Union pres. had audacity to scold Black CEOs when so few CCS teachers live in district| NAACP
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Union pushing levy when almost no teachers live in Columbus district
The Columbus Branch of the NAACP finds it intriguing that non-residents of the Columbus City Schools district are urging district residents to support Issue 11.For instance, the president of the Columbus Education Association must be aware that, according to NAACP data based on public records, more than 80% of their teachers reside outside Columbus City Schools district.
NAACP to Columbus schools: Sell vacant buildings. Don't try to balance budget on our backs
This percentage does not consider administrative, supplemental or maintenance staffing.However, CEA President John Coneglio has the audacity to criticize Black CEOs who rejected the levy.
Disgrace to you.
Along with many other members of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council, the secretary-treasurer of the union lives outside of the Columbus school district.
Letters: Futures of 45,000 Columbus kids at stake this November?
They refer to "our children" in their most recent letter to the editor as if they were their offspring.How many members of their unions serve in the community and have modified the school where our kids attend? The Central Ohio Labor Council's executive director lives beyond the boundaries of the Columbus City Schools district. What percentage of their members live inside district?
People who don't live in the CCS district shouldn't provide their opinions on matters that primarily concern the CCS district.
This community needs to develop a slate of candidates to run for CCS Board of Education that are not controlled by CEA.
Nana Watson, president, Columbus Branch of the NAACP
Support no-cost federal photo ID
Most of us believe that our fellow citizens should have access to a job, housing, medical care, a bank account, and the ballot box.
That’s what living is a free country is all about.
Unfortunately, according to the Project ID Action Fund, an estimated 21 million Americans are getting by without them. And now, extremist Republican supermajorities in many states have limited the forms of acceptable ID to prevent millions of people from voting.
Fortunately, the IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act (HR 8821) has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives. It would eliminate the cost barrier to obtaining government IDs – creating a no-cost federal photo ID accessible to any American over the age of 14.
Please urge your members of Congress to support this legislation.
Susan Gallagher, Akron
The irony is shocking
I applaud the Dispatch’s partnering with Columbus City Council, Columbus Metropolitan Library, and the Columbus City Schools to host a free Community Conversation about Teens and Gun Violence 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18 at the Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave. in downtown Columbus.
I also appreciate your expose “Under Fire: 80 Hours of Gun Violence” in the Sunday, Oct. 8 edition
More: Dispatch to Host Community Conversation on Oct. 18 about teens and gun violence
What is ironic is that in that same Sunday paper you published a half-page ad on page 5C of the Sports Section offering 12 different handguns and six different rifles, some of which are pictured with multi-shot cartridges.
Also ironic is that religious groups who have taken the time, money, and initiative to publicly endorse voting against the Issue 1 proposed Ohio Constitutional Amendment on abortion have not used their same resources to similarly publicly support “common sense” gun legislation.
Joe Barmess, Pataskala
More: How to submit a letter to the editor for The Columbus Dispatch
Refusing to debate Motil latest of Ginther's anti-democratic acts
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther’s refusal to debate his opponent, Democrat Joe Motil, is the latest of his anti-democratic acts in public office.
When Gov. Mike DeWine refused to debate his Democratic opponent Nan Whaley last year, the Ohio Democratic Party called it “an outrage” and said debates are “a central part of our democracy.”
Ginther surely deserves the same criticism.
Moreover, a Feb. 11, 2019 Dispatch editorial said Columbus is experiencing “a failure of democracy.”
It pointed to a lack of candidates for city offices and said Columbus needs effective limits on campaign contributions.
Ginther has done nothing about those matters. And this year, six candidates for Columbus City Council are unopposed, and the four candidates on the ballot for Columbus School Board have no ballet opponent (only a write-in candidate is opposing them).
In 2021, the progressive Democratic group Yes We Can announced it would no longer run candidates for Columbus offices.
The group said: “The Columbus Partnership and Mayor Ginther have successfully set up a Russian-style ‘managed democracy’” – preventing challengers from having any chance of winning.
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Potential candidates are further deterred from running by Ginther’s punitiveness and his intolerance of dissent.
The January 2022 issue of Columbus Monthly magazine listed five former local leaders who “paid a price” for clashing with Ginther and are no longer in the offices they held.
Ginther avoids mentioning the city’s dire condition of democracy. It cannot be expected to improve as long as he keeps getting reelected.
Joseph Sommer, Columbus
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Union has no right to push levy when only 20% of Columbus teachers live here
