.

Soon the Democrats were blaming everything under the sun on "one party rule." They even ran their campaigns under this banner during one election cycle; all to no avail. When the Coingate scandal and other ethical issues in the Taft administration broke out, it was just another example of one party rule.

Seeking a way to break out of their losing cycle, the Democrats joined with many good government types to recommend redistricting reform to end Gerrymandering and bring some competition back to elections.

They attempted to pass this type of reform as part of a collection of ballot initiatives under the Reform Ohio banner. These measure, however, failed miserably.

Many felt that the redistricting portion of the ballot package was seriously flawed. The process was awkward and emphasized competitive districts to such a degree that it was really just a different type of gerrymandering. Many also felt that it was a shame this worthy issue was packaged with the other less popular reform initiatives.

There were those, however, who still viewed the issue as a legitimate public policy goal. Believing that this was still worth pursuing, Republicans - who had considered the issue in the past - promised to work on it in the legislature.

On the Democratic side, however, the mood had changed. Governor Taft's unpopularity, high gas prices, Ohio's seeming inability to reap the benefits of a strong economy, and a lingering cloud of scandal and mismanagement has given the them hope that they can actually win elections.

Suddenly, they aren't so sure they want to give up the redistricting weapon. It is one thing to constantly complain about the abuse of power when you are hopelessly mired in the minority, it is something else to give it up when you might gain power yourself.

All the talk of good government seems to have gone out the window once it looked liked Republicans were actually going to do something about redistricting. The leadership in the House put together a plan that had won the support of groups traditionally not big fans of the GOP:

Groups such as Ohio Citizen Action and the League of Women Voters of Ohio have given high marks to the Republican-crafted measure, though they wanted to fix some details. Top officials with Reform Ohio Now, a Democratic-leaning coalition that unsuccessfully pushed for redistricting reform last year, also favored it.

And last night the Democrats hypocrisy on the issue was revealed for all to see. The Joint Resolution outlining the reform was brought up for a vote. The measure failed to garner the necessary two-thirds majority. The bill was then brought up for reconsideration (by a Republican who had voted against the measure).

This is where it gets interesting. The Democrats hastily moved to adjourn but their motion failed. Instead, the resolution's sponsor, Representative Kevin DeWine (R-Fairborn), moved to amend. The amendment substituted the Democrats own redistricting proposal from earlier in the year. The resolution was co-sponsored by 39 Democrats. Rep. DeWine put the Democrats on the spot:

“It’s a very simple amendment. It’s one that’s a great starting place. If you are truly interested in creating and following on with good redistricting reform this is a reasonable starting point to continue debate in the Senate."

So what did the Democrats do when faced with an opportunity to pass the very reform that they had introduced? They voted no. That's right. Every single Democrat - with the lone exception of Dixie Allen of Dayton - voted no. This includes the sponsor of the resolution that was adopted as the amendment, Steve Driehaus (D-Cincinnati).

So now we know exactly where the Democrats stand. Given a chance to move the debate forward by voting for a plan they themselves proposed, they chose to vote no and look to win power for themselves. The champions of reform turned out to be partisan politicians just like everyone else.

Next time the Democrats begin to go on about one party rule, about how the GOP is just playing politics, and the like, we will remind them of the chance they had to prove they valued ideas over party and failed to take advantage.

Note to the National GOP: this is how you handle a majority. When you can't get something done that the public supports, you make sure the opposition is on record voting against it. It really isn't that complicated.