Is it true? Is Mich. living in Ohio’s head ‘rent-free’?

First let me say that it was not very hard to trigger Ohio’s frenemies from up north.

All Tourismohio had to do was have few “Ohio, The Heart of it All” banners hung around the Motor City’s downtown to ruffle the blue and maize feathers of all of Michigan.

“This is war,” one Michigander wrote on Reddit. Michigan was very worked up about it, but let’s be clear: Michigan started the whole thing. How many times have we been reminded how pure Michigan is with all of its beautiful lakes?

I added a little grease to the fire burning between Michigan and Ohio during a partially sarcastic exchange with my colleague Nancy Kaffer, the Detroit Free Press’ editorial page editor.

Here is how our conversation went as told by Nancy in her recent piece on the sign:

I still wanted to know more, so I consulted my colleague Amelia Robinson, community engagement editor at the Dispatch.

Amelia theorized that it’s a pre-emptive strike. “They are very afraid Michigan is going to steal even more of Ohio’s young people,” she told me.

We talk a lot here in Michigan about our state’s population loss, but Ohio experiences the same phenomenon — and Michigan, it turns out, is a popular destination for Buckeyes.

“We protected reproductive and LGBTQ rights and now we have ‘OHIO THE HEART OF IT ALL’ signs on our skyscrapers?” I asked.

“I think so,” Amelia replied. “They keep saying they are not afraid of Gov. Gretchen (Whitmer). They pretend like she doesn’t matter, but she is all up in their heads. She’s not even paying rent.”

Amelia, it must be said, loves Ohio. She added: “The slogan is accurate. Ohio is the heart of it all. We are passionate, inventive and loving. Our politicians don’t reflect who we are.”

Let me re-state how inventive, passionate and loving Ohioans are. I mean this Ohioan was inventive, passionate and loving enough to give Whitmer a fantastic Ohio-style slam even though it just happens to be against Ohio lawmakers.

“Michigan: Always living in Ohio’s head *rent free,*” she wrote on Twitter in a post sharing Nancy’s column.

Sick burn, governor. You’re welcome.

That one is on the House (and Senate).

If only Ohio lawmakers would stop proposing and passing laws that make this wonderful state more dangerous and less attractive and inclusive.

That would prove that we are in fact the heart of it all as our new/old tourism slogan claims.

We would need far fewer billboards if that happened, and Gov. Gretchen would finally have to start paying rent.

More than that, we’d retain more of Ohio’s best and brightest and have an easier time attracting workers and students from other states.

Whitmer has made it clear that she is looking to turn Buckeyes into Wolverines. At an October Detroit Economic Club forum, Whitmer said that if voters there enshrine abortion rights into that state’s constitution in the upcoming election, she’d start “stealing headquarters” and “luring” and “cultivating” workers from Ohio and Indiana.

“Go to Purdue and talk to every woman engineer as well as Ohio State and bring them to Michigan where you can have full rights to make your own decisions about your health and your body and a great job,” she said.

If that’s not a declaration of war, what is?

We will see who burns whom in the end.

Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch’s opinion and community engagement editor.