Tarbell will run as a write in. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/Government/2014/08/18/tarbell-files-write-monzel-county-commissioner/14241445/

 

Former Cincinnati Councilman Jim Tarbell filed Monday to run as a write-in candidate against Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel.

 

The move by Tarbell, a Democrat, comes a week after local Democrats tried and failed to find a high-profile candidate to take on Monzel, the Republican incumbent.

This is an interesting development.  Tarbell certainly has an advantage over Feeney when it comes to name recognition, as well as good connections in the arts community that largely supported the task force's plan that Monzel and Hartmann shot down. 

 

Time will tell.

Dems should get behind Feeney. If Tarbell wanted to run, he should have entered the primary. (And he would have won!)

 

I would prefer Tarbell be the commissioner over Feeney times a thousand, but Feeney is the Democratic candidate, fair and square. It's not right to jump in late and split the anti-Monzel vote. I don't even see the point.

^The point is that Feeney isn't going to win regardless of how much I push for him.

 

Tarbell ran and lost to Monzel in 2010, so he had no interest in running again in some hope that Monzel would botch his chances of reelection by successfully stripping the Icon Tax of a sensible solution. If this whole debacle had happened in February, he may very well have run.

 

I'll put my effort behind Tarbell. Besides, I'm not a "Democrat" so I'm not going to blindly follow the Democratic ticket.

 

Also, Lisa Murkowski is a perfect example of someone who ran a successful write-in campaign. And that was for US Senate in Alaska (much more spread out than Hamilton County). And that was after she lost in the primary to the Republican nominee. This is definitely possible if people put their faith in Tarbell.

Dems should get behind Feeney. If Tarbell wanted to run, he should have entered the primary. (And he would have won!)

 

I would prefer Tarbell be the commissioner over Feeney times a thousand, but Feeney is the Democratic candidate, fair and square. It's not right to jump in late and split the anti-Monzel vote. I don't even see the point.

 

Getting behind Feeney is throwing away your vote.  The guy is not stable and has absolutely 0 chance of winning. 0.  Not, "well if we all supported him he would win", he has zero chance.  It's not because he's a no body, it's because, if you follow his facebook or twitter or have read anything about him he says and does all of the opposite things he should do.  He didn't go to a single Save Our Icons meeting.  NOT ONE.  All you have to do is go there, sign up to speak, say, My name is Feeney and as County Commissioner I would let the people vote!" He would instantly have gotten several hundred votes. He should have signed up volunteers at those meetings, he should have done a million things.  It's mid-august and he hasn't done a thing. 

 

The ONLY chance, and it's a long shot, is for people to get involved NOW and volunteer for Tarbell.  Feeney's ship has sailed.  Tarbell has a chance, but people would need to volunteer and not just say, good luck!

Dems should get behind Feeney. If Tarbell wanted to run, he should have entered the primary. (And he would have won!)

 

I would prefer Tarbell be the commissioner over Feeney times a thousand, but Feeney is the Democratic candidate, fair and square. It's not right to jump in late and split the anti-Monzel vote. I don't even see the point.

 

Getting behind Feeney is throwing away your vote.  The guy is not stable and has absolutely 0 chance of winning. 0.  Not, "well if we all supported him he would win", he has zero chance.  It's not because he's a no body, it's because, if you follow his facebook or twitter or have read anything about him he says and does all of the opposite things he should do.  He didn't go to a single Save Our Icons meeting.  NOT ONE.  All you have to do is go there, sign up to speak, say, My name is Feeney and as County Commissioner I would let the people vote!" He would instantly have gotten several hundred votes. He should have signed up volunteers at those meetings, he should have done a million things.  It's mid-august and he hasn't done a thing. 

 

The ONLY chance, and it's a long shot, is for people to get involved NOW and volunteer for Tarbell.  Feeney's ship has sailed.  Tarbell has a chance, but people would need to volunteer and not just say, good luck!

So Tarbell did all that?

Dems should get behind Feeney. If Tarbell wanted to run, he should have entered the primary. (And he would have won!)

 

I would prefer Tarbell be the commissioner over Feeney times a thousand, but Feeney is the Democratic candidate, fair and square. It's not right to jump in late and split the anti-Monzel vote. I don't even see the point.

 

Getting behind Feeney is throwing away your vote.  The guy is not stable and has absolutely 0 chance of winning. 0.  Not, "well if we all supported him he would win", he has zero chance.  It's not because he's a no body, it's because, if you follow his facebook or twitter or have read anything about him he says and does all of the opposite things he should do.  He didn't go to a single Save Our Icons meeting.  NOT ONE.  All you have to do is go there, sign up to speak, say, My name is Feeney and as County Commissioner I would let the people vote!" He would instantly have gotten several hundred votes. He should have signed up volunteers at those meetings, he should have done a million things.  It's mid-august and he hasn't done a thing. 

 

The ONLY chance, and it's a long shot, is for people to get involved NOW and volunteer for Tarbell.  Feeney's ship has sailed.  Tarbell has a chance, but people would need to volunteer and not just say, good luck!

So Tarbell did all that?

 

No. But Tarbell also wasn't campaigning. I think the point is, Feeney has no chance in hell of winning this election and Tarbell has almost as low prospects as a write-in.

Getting behind a write-in candidate is throwing away your vote. Becoming a write-in candidate is throwing away the votes for the guy you would have beaten in a primary.

 

If Feeney had decided to step down, and Tarbell had stepped up in his place, I would have been happy. But Tarbell is sealing the deal for Monzel even more securely than it would have been sealed in a two-way race w/ Feeney.

 

It's not Feeney's fault the HamCo Democratic Party is dysfunctional. I don't think he did anybody any favors by staying in the race, but it was his decision to make. The HamCo Dems now need to step up and support their candidate.

No. But Tarbell also wasn't campaigning. I think the point is, Feeney has no chance in hell of winning this election and Tarbell has almost as low prospects as a write-in.

 

Lower, because the race becomes 3-way, with low-info Dems bound to still vote for the Dem on the ticket, splitting the Dem vote.

The average Hamilton County voter paid no attention to the Icon Tax issue. I have seen dozens of comments from uninformed people claiming that "the city" isn't going to let us vote on Music Hall. And those comments were coming from people involved with or aware of the Save Our Icons plan, who you would expect to be more informed than the average voter.

 

My point is: very, very, very few people are going to be so fired up over this issue that they remember to write in a candidate for commissioner.

Sorry, I'm pulling rank as a politico and saying Feeney had 0% chance to win. None. It's not the party's fault. It's his. He has literally said every wrong thing you possibly could. Party has not helped him, but he's hurt himself. He's not running a serious campaign. He has $400!!!! You have to actively TRY NOT to raise money to only raise $400.  Every single person on here could raise $3-4K in a month if they were running. 0 experience, you could do it I promise you. $400 is a joke.

 

Tarbell is a long shot, but it just took us from having 0 chance, to having a small chance.

The average Hamilton County voter paid no attention to the Icon Tax issue. I have seen dozens of comments from uninformed people claiming that "the city" isn't going to let us vote on Music Hall. And those comments were coming from people involved with or aware of the Save Our Icons plan, who you would expect to be more informed than the average voter.

 

My point is: very, very, very few people are going to be so fired up over this issue that they remember to write in a candidate for commissioner.

 

I have a feeling this is going to be the lowest turnout of any gubernatorial election in Hamilton County history. The only things on the ballot are Governor (which, come election day, probably 1/3 Hamilton County residents will even know who Ed Fitzgerald is), Hamilton County Commissioner, a bunch of state offices that hardly any casual voter knows what they do (auditor, attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state), and some state senate and state rep seats. There is no big issue like SB5. If enough of the right people know Tarbell is an option, I think he has a chance of winning.

A low voter turnout in a hcc election would guarantee a.monzel win.  As we saw in cincinnati and other elections that's how tea partiers and conservative dems get elected.

 

Tarbell has a shot if cincinnatians show up and moderate hc voters are mad about the museum vote, but will they actually show up and vote?  I doubt it. The tea partiers and ultra conservatives Will regardless

I think you're depending too much on "conventional" election results. If Tarbell was listed as the Democratic nominee, I would agree that turnout is key. Since Tarbell is running as a write in, I think he needs to make an impression on those who are consistently voting. He needs to push the poor governing style of Monzel. Explain how he sabotaged a well-vetted plan with back-of-the-napkin math. That's the angle he needs to use. Explain how Monzel is not responsible with the power he is given.

Sorry, I'm pulling rank as a politico and saying Feeney had 0% chance to win. None. It's not the party's fault. It's his. He has literally said every wrong thing you possibly could. Party has not helped him, but he's hurt himself. He's not running a serious campaign. He has $400!!!! You have to actively TRY NOT to raise money to only raise $400.  Every single person on here could raise $3-4K in a month if they were running. 0 experience, you could do it I promise you. $400 is a joke.

 

Tarbell is a long shot, but it just took us from having 0 chance, to having a small chance.

 

I never said it was the party's fault that Feeney can't win. It is, however, the party's fault that someone who can't win became the party's nominee.

 

Tarbell, as a write-in candidate, has no greater chance of winning than Feeney. Monzel's seat is safe.

yeesh, Tarbell hasn't even made a FB post about his candidacy yet.

He Tweeted it though.

WOOT! Off to the races!

Administrator proposes ‘bold’ changes to how Hamilton County is funded

 

The responsibility for funding Hamilton County government would shift from property taxpayers to non-residents who pay the county’s sales tax under a sweeping proposal presented by County Administrator Christian Sigman on Monday.

 

 

Raise sales tax and use a portion of the new revenue to reduce property taxes for homeowners. Hmmm, where have I heard this plan before?

The majority of counties in Ohio have set sales tax at 7.25%, so even if the Union Terminal issue passes, and this proposal goes through, Hamilton County would still be average. I don't buy the argument against it that it would be regressive, as it's what everyone else in the state is paying now, for the most part. Cincinnati would still be cheaper then Columbus and Cleveland, who have 7.5% and 8%, respectively. An ideal solution would be do create a system of property tax brackets, so cuts could be given to the first $100,000 or something of the overall valuation. Then no one could make the argument that it's a tax break for the rich, as it would mostly benefit the middle class.

 

The majority of counties in Ohio have set sales tax at 7.25%, so even if the Union Terminal issue passes, and this proposal goes through, Hamilton County would still be average. I don't buy the argument against it that it would be regressive, as it's what everyone else in the state is paying now, for the most part. Cincinnati would still be cheaper then Columbus and Cleveland, who have 7.5% and 8%, respectively. An ideal solution would be do create a system of property tax brackets, so cuts could be given to the first $100,000 or something of the overall valuation. Then no one could make the argument that it's a tax break for the rich, as it would mostly benefit the middle class.

 

 

Yeah I'm not sure how to do it but the problem with sales and property taxes are that neither of them are graduated.  The real breakthrough for progressive taxation will be when local governments are able to tax dividends and capital gains. 

 

 

The majority of counties in Ohio have set sales tax at 7.25%, so even if the Union Terminal issue passes, and this proposal goes through, Hamilton County would still be average. I don't buy the argument against it that it would be regressive, as it's what everyone else in the state is paying now, for the most part. Cincinnati would still be cheaper then Columbus and Cleveland, who have 7.5% and 8%, respectively. An ideal solution would be do create a system of property tax brackets, so cuts could be given to the first $100,000 or something of the overall valuation. Then no one could make the argument that it's a tax break for the rich, as it would mostly benefit the middle class.

 

 

 

If the county needs to raise sales tax to balance their budget, then they should propose raising the sales tax and use that income to balance their budget. Enough of this nonsense about raising the sales tax, using half of that income to lower the property tax, and using the other half to balance the budget.

 

I think the City of Cincinnati should oppose this proposed sales tax increase. Firstly, it shifts the tax burden away from Hamilton County homeowners and partially onto non-residents who shop in Hamilton County, but partially onto Hamilton County renters, which would hurt Cincinnati more than many other Hamilton County municipalities. On top of that, this additional tax revenue is going to be used to help the county move many of its offices (including the Board of Elections) out of Downtown Cincinnati and to the new Mt. Airy facility, which is bad for people who rely on transit to get to county offices. The city gets double-screwed by this sales tax increase.

The problem is that no one is going to vote to raise the sales tax to balance the budget; the county has to come to the table with something enticing. The county has a 60% home ownership rate, so it makes sense to bring lower property taxes up as a benefit of the higher sales tax, especially because Hamilton County already has a property tax rate well above state average. A campaign to bring the sales tax up to state average, and bring the property tax down to state average, while balancing the budget has a very good chance to succeed.

 

As for the county moving to Mt. Airy, that's another discussion but I think them selling their buildings is a good thing as they have facilities in high demand areas that will likely be put to better use. They've been thinning down for awhile, too, how many people will actually work in Mt. Airy?

4 out of the 5 options presented to Commissioners today regarding moving the Board of Elections to Mt. Airy keeps early voting downtown. The Commissioners understand if they are going to move forward with a proposal and it includes the sales tax increase that they cannot also move early voting. They'll need to not have opposition from the City.

Here are more details about the proposal to sell off some buildings. I would still like to see more information about which departments will or won't be moved. It makes a lot of sense to keep the BOE (at least early voting), Jobs and Family Services, and the BMV downtown.

Is the statistic that 47% of sales tax revenue comes from non-county residents a relatively new development?  What was the ratio ten years ago?  Is that why we are willing to consider multiple sales tax proposals now when in 2002 Metro Moves was considered a huge deal? 

 

 

^ MetroMoves was a big deal because of the huge cost overruns in the stadium deal debacle. It didn't matter how much money was coming from outside residents. Though I would imagine Hamilton County is getting more sales tax revenue from outside sources today since 2002. But I have no data to back that up.

The average Hamilton County voter paid no attention to the Icon Tax issue. I have seen dozens of comments from uninformed people claiming that "the city" isn't going to let us vote on Music Hall. And those comments were coming from people involved with or aware of the Save Our Icons plan, who you would expect to be more informed than the average voter.

 

My point is: very, very, very few people are going to be so fired up over this issue that they remember to write in a candidate for commissioner.

 

With only absentees counted so far, Tarbell only has 6.7% of the vote, compared to Monzel's 56.6% and Feeney's 36.6%.

The average Hamilton County voter paid no attention to the Icon Tax issue. I have seen dozens of comments from uninformed people claiming that "the city" isn't going to let us vote on Music Hall. And those comments were coming from people involved with or aware of the Save Our Icons plan, who you would expect to be more informed than the average voter.

 

My point is: very, very, very few people are going to be so fired up over this issue that they remember to write in a candidate for commissioner.

 

With only absentees counted so far, Tarbell only has 6.7% of the vote, compared to Monzel's 56.6% and Feeney's 36.6%.

 

Final tally: Monzel 58%, Feeney 36%, Tarbell 5%.

Tarbell's dismal showing illustrates just how tuned-out the electorate is.  You had all sorts of people show up and just hit D on the ballot even though they haven't heard of Feeney. 

Tarbell's dismal showing illustrates just how tuned-out the electorate is.  You had all sorts of people show up and just hit D on the ballot even though they haven't heard of Feeney. 

 

There were only two choices on the ballot (I don't consider Tarbell as a write-in as a realistic option).  People like me voted for Feeney because we considered a warm body to be better than Monzel.  If Democrats want to have representation at the county level they need to run candidates and stop making lame excuses about nobody wanting to run.  If they made an effort and fostered candidates they could get someone decent to run.  Having a viable candidate on the ballot would at least put some pressure on the Republican candidates to moderate their positions a bit more even if just slightly.  Monzel and Hartmann know they have nothing to fear from the Democratic party and therefore have no reason not to push a Tea Party agenda.

 

Blame Tarbell and Tim Burke for missing the deadline.

What about instead of a move of county offices to the old Mercy Mt. Airy campus we did this…

 

It really stinks having the jail where it is.  I walking downtown around the 8th and Sycamore area today checking out the project at that site, and noticed there were a lot of other surface lots in the area that could be redeveloped, but they all would have a view of the jail.  That's not an attractive feature to potential developers, I'm sure.  Plus, inmates beat on the windows during outdoor concerts at the casino.  That's just a bizarre situation.

 

Wreck the jail down and build a new building/tower at the site for county administration offices.  The county would already own the land.  Assuming there is a need for a small detention holding facility adjacent to the courthouse, that could be built in to the new building and you could even keep the skywalk into the courthouse.  Sell all the county administration buildings in the surrounding area for redevelopment into residential thus avoiding the maintenance on those older buildings that are more attractive for residential anyways.  This way you can keep the Board of Elections and Jobs and Family Services downtown and serviced by transit. 

 

The jail site has often been discussed as a potential area for the casino hotel.  You could try to fit it in where the south tower of the jail is.  But I think the better solution would be to have Greyhound move into the Riverfront Transit Center with Megabus and build the hotel on the Greyhound site.  You might be able to do a public private partnership with the casino and have Dan Gilbert chip in. 

 

Then you raze the old hospital building on Mt. Airy property and build a modern jail there.  Since the site is so big, 68 acres, it could be far enough removed from the road so as to have minimal impact on the neighborhood.  Perhaps you could also build a new park on the site to appease the community. 

 

Yeah I agree that it would be great to see our downtown jail leveled.  But it's not very old so it would really be a waste of a building with 50 years of life left in it.  The only bad thing about Mt. Airy is that it does not have good interstate access and so shuttling prisoners between that location and the courthouse would be a pretty major drive.  The parking lot north of the casino between it and the I-471 Liberty St. ramps could be a good location since it's still very close and it's unlikely that anyone would want to develop that land. 

Tarbell's dismal showing illustrates just how tuned-out the electorate is.  You had all sorts of people show up and just hit D on the ballot even though they haven't heard of Feeney. 

 

Wrong.  Tarbell's dismal showing shows he ran a joke of a campaign, didn't try, had no shot, and write in campaign's are INCREDIBLY difficult as is.

The jail tax went on the ballot, got shot down like crazy.  While that is a horrible location, it's pretty unlikely they'll build a new jail in the next 20 years.

 

THE BEST thing that could come out of these new buildings would be that Jobs & Family services moves to Mt. Airy.  JFS constantly blocks traffic downtown because people drive there while there's no parking.  Alms & Doepke would be a massively impressive condo or apartment conversion.

 

On second thought the Mt Airy location location is pretty residential in nature as well as having the transportation issues Jake mentioned... May not be a good site for a new jail.  Might make a good nursing or retirement home location if the county doesn't move there.

Also, the county would rather not be in the business of owning and maintaining buildings. The old hospital being donated to them is one thing, but the likelihood of them building a brand new office tower for their offices is pretty low.

Why would Jobs and Family Services move to Mt. Airy? That has exactly the same transportation issues that plague the proposal to move the early voting location to Mt. Airy. A lot of people who use that require public transportation to access it. I agree it would be nice to convert that building to apartments, but let's not propose kicking out all of the social services from the city's core.

Why would Jobs and Family Services move to Mt. Airy? That has exactly the same transportation issues that plague the proposal to move the early voting location to Mt. Airy. A lot of people who use that require public transportation to access it. I agree it would be nice to convert that building to apartments, but let's not propose kicking out all of the social services from the city's core.

 

In Columbus both the Board of Elections HQ/Early Voting and the Job and Family Service are located on the car-oriented, not centrally located Morse Rd. Elections moved for the 2012 election, they are in a former Kohl's store. I think the JFS is relatively new too, I believe it is on the site of the former Northland Mall. Whenever I drive by I scratch my head about it.

Lets put early voting and all our service agencies in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a sea of asphalt parking...

 

Brilliant!

 

The only way Mt. Airy works is if they preserve the front end customer related departments in a downtown location while moving the back offices to the hospital.

Hamilton County will not be taking ownership of the hospital in Mt. Airy. More in this thread: Cincinnati: Random Development News & Info

I assume that the health provider attempted to give away the site either for tax purposes or because the land was given to them from the Crosley estate 50~ years ago and it cannot be privately developed.  Does anyone here know the specifics of this situation?

I just checked his Twitter feed for the first time in awhile. His feed is full of all sorts of anti-city, anti-bike, anti-transit, anti-LGBTQ rights, anti-Hillary, and pro-Trump stuff. So why does the Hamilton County Democratic Party endorse this guy?

Why doesn't anyone run against him in a primary?

^He has to have dirt on Burke. There's no way a reasonable county Democratic Party Chair would continue to support this guy. He's a Trump Republican. No one runs against him because he has the name recognition to fight off any challenger. And almost anyone who wants to be involved in politics who wants to run an extremely thorough campaign to topple a long-time incumbent isn't looking at the Hamilton County Auditor's office.

There have been Republicans who have ran against him in the past, and I have voted for them, but never another Democrat challenging him in the primary.

 

From what I understand, there exists some sort of "gentlemen's agreement" between the leaders of the Hamilton County Democratic and Republican parties where they don't challenge each other on some of these down-ballot races.

I think a lot of offices like Auditor aren't really political. I wouldn't vote for an auditor based on whether they had a D or R next to their name, I'd vote for whichever one I thought would be the best auditor. Dusty is a real life version of the "Old man yells at cloud" Simpson's clip, but does anyone think he doesn't do a good job as auditor? Coroner, Engineer, etc. are all similar IMO. I don't think they should even show the party affiliation on the ballot, I just want to see a resume.

^I agree completely. I generally vote for Dems because they generally side with my ideology the most, but certain races like those mentioned I throw out the party affiliation entirely.

 

Dusty has had some pretty bad issues in the past. IIRC he messed up and accidentally gave some cities too much money for something, and Cincinnati was on the hook for paying back a bunch of money they hadn't budgeted for. I don't recall the specifics, but a lot of communities were affected negatively by this.

I think the bigger issue is that Hamilton County government needs a complete overhaul. We are no longer a rural county where it makes sense for the citizens to directly elect the coroner, auditor, etc. We are a largely urbanized county. Imagine what we could accomplish if we had professionals in these leadership roles instead of random people who get elected based on name recognition or party affiliation.

 

Here's what Cuyahoga County did:

 

On November 3, 2009, county voters overwhelmingly approved the adoption of a new county charter which replaced the three-commissioner form of county government with an elected county executive and county prosecutor, and an 11-member county council. Each council member represents a single geographic district; there are no at-large districts. The elected offices of auditor, clerk of courts, coroner, engineer, recorder, sheriff, and treasurer were abolished. The county executive was given authority to appoint individuals to these offices, which became part of the executive branch of the county. Summit County is the only other Ohio county with this form of government. (From Wikipedia.)