Letters: I hope the new political columnist will be fair and objective

Last Sunday,  Beryl Love, executive editor of The Enquirer, announced that Jason Williams, who has been the political columnist for the past five years, will become the new sports columnist to replace the recently retired Paul Daugherty.

Dan Sewell, who recently retired from daily journalism after a career that included reporting and editing roles at The Enquirer and the Associated Press, was selected to replace Williams as the new political columnist.

I believe Jason did an excellent job as the political columnist, and fairly and objectively praised or criticized local, state and national politicians regardless of their political affiliation. I always got the feeling that The Enquirer leadership may have cringed whenever Jason praised a Republican or criticized a Democrat. Perhaps that factored into his new assignment. I will miss his coverage of politics, but understand that he has experience in sports reporting and look forward to his honest style of praising or criticizing our local sports teams as warranted.

I am not so confident that Sewell will be as fair and objective in his political coverage as Jason has been. In a recent guest column titled "We are the history the future will learn from," perhaps Mr. Sewell's "audition" for his new assignment, he discussed the Jan. 6 Committee hearings in which he was critical of the Republican Party in general, and had this to say about former President Donald Trump specifically:

"There is hope. There are ongoing and potential criminal investigations into Trump's behavior, and if we're lucky, he'll soon be running through the Everglades with searchlights and baying hounds on his heals instead of launching a new campaign."

I get the feeling that when The Enquirer leadership read that they said, "There is our new political columnist."

To be fair, Mr. Sewell has yet to write his first column as the new political columnist. Perhaps I should reserve my judgment until I see some of his future work. Who knows, maybe he will be equally as critical of President Joe Biden and the Democratic party.

I just hope that he can put aside his obvious disdain for Trump and his personal political leanings to provide fair and objective coverage of our local, state and national politics and politicians.

In any case, I wish the best of success to Mr. Williams and Mr. Sewell in their new assignments.

Glenn Harmeyer, Colerain Twp.

 We do not negotiate with the evil empire

Free two Americans in Russia in exchange for a killer Russian arms dealer and coerce Germany to release another undesirable person.

Is this President Joe Biden’s feel-good attempt to sway public opinion in lieu of fighting inflation, crime and illegal immigration?

Wake up, America. We do not negotiate with the evil empire.

Ernie Watson, Loveland

Disgusted that Portman just trying to get back at the Democrats

I'm disgusted that U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, would use the lives of military burn pit victims as a way to get back at Democrats for successfully passing legislation Republicans opposed.

In the words of veteran Ted Corcoran, "Republicans got caught taking revenge on veterans because they thought you wouldn't notice."

I urge Portman to vote for the PACT Act, on behalf of Mr. Corcoran and the many sick and dying service members who have been exposed to burn pit toxins. And on behalf of their families who watch over them and grieve. They are true patriots who give all for our democracy.

Ann Cotter, North Avondale

EDITOR'S NOTE: After this letter was received, the Senate voted 86-11 Tuesday  to approve the legislation. Portman was a yes vote.     

I'm watching the way D.C. mayor handles illegal immigration

I find it interesting that the mayor of Washington, D.C., is calling out the National Guard to handle the influx of people entering the country illegally arriving to her city from Texas, after telling everyone that these people "need a chance."

I'll be one of many watching to see how she handles this "crisis," and when the first one of these people commits a serious crime, will pay close attention to her response.

It will also be interesting to learn if her constituents share her welcoming attitude, particularly if the crime rate spikes even higher in a city that already has a reputation for it.

All of this raises the question: Has our mayor gone on record on the subject of accepting illegal immigration?

Tom Younger, West Chester Twp.

Until people return to work, country will continue in wrong direction

Recently I've had two service workers come to my home, one to repair my air conditioner and the other to replace faulty electrical equipment. Both were middle-aged and as I engaged them in conversation, I learned that the owners of their companies were desperate to hire new workers.

With no prodding from me, both traced the problem of worker shortages to the stimulus checks that the government sent out, the intent of which was to provide temporary assistance to Americans in difficult times, but which had the opposite effect, giving many Americans a sense of entitlement.

Unless and until our leaders find ways to motivate people to return to work, our country will continue to move in the wrong direction.

Stanley Laurel, Edgewood

Nuns' sale of longtime nursing home hurt my heart

Earlier this year, I attended a meeting for the residents and families of the nursing home that was owned and operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor. The purpose of the meeting was to inform us that the sisters were selling their nursing home to a for-profit group from Pennsylvania.

You have no idea how this hurt my heart. This nursing home was the order's second nursing home in the United States. My brother looked at me and said that the sisters and staff had become his new family.

The Little Sisters of the Poor have a beautiful charism (Christian ministry) to care for the indigent elderly. They came to Cincinnati over 150 years ago. These sisters served our community during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. They worked through many financial ups and downs of our country’s economy, including the Great Depression. These sisters also served us through two worldwide pandemics and never lost sight of their mission for Greater Cincinnati.

During all this time and dealing with all the barriers for their ministry, they still served us. The sisters have cared for not only local clergy and bishops, but also our community’s indigent seniors who could not afford care with a comforting healing love. They never discriminated against race, creed or gender.

Finally, I would ask that when you hear a popular Christian song – "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” – please think of these nuns and say a little prayer for them.

John Rogers, Cleves

Taiwan is simply not a breakaway province of  China

Taiwan is not a breakaway province of China, anymore than California is. Having a sizable number of ethnic Chinese in the population is not enough justification to make a place part of China. 

Taiwan is the ancestral home of Austronesian, not Chinese, people. Austronesians include the native people of Micronesia and Polynesia, like the Maori of New Zealand and Native Hawaiians. More than two dozen Austronesian languages are spoken on Taiwan.

In the past, China has attempted to conquer and control Taiwan, but so have Japan, the Netherlands and Spain, none of which are claiming Taiwan as a breakaway province of their nations.

Today, Chinese speakers on Taiwan do outnumber Austronesian speakers, not only because of China’s past attempts to colonize Taiwan, but mostly as a nearby country to which Chinese refugees fled from the Communists. And now the Communists wish to conquer this refuge.

This is one issue in which Speaker Nancy Pelosi is right.

Sharlotte Neely, professor emerita of anthropology at Northern Kentucky University and  co-author of "Native Nations," University Heights

Republicans have staged a successful coup in Ohio 

Sometimes coups don’t require violent attacks on capital buildings. Sometimes they happen in back rooms at the Governor's Mansion.

In 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported amendments to the Ohio Constitution designed to reduce gerrymandering – distortions of district boundaries that unfairly favor one political party over another. Ohio’s population is roughly half Republican and half Democratic, with the Republicans having a slender edge.

The sixth map now advanced by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, and its Republican majority, including Gov. Mike DeWine, is designed to produce just two likely Democratic districts out of 15, a clear distortion of the intent written into the Ohio Constitution.

Is there likely to be any rebuke from the Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature, secure once again in their own supermajority power? Will the Ohio congressional delegation represent only half of Ohio voters?

Despite the repeated rejections of proposed maps by the Ohio Supreme Court, headed by Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission is running out the clock, refusing to meet the requirements written into the Ohio Constitution for fair elections. It has treated the directives of the Ohio Supreme Court with foot-dragging and disrespect.

A coup is a lawless attempt to assume power unjustly, to overthrow the will of the people. This Ohio coup may be bloodless so far, but it is, nonetheless, the takeover of the power to govern, regardless of the law. It is a clear-sighted attempt to maintain supermajority Republican control of the Legislature, as well as the Ohio delegation to Congress.

DeWine is running for reelection as a “conservative” mainstream Republican.  Or does his track record on fair elections indicate something else?  An oligarchy can be defined as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization or institution” –  even if they are called Republicans.

Ellen Frankenberg, Finneytown 

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Letters: Hope new political columnist will be fair and objective