Gerrymandering and bureaucratic hypocrites
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
Is there any connection between this summer’s announcement of a new tavern at the Ohio Statehouse and this week’s initial proposal for redrawing the state’s congressional districts?
It would help explain a few things.
As The Highland County Press reported online this week, the first proposal from Ohio lawmakers had Highland County in the southwest corner of a horseshoe-shaped 15th Congressional District.
Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, currently represents the 15th District. To his credit, Rep. Stivers contacted The HCP this week and suggested we get together – and we will.
The Republican majority, which controls the redistricting process, came under quick criticism for Plan A, which a House committee approved this week. “This proposed plan has all the earmarks of a partisan gerrymandering, and I would be shocked if it were not challenged on a constitutional basis,” Ohio State University professor Dan Tokaji, an election-law expert, told the House State Government and Elections Committee.
As expected, Republicans are defending their plan, saying that it “meets constitutional requirements.”
That’s all well and fine, but as Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, told The Columbus Dispatch, “This map makes no sense at all – unless you are a politician.”
She’s right.
And it really make very little sense for Highland County.
Years ago, Highland County was in the former Sixth Congressional District which, at one time, included neighboring counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Pike and Ross. After the 2001 redistricting, Highland was placed in the Third District – where it had less than 5 percent of the vote – and the only neighboring county was Clinton.
The new plan isolates Highland County from all of its neighbors, save for a small section of Ross County.
Highland County Democratic Party Chairperson Dinah Phillips told The HCP this week that those who are redrawing the districts are not paying attention to the needs of constituents.
“You’ve got to place the counties in a continuous area so that they have something in common,” Phillips said. “It was the same way placing us with Montgomery County (the last time the districts were redrawn). What did we have in common with Montgomery County? We’re a rural, agricultural area trying to get a little bit of big business. They’re an industrial town. We aren’t. I was afraid they were going to do this to us again, this gerrymandering districts in order to carve out their own little strongholds.”
She’s right.
Phillips also pointed out that gerrymandering is something that is done by both Republicans and Democrats alike, but ultimately it’s not fair to the people.
“It’s not fair to the people who they’re supposed to be representing,” Phillips said. “We have nothing in common with the big industrial cities. We get overshadowed by the congressmen who represent the big districts, which are composed of the large counties. They have more people, and therefore they tend to gravitate toward what those people need, and ignore us.”
* * *
If the fate of Senate Bill 5 weren’t already a given, it is now. Ohio lawmakers have failed the credibility test.
An alarming report from the Ohio Senate is out this week and it paints a sordid and disturbing picture.
Joe Guillen of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer has an interesting story online at cleveland.com. It seems “while local governments across Ohio consider layoffs and other ways to cope with recent state budget cuts, Ohio Senate leaders have handed out sizable pay raises with bonus checks to several staffers,” Guillen writes.
According to Senate payroll records, these pay hikes were retroactive to January and ranged from 4 to 33 percent. They were given to 19 workers – from both political parties.
“Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus defended the increases, saying they were approved to keep his most dependable workers from leaving for other jobs,” Guillen said.
“But Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association president Stephen Loomis called the raises hypocritical given the economic climate and the fight over Senate Bill 5, which has scrutinized public workers’ pay and benefits. ‘I don’t want to hear about how good the chief of staff is, or the page is sitting behind a mahogany desk,’ Loomis said. ‘Any way you cut it, it’s hypocritical. Nobody should be talking about pay raises anywhere.’”
I tend to agree with Officer Loomis on this one.
When a small southern Ohio county – i.e., Highland – has recently reduced its budget by more than $2.5 million and while many other rural government offices are facing difficult budgets, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to see those in Columbus increasing payroll as they stress the need for cuts on the local levels.
Didn’t Gov. Kasich and the GOP-controlled General Assembly recently agree to a two-year budget that includes a 34-percent reduction in local government funding?
These folks in Columbus are about as hypocritical as President Obama naming Jeffrey Immelt the chairman of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. (At least one Ohio congressman, Democrat Dennis Kucinich, has called on Immelt to resign for sending advanced technology – and potential jobs – from the U.S. to China.)
Among the double-digit pay increases approved by the Ohio Senate are: Matt Schuler, chief of staff, majority (Republican) caucus, from $123,510 to $138,507, a 12.1-percent increase; Liz Connolly, deputy chief of staff, majority caucus, from $101,130 to $116,126, a 14.8-percent increase; and Amanda Hoyt, chief of staff, minority (Democrat) caucus, from $94,994 to $105,997, an 11.6 percent.
The Associated Press reported that “Payroll data show 19 Senate caucus employees – not quite 20 percent of the staff – got pay hikes since July worth about $160,000 combined. Four employees – the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, finance director, and clerk – saw bumps of more than $8,000 a year each on salaries already around $100,000.”
To put the $8,000 raise into another perspective: This is more than 50 percent of an Ohio minimum wage earner’s yearly compensation.
Meanwhile, opponents of Senate Bill 5 – now State Issue 2 – can be expected to have a field day with this report. And why not? After all, it’s Gov. Kasich and the Republican majority who have been preaching – ad nauseam – about smaller government, pension reform, collective bargaining reform, etc., etc.
Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, attempted to justify the salary increases by offering the following statement: “These are all performance-based increases. So it’s consistent (with SB 5),” he said. “There is nothing in Senate Bill 5 that prevents anyone from getting raises.”
Maybe not. But the impetus behind the legislation was to reduce, not increase, that age-old, three-headed government fiscal monster known as SWB: Salaries, Wages and Benefits. Moreover, if Ohio senators were truly proud of these additional expenses in the midst of our Great Recession, why weren’t they upfront with taxpayers? Why not hold a press conference and announce
these retroactive “merit-based” raises? Why did it take a government watchdog organization to bring these raises to the light of day? (I’m sure we all know the answers to those questions.)
It’s time for Gov. Kasich, Sen. Niehaus, et al. to lead by example. Better yet, pay a visit to Highland County’s unemployed, under-employed and minimum-wage earners and explain to them why some of your pals – who were already making more than $100,000 a year – merit pay increases of $8,000.
You won’t do that, of course, because there is no justification for it.
If the fate of Senate Bill 5 wasn’t already a given, it is now. Ohio lawmakers, particularly the Republican majority, have failed the credibility test. Welcome back to the era of Big Government. We hardly missed ye.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
It would help explain a few things.
As The Highland County Press reported online this week, the first proposal from Ohio lawmakers had Highland County in the southwest corner of a horseshoe-shaped 15th Congressional District.
Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, currently represents the 15th District. To his credit, Rep. Stivers contacted The HCP this week and suggested we get together – and we will.
The Republican majority, which controls the redistricting process, came under quick criticism for Plan A, which a House committee approved this week. “This proposed plan has all the earmarks of a partisan gerrymandering, and I would be shocked if it were not challenged on a constitutional basis,” Ohio State University professor Dan Tokaji, an election-law expert, told the House State Government and Elections Committee.
As expected, Republicans are defending their plan, saying that it “meets constitutional requirements.”
That’s all well and fine, but as Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, told The Columbus Dispatch, “This map makes no sense at all – unless you are a politician.”
She’s right.
And it really make very little sense for Highland County.
Years ago, Highland County was in the former Sixth Congressional District which, at one time, included neighboring counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Pike and Ross. After the 2001 redistricting, Highland was placed in the Third District – where it had less than 5 percent of the vote – and the only neighboring county was Clinton.
The new plan isolates Highland County from all of its neighbors, save for a small section of Ross County.
Highland County Democratic Party Chairperson Dinah Phillips told The HCP this week that those who are redrawing the districts are not paying attention to the needs of constituents.
“You’ve got to place the counties in a continuous area so that they have something in common,” Phillips said. “It was the same way placing us with Montgomery County (the last time the districts were redrawn). What did we have in common with Montgomery County? We’re a rural, agricultural area trying to get a little bit of big business. They’re an industrial town. We aren’t. I was afraid they were going to do this to us again, this gerrymandering districts in order to carve out their own little strongholds.”
She’s right.
Phillips also pointed out that gerrymandering is something that is done by both Republicans and Democrats alike, but ultimately it’s not fair to the people.
“It’s not fair to the people who they’re supposed to be representing,” Phillips said. “We have nothing in common with the big industrial cities. We get overshadowed by the congressmen who represent the big districts, which are composed of the large counties. They have more people, and therefore they tend to gravitate toward what those people need, and ignore us.”
* * *
If the fate of Senate Bill 5 weren’t already a given, it is now. Ohio lawmakers have failed the credibility test.
An alarming report from the Ohio Senate is out this week and it paints a sordid and disturbing picture.
Joe Guillen of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer has an interesting story online at cleveland.com. It seems “while local governments across Ohio consider layoffs and other ways to cope with recent state budget cuts, Ohio Senate leaders have handed out sizable pay raises with bonus checks to several staffers,” Guillen writes.
According to Senate payroll records, these pay hikes were retroactive to January and ranged from 4 to 33 percent. They were given to 19 workers – from both political parties.
“Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus defended the increases, saying they were approved to keep his most dependable workers from leaving for other jobs,” Guillen said.
“But Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association president Stephen Loomis called the raises hypocritical given the economic climate and the fight over Senate Bill 5, which has scrutinized public workers’ pay and benefits. ‘I don’t want to hear about how good the chief of staff is, or the page is sitting behind a mahogany desk,’ Loomis said. ‘Any way you cut it, it’s hypocritical. Nobody should be talking about pay raises anywhere.’”
I tend to agree with Officer Loomis on this one.
When a small southern Ohio county – i.e., Highland – has recently reduced its budget by more than $2.5 million and while many other rural government offices are facing difficult budgets, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to see those in Columbus increasing payroll as they stress the need for cuts on the local levels.
Didn’t Gov. Kasich and the GOP-controlled General Assembly recently agree to a two-year budget that includes a 34-percent reduction in local government funding?
These folks in Columbus are about as hypocritical as President Obama naming Jeffrey Immelt the chairman of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. (At least one Ohio congressman, Democrat Dennis Kucinich, has called on Immelt to resign for sending advanced technology – and potential jobs – from the U.S. to China.)
Among the double-digit pay increases approved by the Ohio Senate are: Matt Schuler, chief of staff, majority (Republican) caucus, from $123,510 to $138,507, a 12.1-percent increase; Liz Connolly, deputy chief of staff, majority caucus, from $101,130 to $116,126, a 14.8-percent increase; and Amanda Hoyt, chief of staff, minority (Democrat) caucus, from $94,994 to $105,997, an 11.6 percent.
The Associated Press reported that “Payroll data show 19 Senate caucus employees – not quite 20 percent of the staff – got pay hikes since July worth about $160,000 combined. Four employees – the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, finance director, and clerk – saw bumps of more than $8,000 a year each on salaries already around $100,000.”
To put the $8,000 raise into another perspective: This is more than 50 percent of an Ohio minimum wage earner’s yearly compensation.
Meanwhile, opponents of Senate Bill 5 – now State Issue 2 – can be expected to have a field day with this report. And why not? After all, it’s Gov. Kasich and the Republican majority who have been preaching – ad nauseam – about smaller government, pension reform, collective bargaining reform, etc., etc.
Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, attempted to justify the salary increases by offering the following statement: “These are all performance-based increases. So it’s consistent (with SB 5),” he said. “There is nothing in Senate Bill 5 that prevents anyone from getting raises.”
Maybe not. But the impetus behind the legislation was to reduce, not increase, that age-old, three-headed government fiscal monster known as SWB: Salaries, Wages and Benefits. Moreover, if Ohio senators were truly proud of these additional expenses in the midst of our Great Recession, why weren’t they upfront with taxpayers? Why not hold a press conference and announce
these retroactive “merit-based” raises? Why did it take a government watchdog organization to bring these raises to the light of day? (I’m sure we all know the answers to those questions.)
It’s time for Gov. Kasich, Sen. Niehaus, et al. to lead by example. Better yet, pay a visit to Highland County’s unemployed, under-employed and minimum-wage earners and explain to them why some of your pals – who were already making more than $100,000 a year – merit pay increases of $8,000.
You won’t do that, of course, because there is no justification for it.
If the fate of Senate Bill 5 wasn’t already a given, it is now. Ohio lawmakers, particularly the Republican majority, have failed the credibility test. Welcome back to the era of Big Government. We hardly missed ye.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]