A political action committee funded by a single donor has funneled more than $300,000 into digital attack ads ahead of the Nov. 3 election, targeting voters with a specific directive on two conflicting measures aimed at reforming the Columbus City Council. The spending highlights a local governance battle over how the city elects its representatives.
The committee, named Voters Have Choices and run by Darryl Tanner, is pushing voters to cast ballots in favor of Issue 8 while opposing Issue 9. Both measures seek to alter the current structure of the Columbus City Council, but they offer different pathways for future local elections.
Issue 8 proposes shifting the city council structure so that voters within each of the existing nine districts would exclusively elect their respective representative. Issue 9 shares that district-only voting framework but introduces four additional at-large council members elected citywide, alongside other structural revisions.
Tanner has personally fueled the Voters Have Choices political action committee with over $300,000. Campaign finance records show the PAC is registered to a Columbus home address. Tanner did not respond to repeated requests for comment from reporters.
The PAC’s digital campaign on social media and streaming platforms features advertisements critical of Issue 9. One ad claims the measure was put on the ballot by politicians trying to protect their power. The spots also feature individuals labeled with various Columbus neighborhoods, such as Clintonville, Harrison West, and Linden, who voice frustration over existing voting arrangements, though it remains unclear if those individuals actually reside in Columbus.
Financial Disclosures Reveal Ties to Reform Campaign
Late campaign finance filings submitted after the official reporting deadline revealed that Voters Have Choices provided a $34,000 in-kind contribution to Our City Our Say, a grassroots coalition that gathered more than 23,000 signatures this year in support of Issue 8.
Will Petrik, an organizer with Our City Our Say and a member of the Franklin County Democratic Party Central Committee, stated that the contribution came in the form of a poll conducted earlier this year by Voters Have Choices. The poll reportedly gauged local support for the concepts behind Issue 8, though Petrik declined to specify whether voters were also questioned about Issue 9.
Petrik stated that the two groups remain entirely separate and that the in-kind contribution was reported purely out of an abundance of transparency. He added that a firm hired by Tanner briefed a small group of Our City Our Say stakeholders on the polling findings.
I would say the whole north star of the Our City Our Say campaign is we want all of us to have a say, not just folks who are millionaires and billionaires,
Petrik said. So yeah, having a small group of people, again, determine outcomes… we want the voters of Columbus to determine the future of our city.
Campaign finance disclosures also show that Tanner previously donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Jesse Vogel during his run for Columbus City Council’s District 7. Vogel narrowly lost the citywide vote to Councilmember Tiara Ross under the current system, despite winning within District 7 itself. That outcome sparked local outcry and served as the catalyst for the creation of the Our City Our Say reform movement. Tanner also contributed $5,000 directly to Our City Our Say earlier this year.
Political Pushback Over Outside Influence
The influx of major outside spending has drawn criticism from city officials who helped shape the governance debate. Columbus City Councilmember Rob Dorans, who helped create Issue 9, criticized the ad campaign as an effort by a dark money group operating without transparent donor disclosures.
I think most of us that have been around a lot of these conversations around governance structure don’t love the idea of groups coming in that don’t disclose their donors, attacking one issue or the other,
Dorans said. He took particular issue with the ad claims suggesting Issue 9 was crafted behind closed doors to preserve political power, maintaining instead that the measure emerged directly from discussions with individuals backing Issue 8.
While leadership figures from Our City Our Say previously agreed not to officially oppose Issue 9, several prominent coalition members—including former U.S. Senate candidate Morgan Harper and former Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil—have actively campaigned against it.
Meanwhile, financial reports filed by other political committees involved in the election show varied activity. The pro-Issue 9 PAC Future Columbus reported raising, spending, and holding zero dollars. The Our City Our Say PAC reported raising more than $38,000 through nearly 300 individual contributions, maintaining a cash balance of over $20,000 after funding digital ads, supplies, and events. Voters Have Choices retains a remaining balance of more than $100,000 in cash-on-hand as the campaign enters its final stretch.
