Chair Walters Featured on Ohio Politics Explained Podcast
March 3, 2023
Columbus, OH – In case you missed it, Gannett’s Ohio Politics Explained Podcast, a weekly news and politics podcast hosted by reporter Anna Staver, featured Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters this week. Chair Walters discussed a number of topics, including the Larry Householder trail, the education power grab by statehouse Republicans, making Ohio’s tax system more fair and the one month anniversary of the East Palestine train derailment.
“Our hearts go out to the residents of East Palestine and all of Columbiana County. No one should have to wonder if their drinking water is safe, if their farms are gonna be sustainable, if their schools are safe to go back to, and I think one of the things we’re seeing in this moment is just how much Ohioans care about their neighbors and how much we’ve really tried to rally around the folks in that community no matter what our party identification is.
“Just yesterday, Senator Brown introduced a bipartisan bill that included Senator Vance that would help to make sure that tragedies like this don’t happen again. And more importantly that Norfolk Southern is held accountable,” said Chair Walters on the podcast.
Listen to the full podcast here and read more below:
On the Larry Householder trial:
- “I know the investigation to this point has really focused in on Larry Householder and Matt Borges. But as the trial played out, the other thing that was really illuminating for me was just how many big name Republicans across the state entered into the mix through this trial, whether it was, you know, Frank LaRose or Dave Yost. Everyone somehow intersected with this investigation, and I think, in addition to what I hope will be justice for the perpetrators of this essentially a huge act of theft against Ohio utility ratepayers, also a really illuminating point for voters to consider is most of these elected officials are gonna be asking for new jobs from them in 2024.”
On a fairer tax system for working Ohioans:
- “The bigger issue here is that the state legislature has continued to gut support for cities and state government fund support of local cities. And these are funds that support critical services like police officers, like firefighters, like road repair and our libraries. And ultimately those cuts went to provide further tax breaks and refunds to millionaires and billionaires, not to working folks and not to support those services we all rely on.”
On the education power grab by statehouse Republicans:
- I think that ultimately, at the end of the day, if we want parents to be involved in in school decisions, as they should be – which is what we think – that these decisions about schools and about school boards belong to parents, teachers, and local leaders, then we have to respect parents’ decisions, and they made their choices clear in the voting booth when they selected these members of the state school board. They are not involved in selecting the bureaucrat that they’re trying to move this decision making to. And so I think if we’re gonna be true to the, to the will of parents, we have to respect the choices they make in the voting booth to elect state school board members. And this flies in the face of that.”
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