Ohio GOP lawmakers have abrupt change of heart about August elections: Capitol Letter

Abortion and politics

Abortion rights opponents and supporters demonstrate in Washington D.C. in this file photo. (Charles Thompson, PennLive files)PennLive files

Rotunda Rumblings

An August reversal: Four months ago, Statehouse Republicans purged most August elections from Ohio’s calendar and publicly criticized the off-season contests as playing a fast one on voters. Jake Zuckerman reports they’re now marching toward organizing an August 2023 special election that would make it harder for pro-choice organizers to amend Ohio’s constitution in November.

Dropping out: State Rep. David Dobos has resigned as vice chair of the Ohio House Higher Education Committee after cleveland.com found he falsely claimed to have graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the Columbus Republican also scrubbed the claim from his legislative and campaign websites.

Crossing guards: More than 100 rail crossings in 15 Ohio counties, including Summit, Medina and Lorain, will be getting safety upgrades. Peter Krouse reports that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved $1.7 million in enhancements on Wednesday. Of that amount, $517,000 will go toward installing LED lights at grade crossings on the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in Belmont, Huron, Jefferson, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties

Raphael resentenced: Three judges with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a lower court to resentence Columbus lobbyist John Raphael for his role in a bribery scheme. U.S. District Judge Michael Watson went inappropriately easily on the lobbyist, the appellate judges ruled, giving weight to things like Raphael’s age, medical condition, community ties, and Watson’s own “personal connections” to Raphael.

Normal guy: Former Niles-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is now writing a monthly “Dispatches from the Heartland” column for a website called “Liberal Patriot” in addition to his gig at a political nonprofit that promotes the natural gas industry called Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future. Ryan’s initial column said he will use the space to “offer an on-the-ground perspective on the opportunities and challenges we face to get this clean energy rollout right.” “We will know we have succeeded when workers in Ohio are driving with their children, listening to their favorite Springsteen song, and can point out the window and say, ‘You see all these electric vehicles? I built those for you,’” Ryan’s debut column says. It contains a link to a Substack profile for “Tim Ryan, Normal Guy.”

Railing at Norfolk Southern: Both of Ohio’s U.S. senators joined with Toledo Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a Wednesday letter that urged Norfolk Southern railroad CEO Alan Shaw to immediately pay to fix damage caused by an Oct. 8, 2022 derailment in Sandusky that spilled paraffin wax onto the roadway and surrounding area and caused damage to facilities including stormwater sewer infrastructure. “The Norfolk Southern derailments in Ohio have highlighted many known deficiencies in safety practices in the freight rail industry,” the Congress members wrote. “Norfolk Southern must take responsibility for the damages suffered by the City of Sandusky and its residents.”

No comment: Gov. Mike DeWine is letting the state’s (in)action on the death penalty speak for itself. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports that DeWine declined to comment on the latest effort to abolish the death penalty in Ohio, calling it an “age-old debate.” DeWine sponsored the current law as a state senator in 1981, but he told Kasler that “there’s been no executions in Ohio since I became governor. I don’t anticipate there will be.”

TikTok ban: A bill in the Ohio House would ban TikTok and other Chinese-owned mobile apps, such as WeChat, Weibo and Alipay from state-owned devices. The bill’s sponsors cite concerns about the Chinese government’s ability to access and spy on Americans, Ohio Capital Journal’s Nick Evans reports. DeWine signed an executive order banning the apps on state devices earlier this year.

Signed: DeWine on Wednesday signed into law House Bill 52, which reverses parts of a bill passed last year to streamline licensing for emergency medical services personnel. The previous bill only allowed accredited sites to offer EMS training, but many rural parts of Ohio don’t have access to such sites. HB52 repeals that requirement and once again allows assistant EMS chiefs to train emergency workers.

Open operations: The Ohio Board of Pharmacy on Wednesday awarded a certificate of operation to Green Releaf, a medical marijuana dispensary located at 3620 Germantown St. In Dayton. The board has now issued 71 approvals that allow the businesses to open their doors.

Five Questions

State Rep. Ismail Mohamed, a Columbus Democrat, is an attorney and a freshman state representative from Ohio House District 3:

1. What are your priorities in office?

“We just introduced our first piece of legislation ... regarding the increase in the (state’s) minimum wage ... to $15 an hour. ...There are several other pieces of legislation that I’m working on right now regarding affordable housing and, certainly, criminal justice reform. ... I’m currently working on possible legislation with Representative [Darnell] Brewer regarding trying to get undocumented people state IDs or driver’s licenses.”

2. A lot has been made in the press about you being one of the first two Somali-Americans to be elected to the Ohio legislature. What can you do, or what can the legislature do, to help Somali populations in Columbus and around the state?

“We have a lot of the same issues that other demographics have, in terms of employment, jobs, making sure that they are making a decent living, affordable housing. ...But there are some unique challenges ... in terms of integration, language access, language barriers, and just not having sort of the resources obviously that are often passed down from generations for a lot of the other demographics that have been here a lot longer.”

3. What led you to get involved in politics?

“As an attorney, you’re only helping that one client that’s in front of you. ...But you’ll start seeing that you’re getting ... different clients with the same issues that are coming to you, whether it’s housing, or employment issues, issues relating to immigration, workforce development, criminal justice issues. ... So, it made sense to get into the political side and run for office, because you can have a macro impact by changing legislation and not just assisting each individual client.”

4. What do you like to do in your free time?

“I spend it with family. I do play soccer when I when I’m able to [and] certainly try to go to the gym. ...but really [I] interact with my constituents very often -- not like in an official capacity, but just, you know, being out and going to different restaurants and cafes and just meeting different people. I really try to make a conscious effort to meet as many new people as I can.”

5. Is there anything about you that people might not know that they maybe they should know?

“I am fluent in Somali, and I can certainly read and write Arabic pretty well and to speak it to a degree -- I’m not fluent. And I can also read and write in Swahili, because I’ve spent some time in Kenya. ...I can certainly read or write in four [languages] and speak [them] to a certain degree. ...I was born in Somalia, left when I was five, and essentially lived in neighboring countries. ...And then we came here when I was 12.”

On The Move

Suzanne Musleh is the new legal advocacy director for Disability Rights Ohio. Musleh previously led the organization’s civil rights and integration team; before that, she worked as an attorney for the Ohio Department of Education and as a lawyer in the private sector.

U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat, will hold an open house for constituents on Thursday, April 13, from 4-7 p.m., at her congressional district office at 212 South Main Street in Akron. Constituents who stop by will be able to meet the district staff and learn about the services the office provides.

Birthdays

Erin Glossop, Ohio Senate Democrats’ deputy director of policy, budget & finance

Scott Ryan, Ohio Department of Development chief of community engagement and former state lawmaker

Alaina Shearer, 2020 and 2022 Democratic congressional candidate

Straight From The Source

“During this Passover, our freedom is different. It has fundamentally changed since the overturning of Roe v Wade, and the threats (of) a full abortion ban in Ohio. (The) Torah defines a fetus as a potential life … and teaches us to value the pregnant person’s life first and foremost. Reproductive freedom aligns with our Jewish values.”

- Part of a reading from an insert from the Ohio Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism distributed for this Passover. Families can read it during the Seder dinners during Passover. Rabbi Lindsey Danziger, the center’s lead organizer, says the reading connects modern struggles for freedom to the story of Moses, the Dispatch’s Peter Gill reports.

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