Editorial
This article first appeared on Substack
Donald Trump is a horrible person. He is vile, corrupt, petty, mean, narcissistic, immature, greedy, dishonest, selfish, cruel, and evil, so naturally, he would be best friends with a pedophile.
“I have met some very bad people,” Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2017 email. “None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body.”
It's not Epstein's opinion of Trump that we should care about. After all, Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile. Who cares about Trump's opinion when he disses Joe Biden or Barack Obama? Does anyone really believe Jack Smith is a lunatic just because Trump says it? If we don't care about Trump's opinion about people, then we shouldn't care about Jeffrey Epstein's. I'm sure people don't get worse than Jeffrey Epstein. So I don't care about Epstein's opinion; I care about his recollections.
Yesterday, House Democrats released emails in which Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of his victims. And another email, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.”
Surveys. You see them online from the City of Columbus Department of Development and the Columbus City Schools (CCS). They take a few minutes to finish and afterwards you might have a nice warm feeling of accomplishment. You took the time to share your opinion and those in power will listen to you and act upon it… Right? Not a chance.
Those surveys are not for you.
Those surveys are for the people who write them so that they can tell their supervisors that they asked for public input; and therefore have permission to do whatever they want afterwards.
Phase One of Zone In (AKA the corporate takeover of Columbus) collected surveys from citizens worried about the future of the city. Those surveys were ignored, and in the end, the wealthy developers got EVERYTHING THEY DEMANDED. Again, the survey allowed city government to pretend that they care about the people who pay taxes.
Not to be left behind, CCS published a survey for the public and in true form ignored any of the real problems that the district faces in the future. Their ONE AND ONLY SOLUTION to the budget problem is to cut school busing and maybe sell a few unused schools.
Editor's note: The election results from November 4th's Columbus City Council District 7 race between Tiara Ross and Jesse Vogel showed that Vogel won the most votes in District 7, but lost the election to Ross, who won the most votes outside the district. Under Columbus' odd district-based system, district candidates are voted on by the entire city.
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COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE - 11/6/25
Congratulations to Tiara Ross who will be the next Columbus CounciI member from District 7!
TRANSLATION
Without the transfer of tens of thousands of dollars from members of City Council she would have lost. We tipped the scales of local democracy to get what we wanted. She owes her loyalty to City Hall and myself; not you. She will obey everything we tell her.
I look forward to working with her to move Columbus forward. Every neighborhood and every family will benefit from her passion and heart for service. Her victory is not just for her but for every community that needs a fighter.
TRANSLATION
Thank you to the Franklin County Board of Elections for running a fair election on November 4th for the next member of Columbus City Council who will represent the citizens of District 7.
After the primary with three candidates, Jesse Vogel won the majority of votes in District 7. On November 4th he also won the majority of votes in District 7. The tax-paying citizens of District 7 made their voices heard and Jesse Vogel is the person they want to represent them in city government. Right or wrong, District 7 believes in Jesse Vogel.
So what happens now?
Tiara Ross will triumphantly take her chair on City Council and applause will ring throughout city hall: a victory Dick Cheney would be proud of because every step was coordinated to win. Every member of City Council voluntarily donated thousands of dollars to her campaign and knocked on doors to get out loyal members of the Franklin County Democratic Party.
Get over it.
By now you’ve seen the November 4 election results. Some good decisions, but some truly bad decisions as well. Of course, there’s Councilmember Remy who has been accused of not treating his legislative aides with the respect they deserve; but still got re-elected. Why? Because WE DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE.
The inappropriate behavior by Remy is a SYMPTOM OF THE REAL PROBLEM.
Hardin will treat the symptom the only way he knows how by 1. IGNORING IT (tried and failed), 2. Calling his wife to beg for her help (tried and failed), and 3. Paying a CASH SETTLEMENT to the aides he mistreated using OUR TAX DOLLARS.
No punishment for Remy, but the voters get punished by forcing us to re-elect him. Hardin will solve the SYMPTOM instead of curing the PROBLEM. And what is the actual problem?
These comments were always intended for private conversations but Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin continually ignore us so, now I am compelled to speak publicly. Ginther served on the Columbus School Board six years before his appointment to City Council. Then he was elected Mayor in 2016. Hardin was appointed to Council in 2014 and has been President since 2018.
Here is an abbreviated recap of the Ginther-Hardin legacy. Columbus ranked as the second most economically segregated major US city in 2015. In 2022, the JPMorgan Chase report found racial inequities cost Columbus’ economy $10 billion annually. A 2024 report said Columbus is growing by leaps and bounds but is 700 years behind in racial equality.
In July 2025, JD Vance said Columbus is lawless. In September, Columbus Police Lieutenant and Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Brian Steel had his SUV with Marine Corp plates stolen from his driveway. Last week, NBC4 reported 182 cities were ranked and Columbus placed at No. 159, making it the 24th most unsafe city. It ranked even lower at No. 164 for home and community safety.
I recently won an election for a seat on the Clintonville Area Commission on a simple but urgent platform: put community needs before campaign donors, developers, and political insiders at City Hall.
I didn’t run because I was looking for a title. I ran because something is fundamentally broken in how Columbus is governed. In this city, competitive elections barely exist. The scales are tipped, the rules are rigged, and outcomes are too often decided by appointments and money , not voters.
Area commission elections—small as they may seem—are one of the last remaining places where democracy, even a symbolic version of it, still survives in Columbus. And that is exactly why they matter.
Development Isn’t the Problem—Who Controls It Is
Yes, I admit that on Oct 21 I drove to the downtown Main Library for a debate with five of the six candidates for Columbus City Schools. And, no; I haven’t been this disappointed since seeing Star Wars ATTACK OF THE CLONES at the movies.
Like you, I also love the Columbus Dispatch.
Unfortunately, the questions that they chose for the candidates reminded me more of middle school student government. On behalf of Western Civilization, I beg forgiveness to the candidates who wasted their time.
Normally the phrase used is that there is an “Elephant in the Room,” but since half of the candidates have been “Officially Endorsed” by the Franklin County Democratic Party it has to be a donkey. Their three candidates represent the STATUS QUO of COLUMBUS; swimming in thousands of dollars in donations from big business and a guaranteed spot on the MAGICAL “Sample Ballot” that will be forced into your hands if you choose to vote.
The important questions that were IGNORED?
Remember Phase 1 of Zone In when the Columbus Mayor and City Council screamed that THE SKY IS FALLING? They spent 2.7 MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money just on a marketing campaign to tell us that we had to pass the largest change to the zoning code in the history of the city, one that benefits real estate investors and developers. Remember the City ignoring the questions and concerns of the citizens about parking and not having any master plan? Yeah, that happened.
Remember those manufactured talking points that if we didn’t pass the Zone In proposal the city would also be DESTROYED BY GODZILLA? (Okay, that wasn’t a part of their message, but it would have at least been more entertaining).
Anyway, the entire process was TARGETED PROPAGANDA to create fear while flooding the media with the messages they wanted us to believe. It was a beautiful example of MANIPULATING PUBLIC OPINION and it worked perfectly...for real estate investors and developers.
For our City leadership, EVERYTHING IS AN EMERGENCY because there is no planning or strategy—other than finding new ways to spend money–our money.
I love Chinese food, but I have standards. What if there was a Chinese restaurant a mile away and rated 2 stars? NOT A CHANCE. No matter how hungry I might be, it’s worth it to drive farther for better Chinese food.
Why then, do we KEEP SETTLING FOR LESS? Recently, Columbus City Schools were rated overall as a TWO-STAR SCHOOL DISTRICT by the State of Ohio.
The Columbus City School Board has three Board of Education positions open for election this November 4. Every election we keep voting for the approved Franklin County Democratic Party (FCDP) “endorsed candidates.” And for all of our loyalty, our schools earn TWO STARS. No, it’s not the fault of the teachers or the students. It’s a MONOPOLY OF FAILED LEADERSHIP.
Politicians and education don’t mix