Taxpayers are paying for a $3.5 million Statehouse project that would upgrade historical exhibits and move the Statehouse gift shop to a more financially viable area.

The General Assembly appropriated $750,000 for the project in the last budget, and we are now paying for more. Large corporations like JP Morgan Chase and Honda have donated over $1.3 million dollars through the Capitol Square Foundation to fund the project. This seems like a successful effort. Why not fund the upgrade fully with donations instead of using our tax dollars?

Or why not just ask the Ohio Historical Society to upgrade the exhibits? Taxpayers have already given the non-profit, tax exempt OHS nearly $15.7 million in 2006 alone. With that much public money running through the non-profit’s budget, they shouldn’t mind upgrading a few historical exhibits at Ohio’s historic Statehouse. But maybe that makes too much sense.

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