Saturday, December 17, 2011

Guest Column from State Representative Jim Buchy Partisan Politics Aside for a Single Primary and Savings for the Tax Payer

This past week, I voted in favor of Sub House Bill 369, which created one primary and settled the dispute over new congressional maps. Every 10 years Ohio lawmakers gather to draw new congressional district lines, a process undertaken by leadership in the General Assembly. I have been a part of this process twice before. Never have I witnessed the minority party create as much havoc and confusion at the drawing table as they did during this year. However, Wednesday night we finally gained enough support from the minority party to settle on a bill and hold only one primary. I commend my colleagues who had the courage to stand against their party and support the map that has fair lines and increases African American and other minority representation.

The reason for two primaries and all this confusion goes back to a deal that was made this fall between the minority and majority to push the primary back to May. At the last minute, minority leadership pulled out of that deal, which led to the eventual chaos.

I fundamentally oppose holding two separate primaries. Two primaries would result in reduced voter turnout and an expense to tax payers of $15 million. The other side backed us against a wall with a choice of two primaries or disenfranchising our military voters. In that situation, it was a difficult, but necessary decision to vote in favor of two primaries. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to support one primary election. Many good statesmen from both sides of the aisle put aside their differences and did the right thing for Ohioans.

This agreement provides a map with more compact congressional districts and one primary on March 6th. The primary held on March 6th will align Ohio with Super Tuesday, a day when presidential primaries are held across the country. To cut down on confusion and costs, anyone who filed for the March 6th primary by the December 7th deadline will be on the March 6th primary ballot. In addition, the US Senate race, Presidential race, and the Congressional races will have another deadline 11 days from the signing of the new redistricting bill.

The map provides a slight change to our local congressional districts. Preble County and Darke County will still be part of District 8, a seat currently held by Speaker Boehner. This district will include Butler, Clark, Darke, Miami, and Preble counties. Mercer County will be split into three congressional districts that converge at Grand Lake St. Marys. District 5, currently represented by Congressman Latta, will cover most portions of northwest Ohio and will include over 50 percent of the land territory in Mercer County including Celina. District 4, currently represented by Congressman Jordan will extend from Lorain and Sandusky counties to Champaign and Shelby counties. The district includes Allen and Union counties. It includes Franklin Township and Grand Lake St. Marys in Mercer County. District 8 currently held by Congressman Boehner will include the southern portion of Mercer County including Coldwater.

The new map is favorable to our region. Although a single congressional district in Mercer County would be less confusing, the new three-congressmen approach will benefit the overall well being of Grand Lake St. Marys. It will provide access to increased federal resources and it will strengthen agriculture. The biggest advantage of the new map is that it avoids two primaries and saves the taxpayers money. As your state representative, I will continue to look for ways to avoid government waste and keep your taxes low.

15 comments:

  1. So glad Mr. Buchy is protecting Ohioans from the "evil democrats" who are trying to prevent the "saviour" Republicans from creating jobs & saving us money! Having two primaries would have been ridiculous & a waste of money. So it is good both parties agreed to having only one. That is common sense, isn't it?

    I am so tired of both parties pointing fingers & blaming the other for all that is bad in our county/state/country. At least I can sleep at night knowing the majority party (the republicans) in Ohio are looking out for my best interests, creating jobs & redistricting the state to their own political adavantage. ;)

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  2. Well Jim, you certainly put a "spin" on this debacle. Yes, it's good that there will not be two primaries with the expense to taxpayers. The reason that two were going to be required was due to the outrageous Republican gerrymandering that was actually done by John Boehner's office, not by the Ohio Republican leaders according to law. All of you rubber-stamped this plan and the rest is history. But you have succeeded in your dastardly deeds. The State of Ohio, which is a 50-50 split between R's and D's, as proven by its "swing" status in the presidential election, is now by your tampering a state with 3 times as many Republican Congressmen as Democrats. Yes, what you've done is good for Republicans, just don't try to pass it off as being good for Ohio.

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  3. If the two previous posteres can do so much better, why not run for a public office yourself? If you have all the answers, and can really help me, Joe Public, out so very much with your wisdom.... then represent me!

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  4. If there was "outrageous" gerrymandering, why did the democrats agree to a map they previously rejected last September? The ridiculous district that follows Lake Erie from Cleveland to Toledo is still there, and the democrats just agreed to it. The democrats gerrymandered!

    If the process is so flawed, why did the democrats refuse Republicans offers to reform the process in 2010? Republicans - knowing they were probably going to win in 2010 - offered to change the process beforehand, and the democrats refused to have the discussion. Why did they refuse that discussion? You should ask them.

    The dems lost the elections in 2010. They couldn't get the signatures for their referendum. They didn't think they'd win the litigation. And so they folded. They lost ... bad. And it didn't have to be that way.

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  5. I'll be there for Mr Buchy as much as he was there for me and other public employees during the SB 2 debate.

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  6. Anyway you slice it, we are still stuck with Boehner!

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  7. Mr. Buchy,
    Many people are sore with you because of your stand for issue 2. One of the next big issues people will have with you is your stand on gass drilling in ohio. I am all for more employment in ohio but I'm against ruining our water systems with the fracturing system. It has been proven by epa studies in one area in another state to ruin water supplies. No one can live with out good water. I hope this issue becomes a subject people care about to stop the process in our area from comming here. I know you don't care about our water and it's all about money to the state house. I all so reallize your just a messenger and don't make the decissions, you just support any thing they say. Remember you were appointed to your position and you will not get my vote next time around.

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  8. Gotta laugh at some of the comments from people who have absolutely no clue as to much of anything political other than trying to figure out if it was an "R" or a "D" idea.

    SB5/Issue 2 - I don't want to, but I can't help but laugh as I read a new story every week about how public employees are losing their jobs because of the failure of issue 2. I feel bad for all the younger employees who were thrown under the bus by older union workers who showed their true colors. Co-worker's kid had a full-time job lined up for next school year, but the failure of Issue 2 and the job is no more. Public unions pulled the wool over the eyes of Ohioans and people are too dumbfounded to realize what went on. It wasn't even a question that issue 2 HAD to pass to more or less save the state, yet the magic talking screen told them to vote no, so they did. Now they can't figure out why their job is being eliminated! Go figure!

    And redistricting - think about it. EVERY state redistricts according to incumbents. Some have methods in place as to HOW they redistrict according to incumbents, but they ALL will make every effort to pit as few incumbents against each other as possible in order to look out for not only the interests of the people in the FORMER district, but to look out for the interests of the state itself because you WANT more seasoned congressmen at the national level, if possible. Do people want the entire city of Cleveland parsed into like 6 districts in an effort to gain more Democrat seats? Well, would folks in Darke County like being represented by some inner-city representative from Cleveland because of an effort to ensure more Democrat seats? Mind you, there are two pretty crazy districts, but they follow the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court as to what is legal. The R's essentially saved the state MILLIONS by agreeing to revamp the map even after it appeared the D's didn't have the signatures to get the issue on the ballot for a referendum.

    Reading DJ is pretty entertaining if only because it shows how out of touch with what is going on most people are. But, then again, if a common understanding of basic issues were required to read and comment on DJ, the Facebook following may be merely a few hundred...if that.

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  9. Dems were supposed to balance the budget before Strickland got out. They saw the huge budget hole and refused to do it. Dems refused to pass a bill for a board to handle redistricting instead of turning it partisan.

    Now they complain?

    And people wonder why Dems are associated with half wit morons who want nothing more than free handouts? Ohio's Democrats screwed themselves with their own stupidity. I don't feel sorry for them.

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  10. Hey 12:44, how many free handouts do you get?

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  11. He doesn't get free handouts. On his side of the aisle they call themselves "job creators" so all the subsidies are justified. It's not the same thing as us lowlifes.

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  12. Comments like 2:57 and 3:46 just prove the point that Ohio is headed in the wrong direction with attitudes by liberals against moving forward from one of the worst governor's in the state's history and a completely ineffective democrat majority that refused to work under a balanced budget. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we have to support them with our tax dollars. Thankfully we put Republicans back in charge in order to close the budget gap the state faced due to the cowardice of democrats to make the necessary cuts to meet their legal obligations.

    Pathetic. Simply pathetic.

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  13. 7:34 - Thank goodness you are here to save us from ourselves. After all, only the dems spent us into oblivion. Only the repubs can produce great people like Reagan who never introduced a balanced budget in all his 8 years as president but is considered as a great fiscal conservative. Only the repubs support us with their taxes, which are at the lowest level for the top 1 % in history while the middle class sees their buying power diminish. Only they can cut the budget, unless it would give Obama a victory then forget it. Only they will stop any tax hike, except when it comes to payroll taxes. Yes, thank you so much for having pity on us ignorant souls.

    People like 7:34 prove PT Barnum right. There is a fool born every minute.

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  14. Actually I don’t give a hoot whether they are democrats or republicans! They all seem to be career politicians anymore and really do not care about this country and its citizens. They all argue & bicker that they accomplish, absolutely, nothing except draw their pay and health benefits. What laws and policies they do impose on us, never involve them. They can not even come up with a budget, let alone one that is balanced. They spend more time trying to get re-elected than they do working. Back years ago, the Democrat Party was for the working person and the Republican Party was for Big Business… Now the Democrats seem to be for the welfare persons and the Republicans seem to be for the ultra-rich… heck there is no party looking out for the working American… it’s no wonder small groups like the tea parties and the wall street protesters are cropping up all over the place.

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  15. It really makes no difference if a politician is a Republican or Democrat because whatever either accomplishes is either bad or meaningless. It then makes sense for any thinking person to neither elevate those of his party or trash those of the other. The real idiots are those that sing the virtues of either side, and a couple of them have posted on this article.

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