Ohio Republicans Admit Under Oath They Didn’t Do Their Jobs before Turning Around and Voting for Unconstitutional Maps
October 25, 2021
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, GOP politicians in Ohio continue to ignore their day jobs and play politics with the future of Ohio. On Monday, Cleveland.com published new court documents showing Mike DeWine, Frank LaRose and Keith Faber all admitted in a sworn deposition they had no role in drawing new statehouse maps, something they’re all constitutionally charged with doing. And even though they only saw the maps at the 11th hour — ‘as a courtesy’ — and even admitted the maps were probably unconstitutional, they all still voted for them anyway because they’re more concerned with their own political futures than the future of our state.
Ohio voters called for fair districts in order to move our state forward on issues ranging from education to the economy to health care. However, these Republican politicians couldn’t even be bothered to do their jobs and get involved in the process that will determine the future of our state for years to come, because politics will always win the day for these guys.
“The trove of documents paint the picture that while the process established by a 2015 constitutional amendment to reform the state’s redistricting process was supposed to include all seven members of the bipartisan commission, only two participated,” writes Cleveland.com.
“These guys had literally one job, and they couldn’t even be bothered to do it. Yet they all still voted for gerrymandered maps, because their political ambition will always come first, and they’re too scared of standing up to their own party to do what’s right for Ohioans,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
You can read more from Cleveland.com here and below:
- Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Auditor Keith Faber, the three statewide Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission – each acknowledged in sworn statements released Friday that they “had no involvement” in drafting or creating of Ohio’s new legislative maps.
- The trove of documents paint the picture that while the process established by a 2015 constitutional amendment to reform the state’s redistricting process was supposed to include all seven members of the bipartisan commission, only two participated.
- Huffman and Cupp, both Lima Republicans, repeatedly evaded and objected to questions from the plaintiffs’ lawyers about how they worked behind the scenes to create and pass the new Ohio House and Senate maps. Multiple commission members said the new maps were created by Republican legislative staffers.
- DeWine, Faber and LaRose, responding to a question from the Ohio Organizing Collaborative’s attorneys, used identical language in some cases, such as when they asserted they were “not involved in the process of drawing the Commission’s proposed or adopted maps.”
- DeWine’s reply stated that the governor was only shown the proposed redistricting plan “as a courtesy” after it was completed but before it was made public.
- Vernon Sykes, according to the filings, “was entirely excluded from the map-drawing process.” He accused Republican members of the Commission of failing to act in good faith with him and Emilia Sykes in the map-drawing process.
- The Ohio Constitution says that legislative districts must politically “correspond closely” to statewide election results over the last 10 years. But while Ohio Republican statewide candidates have won about 54% of the vote during the past decade, the new legislative maps would likely give Republicans two-thirds of legislative seats.
- The documents also reveal that Huffman and Cupp hired two political science professors – Michael Barber of Brigham Young University and M.V. Hood III of the University of Georgia – at $400 per hour to write reports defending the new legislative district lines.