Group Wants Voters To Decide Funding Of Arena Purchase

Columbus City Council earlier this week rejected a plan to ask voters to permit the use of casino tax revenue to fund council and mayoral campaigns, sending the issue to the Franklin County Board of Elections for review. The group behind that effort, the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government, turned in more than 17 thousand petition signatures to the city clerk's offices yesterday, seeking to put a measure on the ballot next year that would stop the city from paying on its purchase contract for Nationwide Arena. The group's leaders say the public should have a vote on financing for the arena, which was purchased by Columbus and Franklin County with 250-million-dollars of casino tax revenue. 5 thousand of the 17 thousand petition signatures submitted must be validated before the measure could be placed on the ballot.