To the editor:
On Nov. 7, Ohio voters passed Issues One and Two, enshrining the right to abortion access into the state's Constitution, and legalizing recreational marijuana use. This happened despite hyperbolic fearmongering from opponents of both measures. Yet already we're seeing knee-jerk reactionary efforts by right-wing politicians intent on reigning back access to recreational pot and reproductive health care.
The day after the measures passed, Gov. Mike Dewine said, "People will decide if they are comfortable with what we voted on, or they will decide that it maybe needs to be changed or tweaked."
By "people" he was referring to the following promise made by Ohio's Republican lawmakers: "Ohio (Republican) legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this … ballot initiative. The (GOP-controlled) Ohio Legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws."
That's right, Republicans in Ohio don't give a damn how we-the-people voted. They intend to impose their self-righteous will over the clearly spoken voice of Ohio's citizens on both issues despite having lost in landslide referendums.
And this isn't the first time. Ohio Republicans have a long history of ignoring the will of their constituency. For example, in 1998 Ohioans voted to make gerrymandering -- the practice of stacking friendly voters into the boundaries of a voting district to help assure future wins -- illegal. In response, Republicans in charge of drawing new districts simply continued the practice, riding out the clock, submitting one loaded map after the other, each of which was rejected in turn, until time expired and we had to use the most recent submission. This is why one of the least effective and most despised members of Congress keeps getting re-elected. The map of Jim Jordan's district looks like a duck with a broken neck.
Heck, they don't even care about their own rules if they're inconvenient. Just this August, in an effort to block Issue One's passage, Republicans called a special election to repeal a Constitutional referendum (one passed by the citizens of Ohio a century earlier) to increase the number of votes needed to amend the state Constitution from a simple majority to a supermajority of more than 60 percent. They did this despite having themselves banned August special elections earlier the same year.
And then there's the recreational weed question. Clearly Ohioans want grass laws to be treated exactly as we handle our alcohol laws. That's why we passed this issue but defeated a different one in 2015 which would have established monopolies on who and where jazz-cabbage could be sold. So how did the legislature deal with that defeat? The governor crafted a law that did pretty much exactly what we voted against, and the Legislature gave it a rubber stamp. Obviously, if Ohioans were happy with this status quo, we wouldn't have brought and passed this new measure.
Ohio voters have spoken, and our will should not be denied by pious Napoleons in Columbus. Watch their actions and remember -- remember the seventh of November.
J. David Core
Toronto