Ohioans deserves more integrity than corrupt, gerrymandering Republicans offer

An important book with a profane name helps explain everything from why the FBI considers Ohio to be the most corrupt state in America to why most Ohio leaders are comfortable ignoring most Ohio voters.

The highly acclaimed book is called “Rat F******, Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count.” It’s a book about the dangers of partisan gerrymandering. Ohio — unfortunately — has its very own chapter.

Michael Douglas: Ohio voters' call for end to extreme gerrymandering goes unheeded by GOP majority on panel

This chapter explains how today’s congressional district boundaries were drawn in secret in a place map-makers cynically called “the Bunker.’’ And it explains how a state that in 2012 went for Barack Obama for President and Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate also left Republicans with supermajorities in Congress and the state House and Senate.

These anti-democracy shenanigans prompted more than 70 percent of voters to change the state constitution by adding new rules intended to produce congressional and legislative districts that better reflect Ohio’s swing state status. Despite overwhelming voter demand for reform, our Republican-dominated legislature recently approved a new congressional map that is even more lopsided than the one ridiculed in the book.

I joined with other pro-democracy forces and urged Gov. Mike DeWine to veto the latest bill that outlines new congressional districts. He signed it anyway. This is the same man who has repeatedly defended his appointees tied to the utility bribery scandal that forced Ohio electricity customers to help pay for the $60-plus million in utility bribes; this is the same fellow who chose as his running mate the only person who ever received an honorary degree from the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow – the chronically failing online charter school accused to bilking taxpayers out of about $80 million. Both the utilities and charter schools are prolific Republican donors.

The new map prompted a swift constitutional challenge in the Ohio Supreme Court.

The real goal of such lopsided maps is not to advantage Republicans in close elections. The real goal is to render elections meaningless by drawing district lines that all-but-guarantee Republicans stay in power, leaving important policies shaped by those on the extreme right.

That explains why our legislators continue to pass laws that hurt most Ohioans. They have discouraged creation of green jobs and clean air with new hurdles for solar and wind development. Amid shameful infant and maternal mortality rates, they promote unnecessary, often unsafe abortion restrictions. Republicans only called for legalizing recreational marijuana months after Democrats did the same. With the virus still raging, House Republicans voted to weaken vaccination laws by expanding exemptions and prohibiting businesses from requiring proof of vaccination for customers or employees.

Ohio deserves better.

DeWine sits on the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission that designed the proposed new legislative maps. The panel includes fellow Republicans Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Auditor Keith Faber, Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp. The two Democrats are House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes and state Sen. Vernon Sykes.

Although DeWine voted to approve the new maps, even he acknowledged they resulted from a flawed process.

“I think I made it pretty clear that I thought that the result was not where we needed to be, that we could do a better job,” DeWine explained in a Sept. 21 briefing.

A deposition in a court case challenging the new districts shows that Ohio Secretary of State LaRose called the rationale for them “asinine,” then voted for them. Auditor Keith Faber admitted that he played no role in their design. Democrat Emilia Sykes said the maps were drawn in secret, then sprung on other commissioners "at the last minute."

It’s clear that Huffman and Cupp called the shots. Both are from Lima.

The beauty of Ohio is its diversity. Ohio encompasses major metropolitan areas, sprawling rural regions and growing suburbs — all of which need a voice at the Ohio Statehouse.

I am committed to representing all of Ohio — not just Lima — and defending democracy along the way.

John Cranley, mayor of Cincinnati, is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for governor in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Governor candidate John Cranley calls out 'corrupt' Ohio Republicans