Eminent Domain Issue in Ohio May Impact US Senate Race

A local eminent domain issue epitomizes why businessman Bernie Moreno is running for an Ohio seat in the U.S. Senate.

“[It’s] a great microcosm of how career politicians view voters generally,” Moreno told Newsmax about a new state law that would displace 40 to 90 families in Brunswick, Ohio. “They don’t really care about how things impact people that they have to represent, as long as it’s good for them individually politically.

“That’s actually the core reason why I’m running. I’m so sick and tired of these guys making these deals that help them politically and screw over working class Americans.”

The “microcosm” Moreno mentioned involves adding an interchange to Interstate 71 where the towns of Brunswick and Strongsville meet outside of Cleveland.

A project often discussed but never approved, finally made it into law via apparent 11th-hour “collusion between parties,” according to Moreno.

In late March, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a new transportation budget that included a provision calling for the interchange.

“In previous years, the governor had vetoed this specific interchange request, so we were taken aback that Gov. DeWine didn’t follow suit,” Republican state Rep. Sharon Ray told Newsmax.

Strongsville officials have pushed for an interchange in the area to help ease traffic congestion. State Sen. Matt Dolan, another GOP senatorial primary candidate and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, represents Strongsville.

“Matt Dolan just lied to his constituents,” Moreno said. “When they asked, he’s referred them to the local officials and said, ‘I had nothing to do with it.’ He voted for the law. He’s in charge of the budget where that ended up happening.”

Newsmax reached out unsuccessfully to both Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, another contender in the Republican senatorial primary race, for their stances on the I-71 work and its eventual effect.

Brunswick residents are fighting back and employing the slogan “Homes Not Highways.” The possibility of receiving “fair market value” for their property taken via eminent domain is not satisfactory for people who raised families in the potentially targeted homes.

“Nobody knew about this — we were blindsided,” 65-year-old Brunswick resident Sue Mazzola, whose house could be victim to eminent domain, told Newsmax. “We found out the day before it was to be brought to the governor and we were just praying, because my house is on the line here, that he would line-veto it and were shocked that he didn’t.”

Even more upsetting than seeing DeWine sign the bill into law was learning how the provision got added to the legislation.

In March, hours before DeWine signed House Bill 23, Republican state Rep. Tom Patton wrote new language in the transportation budget that mandated the Ohio Department of Transportation build an interchange every 4.5 miles between major cities.

Federal law, though, requires the Ohio Transportation Department and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) to approve such projects.

The two agencies had denied Strongsville’s request for the interchange, so Patton went around the system.

Republican state Sen. Mark Romanchuk and GOP co-sponsors state Reps. Ray and Melanie Miller now have bills that would repeal the Boston Road interchange provision from the law.

“It was so unprecedented for the legislature, in the case of one particular state representative, to try and force an interchange to be built through state law,” Romanchuk told Newsmax. “That had never been done before.

“It was very unprecedented what occurred here. It was the first time something like this was attempted.”

Not only that, a study conducted by Euthenics, a Strongsville-based engineering firm, showed in June that a Boston Road exit wouldn’t solve congestion in the area.

In December, NOACA’s board voted unanimously to oppose the state mandate to build a new interchange at I-71 and Boston Road. The agency says it will determine whether the exit will be considered.

“I wouldn’t want to comment at this point on whether this is a dead issue,” Patton said, Cleveland.com reported. “I think NOACA has a responsibility to continue to review it.”

Romanchuk is confident the Senate, which is “on board with not doing business this way,” will pass his bill. Ray said she was “cautiously optimistic” that her bill will pass the House.

Failure to do so before the two-year legislative session concludes at the end of 2024 will mean new bills would need to be introduced.

With Moreno, Dolan, and LaRose battling for the right to run against Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, many of the state’s Republicans are focused on that race could help determine which parts controls the upper chamber in Washington, D.C.

Mazzola is not one of them.

“It’s a little disheartening that a Republican put it into a provision,” Mazzola said. “I’m in this party because I believe that the Republicans listen to their constituents. I believe that. They work for the people. They’re going to do what’s best for the people.

“Well, I’m finding it a little hard here that nine of them want to get involved. … Are they friends with Patton and they don’t want to step on his toes?”

Charlie McCarthy ✉ Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.