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Leader of Ohio House Democrats says they have tried to comply with redistricting law

 Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington)
Daniel Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington)

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the elected officials on the Ohio Redistricting Commission to appear in person Tuesday for a hearing on why they shouldn’t be held in contempt for not passing legislative maps by the court’s deadline of February 17. The leader of minority Democrats in the Ohio House says she isn’t apprehensive about it.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) says she and Democratic commission co-chair Sen. Vernon Sykes proposed maps that were rejected by Republican commissioners.

“We have made multiple attempts to work together as a commission to pass constitutional maps so I feel good about having those discussions in front of the justices and presenting that to the court but I do not think they are going to look favorably on the work this commission has done in the past couple of days,” Russo says.

Republican Justices Sharon Kennedy and Pat Fischer oppose the hearing, and Justice Pat DeWine has recused himself because his father, Gov. Mike DeWine, could face consequences if found in contempt. Those 3 of the 7 justices disagreed with the majority of the Ohio Supreme Court that has twice struck down maps submitted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.

Copyright 2022 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.