Cranley Still Being Deceptive About Smitherrman as Vice-Mayor

Don't Trust John Cranley. That should be obvious by now, but you can add to it when you read the Business Courier article reporting that Cranley says he’ll appoint a Democrat to be Vice-Mayor. The article is taking Cranley much farther than his comment warrants. Read this part:

Asked if that meant a Democrat would be appointed his vice mayor, Cranley said, “Yes, I intend to.”

Clear intentions are not commitments. Cranley can intend to feed the poor with cheese from the Moon, but face facts, that's not going to happen. He has no plan for Vice-Mayor and more importantly has not been supporting most (if any) Democratic Council Candidates, something that would help indicate who he might appoint. He has no connections with anyone but Republicans, so this comment by Cranley is pure political deception. Cranley (if elected) would be able to deny he "lied" when he appointed a Republican as Vice-Mayor because he "intended" to appoint a Dem, but none elected agree with him.

The other way this is bullshit is simple: Chris Smitherman is a registered Democrat.  So he still could claim he wasn't lying.

Cranley's statement of intentions doesn't change anything. He can pretend to be a Democrat as a way to gain votes, but when collects money from the GOP his base of support is clear.

Furthermore, Cranley isn't denying the rumor about Smitherman.

Cranley Continues His Deception, His Support Relies on the GOP, COAST

John Cranley can deny being a dues paying member of COAST until he turns purble, but his entire campaign is based on getting the support of COAST, the GOP, and the Smitherman vote. He gets what clearly is coordinated support from COAST via its Twitter feed, website and newsletter in the form of attacks on Cranley's opponent, nearly every day  This type of support is what Cranley wants and needs to win. He has to rely on the GOP and COAST to win and he can never deny that and be believed.

When I say rely upon, I mean that's 80 to 99 % of who he must have vote for him to win.

Cranley is trying to deceive Dems and Moderates into thinking that he is not doing the bidding of the GOP and COAST. He's trying to forget the amount of campaign money he is getting (and has historically gotten) from Republicans. He is trying to use the same type of deception that Chris Smitherman uses within part of the African American community, when Smitherman just out right lies about what his support from COAST means.

Cranley is a charlatan. He promises magic to everyone, but really he is only in this for himself and the few who help him. Just look how much his business partners give to his campaign to know the people John values.

The most interesting thing about the COAST Endorsement going public is that it scared Cranley into publicly trying to claim he doesn't want it. He is not even bothering to claim it wasn't an endorsement. He knows it was, but is pissed they made it public. He desperately needs to keep his reliance on the GOP and COAST the worst kept secret. Spread the word, believers! Cranley's is the COAST candidate! Say it loud and without hesitation.

COAST Endorsed John Cranley For Mayor, No Question Mark Needed

The biggest game John Cranley and COAST have been playing during the campaign is akin to a couple of people who work together and are having an affair. They have great praise for each other and do everything they can to help each other, but if asked, NO, they are not dating! Well, yesterday COAST came as close as anyone needs to hear to know that they are datingendorsed John Cranley For Mayor.

The worst kept secret of this Mayoral campaign is that John Cranley is the candidate of the Republicans and the Tea Party. Cranley has a long tradition of getting backing from Republicans and he is the 'wink candidate' for the Right Wing. The Hamilton County GOP knows that the Republican endorsement will hurt with the Smitherman vote, the third and unpredictable leg of Cranley's trilateral hope to win. So they wink at him, letting the Republicans in the City know who to vote for, but avoiding giving the media the means even an editor can't deny to label Cranley the Republican candidate and thus hurting his chances to get elected.

John Cranley's hopes for winning are based on deception, ignorance and Republican money. That's the kind of character who creates a public revenue source and then joins a private company to take advantage of that public money to finance a private development. Yeah, we call that a shady character.

Farwell to Each Note Secure

Local music blog Each Note Secure is calling it quits after ten years. I say thanks to all of the writers, but give a big shout out to Joe Long. Thanks to you Joe for adding much to Cincinnati's music and blog scene. I hope you continue to contribute to both in some capacity in the future.

Is the Cincinnati Beacon Finally Dead?

If you head to the Cincinnati Beacon website (www.cincinnatibeacon.com) one finds nothing of the old website and instead a graphic for IIS7 (an "internet information services" entity) shows up.  I guess the Beacon is finally dead.

Political blogging is not an easy thing, no matter how many may think what I do is easy (or just drivel.) This blog has been rather un-prolific as of late.  I'm never going to return to daily blogging, but I plan on keeping this 11 going on 12 year endeavor going.

Did the FOP Endorsement of Sam Malone Stem From Familiarity?

I was thinking why in the world would Sam Malone get an endorsement for City Council from the FOP? Could they have been confused as to why they recognized him?

His arrest record for child abuse wouldn't have anything to do with it?

If you are wondering what I am talking about and don't remember things that happened 8 years ago, here's my blog post on Malone's arrest for beating his son with a belt.  I'm wondering how many FOP members actually knew this.  If they did and don't care, then I wonder how many of them also beat their kids with belts.  Then I wonder why people are not more concerned with Cincinnati Police brutality more often.

Also, No, Republicans, I don't care that Malone was 'acquitted.'  He admitted to beating his son with a belt, so what ever technicality exists, if Malone did this to anyone other than his son, and didn't appear in front of a Republican Judge, he would have been found guilty of assault.

The fact that the police union endorsed him is an insult to victims of crime everywhere.

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