OHIO HOUSE Boccieri blasts redistricting flub

By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- State Rep. John Boccieri said he had a hard time not snickering when he was told by the Ohio speaker of the House that it was merely an oversight that his hometown was being redistricted into an area covered by another legislator.
"I'm going, 'Right, come on, I didn't fall off the banana boat yesterday,'" Boccieri, of New Middletown, D-57th, said of his recent meeting with Speaker Larry Householder, a Glenford Republican.
Boccieri's comments have Householder extremely upset.
"I can't believe that he would question whether or not I'm telling him the truth," Householder said. "That bothers me. He said to me that he understood and then to go out and tell you he thinks I'm a liar doesn't bode well with me at all. I wish he would have addressed that to me when he saw me in person instead of going behind my back and trying to make me look bad. Maybe he gets some kind of macho thrill out of this."
Boccieri said that he never called Householder a liar and that the speaker has integrity and is a man of his word.
What happened: Under a plan released last week by the GOP-controlled Ohio Apportionment Board, New Middletown was moved into a House district represented by Sylvester D. Patton Jr. of Youngstown. That meant if Boccieri wanted to run next year for the state House, he would either have to challenge Patton or move.
But Boccieri said that after he made it known that he was willing to move -- possibly to Columbiana County to challenge state Rep. Charles Blasdel of East Liverpool, R-3rd -- the Republicans changed their minds and moved New Middletown out of Patton's district.
"I think it was to put a scare into me," Boccieri said. "It was no accident. I'm sure of that. They know exactly what they're doing. They knew my options included running in Columbiana County. This politics game is very intriguing. Who cares how it happened, but it's a strange series of events."
Just a mistake: Householder said that it was an honest mistake and that Republicans would never put Boccieri, an incumbent white legislator, in a minority-drawn district with Patton, an incumbent black legislator, to force a primary.
"We wouldn't want to get into any constitutional difficulties," Householder said. "But if he wants to run against Chuck Blasdel in Columbiana County, I'll pay his $50 filing fee and I'll help him move. Tell him to go ahead. We'd be glad to take him on down there."
Householder said it is not his style to scare people.
"If I would have wanted to scare him, I would have found some other way to draw him out," he said. "That's not what our intentions were."
The Apportionment Board, which had until Friday to finalize its redistricting plan, finished it up Monday. The new districts would take effect with the 2002 election. The board is required to redraw House and Senate maps reflecting population shifts based on census numbers every 10 years.
Boccieri's district also picks up Springfield Township, which it has and would have lost to Patton's district under last week's plan.
Other changes include:
* Returning Struthers to Patton's district from the district represented by state Rep. Kenneth A. Carano of Austintown, D-65th. Householder said Patton has represented Struthers for a number of years and it was inadvertently moved to Carano's district.
* Returning Poland Township to Carano's district from Patton's district. Carano's district has included Poland for a number of years, but it was given to Patton's district under last week's plan.
* Taking Canfield city and a portion of Canfield Township from Boccieri's district to Carano's district.
* Giving nine precincts in Austintown Township to Patton's district from Carano's district.
skolnick@vindy.com