Sittenfeld This One Out

Breaking news this morning. Ohio's corrupt politicians continue to fall in the wake of the FirstEnergy bribery and corruption scandal as the FBI is now in everybody's books, and the latest arrest is yet another Cincinnati city council member, rising star Democrat P.G. Sittenfeld.

FBI agents arrested Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld Thursday morning on federal charges accusing him of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable votes on development deals, a source with knowledge of the arrest told The Enquirer.

Sittenfeld, a Democrat and the presumptive front-runner in next year’s mayoral election, was arrested around 9:30 a.m.

Elected to council in 2011, Sittenfeld has amassed a campaign war chest of $710,000 on his way to becoming one of the city’s most powerful politicians. He is the brother of novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, author of "Prep" and "Rodham."

The federal charges mean one-third of Cincinnati’s City Council – three sitting members of the city’s top legislative body – have been arrested this year on corruption charges related to city development projects.

Tamaya Dennard, a Democrat, resigned from council after her arrest in February on fraud and bribery charges. She has pleaded guilty to a charge of honest services wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Jeff Pastor, a Republican, was arrested Nov. 10 on bribery, extortion and money laundering charges related to two development deals, according to a federal affidavit. That case is pending. His attorney, Ben Dusing, said Pastor will fight the charges.

It’s unclear what deal or deals are at the heart of Sittenfeld’s arrest. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David DeVillers is expected to share more at an 11 a.m. press conference.

Feds taking a flamethrower to Ohio politics, and that's badly needed, but I'm actually sad to see Sittenfeld's career end like this. He would have been a great replacement for Mayor Cranley.

Oh well.