Home rule means little in modern-era Statehouse

RThomas Suddes

egulation of assault weapons isn’t the only home-rule power that the General Assembly yanked from Ohio’s cities and villages. Earlier, in 2004, the legislature denied Ohio’s 900-plus cities and villages any authority over the “permitting, location, and spacing of oil and gas wells.”

You don’t want someone fracking in your neighborhood? Don’t waste your breath at City Hall: No mayor can do much to help. Instead, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is supposed to police what the oil and gas industry does, including fracking.

That 2004 measure — which had bipartisan support — was House Bill 278. Its sponsor was then-Rep. Tom Niehaus, a suburban Cincinnati Republican, later a state senator, then Senate president. Today, he’s a Statehouse lobbyist whose 30 clients include the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

At issue in the Supreme Court case was a bid by Munroe Falls, an Akron suburb, to prevent Beck Energy Corp. from drilling an oil and gas well in Munroe Falls. In contrast, the Natural Resources Department — big surprise — had issued a permit for the Munroe Falls well.

The Ohio Supreme Court sided with Beck Energy. Then-Justice William O’Neill opposed the Supreme Court’s ruling. His dissent included this take on the court’s decision: “Under this ruling, a drilling permit could be granted in the exquisite residential neighborhoods of Upper Arlington, Shaker Heights, or the (suburban Cincinnati) village of Indian Hill — local zoning dating back to 1920 be damned.” (O’Neill of Chagrin Falls is among six Democrats running for this year’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination.)

Meanwhile, amnesia is an Ohio politician’s best friend. So here, in alphabetical order, are people who today hold or seek elected state office but in 2004, as Ohio House or Senate members, voted “yes” to pass House Bill 278 and thus strip Ohio cities and villages of power over oil and gas drilling: Then-Rep. Jamie Callender, a Concord Republican running for the House this year; Rep. Keith Faber, a Celina Republican running for state auditor; Rep. Theresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat running for the state Senate; Sen. Randy Gardner, a Bowling Green Republican; Sen. Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican; then-Rep. Nancy P. Hollister, a Marietta Republican, later Ohio’s interim governor, now a State Board of Education member; Rep. Jim Hoops, a Napoleon Republican; Rep. Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican aiming to be elected Ohio House speaker in 2019; Rep. Jim Hughes, a Columbus Republican running for Franklin County Common Pleas Court; then-Rep. Jon Husted, now Ohio’s secretary of state, a Republican running for lieutenant governor on Attorney General Mike DeWine’s GOP gubernatorial ticket; Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican running for the Ohio House; Rep. Tom Patton, a Strongsville Republican; then-Sen. Joy Padgett, a Coshocton Republican running against former Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery for Montgomery’s Republican State Central Committee seat; Rep. Tim Schaffer, a Lancaster Republican; Rep. Bill Seitz, a suburban Cincinnati Republican; Rep. Kirk Schuring, a suburban Canton Republican running for the state Senate; Sen. Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat running for the Ohio House; and Rep. Ron Young, a LeRoy Township Republican.

Those in elected state office today who voted “no” on HB 268 in 2004: Rep. Tom Brinkman, a Cincinnati Republican — and then-Rep. Mary Taylor, a suburban Akron Republican, later Ohio’s auditor, now its lieutenant governor. Taylor is competing with Mike DeWine for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Before 1912, Ohio cities were effectively straitjacketed by the General Assembly’s repeated interference in city and village affairs. The late Robert H. Bremner, a distinguished Ohio State historian, described the consequences for the residents of Ohio’s municipalities: “For the sake of political expediency, monstrous charters were drawn up and put into operation in Akron and Youngstown. Cincinnati was the victim of an act authorizing a state board to issue a 50-year franchise extension to a street railway company in that city.”

Result: Ohio’s voters added home rule to the Ohio Constitution in 1912 to fight Statehouse end-runs — by big-business lobbies, public utilities and political bosses — that ignored individual communities’ specific health, safety and qualityof-life concerns. Those concerns are still pressing. But so are the lobbies. And, at the moment, they’re winning.