Political Outcomes Over People Sues

The Citizens Not Politicians Campaign can call itself anti-gerrymandering, or it can call itself Diet Coke, or cheesecake, but it is none of the above.

Just because the campaign tries to define itself as an anti-gerrymandering panel made up of good citizens, doesn’t mean that is what it really is, or really does.

The Ballot Board was correct, it passed language for the ballot summary that correctly pointed out what the amendment you’ll vote on in November really does-and that’s gerrymander political districts under the concept of proportionality that produces fixed outcomes.

This week their campaign better branded as “Political Outcomes Over People,” filed their lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the Ballot Board’s summary language for Issue 1 this November.

The level of contradiction and hypocrisy within their lawsuit goes as far to suggest that Ohioans don’t have a basic interest in the political districts. This is an excerpt from Page 4 of their lawsuit.

These guys are the Wile E. Coyote’s of Constitutional Super-Geniuses who actually argued in their lengthy brief that you, a citizen of Ohio, and registered voter don’t have a basic self-interest in how General Assembly and Congressional districts are drawn. Why not just say, what their amendment is looking for, are people who are too stupid to care about how their districts are drawn, and will simply do what the special interest lawyers, who really will control the process, tell them to do. This is simply an insult to the electorate. They actually think this is a solid legal argument.

The facts are very clear about what their issue really does. It can be stated with three points.

First, it generates fixed political outcomes based on proportionality which is really gerrymandering.

Second, there is zero accountability to the people. Once the so-called citizens’ panel dissolves, there is no elected official to complain to. With the Current Redistricting Commission there are multiple elected officials to interact with from the General Assembly and three from the Executive Branch. You don’t like the result? Send them a letter, call their office, or vote them out.

Third, this really amounts to a progressive out-of-state funded attack on democracy. 70% of Ohio voters approved the redistricting commission process for the General Assembly maps. That commission made up of Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously to approve General Assembly maps for the remainder of the decade. 75% of Ohio voters approved the redistricting process for the Congressional map.

And when the special interest groups sued, the narrow 4-3 opinions from the Ohio Supreme Court were rebuffed both by a Federal Appeals Court and the United States Supreme Court.

It’s remarkable that yet again, the law firm representing the National Democratic Redistricting Commission, the Elias firm, is part of the lawsuit. The same firm that is also challenging Ohio’s recent law banning foreign contributions to ballot initiatives. Yet another perfect example of Ohio’s Constitution and election system being attacked by a $25 million campaign financed by not only out-of-state dollars, but by foreign dollars led by a $6 million contribution from the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

A 13,000 word convoluted, ambiguous amendment that the campaign reduced to five bullet points. And purposely so, concealed, ignored, or materially omitted key parts of the amendment.

Special interest groups like the NDRC, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Fair Districts Ohio all love to blame gerrymandering for the woes of the far left. It really is their new side dish. They have it with everything. Might as well be French Fries. Their candidate didn’t win - gerrymandering! They got stuck in traffic - gerrymandering! Their radical social agenda was rejected by parents who know better - gerrymandering! The problem is that these special interest groups are well funded, and can afford a revolving door of political attacks every November on our state’s founding document.

So, based on the lawsuit against the Ballot Board, we thought it was important to highlight our recent President's Podcast with Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Senator Theresa Gavarone. Secretary LaRose chairs the Ballot Board and Senator Gavarone serves as the vice-chair. They highlight the real mission of this special interest driven campaign, and why the role of the Ballot Board exposes the truth about what their amendment really does.

You can also find the President's Podcast on our YouTube channel.