Letters: Ginther's affordable housing plan will make your home less affordable

Plan would jack up taxes

While the citizens of Columbus are suffering through the worst inflation in 40 years and possibly headed into a deep recession, Mayor Andrew Ginther thinks this is a good time to submit levies onto the Nov. 8 ballot that may dramatically increase property taxes.

How tone-deaf it is to issue a ballot initiative, which includes building more affordable housing, which could jack up property taxes that have already gone through the roof over the last 6 to 8 years, while making current homeowners' housing less affordable?

More:Be prepared: Columbus voters face long, complex questions on ballot

The government, at a time when people such as retirees, are having a hard time making ends meet should not be raising taxes. Voters should overwhelmingly reject this ballot.

City officials say property taxes would only be used as a backstop if city income tax revenues are inadequate. I remind you that these are the same folks who told us that keeping the Crew in Columbus wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.

Alan Bumgardner, Columbus

Why must journalism win?

Columbus Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson chats Edwina Blackwell Clark, the newspaper's new executive editor on the latest episode of the "Then What Happened?" podcast.

During an episode of the "Then What Happened?" podcast, the Springfield native with decades of experience in news said there are many reasons the Cap City should toot its own horn.

Among other things, she and Robinson discuss  journalism and the important role it must play in drawing people out of their bubbles, the value of representation but also enabling voices, and being told you can and doing it.

Then What Happened? Podcast can be found here, on Apple Podcast, Spotify and where ever else you find your favorite shows.

Patrick DeWine out of touch

Marilyn Zayas is running against Patrick DeWine for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. She is rated excellent by Judge4Yourself, which is a higher rating than received by DeWine. She is highly regarded and has a reputation for fairness.

DeWine’s record on the Ohio Supreme Court demonstrates anti-abortion support, hostility to fair elections, extremist support for gun rights and broad disfavor for defendant rights.

In the only two recent abortion-related Ohio Supreme Court decisions, DeWine voted to approve revocation of a license for a healthcare facility that provided abortions, and not to allow a challenge to an anti-abortion law by applying a higher standing requirement.

More:Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine says he would recuse himself from a contempt proceeding

DeWine dissented in a series of decisions concluding that extremely gerrymandered redistricting maps were unconstitutional.

Instead of supporting fair elections, he would permit extreme gerrymandering. DeWine’s father was a party, DeWine refused to recuse himself, and DeWine’s dissent agreed with his father’s side.

DeWine opined that the reasoning of the court opinion was insufficiently protective of gun rights. He preferred reasoning that fails to consider purpose, consequences and intent. The same type of reasoning promoted by right-wing extremists that led to overruling of Roe v Wade.

DeWine has repeatedly devalued individual defendant rights pertaining to bail, court costs, sentencing, tolerance of judicial bias and reasonable suspicion to stop and search.

This is the record of a justice out of touch with the values of most Ohioans.

Mark Hennessey, Pepper Pike

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Credibility of our courts have eroded

I was pleased to see the Oct. 9 article, "4 running for domestic, juvenile court," showing the results of the Columbus Bar Association poll on judicial candidates for the next election on May 9.

Voters who read The Dispatch will benefit, but they represent only a small percentage of the population over 21 years old and it's now clear that the traditional sources of information for judicial elections will soon disappear, to be replaced by soundbites on TV.

More:Meet the candidates for Franklin County Domestic Relations and Juvenile court judgeships

As that occurs, the cost of judicial campaigns will escalate to the point that ordinary, middle class voters will consider judges to be owned by large law firms and their wealthy clients.

As an attorney for 57 years, I have seen this erosion of the credibility of our courts firsthand and determined that the only way to slow it down is to hand ownership of the polls back to voters where it belongs. So how do we do that?

First, we give voters the tools they want, not what we want, starting with the partisan ballot.

We made a start this year, after a 100-year delay, with the Supreme and appellate courts, but not giving that ballot to the Common Pleas judges, too, was a serious mistake. They are on the firing line and hiding their political parties from voters makes them look like poor cousins.

What else can our neglectful legislators do? They could put other important information for each candidate on the ballot: age, number of years of service, and any significant recognition.

How to reduce campaign costs so that the public ceases to feel that justice is for sale? Over 30 states use the retention ballot for some or all judicial elections.

According to a study by the American Judicature Society, during the period 2000 to 2009, the total cost of all retention elections was only 1% of the total cost of all other judicial elections, $2.3 million vs. $204 million.

Further, this takes care of unopposed elections, which voters feel are not worth their time. A voter will always have a choice with a retention election: To retain or not, that is the question.

As I catch the news, it is painfully obvious that the rule of law weakens every day. Law and order is beginning to sound like a bad joke. We may have laws, but we certainly don't have order and we don't have another century to wait.

I don't know about you, but I want to see poll numbers of 90% backing the retention of the best judges we can find, before heading for that courthouse in the sky.

Dick Rogovin, Blacklick

What do Christians value?

To hear people claim to be Christian or say they have Christian values is often a vain attempt to appeal to others who are gullible.

The word Christian literally means “follower of Christ.” If we assume that real Christians know and understand the teachings of Christ, that would mean they understand the Bible. Christ himself made it clear how Christians would be recognized (although He never used the term Christian, that word came later).

In Matthew 7:16, He said, “By their fruits you will know them.” This applies to both Christians and false prophets. True Christians will be doing things that demonstrate clearly that they are following the teachings of Jesus. False prophets likewise will be identified by their actions.

More:Column: Christians must not harvest 'crop of weeds' in tough times, but follow Spirit of God

When Jesus was asked what He thought was the greatest commandment, His answer was twofold: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments."

Showing God’s love to others was second only to loving God, according to Jesus.

Jesus’s attitude toward judgement and punishment was clearly demonstrated in the account of the adulteress. When asked about the Mosaic law that said she should be stoned, Jesus famously said “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.”

Nothing in the teachings of Jesus gives even the slightest hint that He had any political involvement. In fact, Jesus refused to lead any political movement. He resisted when the people wanted to make Him king.

When we hear that someone is a Christian, or someone has Christian values, we need to examine their actions and true beliefs before we accept that as fact.

Jesus said, “Be careful that no one fools you,” and that is great advice in this day and age.

Charles A. Summers, Pataskala

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: What are real Christian values?