The right to lie in Ohio

Mark Miller of Cincinnati, classing it up on a hated streetcar

You narrowly missed having the headline A streetcar named The Liar inflicted upon you this morning, but at long last, it turns out I have some decency.  The man using the Ohio heybuddy to straighten his glasses above is Mark Miller, and he hates a trolley. Last year, when the City of Cincinnati wanted to build and operate several of same, Miller launched a campaign supporting a ballot initiative to stop the project. The New York Times offers an example of one of his rallying tweets:

 15% of Cincinnati’s Fire Dept browned out today to help pay for a streetcar boondoggle. If you think it’s a waste of money, VOTE YES on 48.

How we all hate a boondoggle! Surprisingly, though, Miller found himself in the midst of a donnybrook. In turns out that several of his statements, including the one above, were not what logicians call “true.” It also turns out that Ohio law forbids making false statements in support of a political campaign, and Miller became the object of a complaint with the state election commission. That complaint was dismissed—and Cincinnati is building that damn streetcar—but Miller remains scarred. “I’ve got to second-guess myself every time I sit down in front of a computer,” he told the Times. “Maybe I should moderate my stance, so I don’t get involved in an expensive action.”

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