Politics

Representatives of Israel Bonds maintain frequent and close contact with Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan and members of her staff, according to emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Columbus Free Press.

This relationship has proven quite lucrative for Israel Bonds. Franklin County currently holds at least $33 million in Israeli debt, at interest rates ranging from 1.2 percent to 5.74 percent.

Israel Bonds is the common name for the Development Corporation of Israel, the US company that manages the sale of debt securities for the state of Israel.

Members of its regional office based in the Cleveland area are on a first name basis with the staff of the Franklin County Treasurer’s office. In addition, recent reports indicate a close personal relationship between Treasurer Brooks Sullivan and Israel Bonds investment staff.

Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan has demonstrated long standing support of Israel Bonds. The treasurer has attended multiple of the company’s events, both before and during her time in office including one that featured Netanyahu and was personally recognized by Israel Bonds at an event in 2019 for her investments.   

Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan has demonstrated long standing support of Israel Bonds. The treasurer has attended multiple of the company’s events, both before and during her time in office including one that featured Netanyahu and was personally recognized by Israel Bonds at an event in 2019 for her investments.

Michael Broidy (representing Jay Schottenstein, Israel Bonds Columbus general chairman),  Municipal Court Judge Cynthia Ebner, and Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan 

The Free Press has asked this before to some high-profiled state Democrats: Who on earth is trying to turn the tide in deep-red rural Ohio?  

Shrugs and blank looks are their answers. There is no rural Dem strategy. Hasn’t been one in a long time. But there are grassroots Democrat candidates who have been pushing back, yet not being properly funded by the state party. Such as Tamie Wilson of Ohio’s 4th congressional district. She’s a mom, a small business owner, and a patriot who’s a descendant of veteran families. She’s a granddaughter of a WWII veteran and has two uncles named after Presidents.

March 19 will be Wilson’s second Dem primary. She won her first primary by herself in 2022 with just $2,500 in her campaign chest, beating a candidate who had $1 million in contributions, a team of experts, and 60 volunteers.

Ohio Attorney General David Yost – part of the state’s far-right GOP super majority – is deliberately blocking not one but two proposed constitutional amendments backed mostly by African American activists, they claim.

Ohio is the second most voter-purged state behind Georgia and has some of the worst gerrymandered district maps in the country. Many would think that any Statehouse would reverse such undemocratic practices, but this is Ohio, now a MAGA stronghold, which passed HB 458 and signed into law by Gov. DeWine in 2023. HB 458 enacted the nation’s strictest voter ID law and other provisions restricting voters.

Concerned the Ohio GOP is desperately trying to restrict African American voters, a coalition of civil rights groups is leading a grassroots effort to put the “Ohio Voters Bill of Rights” to a statewide vote, which they say would modernize Ohio’s election system with pro-voter policies, such as same-day voter registration and expanded early voting options and locations, among other provisions.

Bruce Miller, a Far South Columbus Area commissioner, has caught the eye of City officials after he spoke out about future development plans for the Far South Side. Now he’s facing intimidation, something a Columbus resident should never be dealing with when it comes to simply wanting their neighborhood having a seat at the table.

Miller, a nurse, has alerted hundreds of South Side homeowners and business owners to the City’s new “Zone In Columbus” plan, which has designs on building condos and apartment buildings – twelve stories tall possibly – at the Great Southern Shopping Plaza. Also in the crosshairs is a nearby beloved drive-in theatre, and all of South High Street, for that matter, from State Route 104 to 270, including residential side streets.

Bruce Miller, a Far South Columbus Area commissioner, has caught the eye of City officials after he spoke out about future development plans for the Far South Side. Now he’s facing intimidation, something a Columbus resident should never be dealing with when it comes to simply wanting their neighborhood having a seat at the table.

Miller, a nurse, has alerted hundreds of South Side homeowners and business owners to the City’s new “Zone In Columbus” plan, which has designs on building condos and apartment buildings – twelve stories tall possibly – at the Great Southern Shopping Plaza. Also in the crosshairs is a nearby beloved drive-in theatre, and all of South High Street, for that matter, from State Route 104 to 270, including residential side streets.

When it comes to the last boomtown in the Midwest, certain Columbus neighborhoods make for unusual destinations for future residents to call home. And at first glance, the Far South Side near the Great Southern Shopping Plaza doesn’t seem like a prime location for Intel and Honda employees.

But according to a South Side activist, the future of the Far South Side could be radically altered if City officials and developers get their way, which as many already know, is a sure thing for all parts of Columbus.

“Tony Celebrezze [Deputy Director for the Department of Building and Zoning Services in Columbus], in a conversation, told me that they want to – and this is a verbatim quote – they want to make the Far South corridor the next Short North or the next off-campus, as far as the way they look,” says Bruce Miller, president of the Scioto Southland Civic Association. Miller also sits on the Far South Columbus Area Commission, a City-affiliated and strictly advisory body for the community when it comes to City-approved development.

In the U.S. Congress, the Democrats and Republicans have been unable to reach an agreement on immigration policy governing the southern border. This is so even though the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally has risen to record levels. This post offers an explanation of the policy stalemate and what an alternative, less restrictive and less punitive policy would contain.

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Katherine Bucholz reports on the number of “migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. These include

“both migrants apprehended and those asking to enter legally but deemed inadmissible. Their numbers rose to almost 2.5 million in FY 2023 and stood at 785,000 three months into the new fiscal year, which would constitute another record if extrapolated” (https://statista.com/chart/20397/number-of-migrants-apprehended-at-us-mexico-border).

While President, Trump’s efforts to control the border