Last month, The Free Press reported on how the Ginther Express was losing its steam. As events have unfolded, the Ginther train has left the tracks and is doing nothing but damage to those around it. The first casualty is former Mayoral candidate James Ragland, who announced he would be supporting Andrew Ginther, the candidate he had criticized so harshly in the primary. Ragland went from saying “if you can look outside your front window and things are getting better then perhaps Andy is right” and calling for Ginther’s apology for the school data scrubbing scandal, to saying “it has become clear to me that in spite of our many differences, Andy understands my views on these issues, accepts them, and has asked for my help in bringing solutions to the table to solve them…”
  Ragland’s about face caused immediate damage to the reputation he had been cultivating, and he received heavy criticism from friends, former supporters and advisors for this reversal. Most people commenting believe he hurt himself, more than helped Ginther.
  Just as Ragland jumped on the Ginther train, more people were jumping off. Pastor Dale Snyder, of Bethel AME, announced publicly that he had withdrawn the private support he had given Ginther and was now supporting Zach Scott for mayor as a part of the Ordinary People Power sample ballot prepared by Black leaders that endorsed Scott. Then, the Insulators Local 50 announced that they were withdrawing their support from Ginther and backing Scott, and because their group tipped the balance of the labor vote, asked labor to withdraw its support from Ginther. The Insulators joined the F.O.P., Teamsters and Plumbers and Pipefitters in endorsing Scott. Next, a group of 16 black Baptist preachers met with Scott and offered their support to his campaign, seemingly backing away from a ministerial alliance primary election endorsement of Ginther. While Mayor Coleman says in a radio ad in support of Ginther that he doesn’t trust Scott, and that Scott doesn’t share “our values.” This group of prominent pastors disagree.
  In the press release announcing their endorsement for Zach Scott on the Ordinary People Power sample ballot, Pastor Snyder said “I have changed my mind and changed my position to publicly support Zach Scott for Mayor, given that Mr. Ginther closed off debate on citizen petitions for council by wards and ignored campaign finance reform petitions, showing he has little regard for the will of the people. And with the arena bailout, tax abatements for millionaires, data scrubbing, Redflex and now the school tutoring fraud you’ve got to ask yourself with Mr. Ginther…when will it end?”
  Pastor Frederick V. LaMarr said, “In contrast, we find Zach Scott to be honest and full of integrity, and concerned about the welfare and power of ordinary citizens, as exemplified by his support for better representation for all neighborhoods through city council districts. Plus Zach Scott has the leadership experience and managerial skills needed to run the city effectively.”   
  Elder Michael D. Reeves, Pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church stated, “we’re tired of the same old insider names with the same tired ideas being pushed by the political parties. People matter – not party politics: we are in a crisis and it is time for change. The Ordinary People Power ballot reflects that we are not going to sit around and follow the lead of party bosses, but we are going to get active and promote those people who we think are best qualified to serve.”
  And the damage to the Ginther campaign continued … recently unsealed court documents reveal that another Redflex executive, Aaron M. Rosenfeld, whom Ginther had earlier said he solicited campaign funds from, had pleaded guilty to the federal crime of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery, to “to corruptly give, offer, and agree to give, something of value to officials of the City of Columbus, who were agents of the government of the City of Columbus, with the intent to influence and reward those agents in connection with a business, transaction, or series of transactions of $5,000 or more of the City of Columbus … [and] to devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice involving concealment of material information to defraud and deprive the citizens of the City of Columbus and the City of Cincinnati, of their right to the honest and faithful services of the elected officials of the City of Columbus and the City of Cincinnati, through bribery, in violation of Title 18 United States code, Sections 1341, 1343, and 1346.”
  In dismissing the relevance of the earlier plea agreement of Karen Finley and declaring himself vindicated from suspicion, Ginther had said “I solicited (Rosenberg) on behalf of the council team. That request was followed up with an email from my campaign committee and that request was never honored. I never contacted Karen Finley and I am not aware of any contribution from Redflex.”
  However, Ginther had admitted to contacting Rosenberg and the federal Bill of Information against Rosenberg seems to encompass those denials, with the concealment of material information claim it makes. Ginther’s campaign finance report and the timing of cash flows and various communications between the parties suggests strongly that the Redflex money was laundered by lobbyist John Raphael through the Ohio Democratic Party to Ginther. In short, Ginther admits freely that he solicited Rosenberg, but disagrees that it was a bribe – though the U.S. Department of Justice alleges, Rosenberg and Findley have confessed, and a federal court has accepted as true.
  Further, Ginther dismisses Finley as “a convicted felon,” while staunchly defending the credibility of another convicted felon, his friend Raphael who seemingly served as the bag man in this transaction as Raphael says he acted alone to extort money from Redflex. Ginther’s spokesperson Brian Clark said: “As we said a few weeks ago, any conspiracy to commit bribery was between executives at Redflex,” Clark said. “John Raphael has pleaded guilty to extorting Redflex so it’s clear that any wrongdoing began and ended between Redflex and its lobbyist.” And interestingly, after Ginther declared himself vindicated by Raphael’s plea agreement, the Department of Justice took the unprecedented step of re-issuing a press release about the plea with the following statement saying that the charge against Raphael "should not be construed as a reflection on the guilt or innocence of any other individual." So there may be yet another shoe to drop in this ugly red light camera federal investigation of a Columbus mayoral candidate.
  Given the current scandal, along with the school data scrubbing scandal, failed zoo and school levies that indicate growing public distrust in government, and other anti-democratic efforts undertaken by Ginther relating to citizen initiative petitions, this writer posed the question of whether Andrew Ginther was the worst public official in Columbus history and began some research to try to answer that question. While it is a difficult question to answer, clearly the volume and depth of Ginther’s transgressions against the public dwarf those of other elected officials.
  Old records of Columbus mayors hint at impropriety, for instance, William Long, our seventh Mayor, was reported to have filled the office “dutifully and soberly,” which is perhaps a slap at the sixth mayor, James Robinson, who owned a tavern and served as mayor for only 8 months. And going deeper through archives at the library I found an amusing anecdote that reflects upon the tradition of Columbus mayors upholding the law: when Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington arrived from Chillicothe in 1816 to bring the state seal and other symbols of the state capitol to Columbus, our first Mayor, Jarvis Pike, arrested Worthington and took him before a Justice of the Peace for the state’s nonpayment of Pike’s work clearing the statehouse grounds of trees. He was then paid. If Columbus voters elect Andrew Ginther, it may be the Columbus Mayor being arrested for a different kind of funny money transgression … what a sad and ironic turnabout that would be for Ohio’s capitol city.