“Now he just serves evil” aptly describes a politician who repeatedly ignores his sworn duty to instead serve a corrupt gerrymandering system.

Understand the rage against this corrupt political machine. For the third time in nine years, a bipartisan coalition has been forced to submit a statewide ballot measure to bring fair elections to Ohio because the first two were sabotaged with “unconstitutional” maps – as determined by the GOP-dominated Ohio Supreme Court.

In case you are unaware of the firestorm, the incendiary charge that “he just serves evil” was leveled against Frank LaRose, the Ohio secretary of state and chair of the Ohio Ballot Board, by Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer.

Quinn was referencing LaRose’s proposed language for the constitutional amendment on gerrymandering that a bipartisan citizens’ group initiated with 731,306 signatures. One GOP-driven ballot-language amendment drew gasps of disbelief and rage from the incredulous audience at the Ballot Board meeting, because it characterized the anti-gerrymandering amendment as a pro-gerrymandering movement.

For those following the controversy over the last decade, the Board’s misleading ballot language was Groundhog Day redux.

LaRose insisted “it’s an accurate reflection of the amendment,” while Quinn countered in his Today in Ohio podcast, “That’s just a lie.” In the past, the Ohio Supreme Court has found LaRose’s Ballot Board language unconstitutionally confusing to voters because of deceptive ballot language.

But here he is at it again. Shame is a characteristic LaRose apparently lacks.

Former Republican Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Maureen O’Connor was a leader in the redistricting reform movement and, while on the court, had found with the majority that various maps offered by LaRose and fellow elected party members were unconstitutional.

O’Connor has explained that, “This constitutional amendment [the third effort] will restore power to Ohio citizens and take it away from the self-serving politicians and their lobbyist friends and big-money donors.”

By “self-serving,” O’Connor was referencing how gerrymandering creates undue political advantage and is a direct threat to democracy.

And Ohio is amongst the worst gerrymandered states in the country with, for example, 75% of its U.S. House delegation, 12 of 16, coming from the Republican Party.

This happened despite the fact that statewide contests are often decided by less than 10%, with Donald Trump winning by 8% in 2020 over Joe Biden, and Democrat Sherrod Brown currently leading Republican Bernie Moreno in most Senate polls.

After two political muggings with the gerrymandering of Ohio, voters recognize the wisdom of the O’Connor suggestion that politicians must be removed from voting on their own futures.

Frank LaRose’s depiction of this purging of politicians with clear conflicts of interests as eliminating “the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts” is illogical.

He is saying that up is down and down is up in arguing in this purely evil sentence that the reform measure will, “Repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018.”

But LaRose had earlier – in effect – already repealed those ballot measures with his gerrymandering actions necessitating yet another voter-led ballot effort.

Attorney Don McTigue, who represents the supporters of the measure, put it best when he said of the Ballot Board-approved ballot language: “The language is stunning in it being false and misleading, and it is unabashed in terms of its prejudicial language.”

McTigue added: “There’s no reasonable person who … after reading that language could conclude that it is an honest attempt to provide fair ballot language.”

Clearly, it is too heavy a lift for LaRose to be honest, fair or independent.

Read the original here.