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.