5 hours ago, taestell said:

COASTies are now circulating a list of "Gang of 5 operatives" that include people like Julie Niesen (a.k.a. Wine Me Dine Me), Justin Jeffre, and Molly Wellmann. They're really going full Alex Jones with this conspiracy theory, huh? #benghazi #chemtrails #911wasaninsidejob

 

"Operatives" probably isn't the best word. It seems more like a list of "Gang of 5 fanboys." I wonder what the actual context of the list was.

?

 

Cincinnati City Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard says reaction to Notre Dame Cathedral fire 'prime example of privilege'

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/16/notre-dame-fire-cincinnati-councilwoman-says-shows-privilege/3482877002/

 

Cincinnati Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard on Twitter said she's sad the Notre Dame Cathedral has been damaged by fire, but the reaction has been a "prime example of privilege."

 

She pointed to the recent string of arsons at predominantly black churches in Louisiana as an example.

 

"I'm sure they held significance as well," she wrote in the Tuesday morning Tweet. "They were barely acknowledged."

59 minutes ago, Ram23 said:

?

 

Cincinnati City Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard says reaction to Notre Dame Cathedral fire 'prime example of privilege'

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/16/notre-dame-fire-cincinnati-councilwoman-says-shows-privilege/3482877002/

 

Cincinnati Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard on Twitter said she's sad the Notre Dame Cathedral has been damaged by fire, but the reaction has been a "prime example of privilege."

 

She pointed to the recent string of arsons at predominantly black churches in Louisiana as an example.

 

"I'm sure they held significance as well," she wrote in the Tuesday morning Tweet. "They were barely acknowledged."

 

 

Nobody here acknowledges small-town church fires in Europe and Americans barely care about terrorist/racist activity in Europe.  Did any Americans really care about the IRA bombings?

 

 

 

Yeah, I'm incredibly disappointed in Tamaya Dennard.  Her racist rant against the owner of Cheapside Cafe was when I first realized I made a mistake voting for her.  I'm hoping all her nonsense is brought back up at the next election so that we can get her out of city politics.

I'm somewhat perplexed by her phrasing: "I’m saddened that the beautiful cathedral in France was damaged." Maybe as an architect my viewpoint is skewed a bit, but I assumed pretty much everyone in the Western World was familiar with Notre Dame. It's like the Great Wall of China or the Pyramids at Giza. If you can name 10 famous buildings on the planet, it's probably one of them. But the way she described it - as a "beautiful cathedral in France" leads me to believe that there's a very real possibility she simply had no idea what it was.

Over two million dollars have now been raised for the three black churches that were burned by a white man earlier this year. This is really where people should be donating their hard-earned money; the wealthy Catholic Church and the French government can afford to rebuild their beautiful cathedral. Thanks to the efforts of people like Hillary Clinton and Tamaya Dennard, the three black churches will be able to rebuild.

Nobody should be telling anyone where they should donate their money. I get what Dennard was trying to do  and I like her for the most part. I voted for her.  But Notre Dame is one of the most important buildings in human history. That is why this has been such a massive news story. Anyone who can't grasp that is clearly not a student of history. There are 100s and 100s of cathedrals in France including several more in Paris but none are as important as Notre Dame. A cathedral burning down in Lyon, Orleans or Nantes would not have been this big of a story with these kind of donations.  All she has to do is say "While you're donating to Notre Dame please take the time to also donated to burnt down churches in our country" just like Hillary did. But making this about race is just silly.

Edited April 19, 20196 yr by cincydave8

She meant well but she's a very poor communicator. What she should have said is "This fire is tragic. It reminds us of other tragedies that can and should be supported as well." What she did is leverage one tragedy against another in a way that appeared crass, clueless, clumsy, sanctimonious, tone-deaf, historically ignorant, and strangely racist on its own terms. I could not imagine a worse way to say what she meant to say. Seems to be a pattern with her. She has good ideas, but consistently alienates her audience by how she communicates them. 

I wouldn't give Tamaya that much credit.  I've seen a lot of posts from her that are at best tone deaf and at worst incredibly racist.  She even once posted that if you didn't attend some African American circus event (with plenty of clowns) then you were a racist.  Um, no Tamaya, I'm not attending an event with lots of clowns because that's just creepy.

DO NOT TWEET

 

Don't Tweet

 

Uninstall

Dennard is an idiot.  

Judge declines to hold Cincinnati councilman in contempt

 

Hamilton County Judge Robert Ruehlman on Thursday decided that there was not enough evidence to hold Cincinnati Councilman Wendell Young in contempt of court for deleting text messages after Ruehlman ordered them released.

 

Young’s attorney, Scott Croswell, told the court that Young deleted the text messages prior to Ruehlman’s Oct. 23 order because he already had turned over the texts to the city solicitor and seen a batch between himself and council members P.G. Sittenfeld, Tamaya Dennard, Chris Seelbach and Greg Landsman published in local media. Croswell said Young did not know the exact date he deleted the texts but that it was “months” prior to Ruehlman’s order. Croswell also said the texts were deleted at a time “contemporaneous” to the publication of the original set of texts.

 

The Business Courier published the content of texts between the five Democratic council members on April 18, 2018, and Oct. 19, 2018.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/05/02/judge-declines-to-hold-cincinnati-councilman-in.html

This vote will be interesting. We already know where Smitherman stands. Will two of the other three (Mann, Murray, Pastor) take his side? If one does, will Cranley break the tie?

 

Meanwhile, P.G.'s family is rich enough that he could get out in front of this by simply offering to pay back his portion, in full, and he wouldn't even notice a dent in the bank account.

 

Ohio Ethics Commission: ‘Gang of Five’ prohibited from voting on $176K reimbursement request

https://www.fox19.com/2019/05/07/ohio-ethics-commission-gang-five-prohibited-voting-k-reimbursement-request/

 

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - Cincinnati City Council’s self-described “Gang of Five” are prohibited by law from voting on a proposal they reimburse taxpayers $176,000 for outside legal fees and to settle a lawsuit seeking their secret texts and emails, the Ohio Ethics Commission has determined.

 

P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Greg Landsman, Tamaya Dennard and Wendell Young also are prohibited from participating in discussions or deliberations or otherwise using their authority or influence, formally and informally, in matters regarding the motion, a resulting ordinance, or any related procedural motions that arise under the city council’s parliamentary process that affect the motion’s passage, tabling or non-passage, according to a letter from the Ohio Ethics Commission to the City Solicitor’s Office.

 

Smitherman introduced the motion earlier this year and the City Solicitors’s Office sought the opinion at his request April 15, city records show.

 

This is the lamest scandal of all time. What ever happened to real scandals like using public funds to buy hookers and blow in Vegas or allegedly electrocuting mayoral candidates?

14 hours ago, Ram23 said:

This vote will be interesting. We already know where Smitherman stands. Will two of the other three (Mann, Murray, Pastor) take his side? If one does, will Cranley break the tie?

 

The vote won't count and it's all for show for Smitherman to keep getting news cycles out of this story. The Charter is clear that a majority of council has to vote in favor of something in order for it to pass; not a majority of those voting. Therefore, with only four councilmembers even able to vote this thing won't pass. Furthermore, it is a motion, not an ordinance, and a motion carries no legal weight to compel anybody to do anything.

 

Again, it's a show. Smitherman should try to do good work for the city rather than bring down his fellow councilmembers.

3 hours ago, BigDipper 80 said:

This is the lamest scandal of all time. What ever happened to real scandals like using public funds to buy hookers and blow in Vegas or allegedly electrocuting mayoral candidates?

 

Yeah, the Nashville mayor take-down at least had some juicy details. 

1 hour ago, brian korte said:

Again, it's a show. Smitherman should try to do good work for the city rather than bring down his fellow councilmembers.

 

 

Smitherman cannot unite and build.  He can only divide and destroy. 

3 hours ago, BigDipper 80 said:

This is the lamest scandal of all time. What ever happened to real scandals like using public funds to buy hookers and blow in Vegas or allegedly electrocuting mayoral candidates?

 

The amount of faux outrage about this "scandal" coming from talk radio hosts and listeners, and 2021 mayoral and council candidates, is truly amazing.

 

City Council members texted each other mean things about other City Council members. No one cares.

1 hour ago, taestell said:

 

The amount of faux outrage about this "scandal" coming from talk radio hosts and listeners, and 2021 mayoral and council candidates, is truly amazing.

 

City Council members texted each other mean things about other City Council members. No one cares.

 

Since the texts were released, there’s been a handful of accounts on Twitter that respond to every “gang of five” council member tweet, telling them to resign. It’s a lot like how the Harambe trolls harass the Cincinnati Zoo account. This can’t possibly be worth the time/effort whoever it is is putting into it.

On the bright side, it makes it easy to find accounts to block. Just click on any tweet by PG Sittenfeld or Tamaya Dennard, see 5 replies from accounts with no profile photo telling them to pay back their fine and resign, and insta-block those accounts. Poof, they're gone. You will never encounter their opinions about Mahogany's or Oktoberfest being moved ever again.

1 hour ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

 

Smitherman cannot unite and build.  He can only divide and destroy. 

 

Yes taking a page from Cranley playbook on how to run for mayor... Play old against young, east against west, suburb against urban, etc...

6 minutes ago, savadams13 said:

 

Yes taking a page from Cranley playbook on how to run for mayor... Play old against young, east against west, suburb against urban, etc...

 

Winning the loyalty of old people can't be overstated.  They vote in every election, including primaries.  And they have money and love writing checks to anyone who says they'll fight abortion.  It doesn't matter that no city council has nothing to do with that issue -- the checks will be written.  

 

The old people watched Smitherman's nutty Citicable show religiously.  I saw it with my own eyes.  

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 20196 yr by jmecklenborg

Of course the people who push for more babies aren't the ones who have to or want to take care of them.

1 hour ago, GCrites80s said:

Of course the people who push for more babies aren't the ones who have to or want to take care of them.

 

 

They like babies and kids up to about age 8.  They hate 14-30 year-olds.  

Teachers union chief alleges city official traded development incentives for campaign contributions

 

The president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers told Cincinnati City Council on Monday that developers have told her an unnamed city official has asked them for campaign contributions in exchange for tax abatements.

 

“They (developers) are paying money to have meetings to have their abatements approved,” Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Julie Sellers told council’s budget committee, which was having an informational meeting on the city’s tax abatement policy.

 

Sellers said she had heard about the pay-to-play allegations from developers, including those working in Mount Auburn.

 

After she made her initial statement, Councilman Chris Seelbach asked Sellers what she was talking about.

 

“I’ve been told by developers ... if you want to get abatements, you have to have a meeting with a city official and you have to provide campaign funds for that official,” she said.

 

“That’s illegal,” Seelbach said.

 

“You need to get your house in order,” Sellers responded.

 

“These developers need to go to the police or the prosecutor,” Seelbach said.

 

Councilman David Mann expressed skepticism.

 

“If there’s specific allegations, make them,” Mann said. “But generalized statements leave me cold.”

 

Full article below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/05/20/teachers-union-chief-alleges-city-official-traded.html

Everyone knows it's the mayor.

Councilman hopes to find a resolution to FCC-West End tenant donnybrook

 

The three Cincinnati City Council members who probably will be the deciding votes on the latest FC Cincinnati zoning matters next week had little to say about comments made by the club’s majority owner, Carl Lindner III, on Wednesday.

 

Lindner told the Business Courier that he found the city’s approval process “embarrassing,” that the city is sending a message that would give outside businesses pause about moving here and that the city should be expediting the club’s requests.

 

In an interview, Councilman Greg Landsman said he hopes to convene a meeting Friday with stakeholders and be on a path to resolution by the date of next major FCC-related council vote on May 30. Neither Landsman, nor council members David Mann and P.G. Sittenfeld, the other two likely critical votes, directly addressed Lindner’s comments.

 

The club has been ensnared in a major controversy over the fate of up to seven West End residents at 421 Wade St. and 1550 Central Ave., properties FCC acquired earlier this year but has not yet outlined plans for. Much public attention has been focused on 99-year-old Mary Page, who is a bedridden resident in the Wade Street building. Supporters of the residents have accused FCC’s president, Jeff Berding, of dishonesty because he said that the team would not displace residents prior to getting approval for the West End site. In response, Berding has said that promise applied only to the stadium itself.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/05/22/councilman-hopes-to-find-a-resolution-to-fcc-west.html

It's time for a Jeff Pastor thread.  How is this total unknown suddenly the money man?

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/05/cincinnati-texts-cranley-council-talked-private-buyout-harry-black/1345690001/?fbclid=IwAR2a0iA6oFewZPuSBhMAzHzuo24vH8PBqojdW-bSk62SxRajlysGOANd1Gw

 

 

People mentioned in the text messages requested by Brian Shrive are suing:

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/i-team/two-john-doe-democrats-sue-cincinnati-over-gang-of-five-texts-in-federal-court

 

Yeah, I'd be pretty pissed if communications that I thought were personal were suddenly released to the media, but then again people TEXT WAY TOO MUCH.  Quit doing it, people. 

With a slew of development deals up for a vote, council wrestles with housing incentives

 

Cincinnati City Council is expected to approve a spate of development incentives today as it completes its work before breaking for the summer, but council members continue to have a debate over how much public support such projects should receive.

 

The projects include a conversion of PNC Tower from office to residential/retail, a mixed-use apartment building called Artistry along the river as well as smaller projects, such as an eight-unit building in Walnut Hills at 722-724 E. McMillan.

...

“I want people to move to Cincinnati. I’m not anti-development. I’m not anti-growth. But we cannot keep offering subsidies to developers and builders paid for by people of all incomes that don’t serve people of all incomes,” she wrote.

 

Councilman Chris Seelbach, a fellow Democrat, disagreed.

 

“Market rate is not just wealthy housing,” Seelbach said. “For me, it’s not either or. There’s no doubt we need affordable housing. It’s more difficult to develop than market rate. How we do that is not by denying (funding for) market rate housing.”

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/06/26/with-a-slew-of-development-deals-up-for-a-vote.html

 

Foundation councilman worked for gave out hundreds of thousands to churches before election

 

The foundation Cincinnati Councilman Jeff Pastor worked for during the 2017 election season contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to predominantly African American churches that year, federal tax records show.

 

The tax records are the first time a complete accounting has existed of how much the Charles L. Shor Foundation for Epilepsy Research gave to churches that year. The Business Courier reported last year that Pastor personally presented $25,000 checks to at least three congregations, including at least one before the election.

 

On the Shor Foundation’s 2017 tax forms, Pastor was listed as the sole compensated director at a $37,469 annual salary for 40 hours of work per week. He did not respond to a message seeking comment. It is unclear whether he still works there. An attempt to reach Shor through the phone number on the tax return led to a voicemail for an accounting firm. 

 

The Shor Foundation, a nonexempt charitable trust treated as a private foundation under U.S. tax law, contributed $25,000 apiece to the following churches...

 

...and you can find out by clicking below!:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/06/26/foundation-councilman-worked-for-gave-out-hundreds.html

is this a good or bad thing?

It appears rather sketchy, like buying votes. I don't know if it's illegal, but probably violates the spirit of some laws if not the letter.

1 hour ago, seaswan said:

is this a good or bad thing?

 

Usually a candidate has to run for council multiple times, gaining a little more name recognition each time, before finally getting enough votes to get in the top 9 and make it on. But now and then, there will be a relatively unknown person who runs for council and gets on their first time. When that happens, it is clear that some major dark money was put behind that candidate. Pastor is one example of a candidate who went from unknown to council member the first time he ran. Finding out that he is connected to a "foundation" that "donated" money to various churches definitely seems like an attempt to buy votes and explains his quick rise.

So what does this Shor character hope to gain by getting a single puppet on Cincinnati City Council?  Seems to me like he has much bigger plans for Mr. Pastor, but at the same time -- the dude is super-rich after selling the company he inherited from his daddy, so why doesn't he just go retire on a boat?  

4 minutes ago, taestell said:

When that happens, it is clear that some major dark money was put behind that candidate.

This is how Seelbach, Sittenfeld, Simpson, Pastor, and Denard all got elected. None had run before. Are you saying all of these candidates won because of major dark money behind them?

 

I get your point, but the only two I would argue had significant funding behind them the first time around was Sittenfeld and Pastor.

Sittenfeld is from a super-rich family.  He raised, by far, the most money ever for a first-time candidate.  If I recall correctly, he raised more money than all other candidates, despite being a newcomer and never having held a real job other than a vague job at Google.  

 

Seelbach won a seat in 2011 during the statewide progressive sweep enabled by the Senate Bill 5 debacle.  He also did a ton of pound-the-pavement campaigning.  

 

Denard was well-known amongst Black Cincinnatians despite being a unknown to White Cincinnatians.  

 

Meanwhile, absolutely nobody had heard of Jeff Pastor, black or white.  He literally came out of the woodwork with the heir to the Duro-Bag fortune cutting $25,000 checks left and right on his behalf.  Oh, and COAST money.  Mark Miller was one of the names on a dark money organization that funded his Blake Maislin billboard campaign.  You know, the one with him in his Village People get-up, because he never actually served in active duty for the Navy.  He was in the Navy for less than a year.  

 

 

7 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

This is how Seelbach, Sittenfeld, Simpson, Pastor, and Denard all got elected. None had run before. Are you saying all of these candidates won because of major dark money behind them?

 

I get your point, but the only two I would argue had significant funding behind them the first time around was Sittenfeld and Pastor.

 

The 2011 election was an outlier. By total coincidence there was a statewide issue (SB5) on the ballot that increased liberal turnout and had a major impact on all of the down-ballot issues. Mark Mallory was able to get re-elected and a liberal majority took over City Council.

 

Pastor was elected in a relatively "normal" year and was able to overtake other candidates that had been active in the community for many years and had much better name recognition (such as Seth Maney). That's what screams "dark money" to me.

Just now, taestell said:

 

The 2011 election was an outlier. By total coincidence there was a statewide issue (SB5) on the ballot that increased liberal turnout and had a major impact on all of the down-ballot issues. Mark Mallory was able to get re-elected and a liberal majority took over City Council.

 

Pastor was elected in a relatively "normal" year and was able to overtake other candidates that had been active in the community for many years and had much better name recognition (such as Seth Maney). That's what screams "dark money" to me.

 

I'm not arguing that Pastor didn't benefit from dark money, I'm just pushing back against your assertion that everyone who wins the first time without prior name recognition was funded by dark money.

There is a pretty consistent niche on council for 1-2 black, religious, Republicans (Winburn, Smitherman, now Pastor). They're the only candidates that get votes from both little old ladies in Avondale and west side Republicans. Those are generally two demographics that vote consistently and don't pay a whole lot of attention to community activists outside of the church-going ones. Pastor's involvement with church donations was definitely a way to get him in front the former. The latter will vote for whoever is on the Republican ticket. Most of the other Republican candidates only get the latter, which isn't enough to get elected.

I think it bears repeating that if the Democrats had endorsed Derek Bauman instead of Lesley Jones - who barely campaigned - Pastor likely wouldn't be on council.

12 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

I think it bears repeating that if the Democrats had endorsed Derek Bauman instead of Lesley Jones - who barely campaigned - Pastor likely wouldn't be on council.

 

...and you can thank Cranley for that.  Cranley actually got the FOP to endorse Cranley -- a man who couldn't defend himself from a plastic bag blowing across the parking lot -- and not endorse a career police officer in Bauman.  

 

People don't want to admit that the Democrat party is messed up, locally and nationally.  They let Clinton with the nomination with her paid-for super delagates, and then here locally we have massively corrupt characters like Cranley crowning kings.  

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

I'm not arguing that Pastor didn't benefit from dark money, I'm just pushing back against your assertion that everyone who wins the first time without prior name recognition was funded by dark money.

 

Well, there is also a bit of a different standard when it comes to Democrats and Republicans for getting on City Council. In recent history, the makeup of Council has remained about 2/3 Democrat and 1/3 Republican. The Hamilton County GOP has acknowledged this norm and started only endorsing 3 or 4 candidates so they can concentrate the Republican vote on those candidates. So it's a bit easier for a Democrat to get onto council on their first run because we typically end up with twice as many Democrats on council. So, a first-time Dem getting elected isn't necessarily a sign of dark money behind them, but if they skyrocket from relatively unknown to a top vote getter, it probably is.

 

What Ram23 said is also true, generally the Republicans elected to council tend to be more diverse. It's hard to get elected as a straight white male Republican because that doesn't pull from enough different constituencies. However I would argue that this is exactly why PACs decided to put money behind the unknown Pastor, because they knew he could connect with all of those different constituencies, rather than other candidates that already had name recognition.

Panel clarifies rules on business contributions to mayoral, City Council campaigns

 

 

Contributions made by made by limited liability corporations to Cincinnati mayoral and City Council candidates prior to Dec. 1, 2018, won’t count toward a donor’s limits under the city’s new campaign finance charter amendment, the city’s Elections Commission decided this week.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/07/12/panel-clarifies-rules-on-business-contributions-to.html

Major city charter change would split council into district, at-large seats

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/09/09/major-city-charter-change-would-split-council-into.html?iana=hpmvp_cinci_news_headline

 

I like the idea in theory to have one council member loyal to a specific geography, but worry that it would hurt CBD/OTR/Uptown being the center of everyone's focus and getting big projects done. Seems like a recipe for more downtown versus neighborhood false dichotomy. 

having council primaries is too much in my opinion. The turnout is already so low, I don't see how we could justify an off year primary election for council. 

 

I don't mind having some seats elected by districts, though.

NO.  

 

Quote

Woods and Frondorf are West Side residents, a part of the city not represented on council at this time. The last bona fide West Sider elected to council was John Cranley, Woods said. Mayor Cranley now lives on the East Side.

 

Ha.  

All districts would do is lead to a system where the council members from each district agree to vote for each other's pet projects. If the west side council member wants the city to invest in Project X in her district, and the council member from the east side wants the city to invest in Project Y in his district, they agree to vote yes on both and help each other out. It makes every issue into a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" agreement, rather than what's best for the city as a whole.

 

Also, I'm not sure why you would want to make the remaining 4 at-large seats head-to-head races rather than keeping them a field race. It makes things way more complicated and I'm not sure what benefits it would bring.

The only major benefit of wards is that it makes it possible for people with no money to win a ward.  We've seen how mystery money has made the difference in recent at-large elections.  

 

But the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.  I especially dislike that one individual becomes the "face" of an area.  

I think council either needs to be all districts or all at large. This plan mixes it and seemingly gives us the worst of both worlds.

 

If we were to switch to a council made up entirely of districts, I think we'd need more than 9 council members to make the change worthwhile - I'm talking 1 council member per ~15,000 residents or so. A larger council would make it more difficult for special interests to dominate the city's policy via 5 people. Plus, with 20 council members we're likely to get at least 3 or 4 total clowns which would be entertaining.