Who Done it?

There are several possible suspects, but no clear evidence of the party(s) responsible.

UPDATE: XRay has more on this story.

UPDATE#2: Rob Bernard commented on this last night.

Blogging like Rabbits

We seem to have more and more area Blogs every week. Here is Radio Free Newport:

"Music, literature, politics, commentary, criticism, news by Amy & Dave Purcell, and Michael Kearns. All powered by Guinness, dogs, and Buddhist thought."

A group blog that looks fun. After I have a read for a few days I likely will add it to the blogroll.

It Only a Freaking Movie

Someone should tell Reagan's flock that this is only a movie. If the Kennedys can take the dozen movies made about them and if Nixon could take the movies made about him, I think showing that Nancy's was difficult is not going to do much. Reagan is not a deity! He is just a man. Where's the anti PC crowd? I hope FOX includes this in their PC watch.

Hell, it is not even a movie; it is just a TV show for Zeus's sake.

Stay Tuned

I am building up steam to review CinWeekly. I have a whole lot to say about it, but I likely will not have time today to get it done. One small question for those folks. Why do they refer people on their print cover to cincinnati.com and not their stand-alone URL cinweekly.com? That is a strange choice. In this press release they don't even give the cinweekly.com address. The link on the main page for cincinnati.com is not very prominent. I think this will not establish cinweely.com as much as it could.

Blame the Victim, or Blame the Woman

Ok, Peter Bronson's column states that a woman recanted her statement that the person on trial raped her. Did she recant that she was raped at all? Does Bronson care to ask that question? Wasn't this woman threatened by her "friends" as indicated in the column? So she is the real criminal here? Am I missing something? If she was raped, and if she named the wrong person, then isn’t there still a rapist walking the streets? This comment took the cake:

She said she went into the woods to sell sex for $20, then changed her mind and was raped.

Peter, why not just come out and say "she was asking for it?" If this man did not do it, then I am glad he was found innocent. If this woman was raped, then where does the investigation stand or does her mistakes, allegedly made out of fear, mean that another criminal will walk the streets without facing trial?

Article XII Repeal and the Bigotry of Sam Malone

18 of 26 council candidates support the repeal of Article XII (allows gay discrimination). It appears that candidate Sam Malone wants a uniform majority rules morality:

"It's mighty funny how some folks communicate their religious conviction, and yet compromise on the issue. I have a problem with that," Malone said. "I think we're talking about morality. We're talking about family values. The community has a right to say what the morality of the community shall or shall not be."

Sam, so when does the individual get to be who they are? Why do I have to live by your oppressive religion's standards? What is immoral about not discriminating against someone because they are naturally different? I do mean naturally, from birth. Religious dogma has no place in public law. Sam, do you favor making discrimination against women and ethnic/racial/nationality minorities illegal? If yes, then why do they get "special rights?" Sam, I am part of the community you seek to lead. Why is my view less important than your pious dogmatically challenged opinion?

8 of the 9 GOP candidates are against repeal of Article XII. Anti-gay views run rampant in this town, and the Republicans lead the way.

VigPol!!!!

The new Vigpol is up and I am predicting the council race 1 to 26. Let me here your predictions!

XRay on Cin

Steve Novotni tears CinWeekly a new one.

Cin Debuts

CinWeekly is on the air! Their first issue is on newsstands tomorrow, but the website is up as of 8:PM Tuesday night. I will have more comments tomorrow after I get a look at the print version.

Chabot in Iraq

I think I know the hotel Steve will not be staying at.

Die You Scum Sucking Pigs

Harold Ray Redfeairn is dead at age 51. The world is a much better place now that this racist bastard is dead.

The Implications of Innuendo

If Greg Korte is auditioning for the role of Woodstein in Gannett's version of "Watergate: The Musical," then I am sure he will get the role if he can hit the high "C". "Follow the Money?" Hal Holbrook would be turning over in his grave, if he were dead that is.

In Greg's column yesterday he brought forward the public facts that 2 CityBeat staff members contributed to Nick Spencer's campaign. In case you want to see this for yourself, all of Nick's contributors are listed on his website.

The implication that one could draw from his column, incorrectly of course, is that CityBeat paid for the Elkington Story.

Stephanie Dunlap, a writer for CityBeat, contributed $20 to Spencer's campaign on Oct. 13.

Dunlap wrote "No Chinese Allowed," the Oct. 1 story that caused quite a flap over Main Street developer John Elkington's alleged bias against Chinese restaurants. The story quoted Spencer and advanced his case that Democratic Councilman John Cranley's plan for Main Street should be jettisoned.

"I can see how people might see a conflict of interest," Dunlap said. "I don't pretend to always be objective. Nobody is."

Dunlap said Spencer tipped her off about Elkington.

That of course did not happen. Was Korte making that implication? I don't know.

The timing of this story implies something itself. Did the Enquirer intentionally run this story just a few days before the debut of its own weekly newspaper designed to compete with CityBeat? Is a perceived innuendo of a quid pro quo by a competitor enough to show an intentional smear? Well, no, there is no evidence of that. I at this point would guess it is just a poorly timed coincidence. I hope the Enquirer does a better job of editing in the future. Appearance matters however, just as Greg's story indicates. Implications can be a bitch, especially when they implicate you.

UPDATE 11:25PM: I sent an email with questions on this story to Greg Korte. Those questions were:

I was wondering why you singled out Nick's Campaign to name campaign donors?

Is it a coincidence that you named two CityBeat staffers the same week that the Enquirer's Cin Weekly, a direct competitor for CityBeat, debuts?

Were you tipped off to these contributors, or did you go looking over all candidate's financial reports for local media contributors?

Greg responds to those questions and my original post as follows:

Mr. Griffin:

In answer to the questions in your e-mail dated 7:46 p.m. today:

I have not singled out donors to Mr. Spencer’s campaign. I could refer you to several stories and columns in which I discussed contributions to political campaign. To wit: “Finance Reports Foreshadow Upcoming City Council Race,” July 8, 2003; “Candidate Contributions Grow,” September 5, 2003; “Lynch Donors Expand,” October 5, 2003; “Lindner Family Leading Contributions,” October 23, 2003; “Candidates Opening Wallets,” October 24, 2003.

Of course the timing with regard to Cin Weekly is coincidence. To suggest otherwise would be to think I have some influence over either campaign finance reporting deadlines (set by the Ohio General Assembly) or the date of the tabloid launch (set by the publisher, who has been planning it for months.) I have not been involved at all in the young reader initiative, and I think it’s a stretch to think that my reporting of campaign contributions by City Beat staffers will have any effect on the competitive situation. Had I been solely interested in attacking City Beat, as your message seems to imply, I would not have reported on a much larger campaign contribution by an officer of the company I work for.

I came across the contribution on Nick Spencer’s campaign finance statement, filed with the Hamilton County Board of Elections last Thursday. The connection was clear as soon as I saw it. I put it in my next column, which was Sunday.

Finally, let me say this: I haven’t always agreed with what City Beat writes, but I do respect the role of an alternative press in a vibrant city. As I told Ms. Dunlap on Friday, my interest was not in starting an ink war (although, regrettably, it may be inevitable). However, given City Beat’s reporting on L’affair Elkington -- a story that soon crossed over into the “mainstream” media — I believed it was important for readers to know all the facts surrounding that story. Beyond that, I encourage you to take the story at face value: Like John McCain in 2000, Nick Spencer is the uncontested “media darling” of the 2003 Cincinnati City Council race.

Korte.

I agree with Mr. Korte that it is a stretch to think the timing of his reporting of the facts involving CityBeat could have been deliberate to coinside with the release of CinWeekly. I also think that is even more preposterous to imply (however subliminally) that CityBeat had some kind of quid pro quo with the Spencer campaign, especially over such a small contribution. I don't want an ink war either, so I hope this can be the end of it, but if Flannery gets wind of this, which I know he will, I am sure something will be said, assuming their deadline has not yet passed. It could be fun for blogging geeks like me however.

One Reason Why I Hate Bush

Conservatives hate Clinton for, well, getting a BJ and being coy about it. I hate George Bush for the same reason Michael Kinsley illustrates in his WaPo column. It is personal to me because I have a family member who has Parkinson’s disease. When Bush announced his "plan" for stem cell research while on vacation in the summer of 2001, I screamed at the TV set. I want to smash it, but I was able to keep my temper in check. This bastard was choosing to let people suffer and die all because of religious zealots. Now, I know this does not live up to the standard of getting a BJ, but hey I am only human. Any anger I feel about this issue is nothing compared to those who were lied to about Iraq and have since lost family in a War that could have been avoid, or at least planned out beyond April 9th.

The UC News Record has more on the Elkington Affair and political inertia on UC's campus.

Council Race Blog Fodder

Wes Flinn and Sarah Riegel have a news summary and analysis on the council race.

Test CIN For Yourself

XRay Magazine has identified the online testing copy for the Enquirer's CIN. The site looks like one big advertisement. The new content is not viewable, but you can find every event you could want to know about, assuming they are mainstream enough.

Here is the staff for CIN:
Beryl Love, editor
Sue Cook, design editor
Katie Kelley, content editor
Gina Daugherty, reporter
Tabari McCoy, reporter
Mike Royer, designer
Jonathan Berndt, designer
Kelly Hudson, copy editor
Leigh Patton, photographer
David Clark, online
Dan Mahan, online

UPDATE: It appears that the CinWeekly folks have caught on to the problem and have removed the test copies of their website some point early Monday morning.

Endorsement Bonanza

The big media Endorsements are in from the Post and the Enquirer and there are few surprises.

From the Enquirer: 3-3-3 a political party trifecta. I would not have guessed 3 Charterites would get a full Enquirer Endorsement and only 3 Republicans. Only 5 incumbents were tapped to continue. Chris Monzel got the shaft? He did not even get included as an "honorable mention." This was not officially an honorable mention category, rather a new comer pat of the back saying "try again next time around, we liked what we saw." Nick Spencer could be considered the number 10 pick, but I think their impression is that he is a front runner for 2003. I was surprised that Alica Reece got endorsed. The Enquirer pushed the Convergys deal fairly strongly, enough to hold a column, and Reece voted against it. It was a meaningless vote, but they looked past the grandstanding. That seems odd. The oddest of all is why the word "abortion" has to be used in endorsements for City Council:

That happened during the past year when the administration failed to act to eliminate abortion payments from city health benefits, and when in negotiations with the police union it gave up on the issue of allowing the city manager to appoint assistant police chiefs.

Monzel pushed that issue to appeal to "Westside" voters. Why does the Enquirer bring it up now? Hmmmm....

From the Post: Everyone is back but Cole? Charter gets a big boost with 3 out of 4 getting the nod. 3 years between DeWine(35) and Reece(32) and one is young and the other is not? The big difference with the Enquirer is the attachment to the incumbents. I guess change is not good to the Post.

Bathroom Reading

Well, there will be a stand-alone website for CinWeekly, the Enquirer's new YP orientated publication. The Launch Date is October 29th, but if you go to www.cinweekly.com right now you will see their promotional graphic with their PR slogan "For a good time" written on a bathroom wall next to an empty roll of toilet paper. I would guess the subliminal message is that when you run out of toilet paper, CinWeekly will at that point come in very handy.

What is just as hilarious is a report from XRay Magazine of the plight of the one of CinWeekly distribution boxes in Norwood. The picture with the article is most telling, and was not faked. I am looking forward to reading CinWeekly. The PR campaign so far is very WEBNish, as a reader pointed out to me, so it is not original, however for the Enquirer it is ballsy. If they are push the edge of social taboos, or at least refrain from being over sensitive to the handful of prudish people under 35, then I will be mildly surprised. I might even be a little impressed, but I don't want to get ahead of things quite yet.

GOP Push

In the final leg of the campaign for City Council, the Hamilton County GOP has gone on the offensive. They have put out a TV commercial lambasting David Pepper, David Crowely, and John Cranley for voting to loan Lashawn Pettus-Brown money to redevelop the Empire Theater. It is a classic attack ad with newspaper clippings and candidates portrayed like dancing theater ushers. It works. It will hurt these democratic candidates. I was not surprised to see Alicia Reece or Laketa Cole included with the 3 male Dems. Anything that could be seen as remotely referencing race could backfire on the GOP, so you will likely not see GOP sponsored Reece or Cole attack ads.

The story got some play on both WCPO and WLW early. I found it interesting to read this fact in the WLW story:

In June of 2002, seven council members approved $220,000 in loans and grants to LeShawn Pettus-Brown to rehab the 88 year old Over the Rhine landmark.

Did it mean anything to the story to state how many council members voted for the loan? There are two problems with this bit of information. One is that it implies a party split: Only 2 of the 9 council members are Republicans. Now, the average person would likely not know the breakdown of council by party on that day or any day. So I will let that go. The real problem is that 7 people did not vote to loan money to Pettus-Brown in June of 2002, according to the council minutes from June 5, 2002. Jim Tarbell was excused from that meeting, so it was 6-2 in favor. I am nit picking a bit, but I would hope journalists might get that kind of thing correct. I would bet their error was in not checking the press release they got from the GOP or Pat DeWine, which ever source pushed the story.

CityBeat's Updated Website

CityBeat debuted their redesigned website this week. I have to say I am not a big fan so far. When I open up the site I don't see the current issue's content, I instead see their listings. That is a selling point I am sure they are trying to promote, but it looks nothing like a periodical, and more like a web portal.