City files suit to force anti-fracking amendment to Nov. 3 ballot

YOUNGSTOWN

The city filed a complaint today with the Ohio Supreme Court asking it compel the Mahoning County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to place a proposed anti-fracking charter amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The board ruled Wednesday not to put the measure on the ballot despite a city council vote two days earlier directing the board to do the opposite.

Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and Law Director Martin S. Hume stated that the filing of the complaint for a writ of mandamus was not an endorsement of the content of the proposal. Rather, they said the complaint seeks to vindicate the proposition that citizens should have the right to petition the government in accordance with Youngstown’s home-rule charter and the federal and state constitutions.

The complaint is based on the well-established legal principle that determination of the constitutionality of laws is exclusively reserved to the judiciary and even then, a court should not rule on the constitutionality of a proposed charter amendment until after the amendment has been passed, Hume and McNally wrote in a prepared statement.

For the complete story, read Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com