No one man should have all that power

"Rooster walking ur way down the street."

The State Legislature snuck a provision into the 6,000-page biennial budget that sealed communications between legislators, or legislators and their aides, from public records requests.

Governor Mike DeWine refused to issue a line-item veto of the provision, and it will become law in 77 days, barring a legal challenge.

On its face, it’s the type of worm-like behavior I’ve come to expect from the Republican junta. Despite their ill-gotten supermajorities in both legislative chambers, they opted for the coward’s route rather than the normal legislative process, which they could have passed no matter the public opposition.

But they know that political perverts like me will shriek, the public will shrug, and the issue will be long forgotten before next year’s election cycle. And thanks to standard Statehouse operating procedure, we’ll never know which specific legislator(s) placed that language into the budget in the first place.

However, this new law will do little to change how the Legislature operates. The shrewdest operators have long shielded their communications with private emails and encrypted text messaging applications like Signal.

There is no independent watchdog responsible for fulfilling records requests or ensuring that legislatures comply. The ultimate responsibility falls on a partisan bureaucrat who owes their job to their respective caucuses.

When those records requests come in—like mine on May 16, looking for any emails or texts to/from State Representatives that include the word “Rooster”—that request is then passed to the legislative aides to tap their bosses on the shoulder, as we see from Colin Connors flagging State Rep. Jamie “Gigachad” Callender about my request:

The inevitable game of telephone can lead to some… inconsistencies… in returns for record requests.

Anna Staver of cleveland.com observed the phenomenon on May 21, when a records request for text messages returned no hits, despite one lawmaker texting her the exact phrase she requested communications for.

But again… It’s not like any legislator will go to jail, even if they delete their messages after receiving an unfavorable request, something that, as one former State Representative admitted to The Rooster last year, “they all do.”

Thankfully, I have been enough of a pain in the ass to these people that there was still plenty of comedic material returned in my request.

I had to keep some insights under my cap due to the never-ending game of cat and mouse between me and the legislators, but what follows is a good example of how easily you can make a name for yourself in political circles by going to the Statehouse with the primary objective of being as annoying as possible to our self-styled monarchs.

Legislators regularly warned about my locations

One of the biggest questions I had: Do legislators get warnings about my location? And it turns out that they do, as evidenced in these texts to State Reps. Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula) and Tex Fischer (R-Boardman):

It was no surprise to see Fowler-Arthur warned. She goes to great lengths to avoid me at the Statehouse after that time I busted her ass about wanting to teach the Holocaust from “the perspective of the German soldier.”

Fischer was somewhat of a surprise, though it’s not like he was running in fright. He and I have an amicable relationship with a common disdain for British people:

Shadow Speaker Gayle Manning: He must leave me alone!

There is no standardized form for replying to the same public records request. Some legislators only included a cropped image of the single text that mentioned “Rooster.” Others, like Speaker Pro Tempore Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville) were more dutiful, providing screen captures of their entire messaging app that included added context to her discussions.

For example, we caught Rep. Manning admitting that it was “bad” to include a 30-year bond deal for the Cleveland Browns in the budget, which Manning eventually voted for.

The Rooster is read by people you wouldn’t expect!

Like Mark Fraizer, a former Republican candidate for the Ohio House that lost a bitter primary to State Rep. Thad Claggett.

I must say, the Republican voters of the House 68th District got it wrong. I’ll take Mr. Fraizer over that bum Claggett any day of the week.

Rep. Daniels gives insight into a Signal chat of legislators

On May 13, I went into the Statehouse to shake some trees about the scandal involving State Reps. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) and Phil Plummer (R-Vandalia)

Early in the morning, I encountered Reps. Angie King (R-Celina) and Jack Daniels (R-Akron) in the hallways.

King lied to my face about not knowing anything about Speaker Huffman stripping Creech of his committee assignments over allegations of sexual misconduct with his teenage daughter.

Daniels relayed my inquiries to Creech:

What’s most interesting about this text is the graphics in the bottom right-hand corner. That’s a timer and delivery notifications consistent with the encrypted text messaging application Signal.

Daniels could have gotten away with not submitting this text message. But it confirms the existence of encrypted chats between legislators if nothing else.

Representative Pastor Jonathan Newman gets advice from his adult son on how to handle my presence

This is bad advice from his son, because as any Statehouse veteran will tell you, it goes worse if you let me tee off on you:

I commend Pastor Newman for not heeding this poor advice. Though we disagree on everything political, he has shown he’s no coward.

But I’m a good guy!!!

On March 13, my friend and I were reveling in our common disdain for Pete Buttigieg. That conversation got flagged in a chat with State Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon).

The unknown sender used the “Heartbreaking: The worst person you know just made a great point” meme in a reference to me.

Mathews then wondered if he’ll live long enough to see me “switch sides formally.” (I’ll save him the suspense: That’s never happening.)

Meanwhile, a “Charles G” commends The Rooster’s coverage of Columbus City Council candidate Tiara Ross driving on a suspended license for over a year while amassing $3,875 in unpaid parking tickets.

Mathews went on to let contact “O” know that he spoke unfavorably to me about the proposed 30-year bond deal for the Browns, something which he would later vote for.

Appearing on The Rooster is a rite of passage

State Rep. Dave Thomas (R-Jefferson) earned praise from several lobbyists for his first interview on The Rooster.

As Greg Lawson of the Buckeye Institute notes: Things go better when you stand and answer the nice man’s questions. I would much prefer to stand and have an exchange of ideas with legislators who take their job seriously. It’s much more informative for the audience, albeit not always as entertaining.

Sunday Creek Horizons lobbyist agreed with my roast of Dave Yost’s pitiful gubernatorial advertisement

Will Drabold, a lobbyist for Sunday Creek Horizons, forwarded a tweet of mine bashing Dave Yost to State Rep. Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta)

Thank you, Ms. Jaquet!

Personal shoutout to Kayley Jaquet of Newark, Ohio, for bombing on Speaker Matt Huffman about his draconian “Rooster rules” to empty the lobby outside the House chamber before sessions.

Former Ohio State Representative convicted of bribery discusses Bill DeMora with Rep. Dontavius Jarrells

Carl Weddington is a former State Representative who served three years in prison for bribery and election falsification.

As his right as an American citizen, he’s put his life back together and is moving in respectable circles. In an undated text message, he flagged my March 21 interview with State Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) to State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus).

It’s unclear to which comments Weddington is referring or what Rep. Jarrells said in response.

Rep. Christine Cockley has an idea that could land me in state prison

Listen… she’s probably right. I could probably take advantage of my longtime friendship with Governor DeWine and get him to click on an unsavory link. But I don’t want to go down that way, and I’m still hoping to talk him into a podcast appearance when he leaves office.

The bust-up of Kenn Dowell made some waves in Cleveland

An unknown person sent a video of my encounter with shady Cleveland politico Kenn Dowell to State Rep. Terrance Upchurch (D-Cleveland).

I wish I could have seen Upchurch’s unfiltered response!

Rep. Glassburn was very upset about what he deemed as unfair coverage

On April 10, I blasted State Rep. Chris Glassburn (D-North Olmsted) for refusing to join an effort by State Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) to sabotage the Browns’ bond deal.

Glassburn and I eventually worked things out in a later interview. And I regret not putting my anger aside to call him before I wrote that article, even if I felt it wouldn’t have been a productive conversation.

I owed him that much, even if I still disagree with his vote and thrust of his argument in these ensuing text messages. However, I do commend him for turning them over.

Rep. Synenberg pulls himself from the fire!

As you might imagine, I was not surprised to see Glassburn pissed. But I certainly was caught off guard by Rep. Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood) referring to The Rooster as “the National Enquirer of the Statehouse.”

I pride myself on going where others won’t and pushing that envelope, but that jab would have been something we would have had to discuss on camera, because it’s not a slight I could have let slide.

However, Synenberg redeemed himself a little more than a month later:

Synenberg’s folder also included communications with State Rep. Matt Kishman (R-Minerva), an operator of a local Independent Grocers Association franchise.

Curiously, however, the Republican caucus didn’t include this communication from Kishman in their response, which goes to show the pitfalls of not having an independent group handling the entire legislative body:

It’s good to see that at least some Democrats were concerned with Columbus City Council candidate Tiara Ross lying under oath

Communications from State Rep. Joe Miller (D-Amherst) show that he has an eye in the sky at the Statehouse.

There was also some conversation, which we’re not privy to, about Tiara Ross lying under oath about not knowing the status of her driver’s license at the residency challenge hearing.

It was kind of a big deal that got swept under the rug on the local level for obvious reasons.

Rep. Sedrick Denson and the Belize Hot Tub Fallout

Give State Rep. Sedrick Denson (D-Cincinnati) this much: I thought he was bullshitting when he told me to email his aide to set up a one-on-one interview about his vacationing in Belize last December during Lame Duck.

But he stuck to his word, and that interview went down.

And to his team’s credit, they put together an entire document about how to handle the interview, which you can see in part below, along with his communication to then-House Minority Assistant Leader Dontavius Jarrells when the story broke:

They’re trying to butter me up! It’s unbelievable.

It must mean I’m going soft in my old age.

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