View full sizeThe Ohio Statehouse.COLUMBUS, Ohio - This much was clear Thursday about Ohio's congressional redistricting process: House Republicans pushed through their new map, sending the freshly drawn 16 districts to majority-party Senate Republicans for consideration.
Little else was clear, including whether Ohio Democrats would act on a threat to try to block the redistricting plan at the ballot box or the courtroom. Also complicating the process is a separate bill approved Thursday pushing back the 2012 primary from March to May.
Another question is how united Democrats are in opposition to the new map, given that a trio of black Cleveland Democrats -- Reps. Sandra Williams, William Patmon and John Barnes -- joined GOP forces in voting for the measure. It passed by a vote of 56 to 36, as three Republicans hopped the fence to join Democrats in opposition.
The plan eliminates one Republican seat and one Democratic seat, creating a likely future delegation of 12 Republicans and four Democrats for the next decade. Ohio needs to drop two seats, from 18 to 16, because of slow population growth.
Williams, who heads the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, said she was pleased with the majority black district drawn in Cuyahoga and Summit counties where Congresswoman Marcia Fudge would likely run as an incumbent.
"I voted for the plan because of the 11th Congressional District seat," she said. "I believe that minority representation in the Ohio delegation is very difficult absent the 11th District."
However, Williams said her vote doesn't mean she would oppose a possible rebellion against the new map led by state Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. "It might not be a bad idea to do a referendum," said Williams.
She called the other districts "horrible," although she said she liked that a majority Democrat district drawn in Franklin County has a 29 percent black voting age population, giving black candidates an opportunity to hold the seat. In a floor speech, Barnes also said his "yes" vote was largely because of the makeup of Fudge's potential district.
House Speaker William G. BatchelderAt a news conference Thursday morning, Redfern told reporters that Democrats hadn't yet decided on a course of action.
"I am here today to tell you that we are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to fight this unfair, anti-voter congressional map," Redfern said. " We are weighing our options for a legal challenge and a referendum campaign."
In an interview after the House approved the bill with support from the three Cleveland Democrats, Redfern said "nothing has changed" and that a referendum or a court challenge, based on Democrats being "packed" into four districts, were still options.
Also approved Thursday, in a 63-29 vote, was a bill moving next year's primary from March to May. However, the legislation can't go into effect immediately because an emergency clause failed to attract the seven House Democratic votes needed for the two-thirds threshold.
That means it won't be in effect on Dec. 7, the filing deadline for the March primary. That throws into disarray exactly when candidates would have to file and what district map they would use. However, Republicans sought to prevent problems by adding an amendment requiring boards of election to honor petitions filed for either the current or new districts.
"It's a mess," House Speaker William G. Batchelder told reporters after the floor session. "The truth is we might end up with a federal primary and a state primary."
Batchelder, a former judge, said the threatened referendum could end up with a federal court drawing the congressional map, or deciding what to do while the map was put on ice for voters to decide.
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- New congressional map passes House committee, but Democrats consider taking plan to ballot (
- Rep. Bob Gibbs, no fan of Washington, sees his district move into Northeast Ohio (
- Dennis Kucinich sees new district as positive, 'amazing turn of events' (
- New congressional district map makes its debut (
- Legislation unveiled to create Ohio's new congressional districts (
- Betty Sutton and Kucinich to be squeezed out in new congressional map (
There was a possible escape hatch from legal chaos still available to Republicans. Batchelder said lawmakers could attach a small appropriation to the congressional map bill as an attempt around a possible referendum.
Under the Ohio Constitution, legislation with appropriations included isn't subject to voter referendum. However, a recent Ohio Supreme Court decision that a video-lottery terminal bill could be subject to a vote of the people casts doubt on whether that tactic would work.
"I don't know what the best way (out) is to tell you then truth," Batchelder said. "I would rather that we all produced maps and participate."
House Republicans repeatedly criticized Democrats during Thursday's debate over the mapping bill for failing to produce their own map, suggesting they were using delay tactics hoping to get the GOP plan tied up in court.
"The goal isn't public participation," said Rep. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican who sponsored the legislation. "The goal is we don't want the guys and gals across the aisle to draw the map -- we want three people in Cincinnati to draw the lines," he said, referring to the federal judges on the Sixth Circuit Court.
Democrats stuck to the message they have had since the map was rolled out Tuesday: slow down the process and consider changes to a map they consider overly partisan and textbook gerrymandering. Minority Leader Armond Budish, a Beachwood Democrat, said Republicans were "raising the specter of the judicial bogeyman as a scare tactic."
Democratic chief Redfern said that Senate Democrats will offer an alternative plan crafted by Illinois Republican state Rep. Mike Fortner, which was the winning entry in a public contest sponsored by a nonprofit coalition called the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting.
Senate Democratic caucus spokesman Mike Rowe would say only that an alternative plan was being considered.