Fracking' debate exposes weaknesses in Ohio Statehouse -- term limits and the death of home rule: Thomas Suddes

Ohio's debate over "fracking" -- gas drilling by high-pressure injection of water, chemicals, etc. -- is the latest demonstration of two unhappy Statehouse facts.

One is that legislative term limits let Ohio politicians off the hook for long-term consequences of shortsighted decisions. The other is that General Assembly destruction of city and village home rule lets Statehouse lobbyists make decisions Ohioans want to make for themselves.

This isn't about fracking, as such, questionable and dirty though that technique may be. After all, many Ohio eco-crunchies who think fracking is the worst thing since bubonic plague also want Ohioans to burn natural gas, not, say, coal. And fracking aims to find natural gas.

Still, Statehouse history is telling. In 2004, the General Assembly took away any right that Ohio's cities and villages had to regulate the "permitting, location and spacing" of oil and gas wells. That is, if someone wants to drill for oil and gas in your town, he or she doesn't need your OK. Someone in Columbus gets to decide.

The 2004 "pre-emption" bill's lead sponsor was then-Rep. Thomas Niehaus, a suburban Cincinnati Republican who is now the state Senate's president. Niehaus is one of the few people backing the pre-emption bill who is still in the General Assembly. And even he'll have to leave in December, thanks to Ohio's inane legislative term limits.

Consider the House's 2004 roll call on his bill. The vote, not especially partisan, was 59 in favor, 35 opposed. Of the 59 House members who voted "yes," only 11 are still in the legislature. Ten are now state senators, including Niehaus; Thomas Patton, a Strongsville Republican; Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat; and James Hughes of Columbus, Tim Schaffer of Lancaster and Christopher Widener of Springfield, all Republicans.

One House "yes" has returned to the House after a term-limit hiatus: Rep. Ron Young, a Leroy Township Republican.

The House's remaining 48 "yeas" on Niehaus' 2004 bill are long gone, most due to term limits. Likewise, of the 26 state senators who voted "yes" on the Niehaus bill in 2004, only seven are still in the legislature (all now as House members).

What those numbers mean is that few people in the Ohio General Assembly today are accountable for fracking in Ohio -- or anything else. And fewer yet (except pro-fracking lobbyists) know anything about the specific issues raised in the 2004 debate. That is, when it comes to political deniability, term limits make Pontius Pilate seem like an amateur.

Married to this Sgt. Schultz "I know nothing" lawmaking is the General Assembly's habit of destroying city and village home rule in Ohio to please pushy Statehouse lobbyists. For instance, the legislature has forbidden cities and towns to regulate predatory lending (2002); to regulate guns (2006); to require residency of municipal employees (2006); or, in effect, to regulate cable TV companies (2007).

There was a very good reason why Ohio's 1912 constitutional convention insisted on home rule for cities and villages. Then, as now, Statehouse lobbyists (and corrupt big-city political bosses, such as Cincinnati Republican George B. Cox) got the legislature to do some of the dirty work that Ohio's city and village councils often refused to do: give public utilities and streetcar companies sweetheart franchises; monkey at the Statehouse with the appointment of city officials, especially police chiefs; and, in general, say yes to special interests after mayors and councils had said no.

Ultimately, the object of home rule was to make public officials accountable to the voters most affected by

a decision -- something that term limits and the gutting at the Statehouse of municipal home rule make impossible.