Less than 24 hours after I reported that The Columbus Dispatch’s management put the brakes on an article, which was scheduled for publication and was damaging to Mike Coleman’s campaign, the Dispatch ran a “version” of the story on the top of the fold Metro Section in Thursday’s paper. Sources early this morning already began to question whether Dispatch management “revised” Jodi Andes and Barb Carmen’s original story that was supposedly going to run over two weeks ago for this alleged watered down version. Apparently, we will never know what they are supposedly hiding. Did the original story discuss whether or not Coleman paid taxes on any of these personal benefits? I am not a tax lawyer, but wouldn’t some of this laundry list of expenses be considered taxable benefits and “other income?” Did he report any of these? Did the original Dispatch story investigate potential violations? Again, I guess we will never know. What about all the other alleged “misdeeds?”

And, in case you missed it, the Dispatch Business Section reported today that the City has taken over City Center Mall today. The story states, “Simon Property CEO David Simon said the city tried to scuttle a deal to sell the mall to local developers.” Why Mayor Coleman? If true, why did you prevent the Mall from being revitalized, instead of dying? Maybe it’s because he wanted to take care of his downtown “friends” instead of what Simon Property had in mind? Mayor, we know it is good to have “friends”, especially in high places in Columbus, but enough is enough. Instead of padding your campaign account and apparently giving our tax dollars away to the high powered developers and opinion makers, take a moment to look at the City’s dying neighborhoods.

While the City of Columbus is spiraling downward, Mike Coleman is wining and dining at elite restaurants across the country. Mayor, Columbus has a high poverty rate, yet you apparently are living the high life and eating very, very well at premier Columbus restaurants. Mayor, how do you explain to the residents on the East Side who can’t afford their utility bills, the $15,000 you spent on private jets to tour Ohio? How do you explain to the residents on the West Side who are begging for help to fix the crime problem, the money you apparently spent on private security? Mayor, how do you explain to people on the South Side who do not have adequate housing and are plagued with vacant and abandoned homes, your lavish sleepovers at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Biltmore Resort, the Mandalay Bay Resort and Bally’s in Las Vegas?