The Columbus Free Press has been no great fan of city council president Andrew Ginther’s undistinguished career in the public sector; his face graced our 2013 Halloween cover, and we invited readers to use it as their Halloween mask as Ginther seems to be something that he was not – that he was a Republican masquerading as a Democrat, in our article “Gintherstein – A Democrat with Republican Chops,” http://columbusfreepress.com/article/gintherstein-democrat-republican-chops)”. And now it looks like the wheels are coming off his planned coronation as the city’s Mayor, and we feel a little nostalgic about that. I mean – if we don’t have Andy Ginther around, who in the hell will we have to expose or lampoon anymore? His tenure has provided such rich material for alternative press as he has turned Columbus into a crony-supporting corrupt political backwater of a town, while he stumbles from one abuse of public trust to the next.

The Free Presshears that even Ginther’s long-term corporate sponsors and “pay to play” partners are peeling away from him in the light of the F.B.I. investigations of bribery and other wrongdoings at City Hall. Further, the campaign itself appears to be breaking up with the departure of two key staff members, including its communications director for an “amazing opportunity” on another campaign, two months before the Mayoral election.

However, the Dispatch reported on August 27th that Mayor Michael Coleman with former Dispatch owner John F. Wolfe who has stepped out of the shadows, will host a fundraiser for Ginther for up to $2,500 a head, in what may be a last ditch appeal to the rest of the city titans to not abandon ship.

THERE IS NO “I” IN THE WORD “TEAM”

(But there are two in “Indictment”)

With the recent meeting of lobbyist and accused briber John Raphael and the FBI, political watchers and Democratic party insiders are growing increasingly concerned that the federal investigation may lead to indictments of top city and county officials. As one party regular said, “the FBI didn’t set up shop in Columbus for the past two years to enjoy our beach and our weather.” While it is a fine place to be in the summer, Alum Creek Beach is no Miami Beach, and our summer appears to be over after just three weeks of warmth – most observers believe if the F.B.I. wasn’t finding public corruption and indictable offenses, they would have been gone. The countdown until Election Day has turned into a guessing game on when indictments will drop and who will be indicted.

GOING DOWN KICKING AND SCREAMING

Old Habits Die Hard

While signs point to a collapsing campaign, Ginther continues his pattern of lying and stretching the truth to try to make himself look better, though the lies appear to diminish him further (As documented by the Free Press April 29,2015 edition story “Mayoral Candidate Ginther and The Big Lie,” http://columbusfreepress.com/article/mayoral-candidate-andrew-ginther-and-%E2%80%9C-big-lie%E2%80%9D). Last week Ginther began airing campaign ads in a seeming effort to deflect critical attention off the Redflex corruption investigation and the Centerpiece OSU ticket and travel ethics issues he has been implicated in by launching a video accusing his opponent for Mayor, Sheriff Zach Scott, of being untrustworthy. The ad is chock full of misleading and false claims about what the referenced third party documents really say – which is exactly the same problem with Ginther’s attempts to fool people with documentation about the school data scrubbing scandal that really didn’t say what Ginther claimed (reference the April 2015 edition of the Free Press – “Election Complaint Filed in Mayor’s Race,” at http://columbusfreepress.com/article/election-complaint-filed-columbus-mayors-race).

The new attack ad prepared by the Ginther campaign says “On his (Scott’s) watch a culture of abuse … a pregnant woman shocked with a taser …” In fact, the tasering incident happened in 2009, three years before Scott became Sheriff and when Scott was not working in the jails. On July 7, 2010, the Dispatch wrote: “The lawsuit was released late yesterday afternoon. Sheriff Jim Karnes, reached in the evening at his home, said he had not seen it and couldn't comment on its allegations regarding Tasers,” with the same article referenced by the Ginther campaign as a charge against Scott clearly indicating Sheriff Karnes was in charge – something the Ginther campaign obviously knew when putting together their false charges – that makes the Ginther charge a lie. Further, the Scott campaign put out a graphic showing a dramatic drop in taser use in the jails evidenced in 2011 – in fact going to zero in 2013, the year after he became Sheriff (the Free Press was unable to independently verify the statistics due to our print deadline).

The Ginther ad also says “…A man mistreated and left to die in his jail cell…” In this case, Ginther shamelessly exploits a personal tragedy seeking political gain. On September 4, 2012, two months after Scott became Sheriff (which was on July 1, 2012), Franklin County jail inmate Edward Peterson did die in his cell. Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak determined it to be a natural cause of death due to an underlying heart condition. Unlike Ginther’s wild and false claim, Mr. Peterson did not die due to any mistreatment. According to reports at the time, including the Dispatch article claimed as validation of the complaint, an investigation of the death was immediately launched because Mr. Peterson’s cell was so filthy -- strewn with food and feces. The Dispatch article says “Parts of the report dealing with Peterson’s health, including a lengthy part attributed to a mental-health professional, were redacted from the summary released to reporters yesterday. Several deputies told investigators that it was a constant struggle to keep the cell clean. Deputy Martin Sprang described the conditions in Peterson’s cell as ‘gross at best on a day-to-day basis.’” It is hard to see how Ginther seeks to tie Sheriff Scott to the actions of a mentally ill man who had a history of tearing up his cell (including ripping apart his mattress and wearing its stuffing as a “polar bear coat”) and who unfortunately died while in jail, or to the failure of guards on duty in the jail that day to adequately check on cells during their rounds or the failure of one guard to enter the cell to provide CPR to the dead body – which were the main findings of the investigation. How in the world does Ginther seek to tie that tragic event to Scott, but for political gain?

Finally, Ginther asserts that “Taxpayers were forced to payout more than a million dollars for to victims of Scott’s department.” However, this claim, too, falls short on the truthfulness meter. The source of the claim appears to be a September 25, 2011 Dispatch article referenced by Ginther. But when you read the article, it shows that 22 of the 27 settlements listed were for auto accidents dating back to January 2009 – a full two and a half years before Scott became Sheriff. And the last settlement listed was September 2011 – but Scott didn’t become Sheriff until July 1, 2012. Not a single one of the settlement payments were for events that occurred during Scott’s tenure as Sheriff. Ginther once again proving that the truth has no place in his political calculations.

And in fact the muckraking ad seems to have created as much dissent among Ginther supporters as it did support. As of deadline, 11 out of the 22 relevant responses posted to the Ginther campaign Facebook page concerning the ad were negative (another 4 were deemed irrelevant, claiming that Scott and the Koch brothers are somehow working together to undermine Ginther) – so half of all the comments addressing the issue expressed concern with the tactic – once again, Gnther appears to be out of touch with the citizens of Columbus. Comments included:

“Ugly start...not sure why as the frontrunner you needed to do that.”

“… my point is that Andrew J. Andrew J. Ginther just needs to avoid a federal indictment to win. They should spend money educating the electorate on what Ginther has done and how great of a mayor he would be.”

“What happened to winning a campaign based on your own character? Is it really winning if you just convince people that your own wrongs are somehow less wrong than your opponent's?”

“ There are only a few reasons to launch an ad with this tone at this stage in the game: One reason could be that your internal polling is showing a close race, i.e. if the election were held today, the results suggest that the difference is within the margin of error. The second reason could be that your internal polling suggests that you are trailing the challenger. My guess is that the first scenario is probably closer to reality. This will be an interesting race.”
 

“You don't need a mud-slinging campaign. You have a great record of true public service, and you really are the people's choice! Stay positive, and stay you! It works. Ginther for Mayor!!”

“ Andrew J. Ginther ... Don't go down this path of slamming opposition. Keep on point with your message about YOU”

“I don't like the new attack ad. Granted, Scott has been running some deliberately misleading ads for some time now. I'd rather you just attack his ads.”

 “Don't do this. Focus on the positive, it will stand on its own. This isn't educational, it's just campaigning dribble.”

“But yet the Democratic Party endorsed him for Sheriff. This kind of tactic is why people get sick of politics. Disgusting. If this is how you have behave to win, maybe it is best that you don't.”

“Run on your own record.”

“Wasn't sure who I was going to vote for. Thanks to this ad I know who I am voting for now. It won't be Mr. Ginther”

“I hate Fb they need a Don't Like button!!!”

In response to the dislike, Ginther campaign manager Bryan Clark sought to deflect the criticism of the false attack ad into knee-jerk Democratic party faithful hatred of the Koch brothers, posting:

“The Koch Brothers and Zach Scott have been attacking us for a year. This wasn't the start -- but Columbus voters deserve the facts. -- Bryan Clark, Team Ginther”

CAN GINTHER BE TRUSTED AS MAYOR?

A Quick Look Back at Character and Past Performance

In his book, "A Columnist's View of Capitol Square,'' Lee Leonard, a former Statehouse reporter for the Columbus Dispatch wrote: "When one political party rules the roost, the checks and balances go soft. Those aligned with the majority begin to push the envelope because they can." Clearly Ginther is out of touch with the citizenry, and has been unable to regulate his behavior to the benefit of the people of Columbus in our one-party system, as evidenced by:

1.      Ginther’s tenure on the school board when he ignored data scrubbing allegations (allowing just 16% of the Board approved audit to be done and not telling other audit and accountability committee members about the whistleblower claims of data scrubbing to improve performance, while simultaneously having Mark Real, Executive Director of Kids Ohio, come in twice to brief his committee on the negative impact that school choice based on poor CCS performance could have on CCS.

2.      Ginther’s support for the Issue 50 24% school tax hike that 70% of voters rejected.

3.      Ginther’s support for the Issue 51 change (that voters rejected in a landslide at the polls) that would have put him in back in the position of overseeing a school auditor – the same job he had failed the public at so badly a few years earlier.

4.      Ginther’s support for Issue 6, the proposed permanent zoo levy to help fund a third zoo that was rejected by 70% of the voters.

5.      Ginther’s disregard of the voters who did not want to build a hockey arena for a professional hockey team (with 64% voting “no”), so he did so through council legislation rather than the ballot box in a “deal” that puts the people of Columbus further indebt each year (in recent years, according to annual audits by the State Auditor, our public arena debt has gone up $5 million per year, instead of going down as it would have in a well-financed bailout). Ginther has yet to make public a plan to end the growing public debt on the arena he forced down our throats after the people voted that they never wanted to own one in the first place.

6.      Ginther’s refusal to allow people to speak before council on non-agenda items to be televised, despite a 1993 task force on the issue recommending that all voices to council be heard along with the rest of the televised meeting.

7.      Ginther’s refusal to allow the people access to public access television so they can prepare and broadcast their own content.

8.      Ginther’s council lied to the people in convincing the people in last year’s Issue 7 to vote away 100 years of rights to engage in citizen initiatives and put things on the ballot without government’s interference into the content of what the people want to vote on, while simultaneously doubling the signature count for initiated ordinances, both of which made citizen initiatives harder for the people to do (“The New Public Enemy – Ginther-led Council Takes on Columbus Citizens, at http://columbusfreepress.com/article/new-public-enemy-ginther-led-council-takes-columbus-citizens).

Local Democratic Party Doubles Down on Cronyism and Nepotism

And even in the midst of federal public corruption and ethics violation investigations of city and county office holders, the Franklin County Democratic Party is doubling down on the cronyism that has afflicted the party. At its meeting on August 12th , the local party endorsed current Columbus City School Board chair Gary Baker (who sat on the board during the data scrubbing scandal for which 3 people have gone to jail) and who was the sixth place finisher in this May’s primary, over Dr. Tina Pierce, the fourth place finisher (whose Ph.D is in educational policy and has four children in CCS schools, who Rev. John Coats says “has more educational knowledge in her little finger than Gary Baker could learn in a lifetime”), and over fifth place finisher at the polls Bernadine Kennedy Kent a former CCS vice principal and founder of Parent Advocates for Student Success, who, according to Columbus police, made the first complaints about fraud in the CCS “No Child Left Behind” tutoring program, where over $1.5 million is still unaccounted for and where one person has been convicted to date -- and for her advocacy was put on a Columbus police list of people not to take complaints from. One wonders why the party would promote an incumbent the party’s voters appear to have rejected over new, fresh leaders the party faithful sought to elevate at the Primary.

But the party didn’t stop there with the cronyism – adding nepotism to the stew. At the same meeting, relatives of city council member Zach Klein, council candidate Michael Stinziano, and party chair Bill Anthony were elevated to the party’s Central Committee. Further, the nominating committee of party Democrats for council member Michelle Mills who announced her resignation, voted to place Liz Brown, daughter of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown – a Ginther endorser – on the ballot in Mill’s stead. All these actions indicate a political leadership within the party that is wedded to the past and maintaining the same group of people and their supporters in political power—even in the face of a gathering storm of potential revelations of public corruption, rather than to a clean and bright future.

ANDY, WE WILL MISS YOU (WE HOPE)

If You are Unelected, We Will Even Miss Poking Fun at Your Little Lies

Beyond Ginther’s undemocratic and autocratic tendencies, such as restricting speech, limiting public debate, and clamping down on citizens’ constitutional rights to propose our own legislation or the form of the way we govern ourselves, we will miss catching Ginther in mistruths –large and small. We will be glad for a return to a more open and participatory democracy from the backwater cronyism that now characterizes Columbus politics, but as an alternative newspaper we have delighted in documenting and exposing Ginther’s untruths large and small, such as his saying in a campaign video posted to Facebook on March 25, 2015: ”…where I’ve focused my efforts the last several years, is the issue of infant mortality.” In fact, it was Tuesday, July 22, 2013 at 6:30 -- the first meeting of the Ohio Institute for Equality in Birth Outcomes at the Lincoln Theater -- where Ginther first learned about Columbus’s infant mortality issue when the state health department announced its initiative to team with nine urban areas and a national maternal and child health group, CityMatCH, to form the Ohio Institute for Equity in Birth Outcomes, which “was formed in response to Ohio’s staggering infant mortality rates, particularly among the African American community.”And in November 2013, Ginther formed the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force in response to the state effort to coordinate nine Ohio cities.So while Ginther takes great joy in proclaiming this as his initiative, it is not like Ginther thought of this on his own – he was responding to the state’s call -- andwhile Ginther claimed several years of involvement, it had been less than two years at the time.

Ginther also told a little lie in his March 12th Facebook post, where he said “My Congresswoman Joyce Beath endorsed Ginther for Mayor today.” However, Ginther lives in Pat Tiberi’s 12th Congressional District, not Joyce Beatty’s 3rd Congressional District. The Free Press called out that lie, and the offending post has since been removed from the Facebook page – typical Ginther, who has denied wrongdoing with the school board, Redflex, Centerpiece, etc. When caught telling lies, Ginther denies. The question voters will need to answer is whether they trust a political figure who is a demonstrated liar on issues big and small. A screen shot of the now-deleted lie is below:

We will also miss lampooning the campaign ad where Alvis Moore talks about knowing you “25 years ago …” and seeing a spark in your eye. Really??? The people of Columbus are supposed to vote for you because a well-known Black radio personality knew you when you were 14??? Is that the best you can do???

What will we have left to do if Ginther becomes a private citizen for the first time in his life? Which begs the question …

IS ANDREW GINTHER THE WORST COLUMBUS ELECTED OFFICIAL EVER?

When looking at Ginther’s record of failure – including the multiple lies to the people of Columbus -- the Free Press believes Ginther is the worst elected official for the people in recent memory, and believes it is a fair question to ask and answer if Andrew Ginther’s record in public life qualifies as the worst ever. We will be working with Columbus historians and investigating that exact question – comparing Ginther’s tenure and troubles to those of historical elected officials -- over the next month so voters will have a look at the scandals of the past and present and be able to determine if they want to elect Andrew Ginther – a candidate who arguably may qualify for the title of “Worst Columbus Elected Official Ever” -- as Mayor of Columbus.