WCPO is Reporting 70 Arrested at OU Protest

Based on the article Ohio University officials over reacted to a peaceful event and have now invited violent protest instead of peaceful efforts. In this climate most police forces are giving protesters a chance to blow off steam when they don't do anything violent. Some thick-skulled official at OU instead wanted to make a statement. OU is not the place to do that. OU riots when the bars close early on daylight savings weekend. Myopic people far too often just make things worse.

From the Enquirer: Chabot posts image from anti-Semitic site

I am not going to comment on this, just let the Enquirer story speak for itself: Chabot posts image from anti-Semitic site.

Bigotry and Veiled Racism From an Enquirer Guest Column

Anderson Townshop Trump supporter Marilyn Mackenzie wrote a column for the Enquirer and she comes across like a thoughtful bigot and veiled racist. She doesn't like that some groups don't want to instantly adopt her suburbanite way of life and instead cling to their native culture. She invokes growing up as a kid and getting lots of varied foods, but getting along with the different white ethnic groups.

Her ignorance of the past is amaxing. She seems to forget how these ethnic groups were treated by white nativist Americans. The Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews, and Greeks are all examples of groups that held on to their cultures after immigrating to the United States and were discriminated against because of their religion, their culture, and how they looked. It took decades for these groups to be accepted by the majority white culture. Some of them still are not accepted in all areas (Nazi signs on Jewish colleges as an example).

That leads me to a food I grew up with, tacos. I've been eating Tex-Mex food for as long as I remember. Yet, Trump and his followers have attached Mexicans for everything and Hispanics and Latinos overall. Hispanics were here before the English speakers came here and you want them to melt into your pot? We are part of their pot, but you wan to kick out any reminder that someone brown was here before.

Racism, just plain old racism. Cultural bigotry at the max, but racism is the core of this column.

Cranley Refuses to Stand Up to Trump's Racism

As a Mayor who won election only because he got the overwhelming support of Cincinnati Republicans John Cranley can't risk pissing them off. Because of that, he is failing to take a stand and fight racist-in-chief Donald Trump and declare Cincinnati as a Sanctuary City. Instead John makes a lukewarm reminder that he likes immigrants. He just doesn't want to do anything about those who are here but don't have legal status.

This is typical Cranley. He gets free rein at the Enquirer to publish this column that uses the word immigrant and refugee, but takes no stand on the actual issues and ignores his past. The issues are about Trump's racist and religiously bigoted act of restricting people from certain countries the ability to come to America, but allowing Christian refugees. It is also strongly about Trump's actions to force local cities to carry out his fascist edicts and round up Mexicans without legal status.

This is gutless and hypocritical. Cranley's past contain instances where he knowingly played into the hands of conservative voters who don't like non-white people coming into this county.

In 2015 Cranley came out against having any Syrian refugees in Cincinnati.

In 2006 when Cranley last ran for the US House Ohio 1st District, he attacked his Republican opponent on not being strong enough on illegal immigration.

So ,here we get an unchallenged column in the Enquirer, and we'll have some Dems pretending this is a good thing to promote, when it really doesn't do much, but make Cranley appear to be doing something, when he is hiding from the real issue.

Two times now Cranley has stayed on the sidelines when given the chance to stand up to Trump. Once here and once when thousands of people marched for women's rights the day after Trump inauguration.  Will the number of times Cranley cowers before Trump be higher than the times Trump lies?  Likely no, with Trump's propensity for lying, but I'll be taking note of the times Cranley refuses to stand up to the new fascist state Trump is building.

John Cranley Appoints Top Donor Manuel Chavez III to Port Authority Board

Once again, campaign donations can be tied to John Cranley's actions as Mayor. The Cincinnati Business Courier has the story outlining how Cranley appointed his top donor Manuel Chavez III to the board of the Port Authority.

Cronyism is taking shape and Coranley is flaunting it now.  I guess he thinks the stereotypical low information Trump voter will stick with him. One might conclude he already has the Saylor Park vote sowed up.

Charlie, What's in the Box?

I know you were thinking about this when the stories (Enquirer & Business Courier) broke yesterday about Charlie Winburn's boxes that were sized by the FBI.

What was in them?  Turns out it was a whole lot of Charlie's angst towards Mayor John Cranley and his staff.

Updated List of Current Cincinnati Council Candidates

Here is an updated list of candidates. The GOP still only has two officially named candidates, 1 reported candidate and Smitherman, so they are far from even pretending to get a majority on council.  If everyone on this list runs for office, that will make 25. That is not a record.  It would be a record low for Republicans.


Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld
David Mann
Chris Seelbach
Christopher Smitherman
Wendell Young
Amy Murray

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan
Greg Landsman
Michelle Dillingham
Brian Garry
Theo Barnes

New Candidates
Ozie Davis III
Kelli Prather
Tamaya Dennard
Tamie Sullivan
Cristina Burcica
Jeff Pastor
Derek Bauman
Cedrick Denson
Tonya Dumas
Henry Frondorf
Manual Foggie
Leslie Jones
Beverly Odoms
Orlando Welborn

If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list.

Cranley Reportedly to Name His Campaign Treasurer to SORTA Board Seat

Helen "Heidi" Black is being reported by the Enquirer to be John Cranley's next pick for the SORTA Board.

Who is Helen "Heidi" Black, you may ask? Well in the Enquirer article you get a nice bio of a professional who they state is the wife of Cranley's campaign manager, Jay Kincaid. That makes this a controversial pick. It makes this appointment a political favor. It is political cronyism. If anyone else appointed the spouse of their campaign manager, this would have been a banner Enquirer headline with editorials on how ethics matter and the appearance of cronyism is horrible for our political system.  More over the Enquirer would call for Cranley to appoint someone else.

Instead we get an article more puff piece than political story. It has a quote from Cranley in it as if someone in his campaign issued a press release on this. It's like Cranley is knowlingly picking a crony for a political appointment and does not care he is doing it.  It's like he thinks his Trump or something.

What lacking in the article and to this whole story are two things. Firstly it names the appointee as Heidi Black instead of her legal name Helen Black. Secondly it fails to mention one MAJOR element as this screenshot illustrates:

In case you can't read the graphic it states "Paid for by John Cranley for Mayor, Helen Black Treasurer."  This is from the bottom of the front page of John Cranley's campaign website.

Yes, Helen "Heidi" Black is the Treasurer for John Cranley's Mayoral campaign. He's about to appoint a member of his ACTIVE CAMPAIGN STAFF, to a board that governs the Streetcar operation and Metro. Cronyism run amok!

Oh and thanks to the Inquirer who didn't report this fact in their article. Thorough reporting there. Helen also ran for the 17-B seat on the Democratic Central Committee in March of last year, but lost. They didn't report that, either.

Finally, how do I know Helen is Heidi?  A public records search is sufficient to confirm and it's not any type of secret, it was just omitted from this Enquirer article for some reason.

John Cranley and Denise Driehaus Skip Cincinnati Women's March

The world took notice as millions of people across the globe came together Saturday to rally and march for women's rights, including but not limited too, reproductive rights.  Here in Cincinnati 10,000 to 14,000 people rallied and marched.  Many, many issues were discussed: religious freedom, the right to affordable healthcare, social justice, and the right of women to not be considered property of men, just to name a few. Many local elected politicians attended, including representatives from the State Legislature, Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati. Both female and male elected officials were in attendance.

Many locally also took notice of who was missing.  Two local politicians were no present for the Women's March:  Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and newly elected Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus.

Why were they not there?  In the case of Cranley, Vice-Mayor David Mann claimed Cranley was going to a funeral.  I think that funeral was at best a last minute add for Cranley, once it was announced that this was event was expressly a pro-choice and pro-Planned Parenthood event.  John is anti-choice and needs the votes of the GOP in Cincinnati, and needs avoid the optics involved with openly linking himself to a very progressive movement.  Also, he knew he wasn't going to get the option to control the event, so he stayed home instead.

Where was Denise Driehaus?  We'll she's fresh off her December vote as outgoing Ohio member to ban abortions at 20 weeks, an unconstitutional bill, but one she still voted for.  This is after she repeatedly told progressives after her alleged conversion to a pro-choice stance during the 2012 primary when she "moved" across town to the newly formed 31 District. She moved swiftly to hide her endorsement from Cincinnati Right to Life as well for nearly 4 years, but in the end did their bidding, even when she didn't need to for political cover.

At the event Saturday fellow Democrat, Todd Portune represented the County Commission.  A Democratic woman who has claimed to be for women's rights skipped one of the biggest protests in Cincinnati history. Don't let her forgot that she stayed home when women came out in force to take on Trump.

Cincinnati Women Marched Saturday For Rights and Against Trump Oppression

An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people rallied and marched through Over-the-Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati Saturday joining Millions of other people standing up for women and a wide number of issues relating to freedom and liberty but focused on reproductive rights, healthcare for all, social justice for all, religious freedom for all, and the right for women not to be treated as the property of sexual predators like Donald Trump.

The crowd was massive, far greater than expected.  Speakers consisted of local activists and politicians who voiced issues that will be be made worse under Trump and his crew of fascists who took over the White House last week.

This was a totally peaceful march and showed that women clearly know best how to get people to come out to protest.  The world wide count was around 5 Million people turned out to oppose Trump's  plans to turn the clock back to a time in American when women's rights were a distant dream.

The clearest sign that Trump does not have deep support lies in the numbers he tried to dispute.  Experts stated that three times as many people went to Saturday's Women's March than when to Trump's Inauguration the day before.  That demonstrates the reality that Trump and Republicans seem to ignore, they are only in power due to gerrymandering, voter suppression, and interference of the FBI and Russia in the election process. They don't have a mandate, they are seizing control as a minority party and will likely do as much damage as they can while the country wakes up and pushes them out of power.

Hopefully this turnout will translate to the 2017 location elections and then next year for the midterms.  Logically, those who cared enough to come out to protest at an event like this care enough without question to come out and vote.  That is how we can counter the right wing fascist power grab.  We can't rely on sensible Republicans to protect the county, we must get people to wake up and get control of the election process back.

In Case You Are Wondering What Fascism Means and Why You Should Know It

Google Defines it as:

fas·cism

ˈfaSHˌizəm/

noun

noun: fascism; noun: Fascism; plural noun: Fascisms

1. an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

   synonyms:

   authoritarianism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, autocracy;  Nazism, rightism; nationalism, xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism;  jingoism, isolationism;  neofascism, neo-Nazism "a film depicting the rise of fascism in the 1930s"

   • (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

For a more in-depth reading, Wikipedia has very good entry.

I want this here so people know what it means when the word is used. I am using this word more now. Many decry it's use. George Orwell long ago criticized its use. With the current Administration of the United States it has meaning that must be applied.

If you have read or listened to Trump's Inaugural Address, here if you haven't, and that speech strongly connected with or appealed to you, then you are most likely a fascist. If you know someone else who strongly connected with it, they are most likely a fascist.

I am being serious.  I am not just trying to lob rhetorical grenades.  I am trying to get people to listen to the whole speech and it's themes and see it as a Trump style fascist manifesto.  People will point to certain minor phrases or sections that they think over-ride these main themes, but they are wrong.  It is a just a ruse, meant to give cover.

I am not saying Trump is going to start creating Concentration Camps.  Seriously not saying that (yet).  That is mostly because I am not calling this a Nazi speech, even though you see that word in the synonyms above.  By using the term "America First" Trump and his speech writers know the history of that term.  They know who used it in the past and they know the meaning it has.  The spokesperson for the America First movement was Charles Lindbergh and his history and sympathies are well known.  This is a part of American history that one would usually want to avoid embracing.  This phrase is the only sense of history that Trump included in his speech.  It is not an accident.  His handlers are not fools.  They are authoritarian and nationalistic ring-wingers who are seeking to lift their brand of white social class back to a place of total dominance.  That is Trump's message put simply and his policy stances and position are pushing that forward

People can pretend otherwise.  They can champion the scraps that Trump throws at them.  They can point to window dressing efforts of Trump to appear different than this fascist stance he has outlined. None of that will make up for the massive shift he is attempting.  I hope he fails, but hope left the White House yesterday and fear, anger, and hate moved in, so count me as a cynic on the subject.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

With just a couple hours left before the United States collectively is pushed off a cliff by the arcane Electoral College, I'm not going to make things all happy and go lucky.  This is about to be a dark time.  Are we all going to die?  I'm don't know.

I am not trying to be flippant, I am giving analysis here, not just a practical reassuring answer.  In January of 2001 I was not concerned about the country being drawn into a nuclear war or falling into a fascist authoritarian state during the next four years.  I was pissed off at the way the 2000 election went, but I was not worried that the people taking control of the government had no understanding of how our Government and Military work.  I did not worry that George W. Bush understood how the base concepts of honor, dignity, rule of law, and honesty work.  Today I do worry about that, so I don't know if we are all going to die in horrible Trump created Apocalypse.

What those of us not part of Trump's new political army must do, especially those who on the surface won't be the target of revenge or oppression, must not be silent.  We must let our voices be heard at EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT or we will end up in a real fascist state were people like Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones can gain and abuse power over our neighbors and friends and fellow human beings.

Keep your voices smart, honorable, but stand up and meet those who oppose American Democracy with more strength and passion that those out to force fascism,  racism, sexism, and hate on you or others.

A Case of Bad Journalism From WCPO

The bad journalism from WCPO has two parts. On WCPO's site they have a story about an alleged act of vandalism where "anti-religious" graffiti was painted on two church buildings. So, what's the problem with that? Well, the first part of the problem is in the video portion of the story. That video report does not provide any specifics of what the graffiti stated, only the reporters claim from the Minister who the reporter stated would not tell them what the graffiti said, because the words were so "harsh". No pictures were provided of the graffiti and clean up had occurred on at least one of the structures shown on video. W therefore don't know that is was "anti-religious." We have on claim of something we don't have proof actually happened. The motivation for the vandalism may have been more directed at the actions or beliefs of this church, not against religious in general.  Most crimes are not randomly chosen. It is portrayed as "anti-religious" but this could have been a religious person who just didn't share this church's beliefs.

That does not mean it didn't happen, it just means there could be more to the story and the motivation for why someone targeted this church could have backstory that would give context. Reading their website, this would not be considered a mainline Christian church, it is what I would classify as Pentecostal, so there are possible conflicts with this Church that could be a motive for the vandalism that would not be "anti-religious." The minister went on to claim that he "sensed" this came from a random person. Why does it matter that it was a random person who he senses has no connection to his church? We don't have enough information to judge what the graffiti words stated to know if there could be a connection or reasons this church was targeted. The Church stated they did file a police report, but would not press charges if they get an apology. I sense they may have an idea who the vandal may be, so if that is the case I hope they passed that on to the police and are not using this as a means to gain attention with the media.

So, the second problem is with the online story. In the link above after the video section, there is an article that mostly rehashes the video story. There is a big addition, however, that links this action to the hate crime that occurred at Hebrew Union College where a Swastika was painted on the school's sign. If we don't know what the graffiti on West Chester church stated, how can anyone link these stories by saying both are instances of "religiously targeted graffiti?" We know one was a hate crime, we don't know if they other was, so why link them? It is a bad journalism and WCPO needs to remove that linkage from the story. They also should have reported what the police report stated, assuming it included detail of the graffiti or pictures. If they didn't get the police report prior to running the story, then they failed a third time for this story, not even confirming basic facts.

Where Does One Get Cincinnati Politics Coverage?

Other than this illustrious blog, where can one get coverage of local politics in the Cincinnati area? One reason this blog was started so long ago is that there were not good local media outlets covering the news and specifically political news. Well, there are not as many as there should be, but there are many outlets trying, so here is my list of sources I go to for local political news (in no order):

Local Political News Sources
Cincinnati Enquirer
CityBeat
WVXU 97.1 FM NPR
WCPO TV
Cincinnati Business Courier
FOX 19 TV


For political opinions and commenting, I also regularly read the following sites:

Reddit /r/cincinnati
Greater Cincinnati Politics Group on Facebook (Run by the Enquirer)


There are other local news outlets, but none provide consistent coverage (looking at your WKRC and WLWT) and AM talk radio as you know is just worthless, unless you are looking for sports coverage. There are other outlets that cover local issues, but not the politics around them. Additionally, I am leaving out NKY outlets because I am very ignorant of NKY politics.

What other outlets provide political coverage? I'd don't want blogs that talk about national politics, as that is not Cincinnati related.

If you have good NKY sites, please send those along to help educate me.

A Reminder How John Cranley Worked Against His Fellow Democrats

Lest we Forget: In 2013 Democrat John Cranley after winning the Mayor's office was granted the authority to pick the chair persons of City Council committees. In that same election the Democratic Party endorsed candidates won five of nine seats. Living up to his reputation, Cranley made the choice to punish his fellow Democrats by appointing Republicans and non-Democrats to more Council Committee chairs, including the most important Finance and Public Safety Chairs:

• Budget and Finance Chair: Charlie Winburn (R) 
• Economic Growth & Infrastructure Chair: Christopher Smitherman (R)
• Education & Entrepreneurship Chair: P.G. Sittenfeld (D)
• Human Services, Youth & Arts Chair: Yvette Simpson (D)
• Law & Public Safety Chair: Christopher Smitherman (R)
• Major Transportation & Regional Cooperation Chair: Amy Murray (R)
• Neighborhoods Chair: David Mann (D)
• Rules & Audit Chair: Kevin Flynn (C)

So spiteful is Cranley that he excluded two Democrats from any committee chair positions at all, and gave a Republican, Christ Smitherman, two committee chairs.  Why did he punish them, one asks, well most of the Democrats on Council openly supported Cranley's opponent for Mayor.  It wasn't a surprise that he would snub them, but then it makes Tim Burke's comments praising Cranley for support Democratic candidates all the more bullshit.  Cranley only supports Democrats that either support him or don't oppose him. The rest of his term has been filled with opposing the five Democrats on  a large number of issues and turning those battles into public fights that he especially make petty and vicious.  Those issues he's broken with the Party have not shockingly been ones he found allies in Republicans on council and in the community.

John is not a good mayor is his first and most important consideration he makes before any choice is how will it effect him and his future.

Ohio Democratic Party Shoots Self in the Ass, Hits Cranley Endorsement

Meet the Ohio Democratic Party, same as the old Ohio Democratic Party.  Once again the Ohio Dems are interfering with a local primary election. The party has done so to the extreme in State House primary races in recent years (picking Anti-Choice Denise Driehaus in the 31st district as an example). This time it is a non-partisan primary as well.  Chris Redfern has been gone for two years, but little has changed.

Last year Ted Strickland was forced on the Ohio Democratic Party voters and he got trounced by Rob Portman.  The State party tipped the scales in favor of Strickland in the primary and we got a weak Conservative Democrat who under-performed Clinton in a state where Strickland's perceived strength, white rural working class voters, actually has some uptick in turnout.

Now we get an effort by the State party to skip local concerns and anoint 'Democratic' incumbent mayors for reelection.  No consideration for their performance.  No consideration for better candidates who have the support of local Democrats. Instead they go for a candidates who relis on Republican money and more importantly Republican votes as the only way to get elected.

Current Party Chairman David Pepper, a former Cincinnati Council Member, and the overwhelming majority of the State Party committee chose to reward John Cranley for colluding with local Republicans to win his election in 2013 and create a GOP funded war chest for his 2017 reelection campaign.  Cranley does not represent Cincinnati Democrats.  He instead has worked against the majority of them throughout his tenure as mayor.  From the start he punished the local Dems by awarding key council committee chairs to Republicans, shutting out his fellow Democrats.

Local Hamilton County Chair Tim Burke needs to go. He has been a hindrance to the local Democratic Party and now is making Trump like claims about what John Cranley did for local Dems in County wide races. I guess if John got Republican donors to give money to Denise Driehaus, Burke sees this as some big accomplishment worthy of repeating. If that's what he's thinking then he must be pushed out of the party.

With the non-Democratic based mindset, this demonstrates that Burke is part of an old dying faction of the party, along with Rhodes and Luken, who have helped drive down Dems in Cincinnati and Hamilton County over the last 40 years. They only seem to know Republicans and go to them for money and cover. They can't get the voters to vote. Instead they can only get the powerful Republicans to give support on certain issues, which allows the GOP donors to buy in on candidates who give them what they want . Well, that type of Conservative politics sells out the Democratic party and the principles it represents. Locally, it is what makes for a Suburbanization of the City. It drives down the culture of the community and pushes a dying Conservative mindset that created the balkanized community we live in.  We don't need a politics of divide on conquer.  We need one that brings us together. Cranley and his mentors of Burke, Luken, and Rhodes are tearing our City and County apart.  That must end.  It is so disappointing that David Pepper and Brigid Kelly are carrying this horrible mindset forward with their votes for the Cranley endorsement.  They should be ashamed.

Derek Bauman Officially in the Race for Cincinnati City Council

Also a story in the Enquirer.

One really shitty thing the Enquirer is doing, and this may be just how their website works, but they have linked their story to their Streetcar coverage page.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer Website January 10th, 2017

 This is about politics, not the Streetcar. If this is about automatic keyword detection and how their website works, then I understand, but for some readers this can be seen as commentary that the Enquirer is providing that this candidacy is focused on the Streetcar.  If this was a reporter or editor ADDING a Streetcar tag to this story, then that is TOTAL BIAS. He has been and likely will be a Streetcar supporter (including expansion), but that is not what his candidacy or the article is about.  Hopefully the video will add something to offset this spin from the Enquirer, as unintentional as it may be.  I doubt, however, that Cranley has the link, circled in yellow above, on stories about his campaign for Mayor.

Who are the Cincinnati Council Candidates for 2017?

I have combed the local news outlets, social media posts, and general web searches and here is a list of candidates. Now, to be clear, this includes those publicly declared, reportedly declared, and rumored to be running. This list could shrink, but it mostly likely will grow. There are only Three Republicans (not counting self-denying Republican Chris Smitherman) on this list, so I expect them to field a measly five candidates. Charter Committee might have a one or more uni-endorsed candidates as well.


Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld
David Mann
Chris Seelbach
Christopher Smitherman
Wendell Young
Amy Murray

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan
Greg Landsman
Michelle Dillingham
Brian Garry

New Candidates
Ozie Davis
Kelli Prather
Tamaya Dennard
Tamie Sullivan
Cristina Burcica
Jeff Pastor
Derek Bauman
Cedrick Denson

If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list.

WCPO Confirms the GOP Likes Cranley and Don't Care About Winning the City

WCPO reports on the GOP's pleasure with John Cranley as Mayor. The telling parts are:

“As far as Cincinnati goes, for a conservative like me, he is about as good as we’re going to get,” former Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann, a Republican, said of Cranley.

And this:

After tough election losses in November, Triantafilou said he would spend much of 2017 prepping candidates for future countywide office runs.

Add this to the big money Cranley has received from GOP donors and it is more than clear that he is the GOP backed candidate. They won't directly endorse him because he can't accept that, but it is clear that Cranley needs the GOP vote to win. Excluding the denials from Cranley's campaign staff and supporters out there, everyone who can casually review voting results knows that in 2013 Cranley ONLY won because he got the overwhelming support of all types of Republicans in the city: Far Right-Wing COASTers, main stream Republicans like Hartmann, moderates, and the Winburn/Smitherman backers.

Cranley needs their money almost as much as he needs their vote. He will being doing a ton of Arafat-type of communications. When talking to Democratic audiences, he'll invoke his support of Hillary, but behind closed doors at his Westside and Hyde Park fundraisers he'll tout his support of the Police Union, Fire Fighters, and city neighborhoods with suburban type homes.

For as much as the GOP likes Cranley, John far more cares about them. He needs them. He even needs those who can't vote in the City but can give him money or the clout he desires.  Political Parties are far less important in City elections, but they do make for a clearer understanding of what one believes.  With Cranley the only thing you know he believes is that the support of the suburbanite Republicans is more important than developing the Urban core. Having a partisan primary would solve some of that, since Cranley would lose that race badly, but with the lack of Republicans actually caring about the city, Cranley could run in a GOP primary and repeat his 2013 coalition with the same type of turnout.

The only way to defeat Cranley is to have a ground game that gets out the vote. If only 29.52% turns out in November, Cranley will win.  If 40% turns out, I think Cranley loses big.  Getting closer to 40% than 30% is the answer and there is no party structure helping make this happen.  Non-partisan elections help and hurt and right now it is hurting.

FBI Seizes Boxes from Republican Charlie Winburn's office

In a very surprising occurrence the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized boxes from Republican Charlie Winburn's City Council Office. The Enquirer's report indicates that Winburn has no idea why they seized his boxes and appeared to deny knowing these boxes existed until the Enquirer's reporting.

What's going on here? Everyone in public office, outside of Charlie, have been quiet about this. Public officials are most often quiet when there is an investigation going on. Could this have anything to do with Winburn's possible connection to money being paid to Sam Malone?

Charlie's Rope-a-Dope game around running for Mayor is pretty clearly over.