Husted discusses ‘cause for freedom’

Secretary of State talks about reforming the redistricting process.

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By Brandon Smith-Hebson, Staff Writer 10:55 PM Tuesday, February 7, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted told the Springfield Kiwanis Club on Tuesday that redistricting could be the next “cause for freedom.”

Husted has focused on redistricting before, when he was in the Ohio Senate.

But as the Republican’s speech to the charitable social club moved from U.S. soldiers voting overseas to the Arab unrest, he wondered aloud what might be the next step. Maybe, he said, it’s reforming the redistricting process.

“Whichever party controls the process ... draws lines where their party wins the majority of the districts, and they get to control the majority of the legislature,” he said. “There aren’t really any competitive elections anymore.”

Local Democrats agree.

“Without a doubt we need an improvement, because our system isn’t working,” said Ron Rhine, Chairman of the Clark County Democratic Party. “Our last redistricting speaks for itself. It was just terrible. ... We need a procedure that’s fair to the citizens of Ohio.”

Every 10 years lawmakers redraw district lines based on population shifts.

The first round of redistricting last year split Clark County into two wide-spanning congressional districts.

Then late last year lawmakers crafted a new plan that reunited Clark County into one district, the 8th District now represented by U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-West Chester.

Husted continued: “(Politicians) tend to come from the right or the left wing of their respective parties and we send them all to Columbus or Washington and say, ‘Although you have nothing in common, and we’ve taught you to get to office by being extreme partisans, now we want you to come work on what’s in the best interest of all the American people. And it seems not to be working. It seems to be dysfunctional.”

Husted, who has served in the state Senate and House of Representatives, didn’t offer a solution in the speech.

But in speaking with constituents afterward, he referred to a proposal he had made when in the Senate. It would create a bi-partisan committee for redistricting.

The proposal passed the Senate and failed in the House.

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