Uncategorized

Columbus, OH — Today, Cleveland.com broke a report that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat Fischer made comments comparing abortion to slavery earlier this month at the Delaware City Republican Club. Fischer’s remarks come after J.D. Vance also compared abortion to slavery following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe in what’s become a disgusting pattern for Republicans.

“Critics are blasting Ohio Supreme Court Justice Patrick Fischer, a Republican seeking reelection, for comparing abortion to slavery and segregation in recent remarks before a group of Republicans outside Columbus. Fischer spoke at the Delaware City Republican Club on July 14 in which he compared Roe v. Wade to a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that upheld slavery and segregation,” writes Laura Hancock for Cleveland.com.

Fischer also made comments about Roe and offered his thoughts on the case, raising ethical questions since Fischer would likely hear abortion cases if he would be reelected to the bench.

“Justice Fischer’s comments were nothing short of disgusting, and he – like J.D. Vance – should apologize immediately. With his remarks, Justice Fischer demonstrated just how extreme and out-of-touch the Court will become if the Republicans running are reelected. Ohioans are once again reminded that the stakes of November’s elections couldn’t be higher,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more here and below:

• Critics are blasting Ohio Supreme Court Justice Patrick Fischer, a Republican seeking reelection, for comparing abortion to slavery and segregation in recent remarks before a group of Republicans outside Columbus.
• Fischer spoke at the Delaware City Republican Club on July 14 in which he compared Roe v. Wade to a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that upheld slavery and segregation.
• “Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what substantive due process is? It would take me hours to go into it,” he said. “But you know what it’s the basis for? The Dred Scott decision. Not good. It’s the basis for Plessy v. Ferguson. Not good. And it was the basis for Roe v. Wade.”
• In Ohio, J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, told the Catholic Current that abortion and slavery were comparable, “and that while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society.”
• By the end of the year, the Ohio General Assembly and Gov. Mike DeWine are expected to push forward a bill generally outlawing abortion in most cases in the state. Fischer’s remarks were in response to an audience member at the Delaware City Republican Club, who asked if abortion rights will be determined by the Ohio Supreme Court next year.
• Fischer noted that the state’s judicial conduct rules prevent him from talking directly about cases. The Ohio Supreme Court has an abortion case before it, with abortion rights groups asking the court to overturn the so-called fetal “heartbeat” bill.
• However, Fischer did share some thoughts, explaining that when he was dating his wife 38 years ago, he felt the same way: that the legal argument behind Roe v. Wade, known as substantive due process, was weak.
• “But I told her that if you ever got enough people with guts, that would theoretically — on a theory, on a legal theoretical basis — easily (be) overturned,” said Fischer, who graduated from Harvard Law School with honors.
• “I think it’s troubling that there’s this comparison to a fetus,” she said. “People who were enslaved were actual living, breathing individuals, fully developed and able to make decisions for themselves and were denied the rights to have personal autonomy and self-determination… It infantilizes Black people in an inappropriate and disrespectful way.”
• The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct cautions judges about making pledges, promises and commitments, since there’s “the overarching judicial obligation to apply and uphold the law without regard to his or her personal views.”

###

Columbus, OH — This week, at the Ohio State Fair, Mike DeWine made a bold prediction: “We’re not going to have any kind of change in contraception law. We’re not going to have any kind of change in regard to marriage, for heaven’s sake. It’s not going to happen.”

Anyone who has been paying attention to DeWine’s term as governor, however, knows that he’s not the guy running the show, extremists in the legislature are. So it’s very likely that DeWine sees a bill on his desk that would ban contraceptives or ban same-sex marriage. In fact, Republican Gary Click has already introduced legislation that would likely ban certain kinds of birth control.

And the question that Mike DeWine needs to answer right now is: will he veto any bill that bans contraception or same-sex marriage? 

“Mike DeWine’s legislative record has more caves than an Ohio State Park. So, it’s time for DeWine to make it clear to Ohioans right now: will he veto any bill that bans contraceptives or same-sex marriage? Any answer short of a promise to veto those bills is a signal to Ohioans that DeWine he’s willing to sign away their rights if he’s reelected in November,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

###

Vance: “And My Point Is, Domestic Violence Is Way Worse Outside Of Marriages Than It Is Within Marriage.”

Columbus, OH – In an interview on WTVN this morning, J.D. Vance doubled down and said that he “completely stands by” his comments that spouses in violent marriages should not get divorced. 

On the Brandon Boxer Show, Vance said (at 10:11), “And I think it’s disgusting for him to use this smear against me that the point I made is a very simple point, and I completely stand by it. Divorce, I think that our society’s approach to divorce has not been good for kids…That the whole point was the progressives say that we have the divorce because of domestic violence. And my point is, domestic violence is way worse outside of marriages than it is within marriage.” 

Vance is still facing the fallout this week for suggesting that spouses in violent marriages should stay in those marriages for the sake of the children. Vance also claimed that divorce makes it easier for people to “shift spouses like they change their underwear.” When VICE News asked Vance to clarify if “he thinks people in violent marriages should generally stay together or get divorced,” the campaign refused to do so and said that they felt Vance already answered the question. 

This comes after J.D. Vance cheered on the largest rollback of women’s rights in half a century, called rape “inconvenient,” and compared abortion to slavery. Vance is making it clear to Ohio women that he is dangerous and does not care about their well-being.  

“J.D. Vance is doubling down on his disgusting comments that women should put themselves in danger to stay in violent marriages. J.D. Vance is a disgrace, a danger to women everywhere, and has disqualified himself,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

###

DeWine, Vance, And Yost Have All Tried To Cover Up Their Position Of Forcing Rape Survivors To Give Birth

Columbus, OH – A trend has emerged among the Ohio GOP since Roe v. Wade was overturned: Mike DeWine, J.D. Vance and Dave Yost have all settled on a strategy of pretending not to know the consequences of the draconian abortion laws they have pushed. And the Ohio GOP is hoping Ohioans don’t notice so they can avoid accountability for the harm they have caused.

After casting doubt on the story of a 10-year-old survivor of sexual assault who had to travel to Indiana to get the health care she needed, Dave Yost lied and claimed that she could have received an abortion in Ohio under the abortion ban that he rushed to implement in the hours after Roe v. Wade was overturned – which multiple experts pointed out was false. But instead of owning the cruel consequences of his actions, Dave Yost has lied and pretended not to understand the law he rushed to put in place.

Mike DeWine promised anti-choice activists he would “go as far as we can” to rip away the freedom to choose and signed an executive order hours after Roe was overturned to implement an abortion ban that had zero exceptions for rape and incest. Now DeWine is ducking, scrubbing his campaign website of all anti-abortion language and refusing to answer as the state’s chief executive what he wants the future of abortion law to look like in Ohio.

J.D. Vance called overturning Roe v. Wade an “amazing victory” and called for a national abortion ban. Vance supports banning abortion even in cases of rape and incest and compared abortion to slavery. But after facing backlash for his extreme position, J.D. Vance tried to explain to NBC News that he doesn’t support a national abortion ban “right now” – trying to hide his extreme, dangerous and deeply unpopular agenda from Ohioans.

“Ohio Republicans like Dave Yost, Mike DeWine, and J.D. Vance own the consequences of their extreme anti-abortion agenda that forces survivors of rape and incest to give birth,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

###

Columbus, OH — With Ohio’s second primary election taking place in just a few days, there are massive concerns and chaos surrounding the unprecedented second primary. Counties are scrambling to get the required number of poll workers, many Ohioans still don’t know about the second primary or understand why it’s taking place and why all of this is costing Ohioans tens of millions of dollars.

It’s all because Frank LaRose voted for GOP-gerrymandered maps time and time again, ignored  pleas from elections officials to avoid two primaries and failed to provide the necessary guidance to Ohioans about the second primary election.

In the meantime, LaRose has been taking trips overseas and out-of-state rather than working here in Ohio to make sure our elections officials have the workers, resources and guidance they need and increasing awareness and turnout ahead of the unprecedented second primary election.

“Instead of Frank LaRose doing all he can to support county election officials in the final days leading up to this costly second primary, he’s nowhere to be found. He created this election chaos and confusion and left working Ohioans to fend for themselves. Ohioans deserve better,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Read more below:

Knox Pages: Aug. 2 special election causes confusion for Knox County voters

Cheryl Splain

July 28, 2022

• If Knox County residents are confused about the Aug. 2 special election, it’s with good reason.
• A federal court ordered Ohio to hold a special election because the Ohio Redistricting Commission could not come up with a map the Ohio Supreme Court considered constitutional.
• As a result of the redistricting process, Knox County is split into two districts for the Ohio House. 
• There are no maps that show exactly where the dividing line is.
• “No one is happy about the split districts,” said Kathleen Tate, chair of the Knox County Democratic Party. “First, the way the maps were drawn without following the guidelines set down in the Ohio Constitution, and secondly, the way the Ohio Supreme Court decisions were totally ignored, have not endeared the state senate and governor to many Knox County voters.”
• “People are confused because of the number of maps that were presented, the length of time it took to get a final map, and the back-and-forth between the legislature and the courts,” Thom Collier, chair of the Knox County Republican Party, said. “Adding a special primary for a limited number of races has added to voter confusion and disconnect.
• “The voting process is being hindered because people don’t know there is an election,” Tate said. “Some even consider this to be an illegal election. Fewer poll workers are willing to put in the time to support the election.”
• “Constituents want to be engaged, but it is difficult to educate them with the constant changes and inconsistencies,” Collier said. “Most people I talk to think it is ridiculous, unnecessary, and confusing. We do what we can to educate voters, but mass communication is expensive. We have made several attempts, but no one source reaches all of the people without spending large amounts of money we don’t have locally.”

91.7 WVXU: Analysis: A primary election in August? Thank the Ohio GOP

Howard Wilkinson

July 27, 2022

• Last week in this space we took a stab at explaining the pretzel logic and Republican scamming of the system which has led us to an embarrassing and illogical position: In November, we will hold an election for Ohio’s 15 congressional districts using a map that has already been ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.
• Next week, Ohio is about to do it again. In a primary election where a turnout of 10% will be considered remarkable.
• Because the Republicans who control the redistricting process in Ohio wanted to do an end run around that pesky Ohio Supreme Court, which kept insisting they follow the law.
• They found a group of Ohio GOP voters — headed by Mike Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life — to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court here asking the court to essentially take over the state legislative redistricting process.
• They ended up with a friendly three-judge panel to hear their case — two of the judges were Trump appointees.
• That panel, of course, sided with the plaintiffs, Gonidakis et al, and set an election date of Aug. 2, which Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (a member of the redistricting commission) argued was the latest date on which a primary could be held without bumping up against the official election calendar of the November election.

The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County says it doesn’t need 829 poll workers state says it’s short for Aug. 2 primary

Nathaniel Shuda

July 27, 2022

• Franklin County is 829 poll workers short of the staffing needed for Tuesday’s primary election, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s poll worker tracker.
• As far as why there aren’t that many poll workers for the state’s second or split primary on Aug. 2, Sellers attributed the shortage to the time of year. While the state’s elections calendar allows for August contests, it’s usually reserved for special elections, with primaries happening in May.
• On July 14, the county Board of Elections released 12 pages of polling location changes, saying standard polling places were unavailable “because of pre-planned events and other activities” due to the timing of the Aug. 2 primary.
• The districts are based on a set of maps the Ohio Supreme Court twice rejected as unconstitutional, saying they unfairly favored Republicans.
• A back-and-forth battle over redistricting prevented state House and Senate races from appearing on the May ballot. Instead, two federal judges ordered the state to use the unconstitutional maps and set an Aug. 2 primary.
• “We were hoping that the redistricting process would be done and we could have the primary in May,” Sellers said.

###