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“The Slaps Just Keep Getting Harder:” Dispatch Editorial Eviscerates GOP Redistricting Commission Members for Failing Ohioans Over and Over Again

February 22, 2022

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board held little back Tuesday, eviscerating Republican Redistricting Commission members for their complete failure to do their jobs, listen to Ohio voters and draw fair maps. By putting politics above anything else, the Republicans on the Commission have “slapped voters in the face,” according to the Dispatch editorial. The editorial goes on to underscore exactly why Republicans are doing this: political self-interest:

“DeWine, LaRose, Faber, Huffman and Cupp know Republicans would maintain the upper hand in Ohio if there was a fair map. They do not want fairness. They want to dominate. The total number of votes cast in the 16 statewide partisan contests in the past 10 years races favored Republicans 54% to Democrats 46%. The maps should reflect that. Despite ridiculous public explanation of why they have failed to execute your will, the fact is that Republican commission members have not created fair maps because, like selfish children with a bag of candy, they do not wanna share,” writes the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board.

Read more from the Columbus Dispatch editorial here and below:

  • The Republican members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission have demonstrated that they just think reason is a joke and it is OK to laugh in the faces of the 71% of voters who said they want district maps to be drawn fairly in the name of just elections. 
  • Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Auditor Keith Faber, Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp slapped voters in the face when they voted in favor of two sets of maps for Ohio’s 99 state House seats and 33 Senate districts.
  • The slaps just keep getting harder. It is sheer embarrassment that their juvenile behavior forced lawsuits that led to Ohio Supreme Court decisions striking down both sets of maps because those maps overwhelmingly favor GOP candidates. Any reasonable person can see that the ‘hilariously’ disrespectful maps put forward by the commission’s Republicans violates the constitution the five vowed to uphold. 
  • “When the dealer stacks the deck in advance, the house usually wins,” wrote Justice Michael Donnelly in the court’s opinion on the state’s congressional district map. Put another way, DeWine, LaRose, Faber, Huffman and Cupp are perverting district maps to make sure members of their party can’t lose statehouse and congressional elections in most of Ohio.
  • The Ohio Supreme Court wants the commission to explain in writing by noon Wednesday why it shouldn’t be held in contempt for not drawing fair maps. If the explanation falls short of “here you go, fair maps,”  the commission should be punished for not only being disobedient and disrespectful to the court but for being disobedient and disrespectful to the people of this great state. 
  • It may be unlikely, but ruling the commission in contempt if that happens would be just and right.
  • By rigging the election map to maintain all but full power to decide who represents you, they are laughing in your face. You deserve far better than this. That should anger Republicans, Democrats, and everyone in between.
  • DeWine, LaRose, Faber, Huffman and Cupp could do the right thing, but are instead refusing to act on the  reasons you’ve put forth. They think they are above your reason. The five know full well that the GOP’s maps slice and dice the state to make even voting districts in Ohio’s largest cities safe for Republican candidates. 
  • “DeWine, LaRose, Faber, Huffman and Cupp know Republicans would maintain the upper hand in Ohio if there was a fair map. They do not want fairness. They want to dominate. The total number of votes cast in the 16 statewide partisan contests in the past 10 years races favored Republicans 54% to Democrats 46%.  The maps should reflect that. Despite ridiculous public explanation of why they have failed to execute your will, the fact is that Republican commission members have not created fair maps because, like selfish children with a bag of candy, they do not wanna share,
  • Putting forward a fair and just map might be complicated, but it is not hard. Citizens have offered multiple maps the commission could have and still can use to arrive at equity.
  • It is reasonable that Republican lawmakers on the commission would want to keep all the power they can — their veto-proof majority has helped them do things like overturn DeWine’s health orders — but you should be the ones who decide who represents your will the best, be that person a Democrat or a Republican.
  • This is not about what they want to do.  This is about you and your family — this state’s future.
  • Ohio’s judicial branch should not have been put in the position of correcting members of our legislative and executive branches as if they were bad little children. But that’s how they are behaving. 

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