Politics

As the 2020 election season starts to take shape, millennial politicians are shaking things up and shaking off old norms. The new generation of leadership that’s coming to Washington doesn’t fit into the political ways of the past, as evidenced by the rise of progressives on the left and the growing popularity of libertarianism on the right.

Hence, the establishment and talking heads are rightfully freaking out over some of the new political voices in town. Democratic representatives such as Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have put new meaning into what Democrats stand for by embracing progressive issues, as opposed to the priorities of the Democratic establishment.

On the other side of the aisle, former Republican representative Justin Amash (I-MI) has spoken out against his old political party so much so that he had to become an Independent. Plus in Central Ohio, we have another millennial trying to break the establishment’s hold, as former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employee Morgan Harper is taking on sitting Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH) in the 3rd District’s Democratic primary in March.

After a year of sweetheart coverage, the Columbus Dispatch proclaimed that "Ohio is better" under Gov. Mike DeWine. Not exactly.

I give DeWine credit for being accessible and responding to crises, such as the shootings in Dayton. He possesses a hundred times more empathy than his predecessor

His biggest test was to "do something," as Daytonians implored, about guns, but his watered-down proposal was dead on arrival at the Ohio legislature. Mikey is afraid of the gun lobby.

He is equally afraid of the hard-right crowd that wants to strip Ohio women of their reproductive rights, signing a likely unconstitutional abortion ban.

The governor and Ohio legislative leaders, all Republicans, acted like they wanted to reform and improve the way the state funds its public schools (currently unconstitutional), but turned around and minimally improved funding while greasing the skids for more vouchers and charter school support. ECOT was "forgot."

#RepYourBlock2020 today submitted petitions for over 70 candidates for the Franklin County Democratic Party’s Central Committee. The candidates come from all walks of life and represent a diversity of views and aspirations for what our county and Democratic party can become.

"The Franklin County Democratic Party has lacked accountability to our neighborhoods,” said Anna Siriano, candidate for Central Committee on the West Side. “We are committed to making politics more accessible and lifting up the concerns of our neighbors.

Candidates running with #RepYourBlock2020 are committed to a democratic decision-making process. They pledge to be open, transparent, collaborative, and focused on those who will be most impacted by their decisions.

The Franklin County Democratic Party Central Committee makes decisions for the party. The Central Committee’s primary function is to determine which candidates are on the “sample ballot.” Every four years, primary voters elect up to 152 people all across the county to serve as a ward representative on the Franklin County Democratic Party Central Committee.

As the 2020 Democratic primary heats up into the new year, there is a larger debate brewing within the party itself – even bigger than the already huge debates that feature anywhere from ten to twenty candidates on television. It’s an important debate about the soul of the party and what it will stand for going forward.

Drake's Exit Opens Way for Kasich, Meyer        

President Michael Drake is stepping down at OSU next year and the search for his replacement is under way. Look no further than former Governor John Kasich as Drake's replacement, so says John Michael Spinelli, Ohio's leading independent reporter. Kasich has largely faded from the scene, having been vanquished by Donald Trump and reduced to writing nonsensical books and making obsequious comments on CNN. The OSU job would restore his visibility. Half of the OSU trustees owe Kasich a favor because he appointed them.

Meanwhile, Drake's imminent departure opens the door to a comeback by Urban Meyer as OSU football coach. Meyer quit after last season in part because he believed that the 3-game suspension imposed by Drake was excessive. New coach Ryan Day is going great guns at this writing, but big money from the pros could pull him away. Stranger things have happened.

How Convenient! The Chase Young Suspension           

One year ago, I was the Libertarian candidate for governor of Ohio in a four-way race. The perfect outcome would have been for myself and the Green Party candidate, Constance Gadell-Newton, to both receive 3 percent of the vote so we could meet the arbitrary benchmark set by Ohio Republicans to maintain ballot access for our political parties the next four years. Another aspect of this perfect outcome would have been for our total amount of votes to cause Republican Mike DeWine to lose to Democrat Richard Cordray. The Ohio Republican Party has had a stranglehold on our state government for far too long, as evidenced by the aforementioned 3 percent benchmark being set for minor parties and signed into law at all. Unlike Republicans, Democrats have never made ballot access so difficult in Ohio, so a Cordray administration would have been a welcome change of pace, even for Libertarians.

Keep Austin Weird has done wonders for Central Texas. Those three words have inspired that city’s leadership to propel Austin into one of the most soulful and successful American cities of the 21st century.

For the most part, Austin is unified between rich and poor, and the city protects it’s independent and inclusive flavor by keeping high-end developers and corporate influence in check.

Can we capture that here?

It may very well depend on who wins the City Council race on November 5th.

Yet the last time a Columbus City Council incumbent lost was 24 years ago. The city’s appointment process after council member step down is partially to blame for keeping the status quo in place. And over this 24 years Columbus has morphed into something that is too exclusive, too corporate and too lame.

High-end developers drunk with City Council-approved tax abatements have played a huge role behind this change.

Without question Columbus has moved forward, and the incumbents on City Council, the endorsed Democrats, are urging voters to keep it that way.

Everyday People for Positive Change, a citizen ballot issue committee, announces that yesterday (October 30th) the group submitted a certified pre-circulation petition to the City Clerk for a proposed ballot issue to reform Columbus City Council.  The proposed charter amendment would continue the effort to bring Columbus’s antiquated council make-up up to date to fully and unquestionably comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its prohibitions against “minority voter dilution,” which question was raised to Columbus leaders by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a series of communications in 2017.

The proposed charter amendment would:

1.       Create a 9 member council effective January 2020 (2021 elections)

2.       Require each member to live in one of the districts and be elected by the voters of the district in which each resides.

3.       Establish the initial apportionment plan, outlining the 9 districts.

Hardly anyone wants to be on the Columbus School Board. This year, five of the seven slots are up for election but there are only six people running. The sad state of the Columbus City Schools has suppressed interest in serving on the Board for many.

The State Board of Education has given Columbus Schools a series of annual grades of “F.” Had they gotten just one more “F” this year, the State would have appointed an outsider to run the schools, removing the Board from any meaningful power. Two incumbents on the Board saw that coming and decided not to run for reelection. However, by providing tutoring to 26 kids who were most at risk, the school administration gamed the scoring system and got a “D” grade for this year.

Gaming the system has always been an activity undertaken by the school administration to make the schools look as good as possible. When I was on the Board (thirty plus years ago) the Superintendent announced Columbus had a 92% graduation rate! When I asked how they got that statistic I was told 92% of the students who started their last year of high school got diplomas.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that city lobbyists and former Mayor Michael Coleman and former Columbus City Council President John Kennedy were both hired this past Spring by the Haslam Sports Group to help broker the new Crew Stadium deal. Joe Motil, candidate for Columbus City Council stated, “It’s no secret that Michael Coleman is fully responsible for Council President Shannon Hardin’s appointment to City Council and his giving the boot to former pro-tem Priscilla Tyson who was in line to serve as the next City Council President. Coleman also hand-picked Andrew Ginther to replace him as Mayor.  Mr. Kennedy has continued over the years to maintain close relationships with City Hall Department Directors and others”. Both men were also recently hired as lobbyist by the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Franklin County Conventions Center Authority to influence City Council to agree to a Ticket Tax that will provide that organization with an estimated $6 million annually and they represented the developers of the $192 million North Market project.