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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 [1]

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 [2]

The nice compact 1990 OH-3 map

So instead of moving back to a sane, functional district [3], 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 [4].

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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John Ise

This cries for a national movement.  Join American’s for Redistricting Reform at http://americansforredistrictingreform.org/

Play the interactive “game” here:
http://www.redistrictinggame.org/index.php

Bubba Jones

>>> It also leans Republican, just like almost all SW Ohio congressional districts. <<<
 
OMG!!!  That’s horrible!!  Something HAS to be done about this!!

djw

Chillicothe is a media market?

J Dziwulski

THey should start with Montgomery County and build the district around the county by adding suburban areas like Beavercreek, Fairborn, Springboro, etc…and/or expand it north to take in Miami County.  They should set up the district like the districts around Louisville and Lexington, which make sense from a regional and socioeconomic POV, particularly the district around Lexington, which addresses the fact that that city is the heart of an economic region that reaches into rural areas.  You could make a very similar case with Dayton and the surrounding Miami Valley (Preble, Darke, Miami, Shelby, Greene counties) . 

If the county was to be divided up it would make more sense to redistrict the Butler/Warren County areas into Boehners district, or if you have to split the county add Washington and Miami Twp to Boehners district since they are becoming more oriented to Cincy/I-75 corridor.  I think this is how it used to be back when McEwen was Congressman. back in the late 1980s.

Yeah, I can understand the commission not wanting to split up the county even more than it is, but they should be lobbying not for the status quo but for a more sensible centered on Montgomery County. 

 

Hall

“Chillicothe is a media market?”

News to me !