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

At this point most people are familiar with House Bill 616, which some have nicknamed Ohio's “Don’t 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 lot of discussion to be had about why these bills are bad for students and education, that’s not their intended 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 who’ve 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.

Remember House Bill 6? 

The GOP does not want Ohioans to think about House Bill 6 as they enter the voting booth.

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

As of now, five people — former House Speaker Larry Householder of Glenford included — have been arrested.

Sam Randazzo, who Gov. Mike DeWine’s appointed Ohio 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, we’re spending time talking about whether kids should learn one of their classmates may have two moms or dads.

But there is much worse. 

Remember the unemployment filing system scammers? 

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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.

Remember the Medicaid Scandal? 

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 state’s Medicaid program, even while they’ve 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.

Wait—there’s even more.

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

Remember redistricting mess?

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 two Democrats 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'

The chaos is leading two primary elections instead of one.

The mess will cost Ohioans millions. 

These are the issues the Republicans don’t 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 about rising 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 they’ve 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.