Politics
The race to break the glass ceiling in Ohio by electing a woman as governor or as U.S. senator this year has been superseded by the aggressive actions by the highest ranking female elected official in Ohio, the one and only Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor.
Republican O'Connor must have gotten a hold of a piece of a glass ceiling in the Statehouse warehouse and is smashing it repeatedly on the heads of the five Republican members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission with a little help from the three Democratic members of the high court.
Talk about the revenge of a feminist. Talk about a woman who has played the go along, get along game pretty well until now when the five white males running the state and the redistricting commission just plain pissed her off and she went rogue. She proceeded to figuratively bang the glass ceiling on their noggins not once, not twice, but three times with a fourth and fifth conk likely soon.
Gong No. 1. She and the three Dems turned down the first set of new district boundaries for the Ohio House and Senate.
Gong No. 2. They rejected the second set.
Like many Americans, I plan on spending Presidents’ Day weekend going to all of the incredible mattress sales happening around our fine country, while reflecting on the great men –– yes, after 245 years, all of our presidents have still been men –– who have held that sacred office. There are always the most famous favorites who come to mind –– George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln are usually ranked at the top, with Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy comfortably slotted in the honorable mentions. Throw in some of the more “controversial” presidential picks like Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton and you have some of the most influential presidents in American history. Of course, that’s not too many, especially considering there were like forty others.
Just how many sensible Republicans are left in the state of Ohio? For Free Press fans it’s a cringe worthy question but during these times, well worth asking.
The upcoming GOP gubernatorial primary could further expose what many are so very worried about – is MAGA (Make America Great Again) in Ohio fading or is it growing?
If MAGA’s anger is intensifying, this isn’t good news for the mostly lefty island that is Columbus, considering the region is on the verge of becoming a legitimate tech hub such as Austin, Texas, and will need to attract skilled young professionals.
Yet unbeknownst to many Ohioans is how GOP candidate and Trump loyalist Jim Renacci could win the upcoming May 3 primary, defeating incumbent Mike DeWine, considered a RINO (Republican in Name Only) by many Ohio conservatives and whom Trump wants primaried.
Indeed, are DeWine’s days numbered, a la Hillary 2016?
(Begin satire.)
Jed, my third cousin twice removed, has a small rural home 60 miles north of Columbus. He is a typical news consumer in that he does not read a reputable daily newspaper or daily news website but consumes fragments of information from local television and local radio and bits and pieces from social media. Mostly, he listens to right-wing talk shows on AM radio and watches Fox News conspiracy mongers on satellite TV at night. Here is what Jed thinks is going on. Sometimes he gets it wrong.
Are Chippewas Building a Casino Near New Albany?
Jed is thrilled to learn that a Native American tribe is reclaiming some of the land that our forefathers took from them, especially because he heard that his two acres and prefab home that were originally on Indian land will not be reclaimed.
Better for folks over New Albany way in Licking County to fork over 3,000 acres to the Chippewa Tribe.
In the weeks following the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, there were countless editorials, think pieces and discussions in the media about whether or not American democracy was “dead.” From Fareed Zakaria on CNN to Ann Fisher on WOSU, news personalities and politicos alike tried to address the question, with answers ranging from “no, but it does need attention,” to “it’s basically on life support,” to “I don’t know how to answer that!” Strangely enough, no one offered a hearty “hell yeah, it’s dead,” which makes me think that no one really knows the answer. But this is understandable. After all, it must be hard for political commentators to admit that the American experiment –– once a robust representative democratic republic with grand ideals at its core –– is in fact, finally dead.
An old political axiom is: "You can't beat somebody with nobody."
An Ohio political axiom is: "It is hard to win the first time around for statewide office. Ohioans vote for the familiar."
Considering the two axioms together, one can only conclude that Ohio Democrats are on the doomsday bus to hell in 2022.
Among the current Democratic lineup, only Jennifer Brunner of Columbus, who won for secretary of state in 2006 and Ohio Supreme Court justice in 2020, has run statewide. Brunner is vying for chief justice.
In a major change, candidates for the high court will carry a party designation next to their name on the general election ballot. The Republican-run Ohio legislature eliminated the non-partisan designation because Democrats have captured three of the seven judgeships in our otherwise GOP-dominated state. The GOP cannot redistrict statewide races like they are trying to do with congressional and state legislative districts, unless, of all places, the Ohio Supreme Court rules to the contrary.
The contrast between being in touch with our better angels and being in the grip of the devil is never more pronounced than during the holidays. In that "spirit" for my year-ending column, I offer up several news items followed by an angelic response and a devilish reaction.
Item: The last four Columbus Dispatch editors held a roundtable discussion.
Angel: What great civic-minded leaders. Medals for all of them.
Devil: One saint, two political hacks, and one lame-duck liquidator.
Item: The legislature passed a convoluted sports betting plan for Ohio that won't start for a year.
Angel: Print up lots of bet slips for Ohioans (mostly men) who follow sports more as a gambling opportunity than for the joy of watching athletic competition. It means more money for schools, too.
Devil: Ohio's plan is a sham, a greasy compromise that likely extracted big donations for Republican legislators to use to retain their seats. Not to mention that slimy provision that lets private schools get their hands on more tax money.
It appears possible that since November 2006, no Wisconsin statewide election has been conducted in full compliance with Wisconsin law according to public records sent to the Columbus Free Press by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Most of the election administration authorities in Wisconsin use an electronic voting system (“EVS”) to count the ballots.
Since 2006, any EVS used to count votes in Wisconsin had to be certified for use by the Wisconsin Elections Commission or its predecessors. Within 90 days after approval of a given EVS, the EVS manufacturer must place certain software components in escrow with the commission. Within 10 days after any change in the software components, the changed software components must be placed in escrow with the commission.
There are two main types of software in an EVS.
First, there is the software in the EVS when the software is first installed and upgrades to such software.
The grassroots Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (OCRC) slammed Ohio Republicans on Tuesday following the release of their updated congressional map proposal which would make 13 of the Ohio’s 15 congressional districts favor the GOP in a state already trending conservative and more MAGA.
The OCRC and other voting rights activists say the updated map was tweaked behind closed doors and rushed into an Ohio Senate vote which easily passed. (The updated map pictured above left.)
“The passed map fails to uphold any of the basic tenets of a fair map – it does not keep our communities together in representative, sensible districts. It does not reflect how we vote, giving the GOP 80% of our seats in a state where they win just 54% of the vote,” said OCRC spokesperson Katy Shanahan to the Free Press. “It dilutes the power of communities of color to elect representatives of their choosing. It does not live up to the promise or demands of our reform nor the letter of the law.”
One day after Ohio Republicans introduced the nation’s most restrictive abortion bill, progressive Senate candidate, Morgan Harper, spoke at a press conference on Friday in the shadow of Ohio’s Statehouse. “We are hanging by a thread here,” she urged, as the dozen or so onlookers stood bundled on a cold November morning. “We can’t let them win, the stakes are too high.”