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Former Senate President Upset About Holocaust Memorial
By: Alyssa Hansen
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The president of the group that oversees the Ohio Statehouse and surrounding area says he's disappointed by Governor John Kasich's decision to build a Holocaust memorial on the Statehouse grounds without consultation.
The monument could be built on the east side of the Statehouse where Ohio soldiers are memorialized.
Richard Finan, former Ohio Senate President, says he believes that Governor Kasich went around the rules that were created by the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board when groups want new monuments to be built.
Finan says this now opens the door to anyone looking to build a monument.
"All one has to do now is go to the governor, and say 'I want a statue of Donald Duck on the Statehouse grounds' and if he gets convinced of it, boom, it goes," said Finan.
Finan is also concerned about the weight of the memorial because it would go over an underground parking lot.
Kasich's office says the memorial is something they are committed to and feel strongly about.
A Holocaust memorial event will be held at the Statehouse on April 17.
Alyssa Hansen is a fellow in Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse Bureau.