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Republican state senators who want a louder voice for the minority party are working on a pair of competing plans for changing the way Ohio's future congressional districts will be drawn.
Both plans give increased power to the minority party and take some of the politics out of the current redistricting system.
"Nobody can defend the system that we have now," said state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, who is spearheading a committee to build consensus on wholesale reform of the structure for drawing congressional lines, including recasting the powerful apportionment board and developing clearer criteria for establishing districts.
Husted, the former House speaker, has pushed election reform since successfully fighting a package of reform initiatives - the Reform Ohio Now campaign - that voters defeated in 2005.
"I think we really have an opportunity at this point in our state's history before the next election to come to consensus on something that's fair," he said. "Most reasonable minds recognize we have to come up with something better than the current hyperpartisan process we have now, where the politicians pick the voters rather than the voters picking the politicians."
Meanwhile, GOP Sens. Kevin Coughlin and Gary Cates introduced a bill Tuesday that advances a separate proposal. It would add the minority leaders of both the Ohio House and Senate to the apportionment board.
"The power of the people will be increased, and the people's will will be reflected in the process of drawing the legislative lines," Coughlin said.
The apportionment board currently has five members, including the governor, state auditor and secretary of state. The fourth member is appointed by majority-party legislative leaders from the House and Senate and must be from the House Speaker's party. Minority-party leaders, which are now from opposing parties, appoint the fifth person. Under that scenario, Democrats would control at least three seats, maybe four, on the board.
The Coughlin-Cates proposal would include representatives of both parties from both chambers, giving Republicans a chance at controlling the board if they won the secretary of state's race in 2010.
Husted said there appears to be consensus among the group he's working with for a seven-member redistricting commission with a slightly different makeup. They have discussed placing House and Senate leaders of both political parties on the board and having those four members fill the other three seats.
The governor, auditor and secretary of state would not serve on the board under such a plan.
Coughlin, who is making a bid for governor in 2010, said his plan stands a better chance of succeeding with voters.
"This gives an opportunity for an even playing field and more fairness without taking a sledgehammer to the apportionment board itself and replacing it with something that's unaccountable to the people," he said.
Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action said the time may finally be ripe for Ohio to pass redistricting reform. She said the intense scrutiny given to recent elections and the fact that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will not seek re-election in 2010 put enough variables in play to make a difference.
"During difficult economic times, we look more closely at how accountable government is to us," she said. "And so we are at a point where voters are going to be asking for more from their government - more accountability, better representation. So this is really a good opportunity for voters."
A plan for redrawing congressional lines would come to voters before the end of 2010.
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