Yesterday’s Field Trip: Speaking Truth to Power

As I ate breakfast yesterday, preparing to take my kids to school, I had a quiet day planned.

But then I happened to see a schedule for the public hearings for Ohio’s redistricting commission as they push through a map even more gerrymandered than the current illegal one. Like most of Ohio, I hadn’t heard about the hearings. So when I saw there were only three in 5 days (including one on Yom Kippur), in very inaccessible locations and at very inconvenient times, my day quickly changed.

To my kids puzzled looks, I went back upstairs, shaved, and changed.

Because when it’s so obvious their goal is to keep the public as uninvolved as possible as they rig Ohio’s democracy for two more years, and when I had enough flexibility yesterday to get to the 10 a.m. hearing 90 miles away, I decided to personally stymie their cynical goal as best I could. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy a little road trip.

So after dropping the kids it school, I drove my truck those 90 miles to witness that, indeed, they had accomplished their goal of no one attending. There were far more state troopers, politicians and staff in the room than everyday Ohioans. (Here is one photo that captures what the large room looked like):

And all this made me decide that if I was going to be one of the speakers representing the millions of Ohioans who support democracy (I think there were 6 total speakers, versus the hundreds in 2021), I better say something that made them pay attention.

Which is why I started my testimony with a simple question, as you can watch in the video above 👆… (watch if you haven’t yet)…..

OK, maybe I drew out the question a little bit. But it’s a fair question. Actually, a key question, so I asked it again:

But then, assuming they wouldn’t answer my question, I went ahead and answered it myself:

I think it’s the answer most people would provide, don’t you?

Having offered that broader context, I politely challenged them to do better. To consider their legacies versus all the short-term considerations that drive most of today’s broken politics.

And I reminded them that they still have a choice to do better:

I told them that they could both stand with the people and create admirable legacies of having protected democracy and the rule of law at a key moment in Ohio’s history.

And, by the way, improve public outcomes as well:

I closed with a plea to them to reject the broken direction of our state, and burnish their legacies by doing the right thing:

So yes, I had a lot to get off my chest in front of the lawless body that has spent 2+ years destroying Ohio’s rule of law and democracy all at once.

I hope they listen.

I doubt they will.

Their looks and general silence as six Ohioans pleaded with them to stop destroying democracy gave all the assurance that the fix is in. And that the new, rigged map—cooked up behind closed doors—that we were all staring at in that empty hearing room…

…is going to be THE map rigging Ohio’s democracy for the next two years. Yes, it’s worse than the current, unconstitutional map.

But as another speaker predicted so eloquently, if they don’t listen to the people of Ohio as we ask for basic and constitutional representation, but instead move forward lawlessly once more, we will fix this process soon enough. As she said, “gerrymandering is itself a lameduck. The people see it.”

And the reform we will pass will start with making sure THEY are fired from it. Because even in the way they cynically scheduled and sited that hearing so that only six of us attended and spoke, the politicians have proven once again they can’t be trusted with the process of shaping and protecting Ohio’s democracy.

Thanks for watching, and thanks especially to my fellow Ohioans who made the trek to speak truth to power.

By the way, there are two more public hearings currently scheduled. Please attend if you can:

Never stop fighting for Democracy!