People
The January 2023 Free Press Salon was held over Zoom on January 14th. This is what happened.
Mark Stansbery, Free Press Board member, started out the November salon by introducing Pat Marida of the Ohio Nuclear Free Nework. She updated us on Ohio's ongoing contamination from the nuclear industrial complex and new discoveries of civilian housing contamination. The slideshow can be seen here. The surrounding area of the nuclear plants in southern Ohio have caused the Pike County cancer mortality to go from 12 percent below the U.S. to 32.8 percent above. The overall Pike County death rate ages 0-74 is nearly double that of the U.S. Videos about the issue here.
Cliff Arnebeck, who could pass for Clark Kent, transformed himself into Superman as he came to our rescue in times of democratic crisis. I first encountered Cliff when I was campaign manager during Tom Erney’s 1990 run for Chalmers Wylie’s 15th district congressional seat. Cliff also ran against Wylie in the Republican primary. I planned a series of debates where Wylie failed to attend but Cliff always showed up. Cliff was one of the most honest and forthright speakers I’d ever heard. He shared the same democratic values put forth by the Erney campaign. He wanted to get rid of the “permanent Congress” that dominated U.S. politics. We became political friends and allies on key issues.
The Christmas present of the congressional January 6 Committee is a report that the White House administration of Donald Trump, in its final months, opted for an official policy of lawlessness and sedition. Not only was there a conspiracy to overturn a presidential election, but the conspirators intentionally violated numerous federal laws in order to do it, including laws against interference with the workings of Congress and laws against the incitement of violent mobs.
Enabling this would-be coup d’etat, various agencies including the Pentagon and the FBI, failed to timely act against the conspiracy, essentially because they failed to conceive it could be happening. This is an advantage that criminals have over the bureaucratic state. The quotidian expectation of adherence to law leaves law-abiding citizens open to victimization by flagrantly law-breaking politicians. It should not have been a surprise when the golfer announced his new run for the presidency on the platform of chucking the Constitution.
After months of speculation and rumors as to whether or not current Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther was going to run for re-election in 2023 ( or some other ordained Franklin County Democratic Party Democrat) it is rumored that Mr. Ginther will announce this evening at the Ohio Brewing Company that he will be seeking another four-year term.
Since early spring of this year, lifelong Columbus resident, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate Joe Motil and his supporters have been gathering the required 1,000 valid signatures in order to have his name placed on the ballot for the May 2, 2023 Columbus mayoral primary election. Motil has 1,844 signatures on hand and will be submitting about 2,100 signatures to the Franklin County Board of Elections when they are due in February of next year.
November 10, 2022
Our city is in a desperate housing crisis. The evidence is all around us. Huddled masses of beggars at intersections, shelters at capacity, tent squatters springing up on many vacant lots, thousands of families waiting for available Section 8 housing, while hundreds also suffer evictions every month. Meanwhile, thousands are wondering how they will survive the coming harsh winter.
This city (whose Mayor proudly claims Columbus as the “Opportunity City”) offers very little in opportunity to those stuck in poverty and who are homeless.
The City Council continues their catering to the wealthy and greedy developers while turning their backs on the needy and those in poverty. The wealthy get tax breaks and perks while the poor get empty promises and bulldozers slamming through their tents. This is mean-spirited, cold-hearted, morally disgusting and indefensible.
So, yes, I am guilty of trespassing and camping on the front lawn of Mr. Hardin’s beautiful home. It was an act of premeditated civil disobedience that protested the lack of hospitality shown to our brothers and sisters in peril and at risk.
Ryan Takeover Seen As Last Resort
Before I share the scripts I promised last week of video ads designed to turn Ohio voters in the direction of Nan Whaley and the other statewide candidates, I wish to comment on the recently reported turn in public opinion in the direction of the Republicans.
It caused none other than President Joe Biden to suggest that views would change in the Democrats’ direction before the Nov. 8 election.
Economic, immigration and crime issues are behind the red wave, overwhelming women’s rights to control their bodies in recent surveys.
The President thinks that voters can be motivated by fear that a Republican takeover would doom programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare.
Other GOP intentions that might cause the tide to be blue are tax breaks for the wealthy, arming teachers in schools, cutting funds for local government including police, the redistricting mess imposed by Ohio Republicans that threaten continued GOP legislative district dominance, and the rampant corruption of Ohio PUCO and First Energy under the noses of Gov. Mike DeWine and his know-nothing associates.
I’m old-fashioned. I think you can only learn so much about a candidate by reading about him and watching him on video.
I believe you must experience a candidate up close and personal by seeing him speak, watching him interact with voters, and by having a face-to-face conversation.
Enter Jeff Crossman, the Democratic running for state attorney general. On paper and on video, he came across as a good candidate, but I wanted that real life contact.
I got it three weeks ago when the Parma-based state representative appeared before the Third Friday Democrat group in Columbus. I was not disappointed. The 50-year-old lawyer wowed me and the crowd with a straight up speech that Ohio has been poorly served by the current AG and his Republican cronies, that corruption has been running rampant in the Buckeye State, and that he had the backbone necessary to clean up the mess.
Crossman told the group that his opponent was sometimes careless with the truth and the public has a right to be angry at AG David Yost for inaction and obfuscation.
The Free Press is pleased to announce that we will honor Joe Motil with our 2022 “Libby” award for Lifetime Achievement in Community Activism. Each year, the board of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism (CICJ), the nonprofit organization that publishes the Columbus Free Press, chooses a local activist for the award.
We will honor Joe at the Free Press October Second Saturday Salon and Award event this Saturday, October 8 between 6:30-8:30pm at Mozart’s Café party room in Clintonville, 4784 N. High Street. The event is free and open to the public.
The CICJ board chose Joe for his dedication to social justice, in the spirit of the award’s namesake, Libby Gregory. Libby was a former Free Press editor, local entrepreneur, and activist for peace, women’s issues and human rights. Joe is a courageous and tenacious advocate for affordable housing, livable wages, public health issues, green space, mass transit, and democracy.
The time for niceties is over.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley’s campaign has gone nowhere since the primary more than four months ago.
She was 15% behind in a reputable poll immediately after the primary and she has remained 15% behind in other recent reputable polls.
Nan must fire her campaign manager and advisers immediately and find a new set who can put her on the right path. I am not convinced that Nan’s own campaign judgment is all that stellar either, but she can’t fire herself.
Her opponent Gov. Mike DeWine has outfoxed her at every turn
First, he stayed quiet and tried to rebuild the Republican coalition, 52% of which abandoned him in the primary. Republicans are better at forgiving and forgetting after disputes. DeWine offered them some extremist anti-abortion red meat to smooth the process. His latest coup was getting the endorsement from former President Trump that makes it more likely that the Trumpers who passed on DeWine in the primary will come home.
Last October, The Free Press asked when, if ever, Columbus Division of Police Chief Elaine Bryant would discipline Deputy Chief Jennifer Knight for sustained charges of retaliation against Lt. Melissa McFadden.
Read the complete story here: https://columbusfreepress.com/article/will-chief-bryant-keep-her-promise-and-hold-police-officers-accountable
In the ten months we have been waiting to learn of Knight’s discipline, McFadden has won a federal lawsuit against the city and the Division proving discrimination and retaliation involving other actions taken against her by Knight and others. McFadden will be promoted to Commander on August 19th, an event delayed due to the discrimination proven to the jury in the federal lawsuit.