Letson proposes public contest to redraw districts

Another legislator also is proposing a revamped redistricting plan.

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State Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th

By MARC KOVAC

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

COLUMBUS — Democrats in the Ohio House are backing a new plan for redrawing the state’s legislative districts that they say will remove partisanship from the process.

The resolution, offered by Rep. Tom Letson of Warren, D-64th, calls for a public competition to draw state legislative district lines and a nonpartisan arbiter to confirm the results.

“The House reapportionment reform plan takes the politics out of reapportionment by providing specific criteria as to how district lines are to be drawn,” Letson said during a Monday press conference at the Statehouse. “This, in turn, makes each district more competitive.”

The current reapportionment process is overseen by a board that meets every 10 years to redraw legislative districts based on new census statistics.

The state Constitution sets board membership to include the governor, state auditor, secretary of state and single majority and minority members of the Ohio House and Senate.

Letson’s proposal calls for a competition, open to Ohioans, to draw district lines based on specified criteria — fairness, competitiveness, current political subdivisions and compactness.

The apportionment board would oversee the competition, and the final lines would be subject to a nonpolitical, final arbitrating panel that would include five members — all retired judges, two appointed by Republicans, two by Democrats and one OK’d by the other four members.

The process would cover Ohio House and Senate districts but not congressional districts.

Letson said committee hearings on the resolution will begin this week, and he hopes lawmakers will move in time to place it before voters in November.

Another redistricting proposal has moved through the Ohio Senate, offered by Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican from Kettering who is running for secretary of state.

His plan calls for a new seven-member commission, with additional criteria controlling how district lines are drawn.

Party insiders, however, aren’t convinced action will take place on any redistricting proposals.

Chris Redfern, the Ohio Democratic Party chairman, and Mark Weaver, a Republican strategist, told reporters attending a conference in Columbus late last week that they didn’t expect movement on the reform packages.

“Every so often, the dialogue begins that it’s time to change the way we draw the lines,” Weaver said. “That dialogue goes on for a while, and a lot of smart people make a lot of good arguments on both sides. And then nothing happens.”

Redfern added, “It’s an issue most Ohioans don’t understand or care to understand. The Legislature on the Democratic side and the Republican side will both offer reform packages. ... We’ll have a lot of discussion, and then we’ll focus on the economy, as we should.”

But Letson used the passage of a casino issue by voters in November as evidence that Ohioans may be more open to redistricting reform.

“There have been gambling issues on the ballot that have been rejected and rejected and rejected,” he said. “And the citizens of the state of Ohio took a decidedly different turn this last election. So possibly this is the right time to do this.”

mkovac@dixcom.com