With less than 20 days to go before Election Day, things are getting hot here in Ohio as we work to pass Issues 2, 3, 4 and 5. During the last week, the opposition went up on TV statewide, Issue 4 got endorsements from a number of Republicans, including former Taft cabinet member Joan Lawrence and California redistricting champions Governor Schwarzenegger, Ted Costa and Bill Mundell and newspaper endorsements are coming almost everyday.
Joe Hallett of The Columbus Dispatch (subscrip' req'd) wrote a piece entitled, "Proposed Changed to Ohio Constitution: State Issues Stir Both Sides of Aisle" that appeared on Sunday. He wrote:
"But make no mistake: The five proposed amendments could bring a sea change in Ohio's governance, one that could affect, for better or worse, the basic tenants of democracy -- how and when you vote, who oversees the balloting, the political boundaries of your representatives, and how they are funded. To supporters of Reform Ohio Now -- primarily Democrats, labor unions and independent good-government groups such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters of Ohio -- Issues 2-5 represent reforms to a state government that has become corrupt and unrepresentative of its citizens. "What we are saying is that we want to improve our government, we want the power back over our government," said Samuel Gresham, Ohio Common Causes' director of outreach for fair elections."
And further into the story:
"Issue 4 is the proposed amendment shrouded in the most controversy because it seeks to remove responsibility for drawing new legislative and congressional districts from politicians and hand it to a fivemember appointed board. "Issue 4 is the linchpin of all the issues," Gresham said. "It gets down to representation. The politicians now are choosing who's going to vote for them and who they're going to represent."
The current system, which even our opposition admits is broken, has resulted in no more than 4 (out of 18) competitive Congressional elections and 15 (out of 99) competitive State House districts. Looking across the last election here, there were 2 uncontested Congressional races, 4 uncontested State Senate races and 22 uncontested Assembly races last cycle. And then looking across the country, in Congress more than 85 percent of incumbents won by landslide majorities of more than 60 percent and only seven incumbents, of 399 running, lost their seats. That's a 98.2% re-election rate.
As we look toward the home stretch, I urge folks to get involved in the campaign in any way you can - contribute, volunteer and tell others about the measures. Reform Ohio Now is the coalition organization at the center of this campaign, so if you're interested in more TV ads being up and that's the first place contributions should go. We fully expect to be outspent 2 to 1 in terms of TV...it's just the way it goes and it's why our team has field organizers all over the state working with local grassroots organizations and community leaders and talking to people in their communities.
Those of us working here across Ohio to pass these measures definitely need your support. The campaign is working hard to inform voters, whether it's through TV ads, door-to-door canvassing, working through community and opinion leaders or talking to the reporters...we know we have a big job here and while our primary need is more and more Ohioans to become engaged in the campaign, we also need people across the country to help us work for change.
