The Rooster's Quarterly Mailbag: January 2024
The Rooster's Quarterly Mailbag: January 2024
Answering your burning questions about the Speaker's race, Sherrod Brown's skills, sobriety, and what, exactly, "THOSE WMDs" mean.
Hello! And welcome to the quarterly mailbag, where I attempt to answer your most burning questions about anything you want to know!
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Thank you for reading! And enjoy the show.
Why do you not write about how Rep. Powell disrespected the voters of Miami County and hand-picked her good friend Jonathan Newman to be the next State Rep because she thinks that the voters are too stupid to pick the right person? Everyone knows she already has a position with a national pro-life organization.
I, in fact, did write about my old friend Rep. Powell and her gaming the primary system to handpick her kook successor, Pastor Newman of Troy.
I’ve unlocked the paid dispatch from two weeks ago:
I’ve since learned that Pastor Newman filed his candidacy with under an hour left in the deadline to prevent anyone from looking into him.
I also heard from one government official in Miami County who told me that they had met with Newman on the day Jena dropped out, and Newman was acting as if he was legitimately going to challenge Powell.
That’s that Holy Roller integrity I’ve written so much about!
Your post about Senator Theresa Gavarone’s trans child was revealing. But what do you think about the ethics of dragging the child of a public figure into the spotlight without her permission? Do they lose their right to privacy just because their mom is powerful?
It’s something I thought about, which is why I never named the child and obscured their pictures.
But I published the article because all the information came from public Instagram accounts. Gavarone follows their trans child, etc. The “secret” was there for anybody that knew how to look. I’d have felt different if the pictures and information came from locked accounts.
In the end, I showed more courtesy to Senator Gavarone than she ever showed to families with transgender children in Ohio. It’s an equally open secret that she’s running for Secretary of State, and I think she should have to account for why she spit in her eldest child’s identity when she makes that official.
Because, for better or worse, I take pride in publishing stories that other outlets won’t.
How can the average Ohioan who doesn't have the ability to take go-pros down to the Statehouse help hold politicians accountable? (Aside from subscribing to The Rooster obviously.)
Don’t get it twisted. I only embarrass these losers; holding them accountable only happens at the ballot box, which they’ve worked very hard to avoid.
But the biggest thing you can do is educate the politically-minded people in your circle about what’s happening in Columbus. The national media puts all this emphasis on the federal government because that’s their business model. But the most villainous people work in Columbus.
If you were a dumpster fire before you quit drinking... What would you say you are now that you are sober?
I still have the heart of a dumpster fire, but quitting alcohol remains one of the better decisions of my life. It’s made everything better, and I’ve learned that my writing creativity came in spite of the booze, not because of it.
I continue to say that if you think you have a drinking problem, you probably do! I have no advice on moderation—I never did. No “rules” or “cutting back” worked for me. I promise if you’re thinking about quitting, whatever excuses you make for yourself are bullshit. You won’t regret it!
Would you ever run for office again?
Yes, I would run for office again. It wouldn't be a suicide mission like last time, I can tell you that much because I’ve learned that politics is all about timing.
But I’m not sure the people are ready for my candidacy yet. I live my life as an open book, and that’s problematic in politics, as would be my habit of saying exactly what’s on my mind at any moment.
Who is going to be the Ohio House speaker next year?
If I had to bet… it would be current State Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), a domestic terrorist. It takes me no pleasure to report that, as I might have to leave the country if it comes to fruition. But I hope to be wrong on that, and I could be.
What are you hearing from the Patriots Caucus on the race for Speaker?
I heard last night that State Reps. Jon Cross (R-Findlay) and Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) are most likely cooked. I’ll believe it when I see it!
But another top-ranking member informed me that Speaker Stephens could afford to lose four to five races and still have the votes needed to maintain power. Here’s hoping!
Can you give us some of the reasoning behind your most used nicknames like Gov Sleepy Tea and Terrorist Huffman amongst others?
As with many things in my life, these were jokes that got out of hand.
I call the governor “Grandpa Sleepy Tea” because that’s the vibes he gives me. He’s a sleepy little guy! He should be at home enjoying his retirement and his 72 (rough estimate) grandchildren.
But it’s also tongue-in-cheek because don’t mistake the sleepy vibes as weakness. He is one of the most ruthless operators in Ohio’s political history if he needs to be.
As for Huffman, I genuinely believe he’s a domestic terrorist. He is always scheming for ways to make life better for rich people. There’s no better example of Ohio expanding vouchers to 90 percent of students last year, and him going to the Columbus Dispatch and bragging about how he’s already devising ways to funnel public money to private institutions to build schools in rural areas.
It’s common to stereotype political opponents as idiots. And there certainly are those types in Ohio, but Huffman is not one. He’s effective as he is corrupt. And he’s highly intelligent despite being a dumb-ass who doesn’t understand why trains are superior to cars.
You wrote an article a while back on how fucked up the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office was. Any updates on that?
This is in reference to an article I wrote in April 2022 about the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office under Gary Tyack:
Well, it’s improving in that Tyack isn’t running for re-election. But his office has some big cases this week with the murderous Jason Meade and one of the losers who murdered my friend. Convictions in both cases would net him some points with me on his way out the door.
But his hand-picked successor, Deputy Counsel Anthony Pierson, most likely doesn’t live in Franklin County despite the Board of Elections refusing to investigate his residency.
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Shayla Favor, who has the backing of Council President Shannon Hardin and former mayor Michael Coleman, is running for the most powerful prosecutorial job in Ohio despite having zero trial experience!
But it’s interesting that the Franklin County Democratic Party couldn’t unify itself behind the scenes to make an endorsement of one of the two favorites.
Natalia Harris, a Democrat, is also running. I don’t know much about her, but she has the experience and actually lives in Columbus, so that gives her an advantage in my mind.
You will know the prosecutor’s office is heading in the right direction when the Statehouse Republicans attempt to move jurisdiction to their crimes back to their hometowns.
What do you think of Sherrod Brown? Not in the context of he’s the best we can do in Ohio. But in terms of what you know about him as a person, his Political skills, and his positions. How do you compare him to other senators?
You don’t beat Mike DeWine in a statewide election like Brown did if you’re not a helluva politician. I also believe him to be a decent person.
My biggest beef with Sherrod, other than he’s never had a real job, is that he starts talking like a Republican whenever nationalized healthcare is mentioned.
You can’t be pro-labor and against nationalized healthcare. Eliminating healthcare from collective bargaining negotiations would be the biggest labor win in over 50 years. But he never pushes us in that direction because healthcare companies line his pockets.
I’ve also been disgusted with his silence on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There are over 30,000 people dead, and he can’t even bring himself to say, “Enough!” He didn’t even give a Columbus-based immigration lawyer the dignity of listening to his comment last week at the IBEW #683 hall.
I’m also totally prepared for him to run a Tim Ryan-styled campaign in which he makes it clear what he thinks of people like me. I understand that you go to war with the electorate you have, not the one you want, but it will still be disheartening to watch him try to earn the votes of people who think he’s in cahoots with the Communist Party of China.
That said, I’ll vote for him because I understand how the Supreme Court works. And nothing will change in this country until we fix the courts.