Am I the only who gets a gut feeling that the GOP in Ohio is acting out of a mix of power madness and desperation? I mean -after all- they've have got to realize the complete and total split between their corporatist agenda and it's utter destruction of the moderate income voters who make up the teabaggers.
And having 1,298,301 confirmed, registered Ohio voters who sign the petition to over SB5 must have gotten SOMEBODY'S attention!
After the 2010 elections, the Dems are powerless to stop the wingnazis from ramming through the worst reapportionment (U.S. House district lines) and redistricting (Ohio legislature) map ever. UNLESS we can stop it in court (maybe) or via the referendum process. As i mentioned, the repeal of SB 5 is on the fall ballot (Vote NO on issue two!) and we're trying to raise enough signatures to stop the Rovian voter suppression bill (HB 194) but can we stop this sickening General Assembly map?
I just received this presser- maybe the state Dems are ready to fight back?
Senator Cafaro Comments on New Legislative Map
Columbus – Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro (D-Hubbard) issued the following statement today after Republicans unveiled a new map for Ohio’s legislative districts:
“There are serious questions whether the new legislative map violates the state constitution and the Voting Rights Act. Specifically, the number of majority-minority Senate districts has dropped from two to just one. And the number of times counties and cities have been split across the state appears to exceed constitutional limits.
“Most Ohioans think Washington and Columbus are broken because of hyper-partisanship. That’s why we should have a map that properly reflects Ohio’s history as a 50-50 battleground state. Ohio needs more bipartisanship, not less, and the best way to accomplish that is with a map that promotes cooperation instead of partisanship. Unfortunately, the map unveiled today falls well short of that goal.”