Fairness?

It took a court settlement but Clear Channel is holding back from outright free PR and radio time for candidates, which 98% of the time ended up being Republicans. What I wonder about is how often Jean Schmidt was on Willie Cunningham's program during the campaign. I thought I heard her on myself. Why was Paul Hackett not allowed to go on Springer's show then? I can see why he couldn't host Jerry's show, but was he not allowed to appear on it?

Exhibit A

People wonder why Bush is viewed by many as heartless person bent on self-preservation over human compassion. This sounds like it would be considered a normally day in Iraq. Is that Irony or what?

Urban Mecca?

What will come from this> Who are Laura Long, executive director of the Cincinnati Business Committee, and Tony Brown, president and CEO of the Uptown Consortium and what is the background of the groups they represent?

Usual Suspects?

This situation sounds tragig. Will we get lawsuits and protests? Since it is out in the inner-suburbs, I don't see a big protest. When it comes to lawsuits, well, I think you can count on it when you see the Ken Lawson is representing the family.

Voting By Race

The numbers don't lie that certain sub demographics show a racial pattern to voting in Cincinnati. Comparing Mallory to Pepper without including Reece and Winburn I think does not tell the whole story of the primary. Also, it was the primary, with only 20% of the vote. I think the general election will be more telling, but these two candidates do not put forth the stereotypes for the racial divide in town. A Keith Fangman vs. Damon Lynch race I think would be your stereotypical black vs. white election that would show voting based on race. I could not vote for either, but that's a side issue. The council election will be a better judge. The short ticket voting and combination of choices people make I think would show more of a voting by race pattern. If you were to vote for Malone, Lynch, Thomas, Smitherman, Cole, Eric Wilson, then you might be voting by race. Same Goes for a block Cranley, Crowley, Monzel, Ghiz, Herd, Tarbell, Spencer, Boltz, Berding. Both sets have conflicting viewpoints that in most cases would not cause that type of combination, other than race, unless one just randomly punched holes. Race is a problem, but I don't see Mallory and Pepper as the poster kids for the problem. Each goes out of their way to be inclusive and don't focus on race, they focus on people.

A Pending Hissy Fit

Expect the usual foaming at the mouth from theocrats out there. Also expect a level of moderates saying "what's the big deal." If you are a religious person, I understand you don't see the problem. I think that is a problem of lack of perspective If you would not have a problem having "One Nation, Under Zeus" written into law, then I guess you don't care, which I don't agree with, but I can see your point of view. Otherwise, if you see a universal monotheism as a valid entity to praise in the pledge, then you are advocating it as it superimposes an established religion of the state. From my point of view, "god" or "God" is no different than Zeus, Allah, Odin, Vishnu, Ra, or Fred the Almighty of Plattsburg.

The bottom line problem I think people miss in this debate is over the definition of religion. Some define it narrowly, I define it broadly, but with one big point: the supernatural. It is not about just having beliefs, it about beliefs in the supernatural. I think with that level of perspective, people could see why the pledge is in violation of the establishment clause. As long as they view religion with the viewpoint of their personal understand of valid or what they might call "real religions," we will have this conflict.

Jeffre Not Done?

Will Justin Jeffre make another run for office? If he does, he should try for Council, not Mayor. One must learn to walk before you start jogging.

Was Smitherman Scammed?

Based solely on this story from The Cincinnati Post it appears that Councilman Chris Smitherman's journey South to bring home Katrina victims actually netted a crack user and a two-some that may be out to scam people. It is sad that people take advantage of individuals who are there to help them. It is not surprising that Chris Smitherman did this, and made sure to bring along the press during an election season. I wonder if he would have done this if it were not an election year.

It is good he is doing something, I don't fault that, but he can do it and not worry about letting anyone know he is doing it. When you bring the press along, it is a campaign stunt.

The Aftermath

Ok, we have two winners. What happened to the losers? Was Reece hurt by her residency controversy? Was Wiburn hurt by being a right wing nut case? (Rhetorical question there, folks)

Mallory's showing is impressive. He did it with no TV. Reece ran a similar style, but lost big.

Looking forward I would say that Pepper is in the most trouble. Mallory should gain the Reece vote, but I don't see Pepper gaining as much of Winburn's vote. I see the GOP sitting on their hands. That means that Malone and Monzel are really in trouble.

More from the Post.

Speaking of a Debate

A civil debate is something coming on October 11th. Stay tuned for more details.

Ghetto Votes?

From Korte's blog we get this gem:

In a raucous half-hour speech to supporters at his Hamilton Avenue headquarters, Charlie Winburn thanked nearly every one in sight, calling them to the front of the crowd. Toward the end, he called on Lincoln Ware, the radio talk show host from The Buzz radio, and hugged him. "Lincoln tried to help us get that ghetto vote,'' Winburn said. "But we just didn't get too many ghetto votes.''

Ah WTF? This was a joke I assume?

Mallory and Pepper Advance

Mark Mallory and David Pepper will advance to the November election for Mayor of Cincinnati. In a very close race between the two, both were well ahead of the rest of the field. Turnout was around 20%.

Primary Results

UPDATE: Continuous:
Pepper 31%
Mallory 31%
Winburn 21%
Reece 15%
Jeffre 2%
With 376 Precints at 9:43PM
Pepper by 215

*************

UPDATE: #5:
Mallory 31%
Pepper 29%
Winburn 22%
Reece 16%
Jeffre 2%
With 274 Precints at 9:15PM
Heavy on the west side.

*************
UPDATE: #4:
Pepper 30.95%
Mallory 29.26%
Winburn 22.62%
Reece 15.02%
Jeffre 1.56%
With 146 Precints at 9:08PM

Reece needs help.

*************
UPDATE: #3:
Pepper 31%
Mallory 29%
Winburn 22%
Reece 16%
Jeffre 02%
With 127 Precints at 9:03PM

*************

UPDATE: #2:
Mallory 31%
Pepper 29%
Winburn 20%
Reece 18%
Jeffre 02%
With 90 Precints at 8:55PM

*************
UPDATE:
With 67 Precincts: 8:42PM
DAVID PEPPER . . . . . . . . . 2,942 30.23
MARK MALLORY . . . . . . . . . 2,728 28.03
CHARLIE WINBURN . . . . . . . . 2,041 20.97
ALICIA REECE . . . . . . . . . 1,777 18.26
JUSTIN JEFFRE . . . . . . . . 169 1.74
SANDRA QUEEN NOBLE . . . . . . . 41 0.42
SYLVAN GRISCO . . . . . . . . 34 0.35

Who are the fools that voted for Noble?

**********
Results so far at 60 precincts: at 8:35 PM

Pepper - 30%
Mallory - 29%
Winburn - 20%
Reece - 19%

That is mostly the West side at this point.

Election Coverage

Greg Korte is Living Blogging from the BOE

WCPO has election results, or you can get the BOE's official pdf file as well.

Poll Shows Tight Mayoral Primary

The numbers are fairly tight:

# 26% - David Pepper (D)
# 23% - Mark Mallory (D)
# 21% - Alicia Reece (D)
# 20% - Charlie Winburn (R)
# 7% - Other
# 3% - Undecided

I was called for this poll on Saturday. I did put my support around Mallory. He is looking much better in this poll. Winburn shows the most improvement. It should be interesting.

Uh, Just Lies?

Does Bronson even pay attention to what is going on?

Blame is a lame alibi. Democrats pulled a muscle jumping to blame President Bush for Katrina aid delays. But it turns out New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco ignored Bush's urging for mandatory evacuation, did not call in the National Guard and blocked Red Cross help for two critical days.

Peter Must protect Dear Leader!!!! Or face excommunication from the Shurb Society.

I would like to know is this just a man misinformed from watching too much Hannity or is he knowingly lying?

White Stripes

Great White Stripes concert last night. Of all of the council candidates I thought I would run into, Jim Tarbell was not one of them. Jim was there, with bike helmet in hand, ready for the Greenhorns and Jack and Meg.

Dave Chappelle

Did anyone catch any of the Dave Chappelle shows at the Levee?

Hackett v. DeWine?

Will Paul Hackett take on Mike DeWine for U.S. Senate? U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is urging him to take on DeWine.

Cincinnati Advance Website

Be sure to check out the revised Cincinnati Advance website. We have revamped it's look and feel. If you had signed up for an ID you will need to sign up again. We are in Clifton this week, so come on out!

Predictions

Ok, it is now time to get out that crystal ball and summon up the demons and ghosts of elections past. What two candidates will emerge from tomorrow's primary as winners? How about an order of finish? Here is my prediction:

Pepper
Mallory
Reece
Winburn
Jeffre
Grisco
Noble

Mallory and Reece could switch, but I hope not. This is not be a big win for anyone. Pepper should start worrying if his votes plus Winburn's are not more than Mallory and Reece's together.

First Time Ever?

It has to be a first for a candidate to gain the support of Enquirer and the "Black Fist", but Mark Mallory has done just that. What may shock Nate is that I (Mr. "white folks") am going to vote for Mallory on Tuesday. I don't like to do endorsements, but I like Mallory. Mallory is a leader. He, I believe, would be best at being Mayor for all of Cincinnati, including me, Nate, the police, the Black Fist, business interests, and the homeless. I don't know if all of his ideas will work, and at this point that is not what I am looking for. Cincinnati needs a new positive direction, and Mr. Mallory is the best hope in moving on a road to something better.

Why the Black Fist likes Mallory is beyond me. I guess maybe Mark took the time to talk to them. It is wasted time in my opinion. They will grow to call Mark names if he gets elected Mayor, but it shows that Mallory can even reach out to the extremists in town, in hopes of changing their hate filled views. Charging at windmills I fear, but still a gallant try. Mallory should be our next mayor.

A Not So Bold Question

CinWeekly's question this week is really not bold and is very limited. It assumes a fallacy. Retail does not lead development, it follows it. All of the options listed would be great for downtown, but none of them alone will get people downtown. We need more retail downtown, but it is not going to be a cure all.

Council Fundraising

The latest Fundraising deadline came and went yesterday, and four council candidates failed to file campaign finance reports by the 4 PM deadline. Smitherman, Lynch, Herd, and Thomas did not file with the City. Why they missed is unknown, but a theory could be that they mistakenly only filed with the county, not the city. That is speculation on my part, but one that makes sense. If they missed filing, they could face a fine. Other than that, not much will happen as long as they file the reports.

The money totals can be found here.

Greg Korte has more on his blog.

The jaw dropper is that David Pepper has raised over a half a million dollars for the Mayor's race. The next closest is Mallory with 129,000.

Enquirer Endorses Mallory and Pepper

In their Sunday edition, which this story appears online for some reason today, the Enquirer endorses Mark Mallory and David Pepper in the Cincinnati Mayoral Primary. Reece and Winburn got a some comments, and the Enquirer gave their idea description of what the mayor should be.

Will this help anyone? I would be inclined to say that it will help Pepper and Mallory marginally. It hurts Winburn significantly.

Getting Out of Hand?

When you have to move the time of a high school football in part because of fears of violence, then the solutions in place are not working. What is causing the increase in local teenage violence? Is this all just teenage drug dealers encroaching on the schools? I do not understand how the people doing this can't be routed out and locked up. What is holding that back?

FOP Gets to Pound Some Sand

The State Employment Relations Board upheld the city police reform allowing the hiring of senior police managers from outside the city. This will in the long run a plus for the CPD and the city. If we can get new blood into the CPD leadership, police relationships with the rest of the community have a great chance at improving. If the FOP would only dump their right-wing leadership, they too might improve their relationship with the city leaders and with the citizens.

Negative Ads

Are negative mailers going to do anything for the candidates in the mayor's race? I got most of the mailings mentioned and more. I actually got 2 from Winburn in one day, someone needs to cross match one of their mailing lists. Reece seems quiet in all of this. Is she the stealth candidate who will emerge from the fray with one of the two top seats? I have pegged her in third place. The one poll out there puts her in a surprisingly close second. Next Tuesday I think will be a nail biter.

Fountain Square Revamp Coming

With a wise choice, the city and 3CDC waited until after Oktoberfest to begin the revamping of Fountain Square. It should be open again by Oktoberfest 2006, with luck.

Rudy and Charlie

National Blogs picked up on Rudy's endorsement of Winburn, TPM and Crooks and Liars both picked up on Winburn's born again only comment.

Is Giuliani on Crack?

No, Rudy is not on crack, as far as I know. Instead he is doing something minor to try and gain support for a Presidential bid in 2008. Winburn is not going to pull in any primary votes for Rudy, so I think Rudy has bad advisors. Did the Cincinnati FOP promise Rudy primary votes? What this does to moderate GOP voters is show that Rudy is not really paying attention, and is only supporting him because of internal party politics. It makes him look like a party hack.

Is there a Taft Curse?

Damn, can anyone around Bob Taft get a break? I mean, can't a man and his stripper companions be left alone?

Pardon Me

When there was the smallest hint of scandal, Bill Clinton was leveled for who he pardon. Today Peter Bronson mentions in passing without much more than a quip. I guess when you pardon 9 members of your staff, you are just about "changing the culture." I guess Peter wants a fundamentalist culture that not only is milquetoast, bland, and dull, he wants people who pardon people when they are accused of a crime. That is I guess the kind of culture where it is ok to break the law, well I guess the minor ones. If I use the conservative logic now, every kid in Kentucky will now be seeking pardons every time they either stay out past curfew or I don't know, speed.


"Everyone does it Dad, don't you want me to be like everyone else?"
"Yes son, I do, You are hereby pardoned."

Pepper Calls

News reports indicate that "someone" is faking campaign calls from David Pepper that make him sound racist.

What is unclear is this, from Korte eariler today:

CAMPAIGN CALLS: The Pepper campaign is disavowing a recorded phone call that asks registered voters to support Pepper as "the only white candidate in the Cincinnati mayor's race."

At a debate Tuesday night, Pepper said the calls were "dirty tricks politics" and promised to investigate who was behind them.

"This campaign is getting ugly quick, and this campaign is one of the ugliest things I've ever heard of," he said.

All three of his major rivals disclaimed responsibility and denounced the phone calls Tuesday.

Winburn denounced the tactic as "bigotry"; Mallory said the phone calls were illegal; and Reece said all the candidates shared a desire to debate the issues without "dirty tricks."

Michael Earl Patton, a Republican from Oakley, filed a complaint against Pepper with the Ohio Elections Commission on Tuesday, accusing Pepper of being behind the phone calls. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Nate has more and damns Pepper fairly quickly.

Shall we assume a "he who smelt it, dealt it" stance? If a Republican is pushing the complaint, then is it a reach to say that someone who would have known about the calls tipped him off or made sure he got one of the calls? Could he have sent them to himself? It smells like GOP dirty tricks to me. It could though be another Democrat doing it, but the only candidate who stands to gain significantly by hurting Pepper is Winburn. Reece and Mallory are going to win with those who will not vote for Pepper anyway.

I don't get how this call would have worked anyway for anyone. People who think Pepper is a racist already think he is one. It seems like it is just out there to occupy Pepper's time, and keep him on the defensive, which is what he has been on for a while now. He is not good on the defensive, and it shows on stage.

Jeffre Dragging Feet?

His is likely the weathiest person running for mayor which means he shouldn't be the last person to file his income with the State. He can hire more accountants then the rest combined, so I don't think he can claim delays with much credibility. It is reasonable for a candidate to not want to appear rich, but you look worse when you get caught trying to deflect attention from that fact.

Also in this story we learn that Sandra Queen Noble may be suffering from a "mental injury." The WCET debate left no doubt in my mind.

Natives

Quinn Brady is saying what many have been saying and feeling for a long time. Those many are immigrants to the City, like myself. I went to Miami University. If you care that I graduated from Jamestown High School, that's fine, but guess what, I am not from here. That does not mean your parents or childhood friends will hate me. They may hate me for other reasons. If they don't want you to have anything to do with people who are not Native, then you might want to think about finding a new family and set of friends. The family part is rather difficult, but you should dump your friends if they really are still living in high school.

Once you hit 30, I think this wears off. Either that or I really don't hang out with many locals. Come to think of it, that may be true. Locals are more likely to be fearful of downtown, in my opinion. So, I would guess they don't hang out where I do, at least not as often.

An interesting question: those here in Cincinnati who care where you went to high school, are they more likely to be conservative or liberal? I would guess conservative, but I would ask for opinions on that.

Nightmare

Let's hope few will doubt the hell that was life in the Superdome last week. These lifesavers should be proud of their service and everyone should thank them for being there for people in desperate need.

Local Rule?

If Peter Bronson hates the NCAA's attempts to change college mascots, and thinks of it as a local issue, then I wonder how he feels about a minister and his local church agreeing to have gay weddings and then the national organization of that local church voting to kick that minister out of the church for doing that. How is that different than the NCAA action? Are both wrong or not? Or does it just matter what the big organization is doing? Local control or no local control? This is not a government issue, but the organizations are the
"governing bodies," so the parallels exist. I guess I don't get why Peter Bronson was not outraged when a local Minister was kicked out of his pulpit for doing what the locals wanted.

MidPoint Music Festival Schedule

If you have not seen it yet, the MPMF schedule is up. The line up is great. Jake Speed made it to Arnold's 1 AM on Friday night.

Mike Brown Must Go

No, Not the owner of the Bengals. Mike Brown, the head of FEMA, should be immediately fired and replaced with someone who understands how to deal with a disaster. If the Bush Administration thinks FEMA's focus should be responding to terrorism, then how do they plan on evacuating a major city after a series of Dirty Nukes are set off? The failure to evacute New Orleans indicates that in real terrorist attack situation the aftermath would be the real killer, not the actual attack. The answer to Mike for this type of situation seems to be to pretend that nothing is going wrong, as illustrated by this CNN report. If nothing else, the man is over concerned with the PR spin of his teams efforts. If you are going to be a good department/agency head, you need to let the White House worry about the spin, and you just do your job, especially for an agency whose sole purpose is to deal with emergencies.

I personally would lay this at the foot of the President, but the more important thing is to fire the incompetent man, not the guy who hired him. I would love to fire Bush, but alas we are stuck with more of his bad choices until 2009. We also are stuck with the bad choice of Mike Brown and his Bengals, and can't change that unless he wants to sell. Let's just hope this year they break the curse and make the playoffs.

SCOTUS Change

With the Death of Rehnquist and this morning's announcement of Roberts for Chief Justice, the Supreme Court will now become a battle ground with heavy change in the balance. It is going to get ugly and get ugly quick.

This was a wise political move for Bush, and reduces the number of battles he has to fight. I don't know if it was a good move for the SCOTUS or not. The role of Chief is not one to directly influence case law, in that respect the Chief has no more power than the other 8 justices. Who gets that position is not that big of a deal. The battle starts again as to whom will replace O'Connor. The gloves will be coming off, and the knuckles are going to get bloody.

If True, Damn!

Kevin Drum is doing his usually wonderful job blogging and reports on Bush's alleged staged Photo-Ops on his visits to the Gulf Coast Area. How can anyone like a man who allows his handlers to create any kind of stage and to create what appears to have been fake food distribution areas just for a photo opportunity. I will admit that even I am not willing to accept these allegations as valid on face value, but the glove fits. Erecting a stage for Bush is not only likely, I would bet on it. The food distribution point, which are the more egregious charge, is what I am more skeptical on. If that is true, then the Man and his handlers are heartless scum. If others can find more information on this, I will update the post, even if you can find credible reports discounting or disproving the allegations.

We Are Asking For Aid From Europe

I am glad we are doing it, but I don't know why the USA need to ask Europe for emergency assistance, including blankets, first aid kits, water trucks and food. Why do we need to go outside the USA for this? I am sure we could use money to buy more of these things, but I don't think we need to ship a bunch of blankets across the Atlantic.

Labor Day Lull

Ok, I really have little that I want to post on or am prepared to post on, so if you are Jonesing for a thread, have at it.

Quick Money Rules

When you need cash, I guess civil justice doesn't matter. It is amazing that this company actually was ready to do settle this fast, but what is more amazing is that they set up shop on city property, making I think some of the victims think the city approved of this or it was something the city was offering. Luken did the right thing kicking them off city property.

Refugee

Nearly every news outlet and politician is using the wordrefugee to describe those who have fled New Orleans. The use of the word is totally valid. There are refugees every day from fires and floods. What hits me like a ton of bricks is that there are hundreds of thousands of refugees out of Southeast Louisiana. That is something like out of WWII or out of a famine in Africa. This is not supposed to be happening here in the land of the free and home of the brave. Why is this happening? Why does it seem like the media is able to get around more than the police or National Guard?

Pepper Ad Misleading

David Pepper's TV ad was determined to be misleading by the Ohio Elections Commission, but they refused to do anything about it.

This was political and it really looks like the GOP wasting time when you read about the person who filed the lawsuit:

"As a lawyer, David Pepper should follow the law," said Brad Greenberg, Tye's attorney and executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party. "We feel it is a misleading commercial. He is not the incumbent."

Tye is Donald Tye Jr. who filed the lawsuit and is a Winburn supporter, and in case you missed it, his lawyer is executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party. Yea, it was a party action to help hurt Pepper and help Winburn, but crap like this never does anything. It looks petty and pointless. I am wondering if the GOP will go in the gutter any further to try and pull down Pepper, Reece or Mallory. Winburn needs two of the three to be tarnished to have any chance to make it beyond September 13th's Primary.

Horror on the Bayou

How did New Orleans get to this state? Why can’t more be done by the Federal Government? I am not going to blame anyone person or leader for this, no one person can move mountains, but if the USA can drop food over remote Afghanistan villages, why can't they do something similar in New Orleans?

The political fallout on this is starting to grow. I really don't want it to become a political issue. I would want political leaders with the power to move men and machine to get them in the air. Are their any National Guard Airborne troops out there? This near anarchy makes people America look like we don't know what we are doing. We don't, but we usually can make it work. The hell that is the Big Easy is a condemnation on our humanity. I say that with full knowledge that I am sitting on my ass typing, not really doing much. Those with the power should be doing, and it appears they can't do much.

Why can't they do much? Could it, and I am asking honestly, be the result of the over use of the National Guard in Iraq?

98 Degrees Reunion

OK, I know Justin Jeffre was in a boy band, but are we required to suffer through a reuion of the group? Can they just get together and hang out and not perform?

Gas Prices

In case you missed it, gas jumped about $0.45 in a day or two because of the Gulf Coast Hurricane. Now, it is true that the oil and gas industry was damaged, and on a long term basis I would expect prices to rise. Why did they jump that much in a couple of days? Answer? I don't know, but why doesn’t an enterprising young journalist seek out the pricing methods of the gas companies? Why not publish the formula they use to judge how much to charge for gas. People can bitch and moan about taxes and the EPA all they want, but there is no fair reason for gas to have jumped up that much, that quickly. It is about profit, not about passing on cost. If gas companies are going to market prices, then they should use a fairy tale market where they set the price they want and instead stick to real market pricing, not just what they think they can get away with.

Alas, we are stuck. Even after 100 years, gas companies are an oligopoly, and can do damn near what they want to the consumer. Having energy competition would be the best way to push our economy forward. If we had options outside of gas to power transportation on a wide scale, we would be able to move around everything with far greater ease. Why is the government not making that priority one in economic development?