Days of talks on changing the way the state’s Congressional map is drawn broke down this week with no agreement. And time is growing short for lawmakers who are considering taking their plan to voters in May, but want support from citizens' groups who have their own plan to present to voters in November. As Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles reports, it’s been a tough week for negotiations with lots of controversy.
The issue of who draws the Congressional map and how has been around for decades. Mike Curtin followed redistricting for years as a reporter and then a former associate publisher of the Columbus Dispatch and the author of the Ohio Politics Almanac, and also as a two term Democratic state lawmaker from Columbus, choosing not to run for re-election in 2016.
Gov. John Kasich covered a lot of ground at a forum for journalists sponsored by the Associated Press this week - he talked about redistricting, jobs, the economy, the opioid crisis and his future plans.
That AP forum concluded with a view of the upcoming election year from representatives from Ohio’s two major political parties – Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper, and former Republican Party chair Kevin DeWine, who stood in for current chair Jane Timken.