Jim Renacci thinks everyone is a left-wing radical
Subject: Jim Renacci’s August 8 Dispatch opinion piece: “Citizens, not politicians, are a fraud. Flawed amendment must be rejected.”
Just as everything looks like a nail to a hammer, apparently to the MAGA Republicans anyone who does not march in lockstep with them is a “left-wing radical.”
I guess when you get that far from the center, from the mainstream of American thought, the center looks like a left wing. It must be the party line, because they all seem to parrot it ad nauseam.
Is labeling and name-calling the best that MAGA Republicans have to offer?
Samantha Willow, Westerville
What about Kamala Harris’ bad policies?
Here’s the other side of two articles on the front page of our fair and balanced Columbus Dispatch. Former President Donald Trump insults Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has been called a threat to democracy and Hitler. Hitler?
The reason U.S. Senator JD Vance talks about Harris’ race and “cat ladies” is because the mainstream media only asks him about it.
What about the issues and policies that she and our president have supported for three and a half years? What about the liberal policies that Kamala has supported since she was a senator: open borders, abolishing ICE, abolishing fracking, Medicare for all, and ending private health insurance.
Letters to the editor: JD Vance once called Donald Trump “America’s Hitler.” Now he is Trump’s vice presidential candidate
At least Vance is trying to talk to the left-wing media about the problems facing our country. I have to give Kamala one thing: she can actually smile and read a teleprompter.
Stan Fulk, Dublin
I will press charges of attempted murder
Subject: “What is attempted murder?”, August 7: The reason I would charge someone with attempted murder if a person was shot is because I want to make a statement and because it is the right charge.
If the people of Franklin County realized that if they shoot someone they would be charged with attempted murder, maybe they would think twice.
This policy will help prevent future shootings because the public will learn more about attempted homicide than aggravated assault. I also believe that previous administrations have not charged attempted murder to make it look better to the public.
If people knew the truth, maybe they would do more, as shown by some organizations in Franklin County fighting gun violence. Organizations like We Are Linden recognize the danger; now we need a district attorney like me who recognizes the danger as well.
We looked at the data. Why are attempted murder charges not more common in Columbus?
My aim is not to increase public safety through false perceptions, but rather through the prosecution of crimes that correspond to certain facts.
John Rutan, candidate for district attorney in Franklin County, Columbus
Renacci should end up on the dustbin of history
Jim Renacci’s August 8 commentary in the Columbus Dispatch on redistricting reform would be laughable if it weren’t so frightening and pathetic.
Of course, Renacci, a failed wannabe career politician who was twice rejected by voters and his own Republican Party, cannot understand how Maureen O’Connor could have had the interests of Ohioans at heart during her long and successful career in public service, because he himself cannot imagine such a thing.
What is, to use his words, “unfathomable” is the idea that the members of Citizens Not Politicians – which include educators, the League of Women Voters, which encourages voting and participation in the political process, and some Republicans who at times dare not march in lockstep with the party line and support Democratic Party candidates and issues – would be plain and simple frauds if they supported this citizens’ initiative.
The world has seen people like Renacci and his ilk advocate one-party rule and unfair elections while suppressing citizens’ voting rights and participation in their own government.
In the past, they have been relegated to the dustbin of history as democracy has evolved. Let us hope that this happens again in November.
Mahlon Nowland, Worthington
Harris is far superior to the Republicans and an angry old man
I disagree with Ingrid Jacques’ August 8 Dispatch opinion column, “Harris was an unlikable, ineffective vice president; why are we letting her get away?”
Jacques’ main argument is a sulky complaint that Harris has not taken the time to hold a press conference in the three weeks since she was thrust into the spotlight as the Democratic presidential nominee. Perhaps she has been too busy securing the nomination within her party, selecting a vice presidential candidate, assembling her campaign team and developing her own agenda.
As for the characterization of Kamala Harris as an “ineffective, failing vice president,” I disagree.
For the first two years of Biden’s presidency, the Senate was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and Harris was therefore tied to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area so she could cast tie-breaking votes on the administration’s most important initiatives.
Ingrid Jacques: Kamala Harris seems to be “unburdened” by her lackluster past. She can thank the media for that.
With a Democratic Senate majority coming into play in January 2023, Harris has been able to successfully take on additional responsibilities. She became the administration’s spokesperson for reproductive rights after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, and her command of the facts is impressive.
Compared to an angry old man who seems to be sinking into dementia, the choice is clear.
Choose Harris-Walz.
Tom Baillieul, Columbus
Vance’s “thought experiment” stinks
U.S. Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance (if that’s his real name) was interviewed by ABC’s Jonathan Karl about his past support of a “policy proposal” to give extra votes to people with children. Vance stated that this was not a policy proposal, but rather a “thought experiment.”
In my day, this so-called “thought experiment” would have been called a “brain fart,” a term that could also apply to the “Project 2025” document that forms the basis of the MAGA movement’s Republican platform.
Harry Farkas, Columbus
There are solutions to one-party rule
The Aug. 4 editorial, “One-party rule by Democrats and Republicans dominates every corner of Ohio and harms our democracy,” did not propose solutions for Columbus. But reforms can be made to promote competitive elections in the city.
One way to help this would be to ensure that all candidates have access to television. Shortly before longtime Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer retired in 2018, he told Columbus Monthly that television exposure was extremely important for successful campaigns. Political consultant Dale Butland also told Channel 4 last year: “Television is critical in any election campaign…”
Under Columbus’ current system, big-money candidates flood the airwaves with political ads. Their opponents can’t afford ads and have no chance of winning.
Possible ways to alleviate this problem include reinstating public television so that candidates can appear on television for free, providing public funds for the election campaign so that candidates can buy airtime, broadcasting candidate debates and forums on the state-run television channel, and encouraging the city’s private television stations to televise the debates.
Other helpful measures would be to reduce the number of signatures required to be eligible for a ballot and to limit the influence of the wealthy on elections by reducing the amounts they can donate to election campaigns.
More: The one-party rule of the Democrats and the Republicans dominates every corner of Ohio and harms our democracy
In addition, introducing district elections for the city council instead of a citywide election of all council members would reduce campaign costs and give more people the opportunity to run for office.
Last year, when six of the nine races for Columbus City Council seats were unopposed and four races for the city’s school boards were unopposed, I emailed council members and the mayor’s office asking how they planned to strengthen democracy in the city. There was no response.
As columnist Tom Suddes wrote last year, “competitive elections are the last thing a party incumbent wants.” That means the media and the public must take the lead in addressing this issue.
Joseph Sommer, Columbus
Ohio pays prisoners money
I did not think the August 12 article, “States to ban ‘slavery’ in prisons,” was an appropriate article to publish in the Dispatch.
Ohio is not one of these states.
We don’t have a problem with unpaid prison labor here in Ohio.
Ohio, as the article states, pays $2.80 per hour for labor performed by prisoners, which the article says is one of the highest rates in the country. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections should get some credit for this.
The payment of prisoners in Ohio is not mentioned in the article until the eighth paragraph, by which time many readers have already stopped reading and are saying, “Now the state is stripping prisoners.” I also don’t like the italicized word “slavery.” I think it was done for sensationalism.
Also, I believe the article was written for states that don’t pay taxes. The article was written by a writer from the Thomas Reuters Foundation, not a Columbus company that knows Ohio or Columbus.
Please fact check your articles written by outside sources who do not know our state or Columbus history.
Pete Kienle, Powell
