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Kenyon Farrow| Guest columnist

Republican Larry Householder talks to the press after his expulsion

Expelled and indicted, Republican Larry Householder didn't rule out running for political office again.

Laura A. Bischoff, The Columbus Dispatch

At this point most peopleare familiar with House Bill 616, which somehave nicknamed Ohio's Dont Say Gay."

The bill would ban "any curriculum or instructional materials on sexual orientation or gender identity" and "divisive or inherently racist concepts and any other concept that the state board of education defines as divisive or inherently racist."

More: What's in Ohio House Bill 616, the divisive concept bill that includes sexual orientation?

And while there is a lotof discussion to be had about why these bills are bad for students andeducation, thats not theirintended purpose.

More: Kenyon Farrow: 'Too smart' Dave Chappelle has fallen for 'old right-wing political device'

In addition to being a cheap and cynical political ploy to scapegoat the LGBTQ and Black and brown people whove fought for education curricula to represent the full experiences of people in the U.S. and in Ohio, these bills are really a way to keep the total and utter ubiquity of scandals the Republican legislators are facing out of the minds of Ohioans when they go to the polls this year.

TheGOP does not want Ohioansto think about House Bill 6as they enter the voting booth.

Passed in 2019, the billwas a $1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear plants and two coal plantsone of which is not even in the state of Ohioas ostensibly a favor to First Energy, who stood to make $170 million annually as a result (this isnt counting the $61 million in bribes that were used to push the bill through).

As of now, five people former House SpeakerLarry Householder of Glenford includedhave been arrested.

Sam Randazzo, whoGov. MikeDeWines appointedOhio Public Utilities Commission chair,was paid $4 million from FirstEnergy.

More: Top state regulator paid millions for part-time work, FirstEnergy agreement shows

Questions still remain as to what point DeWine knew about the alleged bribe being paid.

Instead of talking about this, were spending time talking about whether kids should learnone of their classmates may have two moms or dads.

But there is much worse.

.

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Ohioans were dying by the dozens per day and millions were out of work due to stay at home orders, the lack of legislative approved funding for basic internet security and technology upgrades allowed for scammers to file fraudulent claims, costing the state $3.8 billion,and costing hunger and hardship to everyday Ohioans who were out of work and not able to meet their own basic needs.

Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran, who owned stock in United Healthcare gave their Ohio subsidiary (United Healthcare Community Plan of Ohio) the state contract to manage the states Medicaid program, even while theyve been ranked almost dead-last on federal oversight reports and denying the contract of a company that ranked near the top.

In essence, Corcoran handed $1.2 billion in 2019 alone in funds paid for by Ohioans through taxes to a company ranked low in its transparency and oversight.

Corcoran has refused to hand over its oversight documents and even say if she took these federal oversight reports into consideration when she chose to hand the system over to them to manage.

Waittheres even more.

More: Our View: While your groceries go up, DeWine, LaRose, Huffman, Cupp waste millions to keep power

The Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a measure in 2018 to put an end to partisan gerrymandering, and 2021 was the year to redraw the districts based on the then-newly released census data.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission, which is dominated by five Republicans, refused to sit down and create a transparent and open process for setting new maps to not break communities up and create oddly carved out districts merely to benefit one part or another.

More: In Ohio's redistricting battle, Gov. Mike DeWine said he'd take the lead. But did he?

They would not meet with the twoDemocrats on the commission and over and over, submitted maps that violated the spirit of the law and gave Ohio voters a big middle finger by creating maps that were heavily partisan.

So much so the Ohio Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority,rejected the maps over, and over and over and over again.

More: Top Ohio House Republican leader: 4 Supreme Court justices should be 'benched'

Thechaos is leading two primary elections instead of one.

The mess will cost Ohioans millions.

These are the issues the Republicans dont want on the minds of Ohioans when they go vote this year. But Ohioans have much on their minds.

Facing a precarious future with a virus that has killed over 38,000 Ohioans alone, most people I know are thinking aboutrising inflation resulting in outrageous food and gas prices.

More: Our view: Let Ohio teachers teach truth. Educators, kids casualties of raging culture war

The GOP is selling the most cynical agenda, scapegoating teachers trying to make sure students are academically and socially prepared to live in a world with other people who may in fact be different from themselves, instead of dealing with the mess theyve left the state after years of supermajorities that they created and are desperate to perpetuate for their own greed and power.

I hope Ohioans see the through the smokescreen.

Kenyon Farrow is a Black gay activist and writer based in Cleveland Heights.He serves on the board of the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland.

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Farrow: Ohio Republicans rather you focus on 'kids with 2 dads' than mountain of scandals - The Columbus Dispatch