District maps, pot topics in General Assembly

One topic he mentioned was the district maps for the Ohio General Assembly. The Ohio Redistricting Commission has passed four maps for the district, but the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down each one as being unconstitutionally gerrymandered in favor of Republicans.

Each map was struck down by a 4-3 vote from the court.

“If you really want to know what’s happening, I would encourage you to read some of the wording that the minority group, the three that voted thinking the maps are constitutional, said,” he said. “We feel we’ve made the maps constitutional. But, unfortunately, since it’s gone to the Supreme Court, four of the seven justices said we haven’t.”

What was interesting, Hoops said, is they brought in two map makers and one had to leave early, meaning they “never really completed the job.”

Because of the lack of maps, Hoops said Ohio will have a second primary on Aug. 2, which is going to cost the counties money.

In Williams County, Commissioner Lew Hilkert said he was told it could cost as much as $25,000 to hold another primary.

Hoops said one legislator proposed a bill to have the Supreme Court pay for the second primary out of its own budget.

“We’re hoping the federal court will make a decision since the Ohio Supreme Court doesn’t seem to agree with what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re hoping they’ll take action.”

According to a story in the Cincinnati Enquirer published during the Mayors meeting, federal judges will pick district maps rejected by the Supreme Court if the commission doesn’t draw constitutional alternatives by May 28. The story states it would be the third set of maps approved by the commission.

“Handed a menu of unappetizing options, we defer ordering Map 3 as long as possible – a final pause in hope that Ohio finally approves a map that complies with federal and state law,” wrote U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit Judge Amul Thapar and Western District of Kentucky Judge Benjamin Beaton in a Wednesday decision, according to the Enquirer. “We are acutely aware of its flaws. Yet with deference to the State in mind, we see it as the best of our bad options.”

Hoops said the idea of the constitutional amendment was to take politics out of the political mapmaking process, but it has only created “a whirlwind of even more politics.”

Another bill likely coming to the General Assembly, Hoops said, would legalize recreational marijuana.

The state previously approved medical marijuana after a ballot issue legalizing it started gaining traction.

“If passed, that would have changed the state constitution,” Hoops said. “Once you change the constitution the only way you can change it, again, if something is not going well, is you have to put it back on the ballot and people have to vote on it.”

The General Assembly decided to take on the issue, themselves, so they can have more control over it.

Hoops said he could see the legislature going that route, again, if a ballot measure gains support.

“I hope it doesn’t happen, I don’t support it,” he said. “If you’ve gone up to Michigan, you can see a lot of things have changed. One of the things that took me by surprise is when I was watching the Toledo news. It had a commercial that said, ‘Parents, make sure you lock up your gummy bears.’”

Initially, Hoops didn’t understand it. Later he learned that pot is put into gummies and even brownies and the commercial aimed to keep those edibles out of kids’ reach.

He said it also would create issues with drunk driving charges.

Another bill would eliminate the gas tax, which is currently in the senate. He was concerned with how that could affect the county, townships and municipalities.

While he supported issues like keeping sex education out of kindergarten through third grade, Hoops said he was unaware of any school in Ohio currently doing that and has even asked people for examples. So far, no one has come forward with one.

Separately, Lori Brodie, northwest regional liaison for the State Auditor’s Office, also spoke at the meeting.

“It’s a good time to hear what’s going on and let you guys know you do have a regional person,” she said.

Brodie’s job isn’t to do the audit, but rather to act as a regional contact to Auditor Keith Faber.

Faber, and by extension Brodie, said the job is more about customer service.

“I thought that was pretty funny in the beginning. Customer service and auditing, I don’t know that those go hand-in-hand,” she said. “But, it’s good to have us because sometimes it can be hard to get down to Columbus and ... figure out who’s where and who to call and what to do.”

In addition to audits, the office does offer other services, Brodie said.

For example, they have local government services and also do performance audits.

“They can do performance audits on any process you might have,” Brodie said. “Findlay did one, for example, on their water system.”