Showing posts with label Land of the Burb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Land of the Burb. Show all posts

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Do the Hamilton County Republicans Have a Plan for the 2021 Elections or NOT?

With the internal fight in Hamilton County Republican Party circles still smarting this week, what can be gleaned from what their strategic plan is for the 2021 City of Cincinnati Elections for Mayor and Council?

Get beyond your inclination to ask "Who cares?" That would be a mistake. I am a realist and very pragmatic. Always know as much as you can about what your oppornet is doing.  In the case of the Hamilton County GOP, that is a big question mark.  The one consistent thing they have done for the last nearly 20 years has been to give up on winning control of the City of Cincinnati.

The best they have been able to do is win over back room allies.  Case in point is moderate Democrat John Cranley, who only won the mayor's race because he got full throated support from Republican voters and donors. Cranley got a deal, no GOP opponent.  It has been over 10 years since the last Republican ran for mayor of Cincinnati and the number of publicly endorsed candidates for council has dwindled to less than a possible majority slate.

In 2021 there will be six open seats and a change in the length of term to only two years, down from four after a charter amendment.  That provides a big open door for new candidates. The problem for the GOP is that they have no bench strength.  They have one incumbent, Jeff Pastor, who eked out the ninth spot by just over 200 votes, so he will be at the whims of the tides on the next election.  Seth Maney was the other available endorsed candidate last time around.  Tamie Sullivan was another candidates as well, but I don't remember her getting much Republican support after she made a sensible anti-Trump public statement. She's thought of more as a moderate, which normally is what the Republicans mostly put forth in the City, but anymore you gotta drink the Kool-Aide on Trump.  Based on his Twitter likes, Seth Maney surprisingly fits the Kool-Aide drinking test on Trump, so he may be able to attempt a Yasser Arafat style campaign.  That's one where you speak one way to the world (the voters) and another way to a domestic audience (Suburban Republican donors.) Any other candidates out there are being kept low key or outright secrets.

Another surprise move for HCRP was to their new headquarters in Pendleton. They left their long time Downtown space and when north, to the edge of Downtown.  To many suburbanites, they can't tell the difference between Downtown and Hyde Park, so this move was not significant in terms of geography. The surprise is that they stayed Downtown.  Alex Triantafilou is no stranger to Downtown, but the party rank and file don't like Downtown, let alone anywhere in the City of Cincinnati itself. Keeping the headquarters in the city is a surprise. Moving out closer to their base would have been what I would have expected.  One would think that they could have also gotten a cheaper space, but that may been part of the deal with the move to Pendleton. I don't see a reason for them to stay there, other than the logical point that Downtown is the Center of the region and is where any group looking to be relevant on the big stage of the area. When they moved the BOE to Norwood, one would have thought they would be vacating the city at every chance.  As part of their anti-City national platform, leaving the big city for suburbs is the logical choice.

Does that given any support to the idea that the HCRP has a plan to win in 2021?  Do they think they have a mayoral candidate or a full slate of council candidates that can win? The right combination of money and name recognition can be the basis for any candidate for any party in Cincinnati. Have we reached a point, however, that thanks to national politics and the Westside White Flight of the last 20 years that the Republican Party is not a viable entity in City elections?

That leads me back to my initial thought, do they have a plan?  Well, Republicans are to blame for the frivolous scandal to hit City Hall and are doubly responsible for the interference from the State Republican officials interfering in local affairs to create a round two of that fabricated scandal. This effort is clearly being done for political purposes to damage future Democratic candidates for Mayor and Council. The knuckle draggers who manufactured the initial lawsuit that found a sympathetic activist Republican Judge that gave them a fishing license to create a scandal, would disagree with it, but the odd things is, as I wrote about recently, they are having a fight with HCRP leadership.

While the HCRP is certainly reveling in the scandal the knuckle draggers have created, they also know that overall, they need to have a longer view.  They know the County demographics are not changing in their favor and that they are losing the power of the Prosecutor's office and the Hamilton County Courts. That means the Republican scandals would be fair game for Democrats to pursue.  That pursuit would be one a long time coming and as well all know payback is a bitch. So, embracing the efforts of the knuckle draggers attempting to wrestle control of the Party isn't in their interest at all.

It just goes back to the simple truth about the Republican Party, it has become the White man and his wife's party and few others.  It's policies are extreme. Those in the City don't agree with the narrow mindedness of that party. Hamilton County voters are not far behind the City.  That scares the HCRP.

So, what can they do? I don't have an answer and I don't think they do either.  I don't think they have much of a plan.  Maybe they can find some young candidates or recruit a few well known names to run as candidates, but if they are right wingers, they are going to lose.  I think John Cranley is as conservative as a candidate can be and win as Mayor in Cincinnati. Some Republicans are pushing 80 year old David Mann to run and that is the most disingenuous support as could be. Sure he's in a Cranley orbit on policy, but they would drop him like a rock if flashy guy chose to run last minute and force a primary. It is underhanded to play that game with David Mann.

Unless Republicans can change the election rules, they are going to be out of control of City Hall.  Don't be surprised if they make their support for the effort to change to a district and at-large council structure, which is not a good one.  That would be the only way they can have an advantage, but even then, a right wing candidate wouldn't make it very far and that wouldn't give them the Mayor's seat.

In 2021 I think you can expect more of the same.  They might try and get a high profile Republican that thinks they can be next Brad Wenstrup, the last Republican to enter the Mayor's race.  He was able to turn that loss into a win in a gerrymandered congressional seat.  That will be difficult to repeat in the 2022 mid-terms, but who knows.

As for City Council, I wouldn't be surprised to see five Republicans make the ballot and that be spun as some grand victory alone, but then only two win.  That would be a loss in the number of Republican seats now held by Republicans or people who pretend to not be a Republican, but get elected by their support. That might be the best Plan the HCRP could have for 2021, unless a fascist state is established before then. That would make the knuckle draggers happy, but likely they'd be alone on that one.

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Bigotry and Veiled Racism From an Enquirer Guest Column

Anderson Townshop Trump supporter Marilyn Mackenzie wrote a column for the Enquirer and she comes across like a thoughtful bigot and veiled racist. She doesn't like that some groups don't want to instantly adopt her suburbanite way of life and instead cling to their native culture. She invokes growing up as a kid and getting lots of varied foods, but getting along with the different white ethnic groups.

Her ignorance of the past is amaxing. She seems to forget how these ethnic groups were treated by white nativist Americans. The Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews, and Greeks are all examples of groups that held on to their cultures after immigrating to the United States and were discriminated against because of their religion, their culture, and how they looked. It took decades for these groups to be accepted by the majority white culture. Some of them still are not accepted in all areas (Nazi signs on Jewish colleges as an example).

That leads me to a food I grew up with, tacos. I've been eating Tex-Mex food for as long as I remember. Yet, Trump and his followers have attached Mexicans for everything and Hispanics and Latinos overall. Hispanics were here before the English speakers came here and you want them to melt into your pot? We are part of their pot, but you wan to kick out any reminder that someone brown was here before.

Racism, just plain old racism. Cultural bigotry at the max, but racism is the core of this column.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

A Case of Bad Journalism From WCPO

The bad journalism from WCPO has two parts. On WCPO's site they have a story about an alleged act of vandalism where "anti-religious" graffiti was painted on two church buildings. So, what's the problem with that? Well, the first part of the problem is in the video portion of the story. That video report does not provide any specifics of what the graffiti stated, only the reporters claim from the Minister who the reporter stated would not tell them what the graffiti said, because the words were so "harsh". No pictures were provided of the graffiti and clean up had occurred on at least one of the structures shown on video. W therefore don't know that is was "anti-religious." We have on claim of something we don't have proof actually happened. The motivation for the vandalism may have been more directed at the actions or beliefs of this church, not against religious in general.  Most crimes are not randomly chosen. It is portrayed as "anti-religious" but this could have been a religious person who just didn't share this church's beliefs.

That does not mean it didn't happen, it just means there could be more to the story and the motivation for why someone targeted this church could have backstory that would give context. Reading their website, this would not be considered a mainline Christian church, it is what I would classify as Pentecostal, so there are possible conflicts with this Church that could be a motive for the vandalism that would not be "anti-religious." The minister went on to claim that he "sensed" this came from a random person. Why does it matter that it was a random person who he senses has no connection to his church? We don't have enough information to judge what the graffiti words stated to know if there could be a connection or reasons this church was targeted. The Church stated they did file a police report, but would not press charges if they get an apology. I sense they may have an idea who the vandal may be, so if that is the case I hope they passed that on to the police and are not using this as a means to gain attention with the media.

So, the second problem is with the online story. In the link above after the video section, there is an article that mostly rehashes the video story. There is a big addition, however, that links this action to the hate crime that occurred at Hebrew Union College where a Swastika was painted on the school's sign. If we don't know what the graffiti on West Chester church stated, how can anyone link these stories by saying both are instances of "religiously targeted graffiti?" We know one was a hate crime, we don't know if they other was, so why link them? It is a bad journalism and WCPO needs to remove that linkage from the story. They also should have reported what the police report stated, assuming it included detail of the graffiti or pictures. If they didn't get the police report prior to running the story, then they failed a third time for this story, not even confirming basic facts.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Trump Twitter Account Author Lying about West Chester Rally

The person running the Trump Twitter account is lying, and the Kaiser is still dead:

The facts: For unconfirmed reasons, the Trump Campaign on Friday evening announced to the media that the rally they were to hold Sunday at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Downtown Cincinnati was cancelled. This happened just before the event in Chicago with the protesters was cancelled. On Saturday morning the Trump campaign announced they were holding an event on Sunday in West Chester, Ohio, an exurb of Cincinnati. The media did nothing but report the event. The event in Cincinnati was cancelled, one is West Chester was added. The Report from the Enquirer.

The real story here is that Trump went from an urban core setting for a rally, like the one in Chicago last night, to one of the most Republican friendly areas of the state. Fear of the 'leftist' protesters must be that great for him to up and move his rally to John Boehner's back yard. Butler County Sheriff and anti-Mexican racist Richard Jones is reportedly set to speak at the Trump event. So Eric Deters and Dick Jones are backing Trump. Who could have possibly guessed that would happen.

Here's how you get tickets to the rally in West Chester.  If you go, please be peaceful.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Zombie News Gone National

Gotta love how the suburbs can look like idiots on a scale to get some national attention.



At least the local media was there first. Can't beat the visuals, so TV wasn't going to miss out on this.

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

COAST Honors Cranley

COAST, the Tea Party anti-City fringe group that endorsed John Cralney for Mayor, has nominated Cranley for a Conservative award.

This speaks for itself to those paying attention, but for those not paying attention or maybe the few left in denial about who supported John Cranley is this mayor race let this show them the base that Cranley had to win the election.

What will be most brazen would be Cranley actually appearing to accept the award. That would be a true insult to the City, the Democratic Party, and common decency. Cranley's not demonstrated an ounce of any of those thus far.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Obama Yard Signs Burned in Green Township

The Cincinnati Herald is reporting multiple incidents where Obama yard signs were burned while they sat in the front yards of Obama supporters.

The undertones of racism to these incidents can not be denied. Burning anything in someone's front yard is obviously based on the KKK, assuming otherwise is ignorant.  It is sad that this likely will not get the coverage it should. WCPO has as story as well.

Monday, October 08, 2012

County Looking to Screw the Poor and Renters, No Matter What

The Enquirer is reporting that Hamilton County Commissioners will be given three options by county Administrators to cover the 20 Million dollar budget deficit.

The article tries to point out the differences between the choices, but it fails to put forth the main common action: the poor and people who rent will be screwed no matter which plan is picked. The plans are being cooked to make them semi-palatable to Republicans who are Hell bent on shifting the burden of the Bengals Stadium to the poor people of Hamilton County.

The first option is the nuclear option, where nearly every service is cut, so everyone is screwed, well, everyone who can't afford to pay for their own healthcare, police protection, or have enough money to buy justice and don't have to rely on the courts to enforce the law.

The second two options are just shell games to see who will cut the most from what. What both of the plans do is increase the sales tax rate and offset it with cuts to property taxes. So if you own property, you don't get as much of a tax increase as people who do not own property, maybe even none. This is how the poor and renters get screwed.

Sure, Republicans will say Renters will get the same benefit because landlords will pass on tax savings to their renters.  BWWAHAHAHAH!  That's the biggest laugh in the world, or my attempt to make it appear in this blog post.  No, landlords will pocket the tax savings and increase rents the same way the would have without the increase.  Therefore Renters are screwed even if they are part of the middle class.

So, the County is again looking to screw the poor and people who rent.  Where would you find a majority of those types?  If you said the City of Cincinnati, you would be right.  Bottom line then, the three plans seek to place more burden on City Residents and less burden (or a least no additional burden) on non-city Residents  as long as they own property.  I'm gonna guess that Monzel doesn't plan on getting any votes from the poor or renters who don't live in the city, so he can just pretend they don't exist or he hopes they move.  Either way, they become poorer to help subsidize the Cincinnati Bengals and Mike Brown.

Welcome to the neo-feudalist movement.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

The Enquirer Does Not Get the Point of Urbanism

If you were to presume that the majority of the Editorial page board live in the suburbs based on this editorial, then I think you would be right. I can't prove it, you know, except if I wanted to look up the individual members on the voter registration rolls, which I will skip tonight. Instead, I feel that I must point out something simple, yet,  that at least the writer of the editorial misses about why people are moving to Downtown Cincinnati.  As a person who lives in the near Downtown area (OTR), I can attest to this personally.

I plan on living here as long as I live in the metro area.

I don't plan on moving into a house with a picket fence.

The suburbanite fantasy is not for me.  Please don't force it upon me or anyone else, which is what the Enquirer appears to be doing, from the editorial:
Most Cincinnati residents live in neighborhoods like these. And we want young adults who live Downtown, attracted by redevelopment, to someday live in those neighborhoods. Neighborhoods need city investment and attention.
No, Mr/Mrs Editorial board members, I don't hope people who move Downtown "come to their senses" and move to a white picket fence neighborhood. I want people who are looking for a City to FIND and LIVE in a CITY.

We choose to live in city, not a 2.2 kid and backyard dream. If people want to move to city neighborhoods, THAT IS AWESOME! I really hope they do. They are far better than exurban wastelands and are closer to the action, the urban core. If you want to live in a city neighborhood, that is a very honorable goal.  That person is not the target for Downtown living.

If people feel more comfortable in Hyde Park, I am SOOOOOO COOOOOL with that. I want people to move there. I want Westwood and Avondale and Bond Hill and Mt. Washington and Madisonville to have tons of people living in them.  None of those neighborhoods have ever been or will ever be economic or cultural centers and they are not meant to be.

Here is what the Enquirer and much of the Conservative Republicans don't get. Urbanism is about creating a core that helps EVERYONE. We build the urban core up and then all the neighborhoods gain. Not everyone wants to live the hardcore city life like Tim Mara apparently doesn't get. That is OK, but we must recognize the urban core as the economic and cultural center of the Metro area and keeping that urban core healthy it helps foster the innovative, creative, and energetic people living in that core to induce the growth all around the Cincinnati Metro area.

We love the nightlife, we got to boggie on the disco 'round, oh yeah.

Yes, this is a hard pill for the "if you build a stripmall, they will come" crowd, but that is the past.  Our future is in our cities.  This is a throwback to the past, but the post War years have killed our culture and society long enough.  If we don't embrace urbanism, then American culture, the good parts of it at least, will decay.

As a side note, the part that I don't get and never will understand is how anyone living way out in the exurbs or traditional inner-suburbs can think that without a vibrant and focused urban core the metro area can grow.  It just will not happen.  I really hope someone at the Enquirer will wake up and see the future and stop fearing it.  Exurbanite Republicans will always fear change, but just because that is your core audience, you can't hide the truth from them forever.

Finally: so if you think the Enquirer isn't biased against the Streetcar and the City core, then I guess you have been living in a cave in Indian Hill for the last 5 years.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Enquirer In the Bag for Chick-Fil-A (and Conservative Readers)

Yes, you know who butters the Enquirer's bread, that would be the shrinking readership who are a majority conservative. The over-coverage of yesterday's Chick-Fil-A still avoid the fact that the LOCAL Chick-Fil-A Restaurants in West Chester and Deerfield Township sponsered a CCV event. Yes, CCV is the anti-gay rights group that fought for Article XII and against its repleal as well as lead the charge in the anti-gay rights anti-gay marriage ban that passed in Ohio. How does this not make the story?

Why doesn't the Enquirer report this?  Why are they making this boycott about free speech?  That's not what this is about, this is about the corporate actions of a company, not just the private views of the owners.  That contradicts the rants of conservatives, who want this to be about liberals being  "anti-Christian."

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Mason Home Owners to Avoid Income Tax Increase?

If you read the Enquirer's Mason Buzz Blog, you would learn about a ballot issue that if passed in November would implement a 0.12 % increase to the Mason income tax, taking it to 1.12%. Here's the rub. The blog post indicates that this increase would apply to only "nonresidents." If you read the proposed ballot language, then you would read something very different:
Section  10.05  FUNDING OF SAFETY, FIRE AND EMS SERVICES Mason shall raise funds to pay for safety, fire and EMS services through two revenue sources.  First, a continuing real estate tax levy not to exceed 5.0 mills may be imposed on Mason real estate commencing in tax year 2013 for collection beginning in 2014.  This levy shall continue until changed by the electors of Mason through an amendment to this charter provision.  Second, a not to exceed .0015 tax on income shall be collected by Mason in the same manner as the income tax set forth in section 10.04 of the Charter, with the exception that those who own and live in homes in Mason, and who therefore pay the real estate tax set forth above, shall be exempted from the not to exceed .0015 income tax along with their dependents.   

This income tax shall be imposed starting on January 1, 2013 and shall be at a rate of .0012 during calendar year 2013, and cannot be changed except by legislative action receiving an affirmative vote of at least five council members, and can only take effect on January 1 of the calendar year following legislative action, provided that such legislative action takes place at least six months prior to the effective date and shall not exceed 0015.
I read the above language and I can see a clear intent to not have this tax increase affect home owners who live in their Mason home. The key section is "with the exception that those who own and live in homes in Mason, and who therefore pay the real estate tax set forth above." Furthermore the most telling phrase is "own and live," with the conjunction indicating both are required. It does not say "and/or." It does not say "residents". Renters would be subject to the tax increase in my amateur option, while home owners would not. I don't know if this ballot language must be vetted by anyone else, but I think the blog post was wrong or at least the language is not what the reporter was told it meant.

This is a common Republican and Libertarian theme: give more rights and benefits to property owners. Hamilton County did something vaguely similar by increasing the sale tax to fund the two stadiums while lowering the property tax, a boondoggle in favor of property owners, one we are feeling the pain of presently. The difference is that Hamilton County didn't limit the tax increase to only non-property owners.

This is a nightmare for Mason. It is a clear redistribution of wealth, in favor of of the rich. In case you wondered, homes in Mason are, on average, out of the reach of lower and a majority of middle class people.

According to the article, many are opposed to it because it would affect those working, but not living in Mason.  They don't seem to notice it would affect those renting an apartment in Mason and taxing them more no matter where they worked.

The big thing missing in this ballot language, likely on purpose, is how to enforce the tax rate variance. Private payroll systems will have a difficult time defining "property ownership" so they would either charge the 1.12% on everyone with a Mason address or 1% on everyone, leaving them to deal with the difference on their own.  I supposed those who know their tax rate could request the correct percentage, but then it all comes back to more work for those filing and processing tax returns.

This is just bad policy.  Mason needs to raise taxes, obviously, but they should do so fairly to all, not to the benefit of home owners.  I would bet the massively Republican city will vote this (and any) tax increase down, even though a majority of voters would not be affected.  Mason City Council members are so incredibly gutless to not do this via an ordinance.  Seeking political cover over a major issue is not uncommon in government, it is just unseemly.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Brace Yourselfs: Another Anti-Streetcar Article From Barry Horstman

You can't expect much else from the Enquirer's Barry Horstman but an anti-streetcar article, but the timing is the kicker today. We have the budget committee meeting yesterday where COAST and other anti-city Conservatives had an organized turnout against funding the city's needs and then today we have Hortsman's fear inducing article that will cause panic in someone's grandma living out in Loveland, making her think her A/C bill will go up for those City people and their "evil" public transit and ecologically friendly Urban lifestyle. What to stroke the sectarianism, Barry. It sells papers in the burbs! Woot.....

Thursday, March 15, 2012

This is What a Douchebag Thinks Like

When you are at home pondering about what a Douchebag looks like, you most often get the image of a frat-boy or some guy wearing a baseball hat inside a bar on a Friday night.  Well, if you want to know what someone like that has rolling around in his head, I will point you to anti-education and anti-women Rich Hoffman of West Chester.  Based on his photo in the Enquirer article, this guy looks more like someone with a really misplaced Indiana Jones fetish, than a frat boy. His thoughts make him the spokesman for Douchebags the world over.

This guy is part of the effort to block any and all tax levies for the Lakota School district out in Exurban paradise of West Chester.  This is one guy I am so glad lives out there.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Conservative Economic Planning Fails Again

The Mason, Ohio area has all of the earmarks to be considered a Conservative Republican mecca.  It is an Exurb.  It has lots of cul-de-sacs, strip-malls, chain restaurants, churches, white people, and lots of businesses.  The Mason area, to be fair, has a significant amount of office parks and corporate operations.

So that leads it to be a place where the free market system would flourish and the problems that arise from a growing population would be solved by private entities.  You know, like if traffic became a job killer, where people literally would leave or avoid the area because traffic happened their ability function either when trying to go to work, come home from work, or just go shopping.

So, today I read a story in the Enquirer that indicates that traffic mess that is the Field-Ertel exit off I-71 is no where near being improved or better yet cured of the problems that plague the mangled interchange.  Why are the roads not able to be improved to keep the economics of the area chugging along?  The answer is there are not enough Government funds to build all of the the road improvements needed.

Yes, you read that right, the Conservative mecca of Mason can't improve their roads because the Government doesn't have the funds.  The place filled with Republican voters who regularly attack Government spending on everything short of Defense and Religious schools, is not fixing its own roads because there is not enough funding from the Government to get the job done.

When people complain about Government spending, remember the subtext of what they are really saying: "the Government is spending too much, on other people."  If the Government is doing something to benefit Republican communities, then those programs are championed.  When the Government does something for a mostly Democratic community, the Republicans oppose it and call it wasteful.  You don't need to look past the Streetcar to see that.  That will help the City of Cincinnati.  Not enough Republicans live there, so Republican voters don't tend to care what happens in places that are not mostly Republican.  That's a sad state to live in, but the modern GOP has become a sectarian movement.  It's like living in the Balkans or Iraq.

I for one would like the State of Ohio to kick-in funds to improve the Fields-Ertel interchange.  The Republican run State government should get on that.


Monday, February 13, 2012

Exurban Lunacy Alive in West Chester

As the result of the desire to destroy the community, Lakota School District officials were required to put out thier plan to deal with massive budget cuts forced on the school system by a majority of voters. There is no other way to describe the majority of voters in the Laktoa district other than lunatics. They have a wealthy school district with good schools and most voters there want lower quality schools. That defies logic. I also can't understand how they can cut a single teacher without cutting all extracurricular sports programs. They should sell all of land their football stadiums are built on, but no, they'll keep funding football above nearly everything else.

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Another Local Republican Faces Sex/Drug Scandal

The reason for the resignation of former Clermont County Commissioner Archie Wilson, Republicsn, became very clear today. The Enquirer is reporting that He is being charged with solicitation of a prostitute and drug Trafficking in Kentucky.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Where Are the Republican Cheers For This?

Local Townships are having to pay for their own police patrols starting April 1st, instead of Hamilton County paying for it.  This sounds like a conservative Republican's wet dream!  Self-reliance!  I am going to expect COAST or someone akin to propose hiring a private firm to conduct the police patrols of the townships.  Then I would expect either a wall or fences surrounding the townships with razor wire and electrification to be erected.  Maybe some search lights and tall guard towers?

What is the world coming too?  Just last night I was in the exurbs getting gas on the way home from work and while pumping gas, I was approached by a person who happened to be on their way to Cleveland but just realized they lost their wallet at a restaurant a while ago and just happened to make it here to the gas station with their family and their bank account just happened to be closed and their spiel was way too rehearsed, not remotely honest enough to be believed.  I mean this can't happen in the burbs, can it? Scammers? What is needed is RoboCop and we need it now or we are all going to constantly be harassed by con artists.  Someone call Omni Consumer Products!

Friday, October 07, 2011

County Cutting Police Protection, Not Attacked For Funding Sports

So, I find it funny, yet not surprising that when the County leadership is working to cut police coverage (Sheriff's patrols) in some suburban townships, we don't have a circus screaming about the impending increase in crime that would follow. That's what we get when anyone in the City dares state that we should cut our police force. We hear that most from the FOP, the police union. How many of those police officers live in the townships (outside of the city) that are affected by the possible cuts to the Sheriff's patrols?

Chris Monzel, current County Commissioner and former member of Cincinnati City Council, is part of the leadership looking to cut the police. Why is he not cutting funding for the Bengals Stadium? Why would we subsidize a professional sports team instead of funding police protection? Why can't he just do what people like him claim should happen in the City, which is tap restricted funds? COAST, members of Westwood Concern, and the FOP all tried to make various forms of this argument. Monzel played to that crowd and won the County race based in part on his pro-police antics. We don't hear the circus attacking him or fellow commissioner Greg Hartmann for doing the same thing the City administration wants and should do, cut the police force.

I really don't like hypocrisy, but I really hate it when the hypocrisy is enabled. The media enables it by giving a voice to the crazies, who are surprisingly (or not really surprisingly) silent on this.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Wenstrup to challenge Schmidt For Congress

Losing Republican Mayoral candidate Brad Wenstrup will mount a primary challenge against sitting 2nd district Republican congress woman Jean Schmidt.

Does Wenstrup know something we don't? Does he know what the 2nd district will look like? That's a big reason we've not heard who else will run for congress, we don't know what redistricting will do. Where the lines are 'painted' for the 1st and 2nd districts will drive who will get in each of the races from the Democratic side. I expect we won't know what those districts look like until the Republicans draw the lines behind closed doors and do their best to create as many districts with demographics that favor their candidate, while giving the Democrats little time to review them.

Wenstrup mounted a suburbanite campaign when he ran for the City of Cincinnati Mayor. That means that while he lived on the east side of the city, his attitude and tone towards the city was like a moderate suburbanite's generally is: one of caution, some misplaced fear, and dislike. That doesn't play well in the city. That attitude may, however, play well if the 2nd district has a big suburban core. I don't know how well he will sell out in the rural areas. That is a whole different type of voter. In a GOP primary, they will be especially different from the typical suburban Republican on economic issues. That's going to be interesting.

Wenstrup is a solid challenger to Schmidt. He is a mainstream Republican, so he can lean as far to the right as he needs to and play to the middle if that is where is primary votes lie and for the general election if needed. Seeing how much this divides the party in the primary is going to be an enjoyable situation.