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DE L AWARE COUNT Y VOTERS’ GUIDE 2012
•SUNBURY A PAR TICULAR LOCATION — Sunday Sales (11 a.m.-Midnight) — Wine and Mixed Beverages & Spirituous Liquor •Tepic, LLC dba Mi Sombrero Grill, 488 W. Cherry St. Sunbury, OH 43074
STATEWIDE BALLOT ISSUES •ISSUE 1: Question presented pursuant to Article XVI, Section 3 of the Constitution of the State of Ohio (Required to be presented to the voters every 20 years)
out the approval of the General Assembly. •Opponents of holding a constitutional convention argue that: 1. The Ohio General Assembly should propose revisions as recommended by the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. 2. Special interests may dominate the convention. •ISSUE 2: Proposed constitutional amendment to create a state funded commission to draw legislative and congressional districts (Proposed by Initiative Petition) •To revise Sections 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13, repeal Sections 8 and 14, and add a new Section 16 to Article 11 of the Ohio Constitution.
•A YES vote means approval of holding a constitutional convention.
•A YES vote means approval of the amendment.
•A NO vote means disapproval of holding a constitutional convention.
•A NO vote means disapproval of the amendment.
A majority YES vote is required to hold a constitutional convention.
A majority YES vote is required for the amendment to be adopted.
•League Explanation of Issue 1: Under the Ohio Constitution, ever y 20 years voters are asked: ”Shall there be a convention to revise, alter, or amend the constitution?” If voters decide in favor of the constitutional convention, the General Assembly will make provisions concerning electing delegates for a convention to revise, amend or change the Ohio Constitution. The delegates to the constitutional convention may agree on amendments, which must be approved by the voters before taking effect. A constitutional convention was last held in 1911.
If approved, the proposed amendment will take effect 30 days after the election.
•Proponents of holding a constitutional convention argue that: 1. Portions of the Ohio Constitution should be revised and the General Assembly has not acted to revise them. 2. Holding a constitutional convention will permit citizens to place amendments before the voters with-
•League Explanation of Issue 2: The amendment would create a 12person commission to draw legislative and congressional districts. Final legislative and congressional districts are to be those that most-closely meet four criteria: preser ving whole communities; maximizing the number of competitive districts; balancing the number of districts leaning toward one party or another to closely match the state’s political leaning; and keeping districts compact. No map is to be adopted with intent to favor a political party, incumbent or potential candidate. At least seven votes would be required to approve the districts. All meetings and records would be public. If approved, new districts would be drawn for the 2014 election. Any eligible Ohioan could apply to be a commission member., Specified elected office holders, can-
didates, political party officials, paid lobbyists and public employees and family members would be ineligible. A panel of 8 state appeals-court judges would accept applications and pick 42 potential members, divided evenly among Democrats, Republicans and Ohio voters unaffiliated with either major party. The House speaker and minority leader could reduce the list to 24. From that pool, a random drawing would select 3 people from each party, and 3 unaffiliated members. Those 9 people would select the final 3 members, one from each major party and one unaffiliated member. •Proponents of the proposed amendment argue that: 1. The proposal is a common sense reform towards fixing a broken system. 2. It would reduce the extreme partisanship that makes compromise difficult. 3. The drawing of congressional and legislative district lines needs to be more accountable, transparent and balanced. 4. Politicians and special interests would not be able to rig the system to their advantage. •Opponents of the proposed amendment argue that: 1. Redistricting should not be put in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. 2. Commission members would not have requirements about ethics and financial disclosure and could not be removed. 3. The commission would have unlimited funding. 4. Most Ohioans would be prohibited from serving on the panel based on rigid eligibility rules. Websites •In support of the proposed amendment: votersfirstohio.com (Voters First)
•In opposition to the proposed amendment: protectyour voteohio.com (Protect Your Vote)
STATE RACES U.S. SENATE SHERROD BROWN Party: Democratic Address: 340 East Fulton St. Columbus Occupation: United States Senator; educator Education: 1974, Yale B.A.; 1979, Ohio State M.A., Education; 1981, Ohio State M.A., Public Administration. Qualifications for Office: United States Senator 2007-present; United States Representative 1993-2007; Ohio Secretary of State, 1983-1991; Ohio State Representative, 19751983
JOSH MANDEL Party: Republican Address: 50 W. Broad St., Suite 1900, Columbus Occupation: State Treasurer Education: B.A., The Ohio State University, 2000; J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 2003 Qualifications for Office: City of Lyndhurst, Ohio, City Councilman, (2004-2006); State Representative (District 17), (2007-2010); State Treasurer, (2011-present), Intelligence Specialist and Intelligence Chief, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve and active duty time 2000-2008), including two tours.
W i t h s t r on g p r es s u r e to re d u c e e x p en di t u r e s , w h e r e w o u l d y o u m a ke s i g n i fi c a n t c u t s i n t h e f ed e r a l b u d g e t? I n c re as e s ? •SHERROD BROWN: While I oppose cutting benefits for Ohioans who rely on Social Security and Medicare, I support several approaches to reducing spending: allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices; reform farm programs to save $23 billion, and end $20 billion in subsidies to oil companies reaping huge