Cade Higgins | The Lima News
LIMA — Ohio Republican Party leaders expressed their opposition to State Issue 1’s attempts to change redistricting during a visit to Lima on Friday morning.
Attendees gathered at the Allen County GOP headquarters, 927 N. Cable Road, as two elected officials discussed their thoughts against Issue 1. Lima was the first of six stops Friday for the Ohio Republican Party “No on One” bus tour.
Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, and State Auditor Keith Faber, of Celina, each spoke on why they thought the proposed amendment was dangerous and untruthful.
“Issue 1 is a scam and a lie perpetrated by the far left to win elections that they otherwise cannot win in this state,” Triantafilou said. “They’re the ones doing the gerrymandering. The line drawers will look at partisanship alone.”
Faber emphasized the money backing the amendment.
“Follow the money,” he said. “Explain $25 million of dark money, special interest money that they’re blowing through the airwaves trying to convince people to vote yes, is not from Ohio. It’s all about changing the rules.”
Faber added that proportionality will never work and informed attendees that many local officials are opposed to Issue 1.
“The Democratic Party has gone five, six, seven different steps to the left outside of the mainstream of American politics,” Triantafilou said. “They barely believe in capitalism, they don’t know what a man or a woman is, and they barely want to stand and honor America for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ so what happened? They started losing elections in states just like Ohio. This is one of the ways they’re trying to change the rules to win elections.”
Triantafilou said if the amendment passes, there will be 15 unelected bureaucrats who are not accountable to the voters, and there will be no option to vote the officials out, which he labeled as “fundamentally un-American.”
Reach Cade Higgins at 567-242-0351
