Letters: Jim Jordan is Ohio's embarrassment. Frank LaRose's Householder excuse is hilarious

Jim Jordan the intimidator

Ohio’s embarrassment, Congressman and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, is on the attack against New York’s Manhattan district attorney who recently brought 34 felony charges against former President Trump.

And now there is a countersuit against Jordan for interference in the judicial process.

More: Manhattan DA, Jim Jordan clash over murder rates in Ohio, N.Y. after Trump indictment

Jordan, whose full-time job seems to be the poster boy of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction, is in the only element he is capable of. How does such a clown get into office anyway?

Look no further than a Republican constituency voting a straight ticket in our highly gerrymandered state. We can do better.

Susan B. West, Athens

Something fishy about LaRose's timeline

I am still laughing about Frank LaRose’s April 12 column “Corrupt mastermind’s plot shows frailty of our state’s constitution."

Timeline:

• February 2020, Larry Householder makes a plan to amend the constitution to give himself 16 more years of power.

• November 10, 2022 (almost three years later) Ohio Capital Journal reported that Ohio voters proposed a Constitutional amendment to protect women’s rights to abortion care.

• November 17, 2022 (one week later) LaRose announced support for a plan to restrict Ohio voters ability to vote on constitutional amendment by requiring 60% to pass rather than 50% (while amendments proposed by the Ohio Congress would still only require a simple majority of 50% to pass).

Now, LaRose wants us to believe his support of the 60% amendment is to protect Ohio voters from corrupt politicians and not to diminish the rights of Ohio voters.

Thomas Suddes: Frank LaRose wants to rewrite history to hijack your century-old right

Frank LaRose: Larry Householder's sinister plot shows 'vulnerability' of Ohio Constitution

Speaking of corrupt masterminds, Ohio voters passed a constitutional amendment against gerrymandered congressional districts by 70%.  Since then, LaRose (and others) repeatedly voted in favor of gerrymandered maps.

Jeff Dixon, Grove City

Cheers to equity and the women work for it

Pay equity takes systems change and individual responsibility.

Kudos to Columbus City Council and the Mayor’s Women’s Commission for acting to eliminate pay disparities based on salary history.

Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla’s legislation to prohibit employers from requesting salary history will interrupt patterns of disparity that can impact workers for a lifetime.

More: Columbus City Council introduces legislation to create better pay equity among employers

Columbus joins more than 20 cities and states that have taken similar measures. Congrats to Barroso de Padilla, and others for conducting a wage gap and pay equity workshop at Columbus State to prepare individuals for future workplace negotiations.

It takes the public and private sectors, and all of us working together, to have the workforce we want and need. (March 14 "What are Columbus officials doing to close income gaps in the area?" and March 19 "Having a conversation with six women who achieve.")

Lucy Gettman, Columbus

Pinning it on Larry Householder

Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s April 12 column “Corrupt mastermind’s plot shows frailty of our state’s constitution” is another attempt to provide a rationale for changing the Ohio constitutional amendment process and it shows his true colors.

Fear.

He, and his fellow Republicans, fear the proposed amendments that may appear on the November ballot. Instead of giving Ohioans an opportunity to vote on these amendments whose supporters are following the rules in effect now, he wants to procedurally abort the proposals, no less than with a special election which will cost Ohio taxpayers $20 million.

Our view: Deceitful bill proof some GOP lawmakers willing to steal rights from all Ohioans

Thomas Suddes: Power hungry LaRose, Huffman think you are stupid or have amnesia

He now is using former Ohio House of Representative Speaker Larry Householder as a poster boy for bad people who will use the current procedure for nefarious purposes.

.Householder was considering changes in Ohio’s term limits for office.  LaRose acts as if no idea is worthy of debate. Ideas can stand on their own irrespective of motive.

How well have term limits worked in Ohio?

Ohio Senator Jay Hottinger retired from elective service after 28 years by bouncing back and forth between the House and Senate. Others have earned life long careers by doing the same and expanding the merry-go-round using state and local positions.

Term limits were never about getting rid of your own elected representative but about getting rid of someone else’s. The traditional form of term limits has always existed in Ohio which is vote to remove someone in the next election.

I have more faith in Ohioans in proposing and deciding the fate of constitutional amendments than the Secretary of State.

If Ohioans cannot have their representatives listen to their concerns and opinions on the major critical issues, then they should respond with action that does get attention. They certainly should be able to debate the issue presented to them.

Toba Feldman, Columbus

Keep your Twin Peaks

Call me old fashioned but I had hoped our culture had progressed beyond our obsession with the size of a women's chest. I guess I was wrong once I read the April 11 article "Twin Peaks opening new location in Columbus area."

The article referenced the Twin Peaks girls as the restaurant's flannel-wearing waitresses often adorned in revealing outfits. I welcome all new restaurants in Columbus but another Hooters with a clever name will not be on my bill of fare.

Michael Oser, Columbus

Integrity is lost on Clarence Thomas

Juxtaposition is truth’s ally. Putting two situations side by side provides insight.

In Israel thousands demonstrate to protect the integrity of their courts – valuing a court free of outside influence.

In this country our courts’ integrity is eroding continually.

More: In defending gifts from a GOP billionaire, Clarence Thomas raises more questions among his critics

Regrettably, many ignore that tragedy. Republicans brag cynically about stacking the courts according to their political prejudice. For years a veteran Supreme Court Justice un-apologetically accepts multitudinous favors from a top political donor – and his party’s leaders turn a defiant blind eye.

Integrity is lost bit by bit.  Let’s stop the erosion of judicial integrity before it’s too late!

William A. McCartney, Delaware

We should all be so woke

"Woke" means "Aware." (April 9 column "Hysteria, hyperbolic reactions about college bill are wrong"). When did understanding the context of anything become feared or evil?

I'm an old, tired, white woman who grew up on the west side of Columbus, with a BS and MBA from OSU. I believe in humanity, math, science, and the pursuit of knowledge in all forms. I adamantly oppose anyone in the political realm who wants to suppress this in any way.

Jackie Rudolph, Upper Arlington

Who is dumb?

I have just finished State Sen. Jerry C. Cirino's April 9 defense of Senate Bill 83 "Hysteria, hyperbolic reactions about college bill are wrong."

I cannot decide if he thinks the Dispatch readers are too dumb to understand what he has written or if he is dumb enough to not know what he writes.

Ignore 'hysteria. ' Freedoms attack on Ohio campuses. My bill will protect them| Cirino

I agree universities should encourage freedom of expression and diversity of thought. but how do universities encourage freedom of expression and diversity of thought if universities cannot require courses or training in diversity, equity or inclusion courses? How do you form an opinion about something you know nothing about?

Also Cirino is another politician that is trying to set his own definition for the term "woke."

It has nothing to do with trying to create intolerance of intellectual diversity.

Wesley Coil, Gahanna

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: Jim Jordan's full-time job is embarrassing Ohio and retaliation