This was the response I just received from County Commissioner Marilyn Brown from an email I sent in last week regarding the arena lease issue: 
Thank you for taking the time to let Marilyn know your opinion on the issue with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
While Marilyn does not support an excise tax without voter approval, she does realize how important the Blue Jackets are to our community and our economy. She is encouraging all parties to come together to try and work out a solution that will keep the Blue Jackets here in Columbus and that is fair to the residents of Franklin County.
Again, we appreciate your time on this issue,
Laura Stehle
Thanks for the canned response Laura.
Let me try to translate - so in other words Marilyn, it doesn't sound you are taking any kind of relevant action.
Words of encouragement will not accomplish anything.
-LTL
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Response from County Commissioner Marilyn Brown
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7 comments:
Right... she's encouraging all parties to come together while it seems like she's not doing jack ***
The CBJ/Nationwide party has tried to step up already, let's see the county's proposal/idea now.
LTL,
I copied the response you got and sent an email to Laura. I am sick of how the county commisioners are consistantly listening to the lobbyists and not the voters. For those that dont know, on Huntington Park the commisioners awarded the Mechanical Contract (Heating and Air Contract) to an out of town bidder because the local lower bidder was not a union shop. Guess who contributes to the County Commisioners campain fund.....you got it the construction unions here in town. Not only did they give work to a company from outside of Franklin County, they paid $250K more for that contractor and cost people like me a chance to sell the equipment and supplies for the project.
I will post the response on here when/if I recieve one.
Great work on the blog!
I received the same canned response this morning. At first I was some what impressed that they actually responded, but after I had a second to reflect on the body of the message I have to agree she basically took the easy way out. However, I haven't heard from the other two commissioners. Seems odd it would take them so long to reply if all they are going to do is send out some loosely worded response that really says they aren't doing anything about it right now. Lets hope perhaps the other two are actually waiting to reply until they actually have a plan...or something worth while to say.
Has anyone called yet?
What we're seeing is the typical political response. Say something while saying absolutely nothing of substance. I may be generalizing here, but all politicians are concerned with only one thing, and that's getting re-elected.
I have interview requests pending with all three commissioners, so we shall see . . .
--JAL
A Shot From The Point
Here is the response I got. Nowhere in my initial e-mail did i express concern about the sin tax to him. Seems like it's a standard response to naysayers who were pissed about the sin tax.
Not very encouraging... oh politicians.
Dear Mr. Yanovsky:
Thank you for your letter regarding the Blue Jackets’ proposal to purchase Nationwide Arena. Despite being a strong supporter of the team, I share your concern about the potential negative impact that a so-called ‘sin tax’ would have on the citizens and economy of Franklin County.
I want to let you know that the Board of Commissioners was approached by the Blue Jackets regarding this legislation, and that we did not initiate or propose the idea. As of May 29th, the Ohio Senate stripped the authority to levy this tax from the state budget bill, eliminating any possibility of it being implemented.
We will work closely with the Blue Jackets to identify alternative solutions to ensure that they have a successful future here in central Ohio. If the team folds, our community stands to lose a significant amount of jobs and tax revenue. Additionally, a bright and vibrant Arena District will lose one of its greatest assets.
Again, thank you for taking the time to let me know your position, and please feel free to contact me if you have any additional concerns.
Regards,
John O’Grady
Franklin County Commissioner
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