Politics

“This is a tale of two cities,” said Tammy Alsaada of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative last Thursday at the Fort Hayes Education Center. She was speaking at a public meeting and candidates’ night about two populations in Columbus: those who are prosperous and feel protected by the police, and others who suffer from economic inequality and don’t feel protected. The theme of the public meeting was “Our City, Our Stories, Our Future.”

Ten candidates for Columbus City Council attended the event, organized by the Ohio Student Association and the People’s Justice Project. Conspicuously absent were invited mayoral candidates Andrew Ginther and Zach Scott.

Civilian Review Board

Bernie Sanders brought  100,000 supporters together on Wed evening via video conference to 3500 events.   Events large and small were held around the country at house parties and larger venues.

Locally, the largest event was held at the Ohio Democratic Headquarters on Fulton Street.  The largest room held at least 100 supporters, but more supporters were in adjacent rooms.  There were several house parties in the area as well.  Signs, stickers, t-shirts and other material was available.

After brief introductions, Bernie gave a short presentation detailing his policy positions.  Unlike the other major Democratic contender, Mr. Sanders believes strongly that the US must tackle climate change.  He has opposed Kestone XL pipeline consistently for years, and is strongly in favor of supporting renewable energy.  

Today’s Columbus Dispatch reported that Ashley Wnek, the Republican candidate for the Unexpired Term Race for Columbus City Council will  not be actively campaigning and has “ no intention to campaign” according to Brad Sinnott chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. If the FCDP does not find a candidate within the next 86 days, the contest for the Unexpired Term this November will result in a two-way race between Shannon Hardin and Write-In Independent candidate Joe Motil.

Current city council president and Columbus Mayoral candidate Andrew Ginther has pulled out all the stops as he seeks to deflect from his record of incompetence related to the Columbus City Schools data scrubbing scandal, using a technique that can best be described by what leading propagandists described as “the big lie.”
  In response to other candidates bringing up what they call his record of failure on the school board that they claim led to continuing fraud, Ginther declares he is proud of his service on the school board and for his work chairing the Audit and Accountability Committee. Going further in defense he states that once he became aware of data scrubbing allegations he immediately launched an investigation and kept it going even though the school administration tried to end it, and that the investigation was on-going when he departed the school board for council in 2007.

This year’s crop of Columbus School Board candidates may be the most distinguished in the city’s history. Those running include Eric Brown – former Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and 15-year school board member at Mayfield City Schools; Mary Jo Hudson – former Columbus City Council member and former Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance; Jim Hunter – a Harvard graduate; Bernadine Kent, former Columbus City Schools vice principal, teacher and the key whistleblower on two of the school district’s recent scandals; Tina Pierce – former college professor and administrator, and current educational consultant; Ben Tyson – Senior Manager of Community Relations at Easton Town Center; Robert Sharrah – internal auditor and fraud investigator; and the two incumbents Gary Baker and Shawna Gibbs.

By Cindy Sheehan and David Swanson
http://davidswanson.org/node/4709

 The U.S. government is toying with a war with nuclear Russia while already waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, having done severe damage to Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. Military spending is climbing ever higher. Presidential war powers are ever more extreme. The proliferation of nuclear technology is combining with the ease and secrecy of drone wars to raise the risk of a Dr. Strangelove finish to the human species. And, let's face it, you had more time to give a damn when the president was a Republican.