Maybe Alecia Reese would throw her hat into the ring. 

6 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Maybe Alecia Reese would throw her hat into the ring. 

I was just thinking that!!! She could win in a landslide in my opinion. Would Democrats get to pick her replacement on the county commission?

Edited November 19, 20204 yr by 646empire

Chances of cranley being next?

These politicians are seriously so stupid. 

 

You think they are all shaking in their boots right now??

 

Who else would it be that is left? For some reason I don't see it being Chris Seelbach or Greg Landsmann

 

What about Cranley? For all the hate towards him, he's actually savvy and don't think he would ever put himself in a bad situation, especially not getting busted by the Feds.

 

Also, got to say I feel horrible for their wives and Children (I don't think Tamaya Dennard had kids or a spouse?). I mean how many years is Pastor looking at and how many years would Sittenfield look at? HOw much did Dennard get do we know yet? Hers seemed pretty tame compared to Pastor.

Edited November 19, 20204 yr by IAGuy39

How is Cranley able to keep is hands clean through all this? To the people who pay close attention he is instrumental in all these deals, as Travis mentioned earlier he is usually the one to negotiate the deals behind closed doors before going to council. Is he just a good lawyer and able to find the right loopholes or is his time coming too? 

15 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

The big problem with this kind of corruption is that the effects from it can be seen around town for decades, even centuries. Crap projects, buildings gutted or demo'ed for bad reasons, good developments pushed out for bad.

 

We already have seen this happening out in the open. Any time an out-of-town developer wants to build something in Cincinnati they get pushed away. Any time a local developer wants to build a crap project, they get tax incentives. But again, the driving force behind this corruption isn't City Council...

I bet this is going to be on the Columbus news tonight! They love a good Cincinnati corruption scandal.

I do feel genuinely bad for PG family. He posted alot on twitter of his kids and wife at skyline and other places around Cincinnati. 

 

He had really high political ambitions and seemed like the type of person that could make a career in politics.

 

This must be incredibly devestating for them. 

Tamaya Dennard framed herself that way (not so much the socialist label, though). And she was arrested on corruption charges.

2 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

Why are we talking about Alicia Reece? She just won her race for County Commission. 

Because P.G “the leading candidate for mayor” some would say is toast. Because Alicia would be a great candidate for mayor. BUT as you said she just won a county commission seat. 

Yeah if she didn't just win the County Commission seat, and had already announced a run for mayor, or potentially had signaled interest in city council, I would 100% understand throwing her name out there as a potential frontrunner. 

 

The names I see as new candidates:

 

• Christopher Smitherman jumping back in
• Greg Landsman (maybe)
• Charlie Winburn (because of course he will)

I don't know who else would jump in to challenge David Mann. You could look at past candidates like Yvette Simpson, Roxanne Qualls, or even Jim Tarbell. But I don't think any of them are interested.

7 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

Tamaya Dennard framed herself that way (not so much the socialist label, though). And she was arrested on corruption charges.

 

Yeah, she framed herself as a far left Democrat but not quite as far left as a Democratic Socialist. She wasn't anti-capitalism, she was just pushing for more affordable housing to be integrated into projects, putting an end to tax abatements for market rate projects, etc. I think there is an opening in 2021 for a true far left candidate to get on council.

 

I'm not excusing anyone's illegal behavior by any means, but it is interesting that Dennard's corruption seems to be related to her personal financial hardship. She was not from a wealthy background and was seeking money to pay bills. As opposed to Pastor and Sittenfeld, who were doing more typical political corruption type of stuff, seeking to line their pockets by shuffling around money between LLCs and non-profit organizations. Again, all 3 cases are bad (assuming all the allegations hold true).

 

 

28 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

 Alicia Reece? 

 

Is the most corrupt of them all.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Her daddy got rich thanks to Cranley's Anthem Demutualization scheme back in 2003. 

 

$10 million from the city pension fund went to her dad. Literally.  

7 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

The names I see as new candidates:

 

• Christopher Smitherman jumping back in
• Greg Landsman (maybe)
• Charlie Winburn (because of course he will)

I don't know who else would jum'p in to challenge David Mann. You could look at past candidates like Yvette Simpson, Roxanne Qualls, or even Jim Tarbell. But I don't think any of them are interested.

I can see Smitherman jumping in. The rumors I heard was that he was behind on fundraising with his wife's illness and realized he could not compete with PG's money machine. 

 

Cant see Landsman (not really his personality, he is better as a collaborative member than leader), Tarbell is too old, Qualls could make a comeback if she is interested, but I think her time has passed. 

 

I could see Rob Richardson try again. Simpson will be difficult because of the Children's hospital issue a few years ago and the current PG mess.  

 

I have heard there is a guy who runs the convention bureau who may throw his name in the hat too. 

My bet is on SMitherman now.

I could never figure out how P.G. raised money so easily

54 minutes ago, taestell said:

As a side note, I think there is a good chance we get a Democratic Socialist member of City Council in 2021. These corruption charges are an opening for candidates who have a message of "I'm going to represent the people, not the developers and corporations." The question is, will it be someone with political or community organizing skills who can actually negotiate with their fellow council members and make changes, or some punk kid who is going to get ignored and outvoted on everything.

 

Is the local DSA chapter organized enough for that? Do they run or endorse candidates?

^Probably not. And to date, they have never been seriously looked at for endorsements. My guess is they would cross endorse like the Charterites do.

5 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

^Probably not. And to date, they have never been seriously looked at for endorsements. My guess is they would cross endorse like the Charterites do.

 

In Philly, two at-large city council seats are reserved for a minority party, to prevent one-party rule. For years they were occupied by two Republicans. In 2019 the Working Families Party was able to capture one of those seats. Would be nice to have a council run by a coalition of Dems and DSA or WFP. 

^no it wouldn't. The GOP does not have much power on council anymore but at least it is important to have their voice heard. 

36 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

I could never figure out how P.G. raised money so easily

 

His dad manages the trust funds of the city's wealthiest families.  

5 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

His dad managesh the trust funds of the city's wealthiest families.  

He certainly did not need the money for his campaign. I bet he was trying to use the Householder playbook and build a fund to peddle influence.

23 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

^no it wouldn't. The GOP does not have much power on council anymore but at least it is important to have their voice heard. 

 

Disagree. The current GOP members have contributed nothing of value. Betsy Sundermann is a complete clown who is unqualified for the position. All she cares about is getting soundbites on WLW. 

 

It would be nice to have a real leftist voice on council to counter the center-right voices of several of the current Democratic members.

1 minute ago, DEPACincy said:

 

Disagree. The current GOP members have contributed nothing of value. Betsy Sundermann is a complete clown who is unqualified for the position. All she cares about is getting soundbites on WLW. 

 

It would be nice to have a real leftist voice on council to counter the center-right voices of several of the current Democratic members.

Based on the Facts, you see a lot more democrats getting arrested. I highly doubt Sunderman will have to worry about any of that.

 

But of course based on prior statements, I know you believe that Democrats dont actually engage in that type of behavior because they have some sort of moral high ground or something like that i guess. 

in other places they would be Republicans. Too hard to get into office with an R next to your name in town.

It is important to have more voices heard if those voices were actually providing something of value. Pastor was positioning himself as a Republican who actually cared about transit and urbanism, showing that you can make a conservative case for making smart investments that would improve the city. I think Bortz may have been the most recent Republican who actually had constructive proposals and ideas, such as being the initial driving force behind the streetcar project, despite the fact that we have now ret-conned it to be a Mallory initiative. But I was not paying as close attention to City Council in the 2000s so I'm not sure what other shenanigans he may have gotten into.

 

Smitherman and Murray were only concerned about making outrageous statements, getting air time on WLW, and voting against Democrats on everything. They added nothing of value to the discourse.

3 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

in other places they would be Republicans. Too hard to get into office with an R next to your name in town.

Dennard, Wendell Young would never have been Republicans.

Sittenfeld may have been a republican in NY back in the day but he pretty much is the poster child for the democratic party if you think about his positions.

Cranley is an interesting case as he is much more old school Democrat than traditional Republican

Not really if they had to twist his arm to save the Streetcar.

I'm generally curious about how the west end fcc stadium came into play. I remember so much work being done by all council members to land a spot in the west end, especially Jeff pastor and PG...I can't help but feel so much shady things occured in the background between the Linders and City Council members to land them that west end spot. 

At least one user on here was sounding the alarm about that but since the rest of us didn't have access to the information and specifics we couldn't go too deep with it.

This might be a stretch, but is there any chance Cranley knew/thought this was going to happen when he cancelled all City business? Obviously, physically closing the building was important with a rise in cases but he just cancelled everything instead of just moving to digital meetings.

7 minutes ago, Dev said:

crancelled 

 

FTFY

LOLOL was thinking it as I was typing it too

24 minutes ago, Dev said:

This might be a stretch, but is there any chance Cranley knew/thought this was going to happen when he cancelled all City business? Obviously, physically closing the building was important with a rise in cases but he just cancelled everything instead of just moving to digital meetings.

The interesting thing, is they always say there may be more scalps to fall on this, however, given how much Sittenfeld and his crew hated Cranley and tried to thwart him, I would be surprised if Cranley is involved in any of this.

Or they wouldn't play ball with Cranley directly and were working with different developers

8 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

The interesting thing, is they always say there may be more scalps to fall on this, however, given how much Sittenfeld and his crew hated Cranley and tried to thwart him, I would be surprised if Cranley is involved in any of this.

Yeah I doubt he will get wrapped up in this. Why would he need to take money from them now, when he knows he can get it from them when he's out of office?

10 minutes ago, Dev said:

Yeah I doubt he will get wrapped up in this. Why would he need to take money from them now, when he knows he can get it from them when he's out of office?

 

He and his brother sold the beachfront house in Naples, FL they inherited from their grandfather for $10 million - WAY above its appraised value - to an LLC from Chicago.  Remember Cranley's email exchange with then-mayor Rahm Emanual?  

 

It's one thing after another with Cranley and somehow the guy keeps avoiding handcuffs.  

 

17 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

Remember Cranley's email exchange with then-mayor Rahm Emanual?

Actually, no I don't!

I guess I am assuming that he is avoiding charges because he participates in the legally sanctioned form of bribing aka he knows the workarounds.

43 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

I would be surprised if Cranley is involved in any of this.

 

Whether or not they were "in cahoots", Cranley has been previously accused of the same thing:

 

Quote

Former city manager said Cranley gave ‘sweetheart deals’ to developers, violated charter

 

The mayor had demonstrated a history of interfering with the city staff’s negotiation of economic development deals,” the letter alleges. “(T)he mayor repeatedly interjected himself in the middle of such negotiations, uniformly on the side of the developers.”

 

Numerous times, Cranley would increase the percentage of tax abatements or loans the city would provide a developer for projects, contrary to the city administration’s position, the letter alleges.

 

“(T)he mayor would insert himself into the negotiation for the purpose of giving the developer what it wanted, including using money in the city’s capital budget to fund the project,” the letter alleges. “Mr. Black believed these ‘sweetheart’ deals were fiscally terrible for the city and had contributed to the city’s budget shortfall of $25 million for 2018.” [...]

 

The April 18 letter alleged that the then-director of the city’s economic development department told Black about an alleged pay-to-play arrangement discussed by a lobbyist between the mayor and a company seeking city financial assistance. Cranley and the lobbyist have denied that allegation. 

 

Very weird that Cranley and Black previously had a very close relationship, suddenly something went sour, and Black was given a giant severance package to go away and stop talking...

Keating is of the Keating & Loan Scandal family (she even swims in the Keating Natatorium, which was paid for with dirty money from Arizona):

https://www.votelizkeating.com/

 

That was the scandal that almost brought down John McCain in the late 80s, so we almost had no Sarah Palin.  

 

So, do we know who offered the bribes to these folks? 

2 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Based on the Facts, you see a lot more democrats getting arrested. I highly doubt Sunderman will have to worry about any of that.

 

But of course based on prior statements, I know you believe that Democrats dont actually engage in that type of behavior because they have some sort of moral high ground or something like that i guess. 

 

I wish you'd just stop replying to my posts. I don't know why I'm bothering with this dialogue. It is clear that you are just trying to troll, but I can't actually call you a troll because I guess that is against the rules. 

 

I have NEVER, EVER said that all Democrats are good and don't engage in criminal behavior. That's stupid. Somehow you can keep getting away with mischaracterizing everyone's positions here so I have to correct you. What Sittenfeld did was wrong. I'm pissed because I did like him. But he deserves to have the book thrown at him just like any other crooked politician. 

 

As for your first statement, it's insanely laughable. The entire Ohio GOP has shown itself to be corrupt with the First Energy shenanigans. The Clermont County GOP makes Cincinnati look squeaky clean. Two Cincinnati councilpeople with Ds next to their name (and one with an R!) do not outweigh the deluge of corruption in the Ohio GOP. 

 

But my original comment wasn't about which party was more corrupt or morally bankrupt as a whole. It was about ideas that come from the parties and what I'd like to see. I see nothing of value coming from the GOP in 2020. I'd like to see a true leftist party get some power in Cincinnati. I understand that you disagree. I wasn't directing my comment at you. You don't have to respond to every one of my posts. It's possible to keep scrolling. 

 

Quote

Prosecutors say Sittenfeld then directed the agents on how to donate to the PAC by setting up limited liability companies, which would then write checks to the PAC. "Nothing about it in any way will ever be connected to me and no one will, you know, no one's going to be poking around for it to find your names on it," the indictment quotes Sittenfeld as saying.

 

Here's a link to the PAC's public info:

 

https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/progress-growth-pac/C00668640/donors/2020

 

I thought I'd poke around and see what other names are on the donor rolls. There are lots of interesting $5000 donors over the last several the years. Mom and Dad, of course, but dozens of others - some familiar, some not so. Some - perhaps - proceeding tangentially related council votes? I doubt these FBI agents were the first people PG brazenly asked for money from, I wonder who else got shaken down over the years?

 

It's also interesting to see how PG had started to use the money. A few "consultants," other PACs, and candidates like Charmaine McGuffey and Kate Schroder, among others - financed by what was, at least in part, dirty money. 

20 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

 

I wish you'd just stop replying to my posts. I don't know why I'm bothering with this dialogue. It is clear that you are just trying to troll, but I can't actually call you a troll because I guess that is against the rules. 

 

I have NEVER, EVER said that all Democrats are good and don't engage in criminal behavior. That's stupid. Somehow you can keep getting away with mischaracterizing everyone's positions here so I have to correct you. What Sittenfeld did was wrong. I'm pissed because I did like him. But he deserves to have the book thrown at him just like any other crooked politician. 

 

As for your first statement, it's insanely laughable. The entire Ohio GOP has shown itself to be corrupt with the First Energy shenanigans. The Clermont County GOP makes Cincinnati look squeaky clean. Two Cincinnati councilpeople with Ds next to their name (and one with an R!) do not outweigh the deluge of corruption in the Ohio GOP. 

 

But my original comment wasn't about which party was more corrupt or morally bankrupt as a whole. It was about ideas that come from the parties and what I'd like to see. I see nothing of value coming from the GOP in 2020. I'd like to see a true leftist party get some power in Cincinnati. I understand that you disagree. I wasn't directing my comment at you. You don't have to respond to every one of my posts. It's possible to keep scrolling. 

 

bOtH sIdEs

17 minutes ago, Ram23 said:

 

 

Here's a link to the PAC's public info:

 

How do you scroll past #25?

 

Also, it should be noted that Ndukwe - apparently the only common figure in the Pastor and Sittenfeld arrests - was handed Tower Place Mall in exchange for his support for Cranley's 2013 campaign.  Did he bite the hand that fed?

 

https://kingsleyandcompany.com/what-we-do/projects.html

 

https://cincyopolis.wordpress.com/tag/chinedum-ndukwe/

 

http://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/2014/06/did-smitherman-vote-to-give-his-donor.html

 

Quote

On the night JOHN CRANLEY was elected Mayor of Cincinnati, our sources report Chinedum Ndukwe was present at the "victory party". (We've got pictures to prove it.) [Also present were STEVE REECE and ALICIA REECE. Cranley has hooked their family up with over $300,000 to remodel Integrity Hall.]

 

So Cranley's argument is basically that it's OK for him to make back room deals but it's not OK for Council to be involved.

 

 

1 hour ago, taestell said:

So Cranley's argument is basically that it's OK for him to make back room deals but it's not OK for Council to be involved.

 

 

 

A classic.

Ever notice that when there's employee theft the first person who volunteers to help find the stolen item turns out to be the thief?  I mean, Smitherman's brother owns a goddamn concrete company that is all over all of the projects listed in his fantasy audit!

 

https://www.fox19.com/2020/11/19/vice-mayor-calls-forensic-audit-development-deals/

 

Quote

Smitherman, a political Independent who took himself out of the running for mayor earlier this year, requested the audit in a statement released Thursday evening, hours after P.G. Sittenfeld was arrested in a public corruption investigation.

Deals passed since 2017 include (but are not limited to:

 

• FCC Cincinnati’s West End Stadium;
• The ICON Music Venue at The Banks and the relocation of Hilltop Concrete;
• The Cincinnati Ballet’s practice facility on Gilbert Avenue in Walnut Hills;
• Three Downtown residential towers: 4th and Race, 8th and Main and Court and Walnut;
• Two Downtown multifamily developments, one at 12th and Sycamore, the other on Pete Rose Way by the Purple People Bridge;
• UC’s massive uptown innovation district and the surrounding developments at Martin Luther King and Reading Road; and
• The redevelopment of Deaconness Hospital.

 

Smitherman does not accuse specific council votes of occurring below board, nor is there any suggestion of specific development deals being passed unscrupulously.

 

 

Also, remember Cranley's $1 million emergency audit of the Cincinnati Streetcar back in December of 2013 that found absolutely nothing?  That ate away at the project's contingency fund?  Again, it takes one to know one, and Cranley attempted to establish himself as some sort of fiscal warrior when he was the fox guarding the henhouse all along.    

6 hours ago, DEPACincy said:

The entire Ohio GOP has shown itself to be corrupt with the First Energy shenanigans.

The interesting thing about the Sittenfeld scandal is it appeared he was setting himself up by using Householder's playbook.  As Cranley pointed out, Pastor and Dennard were just looking to line their personal pockets with some extra cash; PG was looking to be a kingmaker and have a dark money slush fund to peddle influence for political allies and exact revenge on enemies. 

 

 

I was on a call with someone today who knew the Sittenfeld parents back in the day when their kids were growing up. Apparently, they were beyond embarassed with their daughter wrote her first novel and it had some sex scenes in it and they did not think they could ever live that down. PG says, hold my beer.