Shoring up the Ohio GOP’s right flank was Goal One last week for the state’s jumpy Republican Establishment.
Item One: The General Assembly’s GOP leaders signaled that they are prepared to approve a plan for new General Assembly districts for just four years — not the idealized 10 envisioned by the Ohio Constitution.
So much for bipartisan fellowshipping at the Redistricting Commission. On the Republican right, “compromise” is a 10-letter word for “surrender.”
Item Two: GOP Gov. Mike DeWine let it be known he opposes the teaching of Critical Race Theory to Ohio pupils. Leaving aside the fact that there are as many definitions of CRT as there are critics, there is this consensus on the right: Whatever Critical Race Theory actually is, it’s bad.
An inconvenient historical fact seems to elude some Ohio Republicans: Their party was founded by people who hated slavery, and called it out for what it was -- unspeakably inhumane. Today, instead, the Republican right might as well belt out a lyric borrowed from the great Sam Cooke: “Don’t know much about history.”
Item Three: Republican Supreme Court Justice Patrick DeWine has decided to seek re-election for his current seat on the bench rather than run for Supreme Court chief justice. That showed, among other things, that the GOP is well aware Democrats are within one seat of controlling the state high court, now 4-3 Republican.
Justice DeWine, the governor’s son, had been gearing up to run for chief justice, likely competing in a GOP primary with fellow Republican Justice Sharon Kennedy for the GOP’s nomination for chief.
Problem is, a DeWine-Kennedy primary might prove to be especially hard fought; Kennedy is no shrinking violet. And if DeWine lost to Kennedy, he’d be off the court in December 2022. That would let newcomers vie next year for DeWine’s justiceship, which might give a Democrat nominee a leg up, given an “open” seat. (In contrast, Kennedy’s term as a justice runs through December 2026; either way, she’d remain on the court.)
Democrats’ expected nominee for chief justice is Justice Jennifer Brunner, a former judge of the Columbus area’s 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals. Before that, Brunner was Ohio’s secretary of state. Bottom line: Pat DeWine took one for the team.
Item Four: The behind-the-scenes war over House Bill 248 continues among House Republicans. The bill, among other features, would ban mandatory vaccinations – a ban that would collide head-on with the management rights of Ohio employers. Business lobbies are dead-set against the bill, but it’s a must-pass to Ohio House Republicans’ hard-right faction.
Item Five: Don’t expect to see Republican Attorney General David Yost at any 2022 Pride parades. Yost joined in a lawsuit with other Republican state attorneys general to overthrow Biden administration moves that aim to protect the rights of LBGTQ people.
”Rule by administrative overreach may seem convenient, but tossing the process our Constitution requires will inevitably trample the liberties of our most vulnerable,” Yost said. But blocking moves to help LGBTQ people doesn’t trample on anyone’s liberties?
Tennessee is spearheading the gay-bashing lawsuit. That’s the progressive, forward-thinking state that once put a teacher on trial for teaching his pupils about evolution. Figures.
Redistricting and Youngstown: For now, the Redistricting Commission’s labors are confined to the districts that elect people to the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives. Still looming is district-drawing for Ohioans elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
First and foremost, that’s the General Assembly’s task. Only if it fails to pass a congressional map would the Redistricting Commission try its hand at that job.
One probability looms – that for the first time for at least 100 years, the Youngstown-Warren area likely won’t have a U.S. House member who lives in or near those cities.
The Youngstown-Warren area is now in the 13th Congressional District of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a suburban Warren Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. The district (once represented by Democratic wheel horse Michael J. Kirwan; convicted felon James A. Traficant, also a Democrat; and Lordstown barber Lyle Williams, a Republican) will likely be cut up and parceled out, another nasty blow to a region that’s had way too many.
Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.
To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-408-9474
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Ohio Republican leaders try to keep the party entrenched by pandering to their right: Thomas Suddes - cleveland.com
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