Trending
It is a mix of old and new faces as the Ohio Redistricting Commission announces it is ready to get back to work Sept. 13.
This time around, Republican state Rep. Jeff LaRe and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio will serve as co-chairs, while Republican Senate Majority Whip Rob McColley and Democratic House Minority Leader Allison Russo fill two other spots. But Republicans Gov. Mike DeWine, state Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Auditor of State Keith Faber remain on the commission, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal.
This is, of course, despite DeWine having declared the state's redistricting process does not work very well, and that politicians should not be drawing the maps. But while there may not have been time to change the requirements for the redistricting process, there is time for those on the commission to decide they are going to abide by multiple rulings of the Ohio Supreme Court and fulfill their responsibility to Ohioans.
As the Capital Journal points out, this version of the Ohio Supreme Court is different, too. Former Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor is gone. Sharon Kennedy has taken her place. Kennedy led the dissent in the cases where the majority of the court rejected the maps adopted by the commission. Justices R. Patrick DeWine and Patrick F. Fisher -- also dissenters -- remain as well.
Kennedy said all along she would have passed districts as they were presented. That is despite knowing a three-judge federal panel agreed to allow the unconstitutional maps to be implemented only because LaRose insisted there was not enough time to pull off the 2022 elections without them.
Kennedy, the rest of the court and the Redistricting Commission must bear in mind that same panel also said, "We must presume state actors will work together to reach homegrown solutions … And if they fail, then it is up to the voters to punish them if they so choose."
Recall that at the start of the first redistricting process, the commission gathered for a meeting in which it did absolutely nothing
Sept. 13 must be the start of genuine effort to draw fair and constitutional congressional and statehouse district maps for Ohioans. If it is not, Ohioans must remember the urging of the panel and vote in representatives who understand they work for us.