Only ‘working’ around will of the people

“Ohio lawmakers work hard for $71K salaries they make,” March 28: State Sen. Steve Huffman attempted to answer facts with gibberish.

In his guest column, Huffman never disputes Thomas Suddes’ factual statement that 2023 was the least productive year for the Ohio General Assembly since the Eisenhower Administration.

He calls Suddes not “fair and fact based.” It is of note that Suddes not only used facts, but also praised the Assembly for writing a balanced budget and also mentioned that some people are members of the “less is better” group regarding political legislation.

Huffman mentions that legislators “are hardworking, have jobs outside the legislature and care very much about the state of Ohio, and the hardworking Ohioans living in their districts.” 

More: Why paying Ohio lawmakers $140,000 plus a college football coach’s bonus could fix them

Senators didn’t pass legislation and more productive ones also hold outside jobs?

As for caring, why promote legislation in House Bill 68 so bigoted that even very conservative Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed it? Why deny any care (not surgery, which was never a factor) to suicide-prone LGBTQ youth?

I do not speak for Suddes, though I do enjoy his work, but my guess is that he is saying that it is not simply that the GOP legislators in Ohio do little, it is that they also waste time on negative legislation.  

Instead, Ohio legislators could be solving gerrymandering, repealing the FirstEnergy tax money giveaway, fixing school funding to comply with the DeRolph ruling 27 years ago, or passing common-sense gun safety legislation that the vast majority of Ohioans want.

After that, it would indeed be time for the Legislature to rest, and time also for them to stop thinking about doing the one thing they do like to work on — working around the will of the people regarding the constitutional amendment re-affirming Roe v. Wade in Ohio.

Greg Ward, Dublin

Our pockets are being picked

“Ohio lawmakers work hard for $71K salaries they make,” March 28: Senator Steve Huffman’s petulant attempt to bring down “the media” and journalist Thomas Suddes only served to illustrate Suddes’ point: Ohioans get precious little—“a lot of mouth”—to address their most serious concerns. It’s admirable that the General Assembly names parts of highways for fallen soldiers and designates various days on the calendar for awareness of specific medical conditions.Nevertheless, Huffman’s boasting about GOP “tax cuts” ignores that state tax cuts routinely roll downhill to residents of Ohio’s cities and townships. And his pride in giving center stage to culture war issues to interfere in parental rights regarding their transgender children is embarrassingly misplaced.

Thomas Suddes: Ohio lawmakers make at least $71,099 each. What do taxpayers get?

If Huffman and his Republican minions want to show how hard they’re working, they should immediately repeal House Bill 6, which continues to pick Ohioans’ pockets despite the GOP bribery scandal.

And then they might start really earning their salaries and obey multiple Ohio Supreme Court directives to develop a way to fund schools through some other method than property taxes that are driving senior citizens out of their homes.But since the GOP hasn’t lifted a finger to do so for 25 years, we can hardly expect them to get to work on that. It takes so little effort to whine about “the media” reporting facts.Steve Abbott, Columbus

What do you think? How to submit a letter to the editor for The Columbus Dispatch

World Central Kitchen tragedy wasn’t Biden’s fault

Re “He who controls the bullets,” March 5: In her letter to the editor, Susan McNally blames the Biden administration for the “bullets” in Gaza. 

I, too, am a supporter of World Central Kitchen, but if they go into a war zone, where hostages are still being held and munitions are stacked in hospitals, they run a risk of their workers being in danger. 

‘You are losing me, Joe.’ Biden controls the bullets. Must stop war.

President Joe Biden had nothing to do with this terrible accident. The Israel Defense Forces freely admitted that they made a mistake.  But it’s a war zone, and WCK knows it. 

Jose Andres, the founder of WCK, is wrong to say that the IDF targeted his workers. 

And McNally is wrong to simplistically place blame on Biden.

Cindy Leland, Columbus