Columbus, Ohio municipal elections, 2015

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The city of Columbus, Ohio, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. A primary took place on May 5, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was February 4, 2015. Four of the seven city council seats were up for election. In the mayoral race, incumbent Michael B. Coleman decided not to run for re-election. Six candidates filed to take his place, including Columbus City Council President Andrew J. Ginther. Three incumbents sought re-election to the city council, but one resigned before the general election. Both incumbents who ran for re-election in the general election won.

In addition to the regularly scheduled election, the city also held a special election on November 3, 2015, for the council seat vacated by Troy Miller in 2014. A primary election was not held for this race.

Major issues that shaped the mayoral race included tax abatements, job creation and education. Mayoral candidate Andrew J. Ginther drew criticism from his opponents for a 2004 data-rigging scandal that occurred within the Columbus school board during his time on the board's audit committee. Candidates also expressed differing opinions about same-sex marriage, though they agreed in their opposition to marijuana legalization.

Mayor

Candidate list

Note: Incumbent Michael B. Coleman did not run for re-election.

May 5 Primary election candidates:

• Terry Boyd
• Jeff Brown (Write-in candidate)
• Andrew J. Ginther a
• Selina R. Miller (Write-in candidate)
• James C. Ragland
• Zach Scott a

November 3 General election candidates:

• Andrew J. Ginther
• Zach Scott

Election results

Mayor of Columbus, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Andrew J. Ginther	58.9%	95,676
Zach Scott	40.1%	65,236
Write-in votes	1.02%	1,661
Total Votes		162,573
Source: Franklin County Board of Elections, "2015 General Election Official Results," November 24, 2015

Mayor of Columbus, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Andrew J. Ginther	51.8%	24,227
Zach Scott	18.3%	8,560
Terry Boyd	18.1%	8,461
James C. Ragland	11.9%	5,552
Total Votes		46,800
Source: Franklin County Board of Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed May 29, 2015

Fundraising

From February 2015 through April 2015, Andrew Ginther heavily outraised his opposition. During that period, he accumulated $611,000 in donations to add to his $1.2 million already in hand. The candidate who raised the nearest sum, Zach Scott, received $198,000. James Ragland raised $58,200, while Terry Boyd only registered $5,290 in that same period.

City council

Candidate list

At-large

Note: Four seats were up for election. In the primary, the top eight proceeded to the general election. Incumbent Andrew J. Ginther ran for Mayor of Columbus.

May 5 Primary election candidates:

• Orie Givens (Write-in candidate)
• Zachary M. Klein a - Incumbent Klein was elected to the council in 2011.
• Kiwan R. Lawson
• Michelle Mills a - Incumbent Mills was elected to the council in 2011.
• Jaiza N. Page a - Incumbent Paige was appointed to the council in 2015.
• Will Petrik
• John Rush a
• Besmira Sharrah a
• Ibrahima Sow a
• Dimitrious Wayne Stanley a
• Michael Stinziano a

Note: Josh Jaffre, Zachary E. Manifold and Francine C. Ryan were "placeholder" candidates. In March 2015, they were removed from the list and replaced by John Rush, Michael Stinziano and Jaiza N. Page, respectively. Doyline E. Williams appeared on the original 2015 filing list, but did not appear on the 2015 certified list.

November 3 General election candidates:

• Zachary M. Klein
• Jaiza N. Page
• John Rush
• Besmira Sharrah
• Ibrahima Sow
• Dimitrious Wayne Stanley
• Michael Stinziano
• Elizabeth Brown

Special election

November 3 Special election candidates:

• Shannon Hardin - Incumbent Hardin was appointed to the council in 2014.
• Ashley Wnek

General election

Columbus City Council At-large, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Zachary M. Klein Incumbent	18.2%	92,250
Elizabeth Brown	17.5%	89,049
Michael Stinziano	17.4%	88,273
Jaiza N. Page Incumbent	15.0%	76,248
Dimitrious Wayne Stanley	13.1%	66,269
John Rush	8.5%	43,182
Besmira Sharrah	5.2%	26,513
Ibrahima Sow	4.9%	24,933
Write-in votes	0.18%	924
Total Votes		507,641
Source: Franklin County Board of Elections, "2015 General Election Official Results," November 24, 2015

Columbus City Council, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Shannon Hardin Incumbent	70.1%	81,945
Ashley Wnek	28.7%	33,551
Write-in votes	1.24%	1,447
Total Votes		116,943
Source: Franklin County Board of Elections, "2015 General Election Official Results," November 24, 2015

Primary election

Columbus City Council, At-large, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michael Stinziano	16.6%	26,489
Michelle Mills Incumbent	16.4%	26,109
Zachary M. Klein Incumbent	15.8%	25,212
Jaiza N. Page Incumbent	15.3%	24,303
Dimitrious Wayne Stanley	10.5%	16,681
John Rush	8.1%	12,844
Besmira Sharrah	5.4%	8,609
Ibrahima Sow	4.6%	7,383
Will Petrik	4.3%	6,905
Kiwan R. Lawson	3%	4,790
Total Votes		118,794
Source: Franklin County Board of Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed May 29, 2015

Issues

Bribery allegations

In June 2015, Karen Finley, a former executive of a red-light camera company called Redflex, pled guilty to bribing Columbus elected officials to install and maintain red-light cameras in the city between 2005 and 2013. Finley implicated several officials in the guilty plea; one of them was Andrew J. Ginther. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Ginther's 2011 council campaign allegedly "solicited a $20,000 contribution from Redflex dubbed a 'success fee' by a lobbyist to keep the cameras operating in late 2011." It is said that the money was funneled through a third and a fourth party that included a Columbus-based lobbyist and the Ohio Democratic Party.

Shortly after the allegations came to light, Ginther released the following statement:

“

I had absolutely no knowledge of these activities and did not take part in them. While I am not a subject of this inquiry, I have been asked to provide records that may help the investigation into Redflex. I’ve fully cooperated and will continue to assist in bringing these people to justice.

”

Redflex first won the contract to install red-light cameras in Columbus in 2005. The company received extensions in 2009, 2010 and 2013. In March 2015, the state of Ohio issued a law that required cities to post police officers in locations with red-light cameras. Columbus, along with several other Ohio cities, launched a lawsuit against the state challenging the new law. Since the cameras first arrived in Columbus in 2006, the city has collected almost $10.2 million, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Investigation over trip to Big Ten championship

The Ohio Ethics Commission launched an investigation in October 2015 against mayoral candidate Andrew J. Ginther and three city council members, Michelle Mills, Eileen Y. Paley and Shannon Hardin, over a trip they took in 2014 to the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. The group went with John Raphael, the lobbyist involved in the red-light camera investigation, and travelled to the game on a chartered bus and watched the game from a suite.

A few weeks later, Ginther used campaign funds to pay $250 for the trip. The other three also paid $250 after Raphael's connection to the FBI investigation came out in June 2015. Hardin and Paley did report the trip on financial-disclosure forms, though Ginther and Mills did not. Ginther's campaign said that after researching ethics laws, they found that he did not need to include the trip on a financial-disclosure form because it was disclosed on a campaign finance report. His campaign also stated that Ginther was complying with the commission's request for records.

A travel agency, Lucas Oil Stadium officials and three different charter bus companies who were consulted said the fair-market value of the trip was $750. Ohio law says that elected officials must disclose the difference between the fair-market value and what they paid if the difference is greater than $75.

Education and 2004 data-rigging scandal

As the mayoral candidates discussed education in the debate on April 16, 2015, former school board member Andrew J. Ginther drew criticism regarding a 2004 data-rigging scandal. The scandal, which occurred during Ginther's stint on the school board's audit committee and came to light in 2012, involved the manipulation of student data to improve district grades and absence rates. School workers were accused of withdrawing and re-enrolling students who had not left the district, breaking these students' strings of "continuous enrollment" to render their spring test scores ineligible in the school's annual test-passing rate.

Zach Scott claimed that Ginther should have more adequately investigated tips of the scandal, while James C. Ragland asserted that fellow candidate Terry Boyd, who served on the school board with Ginther at the time, had as much responsibility in the matter as Ginther did. "Now is not the time to come as you want to be mayor to rectify that," Ragland commented, to which Boyd replied that Ragland wasn't "making any sense."

Economic issues

As of 2015, the Columbus had a tax rate of 2.5 percent, raised by voters from 2 percent in August 2009. Mayoral candidates expressed their opinions on tax and spending matters in the debate on April 16, 2015.

Zach Scott commented, "We don't have a revenue problem—we have a spending problem. We tax-abate everything." Terry Boyd agreed with Scott, adding that he would like to see the city lower the income tax. Andrew J. Ginther spoke in support of tax abatements for spurring job growth.

Boyd expressed support for more retail in downtown Columbus, and both Scott and Ginther said they would like to see a better mass transit system in the city. Ginther said at one point, "We need to stop thinking of mass transit as a cool hipster amenity." As of 2015, the Columbus transportation system was funded by sales tax revenue and consisted of almost 300 busses carrying several thousand passengers each week. A light rail system known as Fasttrax was proposed in 2005, but at the time of the election it had not yet been implemented.

Social issues

Candidate	Same-sex marriage	Marijuana legalization
Terry Boyd
James C. Ragland
Andrew J. Ginther
Zach Scott

The mayoral candidates in this election voiced varying opinions on same-sex marriage. Boyd and Ragland commented during the debate on April 16, 2015, that though they do not support same-sex marriage they would "fight for equal rights of all people," according to The Columbus Dispatch. Ragland went on to comment, "My beliefs don't allow me to support it."

Ginther and Scott voiced support for same-sex marriage.

All mayoral candidates who participated in the mayoral debate voiced opposition to marijuana legalization.

Ballot measures

Community bill of rights and fracking ban

See also: City of Columbus Community Bill of Rights Fracking Ban Initiative Charter Amendment (November 2016)

A group called the Columbus Community Bill of Rights committee collected signatures for a citizen initiative that was designed to establish the rights to a clean environment and self-governance for Columbus residents and give natural ecosystems in Columbus the right to exist and thrive. A key corollary of the initiative would have prohibited new oil and gas extraction, including fracking.

In order to qualify this initiative for the ballot, proponents needed a minimum of 8,956 valid signatures. On July 2, 2015, petitioners turned in 13,587 signatures. Almost 5,500 of the submitted signatures, however, were found to be invalid—many because those who signed were not registered to vote—and the Franklin County board of elections rejected the petition as insufficient. Petitioners said they would try to put the measure on the ballot in November 2016.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Columbus Ohio Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Columbus, Ohio municipal elections, 2015 - Google News

See also

• United States municipal elections, 2015
• Columbus, Ohio

External links

Suggest a link

• Franklin County Board of Elections - 2015 Official candidate list
• Franklin County Board of Elections - Primary election certified candidate list
• Franklin County Board of Elections - Primary election candidate filings
• Franklin County Board of Elections - Official primary election results