Ohio is a swing state, but there is very little in our state government that reflects that right now. Republicans dominate the General Assembly. Republicans dominate the governorship and other executive positions. The Ohio Supreme Court is no different. It is currently dominated by Republican justices in a striking 6-1 margin.   

This year, there is a surprising amount of choice in the Hamilton County offices. In the past, a lot of the seats have been uncontested, typically held by powerful Republican incumbents. This year is different. In addition to offering a differint perspective than the extremist Republican status quo, each of these candidates offers credibility and new ideas.    

We like how Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune tried to keep funding for mental health and elderly services the same with a very minor tax hike that would have made up for property values dropping. We like his support for the streetcar. We like how he can rein in the two Republicans on the Board of Commissioners.   

CityBeat recently covered Cincinnati Public School’s (CPS) financial problems and what makes the levy renewal a necessity for the school (“Battered But Not Broken,” issue of Oct. 3). Under the broken state funding system for schools, CPS has to rely on levies to sustain and improve its education program. If CPS doesn’t get this levy renewed, it will be down $51.5 million — or approximately 11 percent of its budget — in 2015. That’s a hard hit to take after a decade of budget cuts at CPS. The school district has already cut about 22 percent of its total staff in the last 10 years and closed down 17 buildings. It shouldn’t have to do more.   

Imagine if you had to take every other year at your job off to defend all your career decisions. Every other year would be completely unproductive. Essentially, you would be unproductive half the time.   

Ohioans might not realize it yet, but Issue 2 could be the most important item on the ballot in 2012. If voters approve Issue 2, it would place redistricting in the hands of an independent citizens commission. Currently, elected officials handle the redistricting process, and they have used it time and time again for politically advantageous ways.   

Under the Ohio Constitution, voters are asked every 20 years, “Shall there be a convention to revise, alter, or amend the constitution?” That’s what Issue 1 is all about. If voters approve Issue 1, the General Assembly, which is currently controlled by Republicans, will set rules for how constitutional delegates are elected. The delegates will then go to the convention and decide what, if any, constitutional amendments should be suggested to voters. The process essentially bypasses the petition system for constitutional amendments, which requires constitutional proposals obtain a certain amount of signatures from registered voters before being put on a ballot.   

Remove Democrat and Republican for a second. Assume there are two candidates outside of partisan labels. Candidate A is the current sitting senator. He has a clear record and policies to run on. Candidate B is the challenger. He has little record and policies, and he’s been caught being dishonest time and time again — to the extent that one major newspaper gave him an award for lying so much.   

Rigged? Wait, what? Truth be told, CityBeat would love to endorse a Democrat for the First Congressional District. Generally speaking, we do not support Rep. Steve Chabot. We don’t like his opposition to Obama’s jobs bills. We don’t like how he went along with the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011 that nearly brought down the entire economy and led S&P to downgrade the U.S. credit rating from a AAA rating to a AA+ rating. We don’t like how he amended a transportation law to make it so Cincinnati can’t get streetcar funding from the federal government. So we would love to endorse a Democratic opponent to contrast Chabot.   

On Nov. 6, America will be watching Ohio voters to see which presidential candidate we put over the top. But in Ohio, no issue will hold the long-term weight of Issue 2. The little-known issue seeks to reform a redistricting process that has long been dominated by politicized redistricting — also known as “gerrymandering.”