Schwarzenegger Enters Debate Over Redistricting in Ohio
October 18, 2005
By DEAN E. MURPHY
nytimes.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 17 - Separate ballot measures in California and Ohio to remove lawmakers from the drawing of legislative districts have been dogged by accusations that they are essentially partisan power grabs.
Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, hopes to counter those claims by throwing his weight behind the Ohio measure, even though no prominent Republican elected official in that state has done so and many Republican lawmakers there are raising money to defeat it.
A campaign aide to Mr. Schwarzenegger, Darrel Ng, said Monday that the governor endorsed the Ohio measure, known on the Nov. 8 ballot as Issue 4, though he has not said so publicly. A top supporter of the measures in both states said Mr. Schwarzenegger would participate in a series of public events this week to signal his stance.
"He has agreed to do it," said the supporter, Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, a watchdog group that is pushing for redistricting changes in more than a dozen states, including California and Ohio.
Ms. Pingree appeared Monday in San Jose with Mr. Schwarzenegger at a campaign stop on behalf of the California measure, Proposition 77. She said Mr. Schwarzenegger's willingness to break ranks with Ohio Republicans on the measure demonstrated that "this is the same issue in different states and though the political players change, incumbent politicians don't want to change the system no matter where they are."
Republicans, including Mr. Schwarzenegger, have been the main supporters of the measure in California, which effectively singles out a legislature controlled by Democrats who have been uncooperative with the governor's agenda.
In Ohio, where Republicans dominate the statehouse, Democrats and unions led the effort to qualify Issue 4 and several other election-related initiatives for the vote next month.
Though neither redistricting measure is worded to give one party an advantage, the practical consequences would be to make incumbents less secure because the power of drawing new districts would be given to outside commissions.
In California, a panel of three retired judges would draw the maps, and in Ohio, a commission of five citizens would get the job. Public opinion polls show the measures trailing in both states.
David L. Hopcraft, a spokesman for the Ohio First Education Fund, a group founded by Republicans opposed to the redistricting and other initiatives, said he doubted that Mr. Schwarzenegger's involvement would sway voters.
"I think one of the things that Ohioans are really sure about is they don't want to be governed like California," Mr. Hopcraft said. "He is a Republican leader, but I guess the real point is, that state is so different from our state."
Supporters of the Ohio ballot measures, however, point to Mr. Schwarzenegger's unusually high profile in Ohio, where he has real estate holdings and is the host of an annual bodybuilding competition. Last year, President Bush called on Mr. Schwarzenegger to campaign with him in that closely contested state during the final stretch of the presidential campaign.
Keary McCarthy, a spokesman for Reform Ohio Now, the main group behind the Ohio measures, said supporters would hold a news conference on Wednesday in Columbus, during which other Californians involved in Proposition 77 would endorse the Ohio measure and the Ohio group, in turn, would endorse Proposition 77.
The endorsement of Proposition 77 by Reform Ohio Now, which has strong backing by labor unions, will raise hackles in California, where organized labor is firmly behind Democratic efforts to oppose all of Mr. Schwarzenegger's ballot measures. But redistricting supporters said the move would offer further proof that redistricting should transcend party politics.
"If we can illustrate our efforts are truly of a bipartisan nature," Mr. McCarthy said, "it will significantly improve our chances of winning on Election Day."
Bill Mundell, a Republican who leads one of the committees in California that advocates passage of Proposition 77, said the decision to cross-endorse with the Ohio groups was "a calculated gamble" for Republicans in California, some of whom already oppose the measure.
"It is worth the risk," Mr. Mundell said, "to demonstrate that this thing can rise above basic and knee-jerk partisanship."
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