Tag: Column

If an adjective creates a redundancy, does preceding it with two other adjectives give the Supreme Court a reason to venture where it has never gone before? The justices should, like Ulysses, listen to this siren song but bind themselves from obeying it. Tuesday’s issue is whether the court should attempt something for which it has neither an aptitude nor any constitutional warrant — concocting criteria for deciding when (adjective two) excessive partisan gerrymandering becomes (adjective three) unconstitutional. Gerrymandering is generally as surreptitious as a brass band and is, always and everywhere, as political as lemonade is lemony. Until 1962, the court stayed away from the inherently political process of the drawing of district lines by legislatures organized along partisan lines because the Constitution is unambiguous: “The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.” There are enough open-textured terms in the Constitution (“establishment” of religion, “unreasonable” searches, “cruel” punishments, etc.) So, the Constitution is explicit: Congress, not the judiciary, is the federal remedy for alleged defects in the drawing of congressional districts. The political branches of the state and federal governments are assigned to deal with the inherently value-laden politics of drawing district lines. These include criteria for measuring unconstitutional excesses in the common practices of “cracking” (dispersing one party’s voters across districts dominated by the other party) and “packing” (one party concentrating the other party’s voters into supermajorities in a few districts). And the political science professoriate stands ready to eagerly tutor the court about “wasted votes” resulting from “efficiency gaps.” Today, people who are unhappy about North Carolina’s gerrymandering argue (as a lower court did) that “the Constitution does not authorize state redistricting bodies to engage in ... partisan gerrymandering.” (Emphasis added.) The Constitution is silent regarding limits on state legislatures’ partisan redistricting practices and is explicit regarding Congress’ exclusive power to modify these practices.

Everyone who is interviewed about the shutdown on Fox, CNN, NBC and elsewhere says the same predictable things over and over. If a Democrat is asked, they blame President Donald Trump and Republicans. You already know by now nearly everything you’re going to see or hear in the future about the shutdown. It was the same bad TV movie starring politicians we’ve all seen in Washington, D.C. many times before. You knew every politician would go by the script, play to the cameras and pander to their party’s base — and they did. You know you can’t do a thing about ending the government shutdown or brokering a compromise deal between the Democrats and the president. Turn off the TV and talk radio for a few days. Don’t listen to the news. When you’re in the car, tune into to Y2 Country, the Highway or the Bridge on Sirius XM. The sad truth is, in the age of Trump, jokes and humor of any kind are getting harder to find — or tell.

Mike DeWine has a large family, long political career and some priorities for the state. The suburban Cincinnati Republican has filed to run for the Ohio House in 2020, hoping to return to Columbus for a second go-around in her political career. "Last summer, I received a call from a prominent Columbus Republican asking me to come back. Their support would be critical, especially if Schmidt ends up having a primary opponent. Amid the cloud of an ethical issue stemming from her relationship with a Turkish-American interest group, Schmidt was unceremoniously ousted in the 2012 GOP primary by tea party-backed political newbie Brad Wenstrup. Schmidt is not on Facebook or Twitter, but acknowledged she'll likely have to have a social media presence in the upcoming campaign. For nearly a decade, Schmidt has volunteered with City Gospel Mission's Flying Pig Marathon training program. She's gotten to know Cincinnati attorney David Singleton of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. Patterson maintained that she was wrongfully convicted for the 1994 shooting death of a 15-year-old girl in Dayton, Ohio. Some call her "Mean Jean."

Buzz has centered on Cranley running for Hamilton County prosecutor in 2020 if Republican Joe Deters decides not to run for re-election. More PX: See why Dems' tax hike might hurt Aftab Pureval in congressional race Cranley, who's term-limited in 2021, had given serious thought to running for prosecutor. The Republicans for years have used the prosecutor's office as a farm system to prepare attorneys to run for judicial seats. • Reds, Bengals and FC Cincinnati officials aren't talking publicly about a proposal to raise the admissions tax made by Democratic City Councilmen P.G. Brinkman has raised $34,000 this year. • The Toledo Blade editorial board called for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to re-do the investigation into a sexual harassment complaint filed against state Rep. Bill Seitz of Green Township. DeWine's office hired a private firm to conduct the investigation. Seitz, who was cleared by the investigation, left the firm in 2014. • This was a "taxing" week in Hamilton County and Cincinnati. Politics Extra is a column looking inside Greater Cincinnati and Ohio politics.