Category: Government

After a second public hearing where citizens again strongly opposed the amount as way too high, Columbus City Council unanimously enacted a $12,707.79 annual limit on contributions to candidates for city offices. The fraudulent limit is useless for reducing the wealthy’s excessive influence on Columbus elections. This article was first published by The Columbus Free Press.

To remedy a broken campaign finance system, the 2016 Democratic Party Platform advocates a number of reforms, including ending “secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring . . . significantly more disclosure and transparency.” In recent years, however, information has come out indicating Ohio Democratic leaders at the state level and in Columbus have acted to conceal sources of campaign funds. And Ohio Republican leaders have been no better on the problem of hidden donors. This article was first published by The Columbus Free Press.

Columbus city officials denied for years that censorship was why they ended public access TV. But a release of public records finally revealed that it was the reason. An earlier version of this article was published by The Columbus Free Press.

The Ohio Inspector General is refusing to investigate outrageous illegalities and unfairness in the setting of employer premiums in Ohio’s workers’ compensation system. A recent court case showed that the wrongdoing went on for over 15 years and forced many thousands of employers out of business. This situation is further proof that the Ohio Inspector General’s Office is in ineffective at responding to high-level corruption in Ohio’s state government.

In opposing the restoration of public access TV in Central Ohio, Columbus City Council was disceptive to citizens. The combinatin of opposition to freedom of speech and dishonesty toward the public presents a sad image of the Columbus city government. This article was first published by the Columbus Free Press in April 2014.

The challengers in the Columbus City Council elections in 2013 saw great value in restoring public access TV in Central Ohio. But the incumbents and the city’s only daily newspaper remained mum on the issue, clearly indicating they prefer that average citizens have no voice on local TV.

As a result of large increases in the portions of income and wealth going to the superrich since the early 1980s, many economic and social problems have gotten worse in the U.S. A fairer distribution of income and wealth is needed to alleviate the problems. This aritcle was first published by The Columbus Free Press.

Columbus city council and its wealthy supporters have restricted freedom of speech to the point where their views monopolize the local mass media, and alternative views are shut out. One way to help correct this horrible and un-American situation is to modernize council’s structure to include district representatives who are closer to the people and not controlled by the wealthy. This article was first published by The Columbus Free Press.

Juan Williams’ 2011 book Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate contains information supportive of the importance of public-access television. This article was originally published by The Columbus Free Press.