The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio GOP not held accountabl­e under Paduchik

-

The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) is in desperate need of new leadership. According to a new lawsuit, which I helped file, Chairman Robert Paduchik misreporte­d over $3 million in missing funds without adequate explanatio­n. When Republican­s like myself called him out on it, he stripped us of our ORP committee assignment­s, in violation of party bylaws.

Let’s be clear: Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, there is no place for fiscal mismanagem­ent in politics. There is no room for the abuse of power, although it is far too common. The people of Ohio deserve political parties that are accountabl­e, transparen­t, and responsive to their needs.

Under Chairman Paduchik, the Ohio Republican Party does not fit that descriptio­n. It’s time for change. I care deeply about my party and enough is enough.

Mark A. Bainbridge, Upper Arlington

County’s ‘deficient’ bridges also the most-traveled

According to a post by Sherrod Brown, there are 903 “structural­ly deficient” bridges in Franklin County.

“Structural­ly deficient” means there are elements of the bridge that need to be monitored and/or repaired. Whatever it means, I do not want to drive over a bridge labeled structural­ly deficient.

The three structural­ly deficient bridges that get the most traffic each day in Franklin County:

h I-70 westbound bridge (built 1960) over the Scioto River has 61,000 daily crossings.

h I-71 bridge (built 1962) over Frank Road has 41,000 daily crossings

h I-71 bridge (built 1964) over Big Darby has 20,000 daily crossings

How many of you travel over those bridges each day or week? Did you know they were structural­ly deficient?

The just-passed federal infrastruc­ture bill allocates $10 billion for Ohio roads and highways and there is another $33 billion available from grants for highway and multi-modal systems.

I hope some of this funding will be allocated to these three bridges that see over 122,000 vehicles passing over them each day.

 ?? USA TODAY NETWORK ??
USA TODAY NETWORK

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States