Editorial
“Premature declarations of elections outcome” is the hot-potato phrase being passed around by lawyers, political operatives and journalists. It sounds way too Trumpian, but if it were to happen from either Trump or Biden it could spell disaster this week and the weeks after.
For older activists, especially those who remember Woody Hayes calling for peace between anti-war protesters and the National Guard as they faced-offed on the Oval, it boggles the mind Tuesday’s outcome could potentially ignite a deranged civil war on our downtown streets where not even the ghost of Woody can save us.
Peaceful rallies at the Statehouse called for by local and national progressives are scheduled for Wednesday night and Saturday, and no matter Tuesday’s outcome, hopefully the gun-toting red hats won’t be itchin’ for a fight, but we know how they lust to be shootin’ them dangerous Antifas.
This article first appeared in the Ohio Capitol Journal.
When the controversial nuclear bailout bill known as HB6 first reached the Ohio House floor in 2019, only a handful of Ohioans truly knew what it was and what was in it. This “handful of Ohioans” -- as we would later find out -- was a group of Republican lawmakers and lobbyists who had cooked up a historic pay-to-play bribery scheme, all funded by various energy companies and predominantly led by FirstEnergy.
In the race for Franklin County prosecutor between longtime Republican incumbent Ron O’Brien and his Democratic challenger, former 10th District Court of Appeals judge Gary Tyack, some progressives are supporting Tyack because of O’Brien’s unimpressive record on police misconduct cases. It’s true Tyack could hardly do worse in that regard.
But based on Tyack’s handling of my 2013 whistleblower case against the state government, I doubt he’s committed to protecting victims of governmental injustice and holding the perpetrators accountable. If Tyack is elected, progressives should watch and pressure him to ensure he doesn’t act like a lapdog and cover-up artist for the Columbus establishment.
The whistleblower case resulted from my employer, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, imposing discipline on me for reporting unlawful, but noncriminal, acts in state government to the Ohio inspector general’s office. During oral argument at the appeals court, Tyack expressed no concern about what the agency did.
Joe Motil's public testimony given at October 12 Columbus City Council meeting regarding the creation of a Northeast Community Reinvestment Area:
The creation of this Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) reeks of the same special treatment and sole purpose of giving a favored developer a tax abatement while trying to disguise it as a tool to encourage development in a risk-free area of Columbus. This CRA is similar to those given to luxury real estate developers Wagenbrenner for creating a CRA at the Quarry and Grandview Crossing and Preferred Living for the Kenny & Henderson CRA. All three are located in risk free development areas and were established for the sole purpose of providing developers an unnecessary 15-year 100% tax abatement for their new housing projects.
Columbus City School Families and Teachers Call on Superintendent Dixon to improve communications, collaborate with the teacher’s union and school staff, and deploy a comprehensive survey to student caregivers before finalizing plans.
A large group of concerned parents and caretakers, including Columbus City School teachers and staff, are calling on Superintendent Dixon and the school board to reconsider their current plan for school reopening. Most concerning is the lack of communication that the Columbus City School Board has demonstrated with their recent announcement to return to school on October 19, 2020, earlier than originally announced in July and without approval from the Columbus Education Association, the local teacher’s union. This has not gone unnoticed in the district community, and caregivers and parents of CCS students are actively organizing a petition and social media campaign to amplify individual concerns and demonstrate collective support for teachers and the CEA.
Dear President Kristina Johnson:
I am writing to urge you to change the "Buckeye Ways" that are harming the relationship between Ohio's flagship university and its most important constituents, the 11.7 million Ohioans.
First, I must persuade you that the university is not supposed to be a playground for its well-connected trustees -- who come from the upper strata of society and are hardly representative of Ohioans --, the rich and influential, the athletic department, and the Ohio political class.
Rather, OSU should be reflecting the needs and wants of the state's residents. It is the past and present Ohio taxpayers who put up the lion's share of the money and credit to build and maintain this colossus of higher education, yet many of the sons and daughters of those taxpayers have been getting the shaft because they cannot gain admission to the main campus as freshmen.
With large fires still raging around the West, we can all feel empathy for those who lost their homes and even entire communities, as well as the suffering we all have experienced from the smoke.
Still, there is a tremendous amount of smoke and mirrors about the blazes and their cause.
The timber industry, Forest Service and some forestry schools are quick to suggest that logging can reduce large blazes. Rushing to log more of the forest will not solve the problem, indeed, it can worsen it.
1. Climate change is driving the larger blazes we are experiencing in the West. Higher daily temperatures, extreme drought, low humidity, and high winds resulting from climate change exacerbate the flammability of the vegetation. Extreme fire weather is driving large blazes, not fuels. We need to address the causes of global climate change and make this a national priority.
The Hilltop Historical Society was going forward with its annual Camp Chase cemetery memorial later this week – when scores of Confederate flags are placed on gravestones – but they canceled the September 27th ceremony due to COVID concerns. This historical society told the Free Press the ongoing social justice movement had nothing to do with the cancelation.
More disconcerting and surreal to some, is what Hilltop Historical Society President Dave Dobos – who is also Vice Chair of the Franklin County Republican Central Committee – told the Free Press in regard to the canceled event.
We asked Dobos: if the event had not been canceled, would the society still have brought out scores of Confederate flags during this summer of all social justice summers?
“If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus, yes,” said Dobos, who was scheduled to speak at the canceled event. “I think anytime you are accurately portraying history, it is appropriate. Folks can make their own opinion.”
As many are aware, Camp Chase on Sullivant Avenue is a VA-owned cemetery where over 2,000 Confederate soldiers and a handful of Union soldiers are laid to rest.
In May 2020, word began travelling within the Ohio State community that departments had been asked to plan for budget cuts up to 20%, effectively erasing all security for student workers, staff, and contingent faculty. This prompted graduate students from multiple departments to advocate for themselves and create the Graduate Student Labor Coalition (GSLC), a student advocacy group meant to address concerns regarding the University’s response to inequitable working practices related to graduate student workers in the midst of this global pandemic. As the summer progressed, and uprisings against police brutality and racial injustice swept through the nation, it became clear that OSU’s tendency to respond to crises with empty assurances in lieu of meaningful action was not limited to the pandemic. In recent weeks, OSU faculty members of the American Association of University Professors have also brought to light evidence that OSU’s insistence on the necessity of budget cuts is not backed up by available financial records.