CITY POLITICS No On 1

Guilt and hypocrisy in City Politics

By Johnny Hildo

Like they say in show biz, that’s a wrap.

The long, sordid saga of the Indicted Four has now concluded with the Guilty Four. All that’s left now is the sentencing, to determine if it will be the Hoosgow Four.

The last of the four former Toledo Council members indicted on federal charges has been found guilty, this time by a jury of his peers. Gary Johnson was recently found guilty on one count of bribery in connection with a two thousand dollar cash payment that he apparently never reported as a campaign contribution. He joins fellow former council members Larry Sykes, Tyrone Riley and Yvonne Harper, all of whom pled guilty to a variety of similar charges of bribery and extortion in return for favorable treatment by council. Now all four await sentencing which could include time in federal prison.

Just ask former council member Bob McCloskey, who did federal time for bribery back in the mid-aughts. It’s no joke. Johnson sez it was a campaign contribution, not a bribe. It just happened to coincide with a favorable vote on council. And was solicited directly. And apparently never reported. And received in untraceable cash money. Yeah, sure.

Emergency clause

Speaking of hypocrisy.

Just this January Ohio Repuglicans pushed through sweeping changes to Ohio’s election laws, including eliminating most August special elections except in emergency fiscal situations. Too expensive, they said. And typically very low turnout anyway, because most voters aren’t focused on elections in the summer.

Oopsy! Looks like they found another emergency, only this time the trouble is the voters of Ohio expressing direct democracy and taking power into their own hands rather than bow to a legislature out of touch with the will of the people. And pushing through a change that subverts the will of the people is so much easier if no one pays attention!

Enter Issue 1, which would raise the threshold for voter-led initiatives to amend the state constitution from a simple, fifty-percent-plus-one majority to a

STANDS CORRECTED HILDO

Submitted online