You already know that President Trump hates democracy, but some of his best friends aren’t just in Washington D.C.
They also work at Columbus City Hall.
And remember that this is with a strong dose of corporatocracy.
The goal of Columbus business leaders is to make decisions for the Mayor and City Council to follow. You are still allowed to vote, but all the candidates believe the same thing and follow what they are told.
They protect each other and communicate as little as possible with the public.
All decisions are made in secret and the media only exists to support their agenda (as chosen by corporations and billionaires). This is corporatocracy and it works exactly as designed.
Columbus City Hall Loves Billionaires.
Haslam isn’t the Devil. He’s a billionaire who, like most billionaires, buys two things – politicians and sports teams.
If he wanted he could revolutionize public art in Columbus or provide hundreds of tiny homes for the homeless, but anybody can do that. Being able to call the Columbus Mayor and City Council President to order them what to do and how they are going to vote?
That’s real power and he knows it.
He has the money to get either Ginther or Hardin elected without breaking a sweat. Therefore, City Hall bows down to what he wants. This is what we accept in the state capital of anocracy.
Haslam already got $500,000… For What?
City Hall and Franklin County have already given $500,000 each to this for-profit sports team. How was that money spent? What did it provide? Nobody knows and that’s exactly the way Columbus City Hall loves to operate.
Could that money have been spent better? No doubt, but you’ll never know how that financial gift of your tax dollars happened. It’s all a secret for Columbus City Hall.
Stop Saying Terrible Things about Haslam.
He’s just a billionaire who is searching for new toys to buy. And this new 25 million dollar training facility for a women’s soccer team? It’s just his way of reminding City Hall that he can do anything he wants; and not even pay for it.
Look at the Speed of the Process.
Ever since Haslam decided on women’s soccer in Columbus everyone at City Hall has been working to achieve his goal. Nobody even stopped to consider whether it was more important than other challenges of the city.
The job of Columbus City Hall is to follow the orders of the rich and powerful.
The Less Information People Have the Better.
Speed is their favorite tool to get something passed. The fewer people who know about it the better (just like Zone In).
Ginther and Hardin know that most people have already “given up” on local politics realizing that City Hall ignores the needs of the average person. Here are just some of the comments from Facebook:
Tina Lithiluxa I am all for sporting women sports but we have a city in crisis with having affordable housing and sky rocketing property taxes for schools that are failing our kids. We 25 million for this! Never money to give back to the taxpayers! We need new leaders in this City from the mayor and the city council!
Matthew Martin Jimmy Haslam bought a *$25 million* palace in Florida July 3, 2025. Why the hell does City Council need to give him an equal amount of OUR MONEY?
Darryl Miller Bad move given the needs of the city just doesn't make sense.
Shawn Foster For a league that averaged 10,000 in 2025
Derek Shannon So we can’t afford sidewalks in the areas of town where people walk the most (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg in Columbus) but we can develop a plan to subsidize a billionaire in a speculative new venture?
Michael Feasel It’s funny WE put millions of OUR $ to build stuff WE don’t own.
Steve RyanLet Haslam pay for it not us
Doug Stutes Another taxpayer theft from Shannon Hardin and Company.
Anita Van Meter Harmon They need to worry about the other issues that's going on in the city for example, affordable housing, these 3 story apartments. Just don't get it not to mention all the homeless people ridiculous. They need to do their d*** job instead of worrying about another sports team and not to mention the prices a family of 4 cannot even afford that. Ridiculous.
Jim Cottrell Columbus has Scots Field, Crew Stadium and Jesse Owens Stadium(OSU). Three soccer facilities that all three get under used, so let's build more. IDIOTS.
Steve Ryan Let Haslam pay for it not us
I would include the dozens of supporting comments from people who believe that using tax revenues to pay for a sports team is a great idea, but those comments don’t exist.
Normally, when a government wants to control public opinion they hire an outside marketing company (as they did during Phase 1 of Zone In) to manufacture the comments that they want. This process was done so quickly that those fake comments don’t exist yet.
City Council Isn’t Stupid.
They know that the majority of people think this decision is wrong, but they don’t care since they will always get re-elected even when they abuse a female staff member. Don’t believe me?
Prohibit Opposition.
Their one and only session for public comment is scheduled for the Monday following Easter at 3pm.
It’s already a challenge to register to speak to City Council, difficult to drive downtown, pay for parking, and then sit in council chambers waiting for your turn to finally speak for three minutes.
On top of that they schedule it for 3pm in the middle of the day.
Absolute lack of respect for the citizens of Columbus (reminds me of how they often turn off the video cameras during public testimony).
Look at all of the time and effort your Mayor and City Council have invested into bringing women’s soccer to Columbus. They made a choice as to how they should spend their limited time and effort and they chose the least useful goal possible.
Is This What Columbus Really Wants?
Nobody really knows and City Hall loves it that way!
The media all say what they are told to say without question. Not reporting information is a perfect method to control public opinion.
Meanwhile Cooper Stadium is still there empty and unoccupied.
https://taxfoundation.org/blog/sports-stadium-subsidies-taxpayers/