Democratic News

State Reps. John Rogers (D-Mentor-on-the-Lake) and Denise Driehaus (D-Cincinnati) today introduced their “Restore Ohio” initiative, legislation to invest in Ohio’s communities and build reliable, efficient, and modern infrastructure systems that will fuel a strong and thriving economy.

State Reps. Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) and Janine R. Boyd (D-Cleveland Heights) today introduced legislation aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence from gun violence by requiring individuals convicted of a domestic violence crime or served with a civil protection order to turn over their firearms to law enforcement. 

Rep. Ramos (D-Lorain) today introduced legislation to increase the number of early voting facilities in qualifying counties across the state to better promote public participation in statewide elections.

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement regarding today’s court ruling that overturned a statewide directive from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted barring eligible 17-year-olds from voting in Tuesday’s presidential primary: 

Rep. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) issued the following statement in response to reports that the CEO of Ohio’s privatized economic development entity received a $122,634 pay increase this year for a total salary just shy of a half million dollars: 

State Reps. Michael Sheehy (D-Oregon) and Dan Ramos (D-Lorain) this week introduced a resolution calling for the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act, the core provisions of the federal Banking Act of 1933, to improve transparency and stability in the financial sector. 

“At a time when our state and nation are amidst a fragile recovery from the Great Recession, as far too many communities simply have not recovered yet, it is incumbent upon us to action to ensure this never happens again,” said Ramos. “We owe it to our constituents, the American taxpayers, to ensure that their tax dollars are being utilized to create opportunities for the public, not just a handful of wealthy Wall Street opportunists.” 

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit brought by a number of eligible 17-year-old voters challenging Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s directive to exclude them from presidential primary voting:

“Ohio law is clear and has permitted those who will be 18 years old before the November election to vote in the presidential primary since 1981. Disenfranchising eligible voters is wrong, creates confusion, and drives people away from the voting process. I applaud these extraordinary young Ohioans in their fight to be able to vote in our state’s presidential primary.”

A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.

As the world celebrates “International Women’s Day,” an annual event recognized by the United Nations to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, Rep. Greta Johnson (D-Akron) today called for meaningful state action on issues of gender equality. 

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) today issued a response to Sec. Jon Husted’s directive that excludes 17-year-olds from presidential primary voting. Ohio has permitted those who will be 18 years old before the November election to vote in the presidential primary since 1981.

“I was astonished to learn that 17-year-old Ohioans who will legally become adults before the November election are now being prohibited from having a say in the direction of their country at the presidential ballot box during the primary. Ohio’s pro-voter practice that welcomes young adults into the process has been on the books since 1981,” said Clyde. 

“Secretary Husted’s latest underhanded, backroom attack on our most fundamental freedom should have us all concerned – about this and about his repeated claims he has made it easier to vote in Ohio – when in fact he continues to find ways to make it harder,” Clyde continued.

State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), who serves as the Ranking Member of the House Education Committee, today called on legislative leaders in both the House and Senate to ensure that Democratic members of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Committee represent the principles and values of the teachers, parents and students they were elected to serve. 

“We cannot enable a public official, under the guise of representing Democratic values, to push an agenda that is contrary to our party’s principles and destructive to our public education system,” said Fedor, in her letter. “Doing so would betray our brothers and sisters in labor who teach and nurture children each day in public schools across Ohio, and the working families who rightfully expect the state to provide their children with an excellent education that prepares them for future success.”

Full copy of the letter is below:

March 4, 2016

Dear Leader Strahorn and Senator Schiavoni,

I write as the Ranking Member of the House Education Committee to ask you both to exercise all means within your power to explore the removal of Paula Brooks from the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission (OCMC) Committee on Education, Public Institutions, and Local Government. Brooks has worked consistently for the past year to subvert the Democratic agenda to strengthen public education, using her place on the committee to instead promote the agenda of online charter school magnate William Lager.

Democratic members should stand firmly behind the principle of a high quality public education for all students. This is inconsistent with the Lager agenda that Brooks promotes: removing elected members from the state board of education, stripping local communities of elected school boards, and calling into question the Ohio Constitution’s “thorough and efficient” clause upon which Ohio’s commitment to our children rests.