Ohioans for Fair Districts Launches Statewide Petition Effort to Repeal House Bill 319

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 1, 2011   Ohioans for Fair Districts Launches Statewide Petition Effort to Repeal House Bill 319 Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern Announces Campaign to Stop Republicans' Unfair, Gerrymandered Congressional Map COLUMBUS – Today, Ohioans for Fair Districts officially launched its statewide petition effort to repeal House Bill 319, the Republicans’ unfair, gerrymandered Congressional map. Chris Redfern, Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, announced the campaign at a press conference at Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters. Photographs of the press conference can be found by clicking here. These photos can be used for publication with a photo credit to "Ohio Democratic Party." Chairman Redfern's remarks follow: “Today, Ohioans for Fair Districts is launching a petition drive to repeal House Bill 319, the unfair, gerrymandered Congressional map. As you can see, the first batch of petitions has been printed and is ready for distribution across the state. We have no doubt in our ability to collect the number of signatures necessary to put this issue on the ballot. As you know, the Ohio Democratic Party was a proud partner with We Are Ohio in the petition effort that brought in 1.3 million signatures from Ohioans of all walks of life. Then, working with Fair Elections Ohio, ProgressOhio, Organizing for America and other organizations, our county Parties helped collect more than 318,000 signatures in six weeks and an additional 150,000 signatures in the following 17 days. While our top priority next Tuesday is to make sure Ohioans vote NO on Issue 2 to stop Senate Bill 5, we have asked our county Parties to send petition circulators to the highest-trafficked precincts in their respective counties. This approach will provide us with a boost as we kick-off the effort. Every petition circulator will be given a copy of the map proposed by the Republicans in order to show that map to potential signers. We have no doubt that once Ohioans see for themselves just how ridiculous this map is, that they will not hesitate to help us stop the map from being adopted. I, along with other members of the Ohioans for Fair Districts committee, made a commitment to Ohioans that we would work to give them a voice in the process of redistricting, because Republicans did not give them that voice. They rushed through the legislative process in just 48 hours an egregious map that was rated worse than any citizen-produced map. They left no time for public input, compromise or bipartisanship. The map was crafted behind closed doors for the sole purpose of protecting incumbent Republican members of Congress. The map is unacceptable to me and it is unacceptable to virtually every Ohioan who has taken a look at it, except those in the General Assembly who forced it on the people of Ohio. Although we are moving forward, it is not too late for Republicans to finally sit down with Democratic leaders and support a fair map that is competitive, that keeps together like communities and that protects minority representation – specifically the majority-minority district currently represented by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge. So far, Statehouse Republicans have not taken us seriously. I hope that when they see the picture of these petitions on Jo Ingles’ Twitter and in your respective newspapers, that they will. The strategy of Republican leaders thus far has been to waste 15 million dollars in taxpayer money to buy themselves more time in continuing to impose this unfair map on Ohio voters. While they have shown a willingness to reach out to members of the Democratic caucus for their votes on an emergency clause, they have not shown a willingness to fundamentally change the map in a way that reflects our state. We continue to welcome Statehouse Republicans to engage in a compromise. If a map is adopted that is fair, that is competitive, that keeps together like communities and that protects minority representation, we will end our petition drive. After all, our volunteers deserve the break – and all Ohioans deserve fair representation in Congress.” -30-