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New Senate map would bump Wilson from 30th
YOUNGSTOWN
There are only minor changes to the core state legislative districts in the Mahoning Valley under a plan developed by the Republican- controlled state apportionment board that drew the new maps.
But the redistricting plan, expect-ed to be approved by the board next week, leaves state Sen. Jason Wilson of Columbiana, D-30th, without a district unless he moves out of Columbiana County and runs in the new 30th that no longer includes his home county.
The new 30th, which doesn’t have an incumbent in it, takes in nine counties, including three Wilson currently represents.
Wilson would have to move to the new 30th by Nov. 6 because state law requires legislative candidates to live in their districts for at least one year before Election Day.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, was elected last year to his district, which will include all of Mahoning and Columbiana counties beginning in January 2013. Schiavoni said he is the senator for the new district under state law because he was the last person elected to the district.
Wilson’s term expires at the end of next year. Regardless of his decision, Wilson would remain the current 30th District senator for that time.
The new district lines take effect after the 2012 general election.
The new 30th is too large with counties that don’t share a lot in common, Wilson said. The current 30th lost only 0.2 of a percent of its population and shouldn’t have been touched, he said.
Wilson said he and his family will mull over options on his political future and decide shortly.
But the redistricting has left a bad taste in the mouth of Wilson, who has voted with Republicans more than most Senate Democrats.
Schiavoni said he feels bad for Wilson but is pleased with his new district. He retains Mahoning County and gets Columbiana County while losing Carroll County and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties.
“I’d be upset if I was” Wilson, Schiavoni said. “No doubt about it. But the new [30th] district is the only one without an incumbent, and he represents a lot of that area.”
The new 30th District leans Democratic, Wilson said.
The new 30th and the current 30th both include Belmont County, where Wilson lived before moving to Columbiana in July 2006 for personal and not political reasons.
The new 32nd District, represented by state Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, a Democrat from Liberty, still takes in all of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and now will include a northeast and north-central portion of Geauga County.
The new 99 House districts average 116,530 residents, give or take 5 percent in most cases and 10 percent in counties that are kept whole. The new 33 Senate districts each consist of three House districts and average 349,591 people, give or take 5 percent.
As it has for decades, Columbiana County remains a stand-alone House district. But its number changes from the 1st District to the 5th.
Because of population declines in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, based on U.S. Census figures from 2000 to 2010, the two main Ohio House districts in each counties had to grow.
That means southern Mahoning County — specifically Springfield, Beaver, Green, Smith and Goshen townships and the village of Sebring, represented by Mark Okey of Carollton, D-61st — will join the current 59th House District, currently represented by Ronald Gerberry, a Democrat from Austintown.
Okey, whose hometown is redistricted into a Republican-leaning district, isn’t running for re-election next year.
The only other change to the 59th is all but four precincts in the far western portion of Austintown, including one in which Gerberry lives, will be moved to the new 58th District.
“It’s unfortunate to lose most of Austintown, my hometown, but I’m glad I don’t have to move,” Gerberry said. “I find it interesting that they’d break up Austintown that way. It’s not what I expected.”
The new 58th District is the current 60th House District, represented by Robert F. Hagan, a Democrat from Youngstown. The only change from the 60th to the new 58th is the former included nine precincts in Austintown and the new 58th will represent 36 of the township’s 40 precincts.
Though Hagan is pleased that his district was barely touched, he objects to Republicans’ keeping the final legislative map a secret until Friday and that only GOP officials had any say on the new boundaries.
“This was done in secret and behind closed doors,” he said.
Also, the new map takes four full townships in Trumbull County and a precinct in Mesopotamia Township from the 99th District, represented by Casey Kozlowski, a Republican from Pierpont, and puts those areas as well as six townships and two villages in Ashtabula County into the new 64th House District, currently represented by Tom Letson, a Democrat from Warren.
Cortland is being taken from the current 64th and will be moved to the new 63rd House District. The new 63rd is the current 65th District, represented by Sean O’Brien, a Democrat from Brookfield.
Letson is satisfied with his new district but said Republicans shouldn’t have kept the process secretive.
“I’m happy with how they drew it,” he said. “I wish [Republicans] would have unveiled it to the public earlier.”
Cafaro said there are “serious questions” about the map violating the state Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act.
“The number of times counties and cities have been split across the state appears to exceed constitutional limits,” she said.