Republicans stall on new district map to delay primaries
Republicans stalling on new legislative map to delay primary elections
I wonder how many are fooled by the current Republican delay in delivering redistricting maps that pass muster.
Just a little bit longer and a delay in our current primary date will be impossible to make use of approved, Constitutional maps.
John Wittmann, Columbus
More:Capitol Insider: Republican Maureen O’Connor likely holds the fate of GOP map in her hands
GOP wants one leader in control: ‘King’ Donald Trump
Why do the Republicans want only one person to have complete control over our government?
The purpose of the three branches of government was to provide checks and balances over each other. Messy at times, but keeps us from having a king or dictator.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, after spending another weekend with Trump, states about Trump, “It’s his party, it’s not the centre’s party; he retains total control over the Republican Party.”
More:Letters: Trump’s popularity, a messy recount, gun legislation and missing Mister Rogers
If this is true, then: (1) the Republican Party is acting and following orders of an unelected political leader, which makes them followers of a shadow government; (2) giving their Constitutional responsibility to one person makes that person a king or a dictator; (3) why are they running for government offices if they have one person “in complete control?
Our children deserve a country that has a peaceful exchange of leadership by voting and not by subversive methods and behavior. I find it strange the party didn’t trust their own workers at the polls and the party members who recounted, recounted, and still recounting.
Jean Gawronski, Powell
More:How to submit a letter to the editor for The Columbus Dispatch
Judging the needy further divides us; let’s help each other instead
I must respond to the Jan. 26 letter from Dennis Singleton, “Put your thinking cap on: Unemployed, needy should volunteer at food banks.”
More:Letters: Waitstaff deserve big tips this week. Needy should volunteer for food bank.
What is it that causes people who are so fortunate as to not need assistance to assume that those who do are on the take and looking for something for nothing? Why use this need as another way to divide people into “us” and ”them?”
The fact is, there are people in need. It is not our concern to question how they got there. As a human family, we should help each other out. Food and shelter are the most basic of human needs.
More:‘We have plenty of food’: Pantries coping with demand amid inflation, supply-chain issues
If you are healthy, provided for and have some time, put in a shift at the food bank. You will be helping to make the world a little bit better place.
Joanna Morgan Porreca, Grove City
Property taxes keep schools open, but property values keep schools unequal
I respond to the Jan. 26 letter from Robert Hopkins, “Funding schools by taxing property owners ‘unfair’.” He claims it is unfair that local property owners are forced to subsidize their local schools, that they should operate on the funds appropriated to them by the state.
More:Franklin County auditor announces $5 million in property tax refunds to schools, others
But school funding has long been a partnership between state and local districts. The state allocates so much for a district, and local property taxes must make up the rest. Without local property taxes, schools would have to close.
But, wait a minute — actually, Mr. Hopkins is on to something: the answer to the decades-long legal battle over school funding! The Ohio Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled Ohio’s school funding is unconstitutional, with far too much dependence on local property taxes.
More:Should public schools be able to contest the value of your home?
As Mr. Hopkins is perhaps inadvertently suggesting, if only our schools were adequately and completely funded by the state, using taxes collected across the state, every district could receive appropriate and adequate funding.
We would not have some students enjoying gold-plated learning while others’ are inferior just because of the zip code they happen to be born in. The quality of children’s education should not depend on how wealthy — or not —their district’s property values are.
Way to go, Mr. Hopkins.
Rosemary Hajost, Lancaster
Read More: Republicans stall on new district map to delay primaries