Columbus Election Heats Up

With only a few days left before the November 6 election, things are heating up. Appointed early this year to the Franklin County Municipal Court bench, Judge Patsy Thomas is in a real fight to save the seat she just assumed by way of gubernatorial appointment. The anti-gun Thomas, who while on Columbus City Council railed against firearms but stated unequivocally that the system is wrong to jail serious drug offenders (I was present in Council chambers when she made these statements, and it is on videotape), has been running TV commercials stating that as a tough on crime member of council she led the fight to tear down crackhouses while on Council. Insiders watching this race say her campaign is going down in flames.

Meanwhile, untouchable anti-gun Mayor Mike Coleman's relationship with the anti-gun Columbus Dispatch newspaper has been the subject of several conservative blog sites, among them the Right Angle blog. Coleman, if you remember, is the mayor who let then Councilman Mike Mentel (now president of Council) push through an ill-advised ban on so-called assault weapons. The ban led to the NRA's pulling its annual exhibitions and meetings from Columbus because it would have prevented many exhibitors from legally showing their lawful products. The decision made national news, resulted in some $20 million in potential tourist dollars never being infused into a beleagured Central Ohio economy, and led to a statewide law being passed (and supported by our new democrat governor Ted Strickland) putting responsibility for all firearms regulation in the hands of state lawmakers, rather than the collection of city-states that dot the Buckeye State.

Right Angle has been complaining that the Dispatch was sitting on stories critical of Coleman. A piece that appeared last week, the Right Angle blog says, was seriously watered down from the original. I talked to my own sources inside the Dispatch, who say "watered down" is an understatement. Think "tsunami," folks. The story ran after Right Angle noted that the Blade of Toledo and The Other Paper may be ready to run with their own stories. Flash forward to today, Sunday, Nov. 4. In today's Dispatch, there is a new piece questioning a job seemingly "created" for a wife of a friend of Coleman's who is serving time on drug charges in Texas. Perhaps the criticism of the Wolfe's family's newspaper is striking a nerve and the editors realize they had better not be seen as protecting Coleman, if that is the case. Mayoral challenger Bill Todd never stood much of a chance of winning, but it was refreshing to see a campaign in which Columbus' anti-gun, anti-self-defense mayor actually has been forced to defend his tenure as mayor of Ohio's largest city, and the nation's 15th largest city.

In the case of both Thomas and Coleman, they never could give concrete reasons for their disastrous support of firearms bans in Columbus. Both trotted out sound bytes straight out of the Handgun Control/Brady Campaign playbook.

Regardless, Coleman has some trouble on the horizon but a likely win at the polls. Thomas is likely out before she got her office decorated at the Franklin County Municipal Court. Even more intriguing, there is an even chance that the republicans may pick up one seat on Columbus City Council. Some pundits locally are suggesting even two seats. The strongest running GOP candidate for council is Jim O'Grady. Stay tuned!