The Art of the Deal
In this game, which is a game of inches, you must know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.
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“Power will never dilute itself” is one of the ironclad rules in politics. It’s right next to, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
So it was noticeable when Columbus councilman Rob Dorans called the council’s current fake ward system “stupid” back in April.
The comments conspicuously came roughly five months after Tiara Ross won the most contested council race in years despite losing her downtown-based district by over 20 points in the primary and general elections.
Ross was able to earn that victory thanks to over $300,000 (or about 65% of her donations) coming from sitting members of council, which local campaign finance laws allow sitting politicians to donate checks to fellow politicos in any amount that their campaign coffers can cover.
Dorans is nothing if not an astute political observer, and his comments were designed in response to that backlash, undoubtedly having heard about a potential ballot referundum that would revert Columbus to its original ward system.
It was a wise move, considering organizers with the effort at Our City Our Say, were able to breeze into the ballot by gathering over 23,000 signatures over the past four months.
But negotiations between the two sides seemingly collapsed when Our City Our Say’s leaders—some of whom didn’t collect a single signature—voted down a compromised deal that would see council move forward under a hybrid system, moving some districts to true wards while keeping a majority of at-large seats on the nine-member council.
That led to a contentious hearing at City Hall on Monday, with City Council officially having a week before the deadline to submit its own proposal for the ballot, if that’s something they’re interested in doing, which they are.
The gist of Monday’s meeting was for the public to offer feedback. But it was hard to escape the aura of a dog and pony show, given that council didn’t reveal what their own ballot initiative would look like.
The discourse, at the very least, would give council cover for allowing “public comment” on the debate before unveiling and voting on their own plan next week—if that is, in fact, something they’re interested in doing.
It’s the Columbus Way, to be sure. But power doesn’t dilute itself, and frankly, it’s understandable why councilmembers might be hesistant to continue negotiating with Our City Our Say after the group failed to coalesce around a compromise that had been negotiated in good faith.
I also understand anyone who might feel betrayed by Our City Our Say even negotiating for a deal in the first place. Their ballot initiative posed a simple question that anyone can understand.
I signed the petition. And I would vote for it in November, even with the knowledge that reverting to a true ward system wouldn’t usher Columbus into the era of a communist utopia.
Council is way too cozy. I don’t think it should cost $400K to have a chance at becoming one of a nine-member legislative body. Council shouldn’t be able to funnel $300K to their preferred candidate on top of all the party machinery they already enjoy.
But even knowing all that—I hope that council and Our City Our Say can reach a brokered deal before next Monday’s deadline.
Politics is largely about timing. And the timing couldn’t be worse for Our City Our Say.
I’d feel differently if this were next spring, mere months before a low turnout primary election. But it’s not.
We’re weeks away from the most expensive election in state history, with gubernatorial and senate races that will inflate the costs of all campaign advertising mediums.
Money won’t be a problem for the Columbus Partnership, which will have every incentive to fight the true ward proposal to keep their gravy train flowing at City Hall.
And that’s all without mentioning the Franklin County Democratic Party’s Sample Ballot, which will play an outsized role in Columbus among seas of left-leaning voters only concerned with defeating the notorious conman Vivek Ramaswamy and junior Senator Jon Husted, who has an empty bottle of that so-called “purified water” garbage where his brain is supposed to be.
The FCDP and the Columbus Partnership are two 500-pound gorillas in any local election.
Our City Our Say would be fighting them on a shoestring budget in a hyper-expensive, nationalized election cycle while asking voters to care about tepid local government reform.
It’s a losing proposition. I don’t take any pleasure in typing that, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
Politics is a blood sport of inches. And in this game, you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them. And right now, Our City Our Say is playing a dangerous game they will most likely lose if they let hubris keep blocking a deal.
Even in a perfect world, successfully converting city council to a true ward system wouldn’t absolve us of our sins. There would still be work to do. Plenty of boulders would still need to be pushed uphill.
And that’s all without considering what that system would look like if city council members could continue writing basically unlimited checks to whichever of their allies were on that ballot that cycle.
So why not take a surefire win with a hybrid system and some moderate campaign finance reform, which Council has only promised to pass as part of the deal that Our City Our Say’s organizing committee rejected?
The fight, the work… it was always going to be there even if we got everything we wanted.
Our City Our Say shouldn’t let hubris dictate its response. Everyone walking away from the negotiating table unsatisfied is the hallmark of compromise. Take the negotiated wins and live to fight another day so we can avoid spending energy on intra-party squabbles that could be better spent defeating the Republican junta.
Amazing: Citizens United was an even more egregious ruling than we thought
