(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)
Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done and where if you go down in the flood, it's gonna be your fault.
We begin in Ohio, where there is mischief and ratfcking afoot again. The state has a grossly gerrymandered state legislature and congressional delegation, and it has been fighting over new maps since shortly after Ulysses Grant left Galena to go off and fight the Secesh. The latest front in the ongoing hostility involves a summary of an anti-gerrymandering amendment to the Ohio Constitution, an amendment that is scheduled to come before the voters this fall. Democratic leaders in Ohio believe that the summary, written up by the Ohio Ballot Board under the direction of Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, is misleading in that it explains the amendment will do the opposite of what it is intended to do. A lawsuit has ensued. From the Ohio Capital Journal:
“The ballot language does not mislead, deceive or defraud voters as to the substance of the amendment either,” claimed Julie Pfeiffer, deputy attorney general, in court documents. Pfeiffer defended the summary language written by LaRose and his staff, saying paragraphs such as the one that states the amendment would “eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts” are statements that tell voters “precisely what the Amendment would do.”
“The Amendment would replace these accountable elected officials (on the Ohio Redistricting Commission) with a commission consisting entirely of appointed members,” Pfeiffer argued to the court. “And, indeed… they would not be accountable to anyone other than themselves, because they could not be removed except by the commission itself.”
We needn't go into the details of the two-year battle against the rigging of the political maps. Suffice it to say that the Ohio Supreme Court did everything but send the Republican majority in the state legislature to bed without its supper.
Under the current process, the commission spent two years going back and forth on maps, adopting a grand total of six Statehouse district maps and two congressional district maps. Five of the six Statehouse maps were approved by the Republican majority only, and those five were all ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered by the Ohio Supreme Court. Both congressional maps were also found to be unconstitutional.
In that context, the arguments made in favor of the summary of the proposed amendment sound less like a fair-minded explanation and more like a campaign document in favor of the status quo. Yes, the amendment would "replace these accountable elected officials" with an appointed citizen board. That's the whole damn point. The Accountable Elected Officials have spent two years making a hash of the whole process for the purpose of derailing any reform at all.
By the way, the indefatigable folk at Bolts Magazine have put together an invaluable guide to the 12 states that will be choosing their next elections jefes this fall. (These are mostly elections for Secretaries of State, but Utah invests that power in its lieutenant governor, god knoweth why.) Here's the top line of the survey:
In some of these states, including Missouri, Oregon, and Vermont, a candidate is once again running who has clearly embraced false conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. They’ve proposed taking drastic actions such as ending mail-in voting.
Oh, Christ, no. I'm fairly sure that neither Oregon nor Vermont will go down this rabbit hole, but I have no confidence in Missouri, which has gone to the zoo over the past several years.
In other states, such as New Hampshire or Utah, the office is unlikely to fall into the hands of an election denier. But even these races can be critical to the shape of democracy. Secretaries of state or the equivalent official often design voter outreach programs, or set policies that can make voter registration easy or difficult. They can also champion new election legislation or maneuver to stall ballot initiatives.
Also, in Maine, the state legislature chooses the secretary of state who, at present, is Democrat Shenna Bellows, who got famous when she tried to keep the former president* off the state's ballot, as the 14th Amendment clearly provides. If the GOP flips the legislature, then Bellows is probably gone. My favorite among the nutballs is probably GOP incumbent Mac Warner in West Virginia. He thinks the CIA stole the 2020 election. He is backing his brother, Kris, to succeed him. Any jokes about incestuous politics are culturally offensive.
In Georgia, the backlash to the backlash over the horrific death of Amber Thurman is being led by some medical professional who choose to blame the drugs rather than the obvious chilling effect of the state's new anti-choice restrictions on Georgia doctors. Dr. Christina Francis, a longtime anti-choice activist, and one of the people behind a move to get the Supreme Court to restrict access to mifepristone, chimed in with an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in which she essentially blames the FDA for Thurman's death. Expect to hear more of this as the weeks go on.
(The Supreme Court threw out the case brought by Francis and her fellow busybodies, ruling that they lacked standing to bring the action which, judging by the performance of this particular Court, means that the Court was signaling that a case be brought by someone whom the Court could grant standing.)
And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Grit Surveyor Friedman of the Plains brings us a tale of police violence that beggars belief. From nondoc:
More than two years after she sustained a broken nose, seven broken ribs and a broken foot in an altercation with a state trooper during a traffic stop, Nancy Kemp pleaded no contest to a pair of charges this week in exchange for two other counts being dropped.
I think I speak for the whole class when I say, WTF????????
Cox had asked Kemp to sit in the passenger seat of his cruiser for questioning, and when he suddenly put the car in reverse to make room for a field sobriety test, Kemp protested. She reached for her belongings in an attempt to exit the vehicle, and Cox grabbed her. As they struggled and argued, he followed her out of the passenger-side door and onto the ground. In his report, Cox said Kemp resisted arrest and refused to comply with his requests. He said he struck her in the face five times with a knee and an elbow...While the disposition of Kemp’s case was far from extraordinary, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol dash-cam recording of the traffic stop raised questions about Cox’s actions, OHP’s lack of body cameras and exactly what happened during the altercation on the side of the highway.
Illegal use of high beams. I'm surprised they didn't call in SWAT. But it seems the officer on the scene had things well in hand. And in knee. And in elbow.
Cox had asked Kemp to sit in the passenger seat of his cruiser for questioning, and when he suddenly put the car in reverse to make room for a field sobriety test, Kemp protested. She reached for her belongings in an attempt to exit the vehicle, and Cox grabbed her. As they struggled and argued, he followed her out of the passenger-side door and onto the ground. In his report, Cox said Kemp resisted arrest and refused to comply with his requests. He said he struck her in the face five times with a knee and an elbow.
Don't worry, though. Justice has triumphed.
Laura Thomas, the district attorney for Logan and Payne counties, said in a statement Thursday night that prosecutors are happy with the outcome of Kemp’s case.“She received the same recommended sentence to the court that all other first-time like offenders received,” she said. “What’s important is that we have held her accountable.” Kemp’s no contest plea means she did not admit or deny guilt, but Thomas argued that the plea also means Kemp believes there is enough evidence for a jury to convict her. “Her behavior during the crime can’t be tolerated,” Thomas said. “She was a danger to herself, to her fellow citizens unfortunate enough to be on the road with her, and she was a clear danger to the trooper.”
DA Thomas has a real future in Oklahoma politics, I'm thinking.
This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.
