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.

Charlie Winburn's Version of Rope-a-Dope

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Charlie Winburn pulled petitions from the Board of Elections to collect signatures to run for the Mayor of Cincinnati. To be clear, he has not declared his candidacy. He, I surmise, is feeling jealous of all of the attention falling upon the declared candidates. I don't fear him actually running with this type of comment from his Party's local chairman:

"Apparently Charlie attended the kickoff for Rob Richardson," said Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party. "This kind of mixed message concerns us. Charlie is either a Republican or for Richardson. He can't be for both."

Unless he's trying to play spoiler for one of the three candidates, there is only a Trump-type hope he could win. So I guess that means watch out for another miracle?

Richardson's Entrance Given Solid Footing

If you read the Enquirer's article about Rob Richardson's announcement on the Mayor's race you get a very solid image of the man and his general positions. You also get a clever listing out of the attendees. In an election like this, who is supporting you is important in getting out the vote in varied demographics. This paragraph was blunt:

Also in attendance: several top UC leaders, former local television anchor Clyde Gray; the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr.; City Council candidate Tamaya Dennard; local radio host and attorney Janaya Trotter Bratton; and board of elections administrator Joe Mallory. Noticeably not in attendance: Most elected officials. Only Republican City Councilman Charlie Winburn was spotted in the crowd.

The African-American Community is a very diverse group. Three groups are forming around the three candidates. How and if those groups can influence the voters is yet to be seen, but it is clear that all three candidates find it important to reach or at least affect black voters. It is so important that on social media of that article Jim Clingman (a Smitherman and therefore Cranley supporter) sought to defame Richardson for allegations of actions of his father, who happens to have the same name (adding a Sr.).  A slimy action, but Smitherman and his friends aren't known for their honesty.

This is going to be a nasty campaign and race is going to be part of it. I wish it wasn't, but it will be in more ways than just which candidates get which portion of the black vote. We are about to have two black candidates face of against a white candidate who already has had major support from the GOP. That GOP is now hot off an election in which their national candidate and party used racism and hate as a tool to win over some voters. Their hate-lust is up. I don't see what can stop at least some individuals from exercising that hate somewhere on the campaign trail. A rough ride is ahead.

Hebrew Union College Sign Vandalized With Hate Symbol

More hate has come to Cincinnati. A sign at Hebrew Union Has been vandalized with a a horrible symbol of hate and ignorance.

The attached photo was posted to Facebook today from someone passing by on her way to work. This has been reported to Cincinnati police, according commence from the witness.

This makes me sick. I have seen other news reports of similar incidents from all over the county since facsist ideas and methods were used to incite hate and fear as means to motivate people to vote for Trump. When this happens two miles from where I live, the pain in my stomach gets worse. My desire to speak out against this hate grows. Make sure people know this is happening here in Cincinnati. No human being can let hate happen without speaking out, no matter who is saying this.

If you know who did this, report them to the police.

When you final read about this or listen to being talked about on the radio, don't let those dismissing this go on without a rebuke. All people from all parts of our community must come together and defeat this hate.