Montgomery County Commissioners on OH-3: sanity check

The 2000 OH-3 map showing gerrymandering across 4 counties

The 2000 OH-3 map showing gerrymandering across 4 counties

When the 3rd Congressional district was last gerrymandered as it was passed from Tony Hall to Mike Turner by the powers that be, it went from a compact, reasonable district that roughly matched Montgomery County boundaries to a sprawling mess that looks like a monkey with an etch-a-sketch tried to draw something and it was superimposed across SW Ohio.

The current district, which so oddly was carved around Mike Turner’s former home on Huffman Avenue, now requires a candidate to buy media in 4 markets to reach all the voters (yep- Dayton, Cincy, Columbus and Chillicothe),

1990 version of OH-3 map

The nice compact 1990 OH-3 map

So instead of moving back to a sane, functional district, our three “Democratic County Commissioners” Dodge, Foley and Lieberman, apparently like handing off the Third to Mr. Turner according to today’s Dayton Daily News:

Montgomery County leaders made a plea to Gov. John Kasich to keep the 3rd Congressional District intact with no further split as part of the redistricting process.

In the last redistricting in 2001, Montgomery County was divided, with about 22 percent going into the 8th District and the remainder being retained in the 3rd District, Commission President Debbie Lieberman and Commissioners Judy Dodge and Dan Foley wrote in an Aug. 15 letter to the governor.

“Any further split or splits could have a devastating impact on Montgomery County and the city of Dayton,” the letter stated. “…We strongly believe that our county and our citizens are best served when represented predominantly by one member of Congress who is able to focus on the totality of our community.”

via Commissioners urge Kasich to preserve 3rd District.

As someone who has run for the seat, I can tell you that it’s an incredibly difficult district to canvass and cover. It also leans Republican, just like almost all SW Ohio congressional districts.

For the County Commissioners NOT to be lobbying to return to something more manageable should make one think about their own suitability for office, before re-electing any of them.

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