The Rooster's January Mailbag
Talking Beth Lear's smears, biking in arctic temperatures, a dream (and nightmare) blunt rotation, and more.
Welcome to the January Mailbag, the readership’s monthly chance to ask burning political and not-so-political questions.
The freaks were barking yesterday, with over 100 questions flooding the line. I can’t answer all of them, but will include a few more in the Rooster in Review dispatch to hit your mailboxes in the early afternon.
If you find this mailbag informative, entertaining, or informatively entertaining, I’d be honored if you took a moment to subscribe, even if to join the free-loading hogs huffing fumes from the parking lot:
Questions are in bold with my responses in normal text.
As always, some questions have been lightly edited for grammar, syntax or clarity.
I paid $100 and never got my eggs with The Rooster… How do we fix that?
Thank you for taking the plunge on that price. You are a whale by that standard, and should be treated as such.
It’s true… Any patriot who selects the Founding Member subscription plan is entitled to a free lunch with yours truly in downtown Columbus.
Your automatic welcome email includes the invitation to contact me to set the details.
Please email me (preferably from the email you joined under), and we’ll set a date most agreeable to both our schedules.
You know it’s time for another “I’m from Marion” story...
In high school, my very cool friends and I were randomly driving past our Spanish’s teachers house and saw him go inside while cooking on the grill. I got out and stole his steak off his grill.
The steak was cooked to perfection. I was never apprehended.
A friend of a friend of a friend’s brother’s has a roommate who sleeps with someone from the statehouse AND says…
Huffman is a little concerned he won’t have such an easy time getting the band back together after the November election. I know I should dismiss such hope, but are you seeing any signs of concern?
I’m hearing they have between 9 and 11 races that could get heated and spending on any other races is out of the question. As always thanks for being the first cock I look at every morning at 4:35 AM.
You know… I had never thought of it like that. Thank you. It’s an honor.
But yes, your friend’s friend’s brother’s roommate who sleeps with someone from the Statehouse has his hand on the pulse. Perhaps he read the Dec. 19 dispatch! Huffman has many, many headaches because the House will always be harder to control than the State Senate.
Ohio House Democrats are targetting 40 seats in November. That might not sound like much, but it would create a seismic shift within the chamber. Theoretically, they’d only need 11 Republicans to break ranks to crown a new Speaker.
Would those Republicans do it after the Blue 22 fiasco? Well, there’s nobody nearly as ominous as Huffman to seize on that chaos, this time around.
What are your favorite cities in the People’s Republic of China to visit? Is Guandong nice this time of year?
I’ve actually never been to China, but that will be changing soon enough. I have heard great things about Guandong.
Ohio has one of the smallest state legislatures in the country, is it time to expand?
Yes. State Senator Bill Blessing has a bill that would do just that, but it’s the type of good idea that will go nowhere in the State Legislature, because politicians will never vote to dilute their power.
Should the Treasurer position be abolished in the State of Ohio? The executive-level OBM already does like 90% of the financial matters of state and the only notable thing the treasurer’s office has done in the past 15 years is promote crypto schemes and buy Israel genocide bonds.
Yes. The Treasurer position should have been abolished when Josh Mandel showed it was possible to work a maximum of eight hours a week for a full year and not have anything go off the rails.
We should also abolish the Auditor’s office as an elected position and enact a bipartisan commission.
Thoughts on ebikes?
They’re great, especially for commuters or anyone looking to haul $180 worth of groceries back home.
My problem is more with the owners who ride them on shared-use paths going 40+ mph like they’re on a motorcycle. If they’re not pedaling, they need to take their behemoth bikes to the road!
Do you bike in sub-freezing temperatures? If so, do you have any advice for someone who wants to attempt that?
It’s all about layering and sometimes bar mitts. I’ll also wear insulated boots during the coldest weather.
But remember, if you’re not a little cold when you start your ride, you’re probably overdressed. But that’s only a big deal if you’re going 20+ miles or so. My rides in that kind of weather rarely go beyond 20.
Where are the “Rooster beats women” rumors coming from? Is it because you’re known to wear a wifebeater at the Statehouse?
Well, I’ve never worn “wifebeaters.” However, I have been known to wear tank tops in the warmer months.
To your larger point, those baseless smears are coming from OhioNavyMom61, aka State Rep. Beth Lear (R-Kooksville). And we’ll be having some discourse about her little campaign in two weeks; I can tell you that much.
But it’s not the first rumor pushed against me. Most of them are hilarious, like the time several Republican legislators thought I was a disheveled homeless man with a passion for blogging about state politics from various public libraries.
This one is sinister, even if as equally untrue as me being homeless.
