BWI (Blogging While Intoxicated)

Anyone who wasn't at Cincinnati Imports' pub crawl earlier tonight is a pussy asshole loser.

Best kept secret about these things: it's the best male:female ratio (from a male perspective) of any gathering in Cincinnati. This is no sausage fest.

Lincoln-Douglas? Nay

WCPO will televise a mayoral debate on October 13th at 8 p.m. I'm not expecting a Lincoln-Douglas quality debate. I think Mayor Mallory is a very capable orator and knows the issues like few others. The challenger, Brad Wenstrup is NOT known for his grasp of city issues, so I don't expect much more than a George W. Bush style performance from him. Yes, that lowers the bar for Wenstrup. I think he'll be swinging for the fence to try and make some impact on the Mayor's huge advantage. He shall strike out.

I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart.

After learning about recent events in Democratic circles, there is some clear advice for one council candidate. If Tony Fischer is going to go fishing with his nephew and his nephew is suddenly not able to go fishing for some unknown last minute reason, then under no circumstances should Tony go out on a small boat in Lake Tahoe alone with Al Neri.

Delay School Funding For Cops?

In a new tact some council members are proposing to defer payment of 2.5 million dollars the Cincinnati Public Schools due in October. That would buy some time. I assume the four members of council reportedly pushing this newest idea beleive that if we save 2.5 million dollars, that they CPD is the most important group to retain. They are the most vocal about it, that is for sure, but not all of the jobs affected are more important than keeping more Health inspectors. I'd like to not get sick the next time I eat out.

I like where Council Member Greg Harris is going on this issue. He reportedly is inclined to support the idea of deferring payment to CPS, but he wants the FOP to step up to the plate and make concessions for 2010. We will be having the same fight next year if the FOP doesn't. The FOP president is quoted in the article as basically saying no, cut someplace else. I still do not get how the FOP can be so hypocritical and plain old greedy. Sure some would say it is their job to fight for their members and they need to have a strong negotiating position. Well, sure, but how can anyone in good conscious claim they are moral and doing the right thing for the safety of the city if they willingly take a pay RAISE while other police officers and other vital city employees loose their jobs? We are not talking about pay cuts, just a pay freeze. If there are other departments in the city not taking a pay freeze, slap one on them for 2010. If people are serious about public safety being compromised, then they should be taking these steps, the FOP should not be playing chicken with public safety. If people (like Jeff Berding and Leslie Ghiz) are not being serious about the impact of the reduction of police officers and are doing this to appease the FOP and appear (falsely) to be fighting crime, then they should be ashamed of themselves and be honest about it. Yeah, I know, that is a pipe dream.

Deferring the payment to the CPS is a short term fix. It can buy us some time. It does not solve the problem for 2010. The FOP must step up with concessions or agree that the CPD doesn't actually need the number of police officers it has.

RIP Ted Kennedy: 1932-2009

The Lion of the Senate has passed. His shoes shall never be filled.

Now Deters Is Fear Mongering

I am not surprised by County Prosecutor Joe Deters scare tactics. When you are trying to save your budget, you will say anything to panic the people into supporting you. Si Leis, Jeff Berding, and George Bush are the others who do it often.

Details Take Days?

Why is it taking Jeff Berding a couple of days to produce details about his new 'plan'? If you have a plan, you should have the details down. If you don't have the details down, you don't have a plan. Jeff actually have a plan if he spent his time working on the details instead of going on WLW and trying to put fear into the public, as he did yesterday where he claimed the population of the city would drop because the city laid off 138 people in the police department. We don't need grandstanding. We need leadership. A leader exposes the FOP unwillingness to make concessions to save jobs. A leader isn't a shill for the police union and goes out and cuts jobs in other department to preserve the raises of cops.

Hamilton FOP Steps up

I still don't know how much the Cincinnati FOP leadership pays attention to anything outside their Central Avenue clubhouse, but it would be good if they read this. The Hamilton FOP agreed to concessions:

While the city eyed cuts of more than $4.5 million to balance the general fund, concessions made by both unions saved the city more than $3 million in expenditures for this year and in 2010.

The other union mentioned was the Fire Fighters.

The power is the FOP hands. They can save every police officer's job with concessions. I don't get why they are not willing to protect their FOP brothers and sisters from getting laid off. I am hoping when they lose in court, they will come to their senses.

Police Chief States Excessive Force Used

The video is here on Cincinnati.com and it is clear enough to put the cop on suspension until a full investigation can be made.

The Enquirer has a good summary here, including the past of the officer under suspension, who was actually fired and then the city was forced to rehire after arbitration. This police officer needs to think about his career choice. He can avoid problems for himself and save another police officer's job if he quits.

Relevant? No.

When an adult child of a sitting council member is arrested by police and is tased in the process, I hesitate to post anything about it. This councilmember, Cecil Thomas, is a retired police , so that adds some level of interest to the story. A clear conclusion everyone must reach is that this has no bearing on the election. If she was a minor and living with her father, this might be more of a relevant story to his character. At this point, this story is really only about the character of Celeste Thomas, age 26, someone who happens to be the daughter of a politician. The police cruiser’s video camera will hopefully shed light on what actually happened. Until then, lets hope this doesn't become an a circus. After that, lets hope it still doesn't become a circus, but let the facts fall where they may.

UPDATE: Reportedly, after seeing the cruiser video, the Police Chief has suspended the officer who tased Thomas, on grounds that excessive forced was used.

Jason Bruffy Leaving the Know Theatre

Unexpected news from Rick Pender, Jason Bruffy, Artistic Director of the Know Theatre is leaving for Utah and a job with the Salt Lake Acting Company in September. I was a bit surprised by this news, but it sounds like a great opportunity for him. I hope to see him back in town on occasion, maybe bringing a show to Fringe?

According to Rick the Know is throwing a Farewell happy hour on September 3rd at 7PM.

CincyPAC Final Endorsements

The membership of CincyPAC have voted and the final slate of endorsed candidates are:

Mayor:
Mark Mallory

City Council:
Amy Murray
Chris Bortz
George Zamary
Greg Harris
Jeff Berding
Laure Quinlivan
Leslie Ghiz
Roxanne Qualls
Tony Fischer

So in the council race there are 3 Republicans, 2 Charterites, 4 Democrats.
5 incumbents and 4 challengers.
4 Women and 5 Men.

I have many thoughts on this slate, but I am heading down to the CincyPAC event today so I hope to learn more about the voting process and why people picked these candidates. I have a full report forthcoming.

Pro-Lawyer Charter Amendment

When councilmembers are grandstanding for the purpose of gaining attention, they often come with a shortsighted idea that they don't vet its effect in the long run. Leslie Ghiz is trying to get Cincinnati city council to approve a motion to put a charter amendment on the ballot in November that would reduce Cincinnati Council members salaries more than 50%.

So Ghiz is trying to scrimp and save a few more jobs, instead of pressuring the FOP for real concessions that will save all of the 138 jobs, OK, fine. She lacks the courage to stand up to the FOP. Fine, I get that, this is something Republicans generally do in this town (or rather don't do.)

Did she stop and think about who will be able run for council to do this so called "part-time" job in the future? Lawyers like her. That's about it. Who else but a person who does not need to work will be able to find a full time job that would allow them time to take off every Wednesday afternoon, not to mention time off for committee meetings or to do anything else? Well, lawyers like her can, and the wealthy can. So under Ghiz's plan we would all but insure that anyone going forward who is going to run for council will not be an average middle class person, because no one without wealth can sacrifice their livelihood to live on 27,000 a year, along with the headache and expense that comes with being a member of council. This means we would have a council who represent the upper-class or at best the upper-middle-class, looking to make it really big. I think it is in everyone's interest that we don't take steps toward making city council into a House of Lords.

I think instead of this type of shortsighted grandstanding, Leslie Ghiz should just give half of her own salary back to the city and then see can feel good about herself, use it as a campaign issue, but not limit the ability of the average citizen from being a council member and earning a fair salary to do a difficult and often thankless job.

19 Council Candidates Turn in Signatures

The maximum number of candidates for city council in 2009 will be 19 and the list is:

Jeff Berding (D)
Chris Bortz (C)
Anitra Brockman (I)
Laketa Cole (D)
Tony Fischer (D)
Kevin Flynn (C)
Leslie Ghiz (R)
Greg Harris (D)
Nicholas Hollan (D)
Chris Monzel (R)
Amy Murray (R)
Roxanne Qualls (C)
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Cecil Thomas (D)
LaMarque Ward (I)
Bernadette Watson (D)
Charlie Winburn (R)
Wendell Young (D)
George Zamary (R)

The short field is leading some to speculate that there could be some upsets. It is clear there will be one new spot on council, with the term limited Crowly out at the end of this term, but at this point, the question will turn back to GOTV. If Obama voters, who are registered still, get back out and vote again, things could greatly change. One could argue that if the Teabaggers GOTV things could change, but that assumes there are a bunch of Teabaggers living in the City. Well, I think the fact is clear that Teabaggers are not a big group and more importantly they don't live in the city. So, what does that mean? Is this going to be a repeat election of 2007, with all 8 incumbents winning? At this point that is the logical way to think, but this year I don't have a good sense yet of the mood of populace. I think energy will be a factor and the campaign with the most energy will be in the mix.

Deception (Exempli Gratia, COAST, Finney)

It is funny when Chris Finney gets hoisted by his own petard. Finney is pissed because he claims the City is trying to make the ballot language a bit more clear, preventing him from deceiving the voters. That is right, Finney is pissed because the forces of good are acting to thwart his efforts at deception. According to Finney's court filing, the city is considering removing the "(e.g., a trolley or streetcar)" part of the ballot language because it clearly is misleading. The ballot initiative will affect all "passenger rail transportation" and Finney (and COAST/NAACP) are knowingly trying to mislead the public into thinking this is just about the Streetcar. The "e.g." which is the abbrevation of the Latin phrase "exempli gratia" means "for example." Well, I just want to make it known that deceiving the voters is wrong, for example, how Chris Finney, COAST, and the Local NAACP are trying to deceive the public into thinking that their ballot issue is not anti-passenger rail, but is instead only about the Streetcar. Let's hope the forces of good will thrwart evil this time again.

Oh, and Finney will be costing the City and County more needless money if he fights this in court. Better ask him how many jobs will be saved if he accepts the clarity over his attempted deception. Oh, right, he wants smaller(None) government, so any government job loss is a positive to someone like Finney.

Happy Birthday Donald!

Give a cheer out to the Cincinnati Blog's Donald today. I am one less year older, for a while.

Eww!!!!

I'm not sure what else to say about the temporary closure of the Corryville Kroger to permit the Pied Piper to wander the aisles for a while.

But if I still lived in Clifton, I'm pretty sure I'd give up shopping there in favor of the Ludlow Avenue IGA. And if I really needed a Kroger fix, I'd probably head to the Kenard Avenue store (UC students: just head north on Clifton and keep going).

Derek Doesn't Like Our Weather...

That's not exactly true. But he has decided he'd be happier in a more "hurricane prone market." (I'm almost positive that only a meteorologist could ever be made happy by increasing his chance of being squashed by a house like the Wicked Witch of the East.) So he's headed to Mobile, Alabama.

I've made fun of Derek a couple times (here and again here, in a post that exposed my own meteorological failings). But in truth, I tend to look for his weather forecast, because I enjoy his on-air persona.

The good news, of course, is the possibility of more Randi Rico. (Yes, I'm a pathetic Rico groupie.)

But even with more Rico, I'll miss Derek. I hope he does well in Mobile, that the city is good to him, and that he doesn't miss too much having actual seasons (like winter and fall). Be careful, Derek: winter weather advisories are a lot safer than hurricane warnings!

GOP Heavy CincyPAC?

The voting is on for the members CincyPAC for the endorsements of Mayor, Council, and School Board. I've seen the CincyPAC Board of Directors' recommendation list and it surprisingly includes 3 endorsed Republicans and 2 very conservative endorsed Democrats. I am surprised this organization's leadership went that Conservative. For members of CincyPAC the voting is open until the 20th and the final slate will be announced at their big event on Saturday. It will be very interesting to see how the voting actually turns out, since the three Republicans have been negative on the Streetcar, but provide a 'maybe in the future' answer that gives a false impression of where their current position actually puts them on the Streetcars, which is against it.

It will be also be interesting to see how progressive the CincyPAC rank and file members actually are. The group I believe is very progressive on social issues, but on an economic front I don't sense an as progressive bent. The vote will tell.

Gotta Love Northside

Where else in world can you have your Brunch served by the lead singer of a really great band, then go buy her band's latest CD at the city's best record store?