Ohio should watch who it sends to Washington
What has happened to Ohio politics to cause our public image to sink to new lows?
A former car salesman who bought his way into the Senate has shown the nation that he belongs back on the car lot, using language certainly not proper for educated people in the halls of Congress.
Now he is making public accusations about his former son-in-law, who also represents Ohio in the House of Representatives. I can’t believe the public taste has dropped so low as to accept foul language from the elite House of Congress and publicly accused wife abusers in the lower house.
Ohio is lowering the bar for representing the public. Of course, our neighboring state to the east has accepted the substitution of gym shorts in place of coats and ties.
Perhaps populism
is replacing thoughtfulness in choosing our representatives to Congress.
Throw enough money at the voters, and they buy your story.
John Hoppers, Dublin
Straw man data centers
Re "Opponents of data centers are on the wrong side of history," July 30: Gene Marks utilizes a time-worn device in his attempt to justify unbridled development of data centers. He sets up a straw man (railroads) and then proceeds to knock it down.
Railroads and data centers are not analogous, although they share some similarities. Both brought progress with significant environmental degradation. Both made a relatively small group of people very rich.
But, unlike railroads, data centers employ relatively few permanent employees.
They also require tremendous amounts of electrical energy. The 600-acre data center planned for Louisiana, for example, is projected to consume more electricity than the city of New Orleans.
In Ohio, the issues involve (1) the destruction of significant portions of agricultural land, (2) the secrecy of the development process between data center developers, utility companies and Ohio’s secret funding source, JobsOhio, (3) proposed powering of data centers with small modular (nuclear) reactors and (4) the prior granting of 40-year tax abatements to these giant, largely unmanned, pollution-producing heat sinks.
Ohioans deserve answers to these and other questions before hundreds more farm acres are consumed in the name of “progress.”
Lee E. Martin, Columbus
I didn't sign up to fund a college education for all
So, Mayor Anderew Ginther said the quiet part out loud: He isn't interested in what adults have to say. Well, Ginther, we all know this about you. Whatever the issue may be, if it differs from your opinion, you dismiss it.
Where was your concern for the children with the backroomNational Women's Soccer League deals?
Concerning the Columbus State Community College tuition levy, look at other points of view.
I have been a homeowner since 1989, and as such, I understood that, for the good of the children, my property taxes would include money for educating children in grades K-12, even though I chose not to have children of my own.
I did not sign up to fund a college education for all.
With the state both refusing to properly fund public schools and increasing the amount of money going to private schools, property taxes are out of control. Regardless of how, in a perfect world, this initiative sounds great, piling more tax burden on property owners at this time is not a popular idea.
I am concerned with how to pay for necessities, not how to provide college degrees for all. I am also concerned with elected officials' inability to read the room.
Debbie Kennedy, Hilliard
The Arc de Trump while we struggle
Re letter to the editor “Our money is being wasted” July 16: I wish to thank Edward Krauss for his letter. He cited several instances of reckless spending by our current president and included data on how those dollars could better benefit the American public.
The data was eye-opening and should make every American think twice about the upcoming midterm elections. Where are the representatives we elected to work for us? When is enough enough?
Our president has become bored with running the country and is directing his “talents” elsewhere.
He fancies himself as a savvy businessman, but history would suggest otherwise. He is on a remodeling tangent with the White House (i.e. destruction of the historic East Wing), the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (repaired poorly by contractors who were in his back pocket), and there’s the Arc de Trump, the destruction of the White House Rose Garden, and the list goes on and on.
Who knows how much of this is being covered by taxpayer funds?
All of this while the working class is struggling to make ends meet due to the rising cost of living. Again, I ask ... when is enough, enough?
Linda Lewis, Westerville
Ohio needs Acton
Dr. Amy Acton is the candidate who Ohio voters should take seriously. She is asking Ohioans to trust her with the job of governor because she loves Ohio and understands the relentless pressures Ohio families feel every day.
Acton knows ordinary life. She spent years on the front lines of public health, working with and for Ohio families. She has seen what happens when families fall behind, when care is too expensive and when elected officials ignore the voices of everyday working Ohioans. That is exactly the experience Ohio needs in its next governor.
After decades of one-party rule, Ohio needs a governor who will put working families first and stand up to powerful outside interests that already have too much influence.
Acton has the background to do it. She can start by pushing for practical cost relief, protecting access to affordable health care and writing state policy for Ohio families instead of big-money interests.
Voters need someone who has stood on the front lines, listens to Ohioans and works hard to make life more manageable for families focused on keeping a household afloat – not keeping a private jet airborne. Dr. Amy Acton is that candidate.
Robert Chalfant, Bentleyville
Voters deserve an apology
Re letter to the editor "The Senate is a circus," Aug. 1: I agree with Brenda Smith on Moreno dropping the F-bomb on Dr. Anthony Fauci. Moreno was loud, aggressive, bombastic and vulgar, and owes Fauci and us voters an apology.
Michael Bugosh, New Albany
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno can't be the best Ohio has to offer America, can he? | Letters
