ProgressOhio

For years, former State Senator Jeff Jacobson was subjected to embarrassing trips to his almost always empty home – but aside from a few news stories, Ohioans looked the other way.

State Senator Karen Gillmor and her late husband, U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor, were the subject of a Fremont billboard in the late 1990s that read, “Karen and Paul Gillmor, if you lived in your districts, you’d be home by now.” (Unlike state legislators, federal legislators do not have district residency requirements.)

So former-Speaker/current-Senator Jon Husted’s decision not to live in his district, is not entirely new to Ohio (nor to his district, which previously elected “the Senator from Bexley” Jeff Jacobson.)

What is new, is Fox News, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Ohio GOP Chairman-in-waiting Kevin DeWine creating a national media frenzy over Ohio’s residency laws by hounding thirteen college students who, while living in Ohio to register voters, registered to vote here.

ProgressOhio then challenged Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, a Republican who stated the state’s residency laws were “crystal clear”, to apply said laws equally or not at all, by presenting evidence that out-of-state McCain campaign staffers had also registered in Ohio. No action or headlines followed – big surprise.

During this same time, the Dayton Daily News did a series of stories on then House Speaker Jon Husted’s seemingly empty Kettering home. When no hearings were forthcoming from the Montgomery County Board of Elections, ProgressOhio filed a complaint, requesting voter residency be applied equally, whether you are a college student or the Speaker of the House.

This week the Montgomery County Board of Elections called Husted in to testify and ProgressOhio was there – camera in hand.

Two things surprised us:

• How often Sen. Husted’s statements under oath were at odds with the excellent reporting done on the issue.
• The partisan appointed Montgomery County Board’s one-upsmanship, as to who was most non-partisan – while both sides called the only non-partisan group in the matter – ProgressOhio – partisan.

Is Jon Husted committing a fifth degree felony by violating Ohio’s residency laws?

We’ll let you judge for yourself.

As for ProgressOhio, we just want the law applied fairly, regardless of party or status. It’s the American way.

Should Ohio's Residency Requirements To Vote
Apply to Senator John Husted?