For the first time in recent history, a seat on the Columbus City Council has become an actual competition. Normally the hand-picked Democratic candidate WINS regardless of whether he or she is intelligent or has empathy.  Who does the hand-picking?  Franklin County Chairman Michael Sexton, also known as Willy Wonka.  With a wave of his magic wand, anyone can become the “endorsed candidate” with their name on the “golden sample ballot.”

Maybe a Primary Might Help?

Sure, a primary within the Franklin County Democratic Party would encourage healthy competition and debate about the issues, but THAT’S NOT WHAT CHAIRMAN SEXTON WANTS. The party requires City Council to obey the Mayor and the party, NOT THE PEOPLE. Also, the City is CREATIVELY GERRYMANDERED into wards (they call districts) that encourage you NOT TO VOTE. The entire city gets to choose the member of City Council who will represent your district; this makes running for office beyond expensive. See “Citymandering” Columbus Free Press https://columbusfreepress.com/article/oped-columbus-citymandering-works

And Along Comes Vogel

Jesse Vogel is the “outsider” taking on Tiara Ross, the “anointed.”  Vogel is another lawyer as usual, but with enough wealthy friends to fund a campaign to win. His campaign manager has made ALL the correct decisions and Vogel has followed his advice. And his campaign has already spent more than the $97,000 annual salary of a single member of City Council.

But it also helps that Jesse Vogel hasn’t been driving on a suspended license, racking up thousands of dollars in unpaid tickets, been accused of cheating in law school, or been living in Reynoldsburg instead of Columbus (like his opponent Ross). Ouchie.

Will Vogel be able to drag our City Council into the light and convince them to care more about people than the rich developers and investors of the Columbus Partnership, who seemingly make all of the important decisions for the city? No, probably not. People don’t change. But, he’s BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE.

At least Vogel has a platform to lower housing costs, improve public transportation, and increase access to affordable childcare. Will he roll back the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax abatements that are destroying public education and city services? Probably not. Then again, Ross has no platform other than being charming and obeying orders from the Mayor without question.

Believe Your Doorbell

Did you notice that the current members of Columbus City Council spent their time canvassing door to door for Ross? That’s in addition to shifting TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS from their personal campaign bank accounts into her campaign—how’s that for a favor? City Council members might not have time to listen to the people who pay their salary, but you can bet they have plenty of time to help get Tiara Ross elected. If you want to keep your job on City Council, you don’t ask questions—YOU FOLLOW ORDERS. Yet in spite of the entire city apparatus running against Vogel, he is still succeeding.

Bottom Line? Vote Vogel

The One-Party-Rule of Columbus BREEDS COMPLACENCY. There’s no competition and therefore no progress. Competition breeds innovation. Without it we have City Council members who walk out of meetings when they don’t want to hear public testimony, and then vote themselves a pay raise (YES, this has happened). Vogel isn’t the cure for the common cold, but he’s better than getting PUNCHED IN THE FACE EVERY DAY by a city government that doesn’t work for you.

We will never have another chance to choose a city leader WHO HASN’T ALREADY BEEN hand-picked by the FCDP for their BLIND OBEDIENCE. Take a chance while we have a city government still pretending to be a democracy.

Take a break from punching yourself in the face. Vote for Jesse Vogel Nov. 4.