A Burn From the Business Courier

Just in case you missed it, Quimbob has the editorial cartoon from the Business Courier that slams Cranley.

Enquirer Twitter 'Coverage' of Primary Night Reminded Me of People Magazine

I am really not sure if I can really say People Magazine or just use US Weekly or TMZ, but it was rather disappointing at times.

NCIS has been playing on TV at side of room at @RoxanneQualls HQ. #enquirervote
— Cindi Andrews (@cindiincincy) September 10, 2013

.@Johncranley Party chatter: Negative ad hurt @Qualls2013. @Cincienquirer #enquirervote
— Sherry Coolidge (@SharonCoolidge) September 10, 2013

I didn't now TV shows and 'Party Chatter' were things to point out from a journalistic perspective, but if your target audience is an uninformed suburban housewife, then maybe it relevant.

The Polls are Closed on the Mayoral Primary; Who's going to win?

More importantly, what is the over-under spread for how long it takes the Hamilton County BOE to tabulate a single race?  Do we think we'll get the final results by 11:00 PM?

If You Can't Run a Meeting, How Could You Possibly Run a City?

That is a question everyone should be asking mayoral candidate John Cranley after watching this video below from 2001 when he was a member of Cincinnati City Council and was the Chairman of the Law and Public Safety Committee.

Annexation: Is it in Cincinnati's Future?

UrbanCincy has an interesting editorial calling on the City of Cincinnati to consider annexing many of the separate communities that are either immediately adjacent to the City or completely surrounded by the city. The idea would add over 77,000 people to the City and provide the opportunity to consolidate expenses for all of those communities. Furthermore the plan would give those communities much better protection from financial ruin brought about by State budget cuts forced on local governments by the current Governor.

This plan is a big variance from other plans that call for a full City/County merger, which would be an action that would have likely an insurmountable number of obstacles preventing it from succeeding.

I don't know what the initial cost outlay that would be on the City's shoulders for the smaller scale annexation plan, but if the numbers are reasonable, I think the long term gains would be worth it, even if only a portion of the communities agree to annexation.

A big problem to this getting any traction now is that we are in an election year, so discussion of this idea would either be dismissed outright or become a political weapon to beat on without serious consideration. I mean the amount of political contributions Cranley would get from the Westside areas under consideration for annexation would be huge. Cheviot, Cleves, North Bend and Addyston are filled with people who don't like the City and far too many living in those communities don't like the race of nearly half of the people who live in the City.

The Arts In Cincinnati Is World Class

LumenoCity - A City Inspired - Cincinnati 2013 from AGAR on Vimeo.

Cranley's Legacy Still Hurting City

Quimbob reports on John Cranley's legacy as a former member of City Council and what we see is financial mismanagement come home to roost.

Cranley Lied at Forum (Gambling! I'm Shocked!)

I am sure it is not a surprise to anyone that Mayoral Candidate John Cranley lied at yesterday's candidate forum, but just in case here's the Enquirer account of his lie:

"Streetcar: Cranley would kill it, says money could be spent on neighborhoods;"

Here is the Business Courier's version of the Cranley lie:

Money for the streetcar is being siphoned away from neighborhoods, Cranley said.

As Cranley knows, the funds beings used for building the Streetcar can't just be spent any pet project he wants. He also knows that the funds to build the streetcar come from grants outside the city budget. This is a whopper of we call Pandering. This one is worse, because it is a lie and John knows it. I guess lying to the public is something he finds normal for a politician.

Reason #341 Cranley is not a good candidate for Mayor.

In other news in the article, there is apparently a fourth candidate for Mayor, Stacy Smith? Based on the article, she didn't come across as credible. That and she reportedly is a Republican. Few thing are more entertaining together in the world of politics.

Cranley Tweets Just a Like a Republican

In a review of John Cranley's 170+ campaign tweets thus far the following breakdown of topics is very enlightening.

21 retweets of Republican politicians, all of them ideological
8 retweets of Democratic politicians, of which 2 are ideological
70 tweets that are critical of Mayor Mallory
16 tweets that announce campaign events
2 tweets that express Democratic ideology
2 stubs
29 retweets of negative news stories (about city Democratic leadership)
15 retweets of neutral news stories
1 retweet of positive news stories
4 retweets of his campaign manager
2 retweets of constituents criticizing Mayor Mallory

And two, on March 10th, "I am proud to be a Democrat and that is why I filed as a Democrat for Mayor".

So, other than the two on March 10th, Greg Hartmann or Brad Wenstrup could have tweeted all of these. Yes, in case you don't know, Hartmann and Wenstrup are Republicans.

I don't know if the person who came up with term DINO (Democrat In Name Only) had some type of vision of the future where John Cranley would be running for Mayor of Cincinnati and claiming to be a Democrat, but a case could be made for that.

Maybe Cranley hired a Republican to run his Twitter feed.  I can't rule that out, but I would hope Cranley is running the feed himself.  I'd hate for him to have sold out more than he already has.  I doubt it, however.

Voters need truth. We don't need Cranley (or Tea Party member Dusty Rhodes) pretending to be Dems when they do nothing, and I mean nothing, but carry on a Republican written and orchestrated campaign for Mayor.

Let the State Fund 100% of MLK Interchange

This has to be a no-brainer. If the Enquirer's information is correct then the State of Ohio will fund the MLK I-71 Interchange project no matter if the City of Cincinnati contributes to the project or not. Here's what the article says:

"State transportation director Jerry Wray told The Enquirer last month the state is moving forward with the project regardless of whether the city comes up with funding. ODOT officials have told local leaders that the state is searching for alternative funding in case the city doesn’t come through."

This should reset all of the discussions on the City Budget from here on out. The City should not fund any of the MLK Interchange if the State is going to do so no matter what the City does. The State of Ohio, under the anti-city crusade from Governor John Kasich, has drastically cut State funds provided to all Cities in Ohio. If the cuts come to people one place, then the benefits should come someplace else. State funding for Interstate Highways is the least Kaisch and the rest of the GOP can do for their anti-city funding cuts.

I expect to hear Cranley, Smitherman, and Winburn saying the SAME THING I am saying.  If the City doesn't need to fund something, we shouldn't do it.  We can spend the money on something else, or if there are restrictions, we can bank the money and use it at a later date.

Hell, if someone wants to be Machiavellian, then there would be ways of sticking it to certain local anti-city politicos, while still doing 'right' for the City.

Here's my stick-it-to-them Plan: If the parking plan goes through the first thing I would do is take part of the money slated for MLK Interchange and announce road improvements in the "neighborhoods" Cranley wants to help.  Those neighborhoods would be those with lots of Republican voters.

The second thing I would do would be to do upgrades to the roads all through Bond Hill and Roselawn and be sure Mayor Mallory, the locations of Smitherman and Winburn's voting base.

The third thing would be for Mayor Mallory standing at each road making the announcements for the new projects and reminding people who voted for the funding of these projects (the Parking Plan) and who voted against it.

That would be my idea of hardball politics.

Instead, to be more equitable we could hold hearings first to educate people, like John Cranley, on the ways the restricted money could legally be used, and then we could hear ideas on the best way to spend it.

Cranley Throws In the Towel, Already?

Quimbob over at Blogging Isn't Cool reports on mayoral candidate John Cranley's television ad and brings up an important point: Instead of telling viewers how he would lead the city, Cranley wants them to lobby the Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls since she's going to win anyway.

Quimbob is right. Why would a serious candidate do that? Cranley appears to get what the rest of know, he's not good for the city.  That commercial surely wasn't cheap to produce, but  I guess all of the Republican money he is getting has to be spent at some point.

COAST Likes John Cranley

Say what you will about COAST, but when they see a political candidate doing their bidding they give them praise. In this blog post from the Enquirer we get this juicey quote from bigot Tom Brinkman:

"We like the new John Cranley, but that is the new John Cranley."

They don't like him enough to endorse him for Mayor, something Cranley needs to win, but damn if they don't like him.

Endorsing Ten for Council Is a Stupid Idea

I don't know who put the idea in the public sphere for the Cincinnati Democratic Committee to endorse ten candidates for the City Council Election, but who ever did it is either insane or plain old stupid.

There are nine seats on council. Any more than nine endorsements means that Dems will have no choice but to work against other Dems. Additionally, as Chris Seelbach points out in the article from the Cincinnati Business Courier, linked above, too many people would over-vote, thus invalidating their ballot for council.  Yes, that is a negative implication about the high level of ignorance with the voters, but not enough people read directions. As long as you have ten names, people will fill the box next to ten names.  Additionally, whoever is listed last on the Dem flyers that are handed out to voters would also get royally screwed by voters paying attention to the nine limit.

I am not sure if it is David Mann's effort at publicizing the ten endorsement idea or some other misguided individual, but whoever is behind it better end it, now.

This year's voting cycle process for endorsements is very shady with two situations that should never have happened. We have one instance of nepotism from the Thomas family and another instance of political favoritism from the Mayor's office. We don't need a third instance of a former politician mucking up the process.

Mann may have been something in politics 20 years ago.  Much has changed since then and I am skeptical that a politician who won the same seat as both Charlie and Tom Luken will have the ability to change with the City.  It is obvious that the Lukens don't want the City to Change and Cranley & COAST are in their camp.  Mann may be a third way or may surprise me with a vision of the future for our City.  I don't see that yet and this bid for an endorsement underlines my initial opinion of him.

Fountain Square 'Indie Summer' Series Announced

Citybeat has posted the line up for the Friday 'Indie Summer' Concert Series. The line-up includes:

May 31: Pomegranates/Healing Power; The Yugos; The Never Setting Suns

June 7: We Were Promised Jetpacks; Tweens; Public

June 14: Seabird; Mike Mains & The Branches; TBA

June 21: Loudmouth; The Dopamines; The Lockland Brakes; BoyMeetsWorld

June 28: Psychodots; Cari Clara; The Ready Stance

July 5: Margot & the Nuclear So & So's and Matt Pond with Matrimony

July 12: Plumb; more TBA

July 19: Wussy; Queen City Radio; TBA

July 26: Brian Olive; Man Halen; The Tongue & Lips

Aug. 2: The Seedy Seeds; TBA; The student band from Mason's School of Rock

Aug. 9: TBA with Archers Paradox

Aug. 16: Belle Histoire; Dept. Store Alligators; TBA

Aug. 23: Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors; Green Light Morning; TBA

Aug. 30: Why? with Vito Emmanuel and TBA

Republican Sam Malone Fails to Appear in Court

What is the first thing you should do when you are running for public office? Answer: Follow the law. Republican Sam Malone, who is reportedly running for Cincinnati City Council, failed to pay a speeding ticket and then failed to appear in court as directed. A judge had to then issue a warrant for his arrest. Malone was able to avoid arrest by simply paying fine, which was higher due to Malone's carelessness.

This guy is being backed by Republicans. They still want him to be elected. How can anyone trust the guy when he can't even pay his speeding tickets on time to sit on Council?

Another question: Why are the Republicans scraping the bottom of the barrel They only can find four candidates and Malone is one?  Mike Allen is considered worse than Malone?

Why Did the Enquirer ID the Student Who Attempted Suicide?

The choice to name the student who attempted suicide at LaSalle High School was the wrong one to make. I am trying to rack my brain to figure out the reasons for doing it. It's not information that is really going to drive readers to find out more by reading the paper. If they want to know about the case, adding the name isn't going to drive up circulation. I can see the argument that publishing all of the information known is good, but that assumes an extreme viewpoint where privacy is deemed wrong.

The technical reason I can see the Enquirer using is the strong likelihood that the student will be charged with a crime for bringing the gun to class and firing it, if nothing else. Naming suspects or potential suspects in crimes is an acceptable journalistic practice. Joe Deters likely won't let the case go anywhere, to help the school, if nothing else, but that's the type of story that could be written in a month or so once events play out. In that story that name of the student would then be far more relevant.

In this case at this time there is no good reason to name the student, who according to the article is under 18 years old. The young man's medical condition is not known. We don't know if he will even survive, let alone in what condition. Adding his name to the public sphere doesn't serve a purpose to the community. The Enquirer made a big mistake.

UPDATE #1: The Enquirer posted a response on why they named the student.  The response is lacking in my opinion.  It appears they did it for clarity because there was allegedly false information out there.  Also they did it because the name was already known, including allegedly being given to LaSalle parents by the School. It appears to me that not a whole lot of thought went into the act of publishing the name.  The Enquirer may want to rethink their policy and practices.  Hell, most of the time they don't report when suicide attempts happen, whether successful or not.

UPDATE #2: CityBeat has also named the student in a blog post today, based on the Enquirer article.

MidPoint Music Festival ’13: Announcement Coming Soon

Keep your eyes on the City Beat Blog for the announcement of the Fountain Square MidPoint Indie Summer Line-Up.

BOE Must Investigate Parking Petitions

The following video provides damning evidence that some petitions collected by businesses were not being handled correctly according to Ohio Election Law. It is possible that anyone who signed the each page committed perjury if they did not witness all of the signatures listed on that page.

If nothing is done, than all the cries of voter fraud from Alex Triantafilou and Joe Deters mean absolutely nothing. Since they haven't done anything to investigate the 114% registration rate of Indian Hill, their efforts thus far are clearly just political grandstanding.

CityBeat Has Great Overview of City Budget Battle

CityBeat's German Lopez has a fact laden commentary in today's edition that lays out the clear truth about all of the plans put forth by council members and mayoral candidates: they won't work.

The best part of the article is a wonderful example of when a journalist is able to hoist a political candidate by his own conservative patard.

Cranley has also criticized the city’s parking plan for failing to structurally balance the budget. But Lea Eriksen, the city’s budget director, says the city has been running structurally imbalanced budgets since 2001, and Cranley was in office between 2000 and 2009 and chaired the budget committee for eight of those years.

The lesson of the story: John Cranley gets more blame for our current budget problems than anyone else either currently holding elected office in Cincinnati or seeking to hold it.  Outside of Governor Kasich's attack on local governments, which constitutes the lion share of the budget gap, Cranley's budget tricks from the past have come home.  So unless he wants to start attacking the Republican governor and thus stop beingpretending to be a Republican, he better find a spot under his ass for those chickens to roost.

Xavier Allowing Hate Group to Hold Fundraiser on Campus

A big question for current Xavier students, Alumni, and staff: Why is Xavier University allowing a hate group to hold a fundraiser on its campus a week from tomorrow, April 23, 2013?

If you don't know about CCV and Phil Burress, then I suggest you do some reading. Try Here and Here and Here and Here and for a history lesson try Here.

CCV is an anti-gay/lesbian hate group. They seek to oppress LGBT people and force everyone to be subject to their religious rule.