COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The business community in Ohio is divided on the only statewide ballot issue in November, Issue 1, which has to do with redistricting.
Issue 1, brought forward by a group called Citizens Not Politicians, wants to create an independent redistricting commission of 15 Ohio citizens, rather than the current commission made up of seven politicians, which was adopted by voters in 2015.
A “yes” vote for Issue 1 will give the power of the pen to citizens; a “no” vote means to keep the redistricting system the way it is.
“When politicians are locked into being reelected, they're locked into power,” Business for Democracy Director Frank Knapp said. “They don't have to listen to everybody.”
“We don't think that Issue 1 is a panacea to achieve to either end political extremism or to achieve fair maps,” Senior VP at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Rick Carfagna said. “There are better ways to do it.”
Business for Democracy is endorsing a “yes” vote on Issue 1; the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is urging a “no” vote.
Carfagna said making a drastic change to the current system is too much, especially given the fact that it was created less than 10 years ago.
“Businesses across the state want a degree of certainty, of predictability in their day-to-day operations and so, taking a process that was approved by over 71% of the public, throwing it out, rather than amending it just creates a whole other level of uncertainty,” he said.
Carfagna said a drastic change could make businesses think twice before investing in Ohio.
“Businesses have the cost of doing business – things like rent, things like insurance, but then there's also cost of doing business that come from the government, things like taxes and fees, whether they're addressing infrastructure or public safety,” Carfagna said. “If you have now a brand-new process in place to create these maps to effect a change in the political climate of the state, they feel very uncertain.”
On the other side, Knapp said small businesses are seeing too much “dysfunction” with the current system.
“A strong democracy is essential for a vibrant entrepreneurial economy,” he said. “That's not what you get when you have gerrymandered districts that lock in a political party controlling state government. When legislative districts are gerrymandered, guaranteeing that one political party will win, those politicians don't need to listen to the views of all voters, including small businesses.”
Knapp said too many small business owners said their voices are not being heard by those at the statehouse.
“Small businesses find themselves not being able to get legislative efforts that they want, that are solving problems for all of Ohio and not just simply taking care of the special interest of the politicians,” he said.
Carfagna agreed that some change is needed to the process, but Issue 1 is not the way to do it.
“We think that there are ways that you can find a way to amend the process or look to other states and emulate what they're doing that's actually working rather than completely throwing this out,” Carfagna said.
Issue 1 creates a 15-person commission with five Republicans, five Democrats and five Independents, but Carfagna said it is not the non-partisan solution some think it is.
“If you have five Republicans, five Democrats, five independents, it’s very easy for either the Republican members to strike a deal with the independents or the Democrats to strike a deal with the independents and cut the other party out of the process all together,” he said.
Carfagna also said that the list of people who can actually sit on the redistricting commission that Issue 1 would create, if passed, is too narrow.
“We would question who exactly is going to fit the bill to serve on this commission and are they going to have the knowledge to do the job admirably,” he said.
Knapp said the Ohio Chamber takes that stance because he thinks it stands to benefit from a Republican supermajority in the Ohio House and Senate.
“They are the political powerbrokers,” he said. “They're the ones that actually have power in these current gerrymandered legislative districts. They're the ones who have the influence. They don't want to lose that by giving more power to the voters to decide who's actually going to represent them in the legislature.”
Carfagna denies this, saying the chamber has endorsed both Republicans and Democrats in this election cycle and that the organization’s “no” endorsement is not partisan. Plus, he said, the chamber does not always get its way either.
“We have a lot of things on our agenda that have been left on the table or ignored or not addressed to the extent that we would like,” Carfagna said.
