Tabling serves to avoid direct votes on measures

The practice sometimes leads to confusion over the exact nature of a vote.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A vote is not always what it appears to be at the Ohio Statehouse, as illustrated by partisan bickering over a bill affecting the rights of people exposed to asbestos.
During committee and full Senate debate last week, Democrats offered amendments trying to soften the impact of the GOP-supported bill, which would limit lawsuits over asbestos exposure.
In response, Republicans used a legislative rule often invoked during heated debate: rather than vote on the amendment itself, they voted to "lay it on the table."
This maneuver keeps the amendment alive to be addressed at another time. In reality, that seldom happens, and the measure dies.
"We shouldn't be hiding behind parliamentary procedures," Sen. Marc Dann, a Youngstown Democrat, said as Republicans made motion after motion to table his amendments. "Let's be honest about what we're doing. Let's vote directly on it."
At a debate two weeks ago on a related bill, Republicans tabled 27 of 29 amendments offered by Dann.
Republicans, who had the same tactic used against them when they served in the minority, defend it as part of the process.
"That procedure was here before I was here; it will be here after I'm here," said Sen. Steve Stivers, a Columbus Republican who made many of the motions to table Dann's amendments.
"For me to take part of my toolbox and say I'm not going to use this wrench because Senator Dann doesn't like this wrench -- you know, if it fits the nut, I'm going to use that wrench."
Political protection
Politicians like to table in part because it's meant to protect them in campaigns from criticism over a vote.
Two years ago, Sen. Kevin Coughlin, a Cuyahoga Falls Republican, filed an elections complaint against his opponent, saying his tabling votes on bills involving health-maintenance organizations were being misconstrued.
"A vote to table is not to be regarded as a 'no' vote or a vote 'against' the matter," Coughlin argued in a filing with the Ohio Elections Commission. The complaint was ultimately withdrawn.
House Speaker Vern Riffe, a Democrat who ruled the House for 20 years, regularly tabled Republican amendments, said former Rep. Robert Netzley, a southwestern Ohio Republican forced out by term limits after 40 years. He recalled early attempts to table amendments relating to his push to create a local income tax to fund schools, a proposal that eventually became law.
"I didn't particularly like it," Netzley said of the tactic. "When you're in the majority, you do those things."
Right or wrong, tabling is clearly allowed under rules followed by legislative bodies, said Philip Russo, a Miami University political analyst.
"It's right because that is the process," said Russo, director of Miami's Center for Public Management and Regional Affairs. "You may not like the result."
The procedure occasionally creates confusion in committee and the House and Senate chamber, with legislators double-checking whether a vote they're about to cast is on the amendment, or just to table it.
During a Senate debate on the state's tobacco budget last week, Sen. Ray Miller, a Columbus Democrat, denounced a $2.5 million provision to provide defibrillators in schools, saying they were not needed.
He implored Republican lawmakers to vote on his amendment to remove the money and not just table it.
Miller got his wish, but some fellow Democrats didn't realize it was an actual vote. They mistakenly voted against their colleague's amendment, believing they were voting against tabling it instead.
Several Democrats then went to the front of the chamber and asked permission to change their vote to one in favor of Miller's proposal.
"We're so used to voting no," said Sen. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat.