A Better Idea than Issues 8 and 9 for City Council?

My neighbor and I were talking about how it took a diverse coalition of volunteers to collect thousands of signatures for Ballot Issue 8. It was a historic achievement; nobody is giving them any credit. It’s the first time in decades that we can make our politicians more accountable to the citizens of Columbus.

The neighbor joked that it was just as historic to see how quickly City Council drafted their own opposite ballot issue to maintain the absolute grip of the rich and powerful on city government (by adding 4 at-larger members). Since then, they have begun their campaign to discredit Issue 8 and deceive voters to buy their “Vote Yes on both Issues” propaganda.

Well, my neighbor and I figured out a solution to both Issues 8 and 9 that would make the rich and powerful rulers of Columbus happy.

Sell Seats on City Council.

Officially, that’s kind of illegal… but with corporations already donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Columbus politicians it’s happening anyway. The rich and powerful get private access to City Hall while City Council and the Mayor only venture out to record Instagram videos (with their impressive security detail).

We are living in “Late Stage Capitalism” where corporations and the rich take complete control of every level of government. Stop lying to yourself and look at the reality of Columbus City Hall:

• Corporate welfare is setting new records as City Hall gives away hundreds of millions of dollars in tax abatements. Those wealthy developers and real estate investors don’t pay property taxes (but still get Fire and Police protection).
• The destruction of McCoy Park (plus 25 million dollars of our tax dollars) showed City Hall kneeling to a billionaire and ignoring the needs of tax-payers. It also provided the Mayor and some members of City Council significant campaign donations.

Seats on City Council are already being sold with campaign donations (Thanks to Citizens United). At least, by selling City Council directly to the rich and powerful the people might get some tax revenue.

• A million dollars for each member of City Council?
• Five million for the President of City Council?
• Ten million dollars for the position of Mayor?

And it doesn’t have to be limited to just buying City Hall politicians!

For $500,000 the rich and powerful can write their own legislation and have it put to a vote by City Council within 2 weeks; oh wait, that may have already happened at Columbus City Hall… My mistake…

Anyway, all it took was one afternoon with my neighbor to solve the Issue 8 and Issue 9 ballot initiatives. There’s a lot on the line for the future of Columbus this November.

I hope you ignore the tidal wave of propaganda from City Hall and join my neighbor and I in voting YES on Issue 8 and NO on Issue 9.

Columbus Deserves Better Democracy!