Free Republic

For the fourth time and by the same 4-3 margin, the Ohio Supreme Court threw out Republican-drawn maps on Thursday for new state legislative districts as unfairly favoring Republicans. The ruling gives the Ohio Redistricting Commission until May 6 to come up with an "entirely new" plan, more than seven months after state House and Senate maps were supposed to be in place. Immediate reaction from the Republican majority in the General Assembly was muted, with John Fortney, Senate majority spokesman, saying only that they are "reviewing the opinion." Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican, again joined the court's three...

House Republicans are discussing whether to impeach Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a third set of legislative maps and effectively ended all hope of a full May 3rd primary. The court struck down the maps on Wednesday with O'Connor as the deciding vote, sending the Ohio Redistricting Commission back to the drawing board for the fourth time. A ruling on the latest congressional maps is expected any day. O'Connor, a Republican, is seen as an independent voice on the court and sided with Democratic justices to throw out multiple sets of maps, arguing they did...

The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state's congressional district map, saying Republicans violated the Ohio Constitution by drawing districts that favored GOP candidates. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor was, once again, a key vote in the 4-3 decision to reject the map, which would have given Republicans a 12-3 advantage in a state that leans Republican.

Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she took $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation to pay for her addiction to video poker — and lost $1 billion wagering over the course of a decade. O’Connor, the mayor of California’s second largest city from 1986 to 1992, pleaded not guilty to money laundering as part of a deal with prosecutors that will defer the charges for two years as she attempts to repay the debt. An attorney for O’Connor, Eugene Iredale, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client had severe health problems,...

SAN DIEGO — Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor took $2 million from a nonprofit foundation to feed a gambling addiction in which she lost more than $1 billion over an eight-year period, federal prosecutors said Thursday. O’Connor, 66, appeared in federal court and pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge as part of a deferred prosecution. Under the arrangement with federal prosecutors, she has two years to repay the $2 million taken from the R.P. Foundation, a nonprofit set up by her late husband, Robert O. Peterson. Peterson was the co-founder of the Jack-In-The-Box restaurant chain and later...