Rooster in Review: Trials & Tribulations of Reckless Ross
Unless you fell into a well and broke every bone in your body, you probably had a more enjoyable week than City Council District 7 candidate Tiara Ross.
It’s Friday, folks. And unless you fell into a well, you probably had a more enjoyable week than City Council District 7 candidate Tiara Ross.
On Monday, Ross beat my residency challenge of her candidacy by proving she moved into the 7th District one day before the deadline of May 6th, 2024.
But that victory proved short-lived since she drove to the residency hearing on a suspended license and in a car with a registration that expired in September 2024. That led to The Rooster unearthing $3,795 in unpaid parking and “failure to display” registration tickets since August 2022, which made Ross’s statement under oath that she was unaware of her license and registration dubious at best.
George Shillock III of WOSU published his story at 2:03 p.m. Thursday:
"Parking tickets just build up. They get really expensive really quickly," Ross said. "I was born into a working family class. And I worked as a public servant for the city of Columbus. And so, being able to pay for those tickets took me some time."
Ross is on the city attorney's Property Action Team and makes over $130,000 a year.
Ross said in a statement to WOSU she's now paid off her tickets and her license has been reinstated.
It’s important to note that Ross lied to Shillcock about having her license reinstated, if it was on a BMV hold.
As of that publishing time, Ross had paid $2,095 and $1,355 toward her outstanding $3,975 balance. But with that $70 remaining, it would be impossible for her to have her license back.
Whoever advised her to double down on the small lies will regret that decision in the coming days.
Ross paid that final $70 at 6 p.m. ET after having a previous payment declined earlier in the day. She would still owe roughly $300 to the BMV to have her license reinstated, and she’d have to do that in person at the BMV, so there is no proof that she has had it reinstated as of this writing early Friday afternoon.
Thankfully, Jordan Laird of The Dispatch joined the fray at 6:05 a.m. Friday with additional reporting that showed Ross’s troubles are even worse than The Rooster previously published.
The Dispatch confirmed with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles that Ross' license was suspended in fall 2023 for failure to pay a speeding ticket issued in Whitehall. She got the speeding ticket for going 51 mph in a 35 mph zone at around 2:40 a.m. on a Saturday, according to Whitehall Mayor's Court records. The Dispatch also found that Ross' vehicle registration expired in September 2024, according to BMV records.
Ross, 37, had racked up 60 Columbus parking tickets since 2019, according to city records, mostly around the courthouse complex Downtown for meter nonpayment and expired registration. Earlier this week, Ross owed the city $3,795 for unpaid tickets.
[…]
Ross' most recent license suspension was not the first. She forfeited her driver's license four other times between 2008 and 2013 when she was in her early 20s, according to Ohio BMV records. She also had a 12-point suspension in 2010, meaning she received 12 points on her driving record for violations within a two-year period. While her license was suspended, she was caught driving in 2012 with no license.
This makes her boss, City Attorney Zach Klein, defending Ross in the WOSU article even funnier:
“Tiara is one of the hardest working people I’ve encountered during my time with the city, and my office, as well as the residents and families of Columbus, have benefitted immeasurably from her service to our community," Klein said. "I’ve seen firsthand Tiara’s tenacity and determination to make a difference as one of the lead attorneys on our Property Action Team."
It's good to know that Klein will defend an attorney who likely lied under oath and drove on a suspended license for roughly 18 months while amassing nearly $4,000 in unpaid parking debt.
But it’s not a surprise, honestly. Klein is running for mayor in 2027, and to do so successfully, he’ll need the support of the Black churches, much like the one in Milo-Grogan, where Ross’s grandfather is a Bishop.
From The Dispatch’s soft profile of Klein on Feb. 23:
Bishop Jerome H. Ross Sr. of Triedstone Baptist Church said Klein comes to worship even when it's not campaign time. Ross said he first met Klein when Klein ran for city council.
"I was very impressed with him: his honesty, his thoughtfulness," Ross said. "He had a plan and ideas he wanted to bring to the table."
The article fails to note that Klein employs Ross’s granddaughter on a salary of $145,000. Might that have something to do with Bishop Ross’s opinions on Klein? Might Klein coming to worship at Bishop Ross’s church “even when it’s not campaign time” have something to do with Klein’s mayoral ambitions?
It’s hard to say!
But Ross has painted herself as a hardworking attorney who “always throws herself into her work.” This was her excuse for racking up nearly $4,000 in parking debt despite the majority of tickets coming outside her apartment and Columbus bars.
Klein’s testimony also ignores the fact that we have testimony from a city activist about Ross’s work ethic at her day job:
On paper, Ross is qualified for city council. But her story and facade can’t withstand 30 seconds of scrutiny, and this scandal strikes to the heart of her character.
She wants to serve on the council despite not having time to pay parking tickets. She wants to legislate in a city of a million people when she routinely drove on a suspended license for nearly 18 months. She wants to control city purse strings when she is an irresponsible spender in her private life.
The Franklin County Democratic Party cannot endorse Ross without further damaging its credibility in working to recruit and install her in the first place.
She’s not ready for primetime. And as I said—I’ve got another card to play at my choosing if she wants to continue this charade of a campaign. The choice is hers.
This week in Ohio Man…
Well, we might have found someone who had a worse week than Reckless Ross.
Dustin M. Thompson is about to spend the rest of his life in prison for what appears to be the senseless fatal beating of a senior citizen minding his business at a laundromat.
From Mitchell Willetts of kansascity.com:
Weeks after being assaulted inside a laundromat, a 70-year-old Ohio man has died, and now his accused attacker is charged with murder, officials say and news outlets report. In addition to murder, Dustin M. Thompson, 36, is facing charges of felonious assault and possession of criminal tools, court records filed March 5 in Franklin County show. He had previously been charged with attempted murder in connection to the Feb. 1 incident, and his bail was set at $1 million.
[…]
Surveillance video from the laundromat shows Tommy McClendon sitting at a table when Thompson walks up, douses him with pepper spray, then starts hitting him with a baton, investigators said, WSYX reported. During the beating, which lasted about 20 minutes, Thompson is seen kicking McClendon out of his chair and slamming a trash can into his head, police say, then pouring a bottle of Gatorade onto him before throwing the bottle, the station reported.
I’m not sure most folks would grasp how long 20 minutes is when it comes to somebody beating on a stranger. It’s hard to believe that no bystander ended it, but that’s easier to type than do.
Still, I’d be damned if I ever stood around and watched that happen without intervening.
This week in The Rooster…
Another lifetime ago. A conversation with Auditor Keith Faber brings back an old campaign memory from Darke County, plus Ohio’s beautiful farmers won’t be earning the right to repair their machinery any time soon.
Tiara Ross owes $3,795 in parking tickets on her suspended license. This one is self-explanatory.
Bring the rain. The Rooster strikes east to Washington D.C.
The game remains the same. Vivek Ramaswamy and his rent-a-henchman get foiled
I’ll have a special dispatch on Monday for paid subscribers, featuring edited footage from D.C. and a book giveaway.
Feel free to join the Patriots Caucus if you’ve been on the fence! We’re starting to get somewhere with the lizard cabal that controls Ohio’s state and local governments.
THOSE WMDs. Federal layoffs shake Christians in government… MAGA world turns against Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett… The Wizard of Vinyl is in Kansas… How foreign bloggers are promoting the image of a “safe and free” Russia on the Kremlin’s dime… Who gets to be a therapist?