Dean Scream, Cincy Edition

Howard Dean's Democracy For America PAC is shutting down this month due to lack of money, and nearly everyone involved with it is pointing the finger at former Cincy City Councilwoman Yvette Simpson as the main culprit in the organization's demise.

 

As the liberal group Democracy for America approached insolvency following the midterm elections, staffers faced a related problem: their CEO, Yvette Simpson, was on vacation at a vineyard in California.

Weeks earlier Simpson had told two members of the development team that $320,000 needed to be raised for DFA to make it through the year, according to two former employees. But as the group’s dire financial state started to become clear to staff, she attended a leadership training paid for by the organization and a personal multi-day sommelier education course in Napa Valley, according to five former employees.

“Is this heaven? No, but it’s pretty close!” Simpson posted on Instagram while there. Eventually, she held an all-staff Zoom call while in Napa, in which she announced that DFA was running out of cash, according to an audio recording.

“We didn’t get major donations as we expected last month so we ended up using $100,000 from our reserve just to cover expenses,” she said. “If I were you, I would be looking for another job. … I want every member of this team to go out into the marketplace to see if they can get another job just in case.”

Though DFA was in deep trouble before Simpson left for California, her lack of substantial outreach to donors and her personal time away at that critical juncture was the culmination of the organization’s demise, according to the five former employees and a staffer’s contemporaneous notes and documents from inside DFA. She resigned on Dec. 7 as CEO and all non-leadership staffers were laid off the same day without any severance.

And last week, POLITICO reported that DFA was about to shut down while its separate 501(c)4 nonprofit would stay afloat.

It was an ignoble sendoff of a group that was once a major arm of the progressive movement. DFA was started in the wake of Howard Dean’s unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign. The group harnessed his progressive supporters and the anti-Iraq War movement’s momentum to support like-minded candidates across the country. It leaned on small-dollar fundraising to aggressively back progressives in competitive primaries. And in recent years, it expanded its focus to include secretary of state and attorney general races, ranked choice voting, student debt relief and Medicare for All.

But in a progressive ecosystem where groups have become more narrowly focused on issue advocacy or specific electoral tasks — such as candidate recruitment or voter protection — DFA has struggled. Dean left the organization after he became chair of the DNC in 2005 but continued to occasionally advise DFA from 2009 until 2016. He called the demise of DFA “sad” in a brief interview but declined to elaborate.

“DFA left it all on the field this year to stop the red wave and win critical elections up and down the ballot across the country. As DFA heads into the next cycle in this difficult fundraising environment, the decision was made to wind down the PAC by the end of the year,” said DFA special adviser Charles Chamberlain. “The DFA Advocacy Fund will continue its work for the foreseeable future focused on election reforms like ranked choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.” Simpson is still on the board of that fund, according to a person familiar with the matter, but it’s unclear whether she will remain in that position in the longer term.

 

The Cincinnati Enquirer weighed in on the story as well, interviewing Jim Dean, Howard Dean's brother and the head of DFA until Simpson stepped in three years ago.

Jim Dean told The Enquirer he stepped down in part because Simpson was available. He also said the demise of Democracy for America was not Simpson's fault. The organization had gone through similar lean financial times before her tenure.

"We have never, in the 18 years of our existence, never were flush with cash," Jim Dean said. "There was never any huge cushion. I’m a little bit surprised that seemed to be lost on the staff, because some of these folks had been there for a while and been there when we had cash shortages. It wasn’t the first time that’s happened."

 

But, the fact remains that DFA is shutting down under Simpson, and that given the rampant success of the 2022 midterms and fundraising off of a myriad of issues, Simpson couldn't get the money needed to keep DFA afloat.

Needless to say, this is the person who lost to John Cranley in the mayoral primary five years ago. She left the City Council in 2018 and went national, but this is the result.

The Buckeye Battle Royale

Everybody's after Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine's job in 2022 as he faces tough challengers from both parties, the latest of which is Cincy Mayor John Cranley.

 

Two-term Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley joined the race for Ohio governor on Tuesday, pledging to modernize Ohio’s infrastructure and economy with proceeds from legalizing marijuana and to extract money from energy companies for homeowner rebates that will help lift family budgets.

With the launch of his campaign Tuesday, Cranley joins his friend, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, in the Democratic field. She announced her bid April 19. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to run for a second term, a campaign that will begin with a contested primary.

Cranley, 47, had been exploring a bid for the Democratic nomination for months and had raised more than $1.3 million for the effort as of July. Whaley reported raising more than $1.6 million.

First elected mayor in 2013, Cranley is term-limited from running again this year. He points to his record as chief executive of a major city that’s growing while others languish to show his capability to lead the state.

“Ohio needs a comeback and deserves a governor who has led a comeback,” Cranley told The Associated Press in an interview. “It’s not going to be easy to take a state like Ohio, which like so many in the Midwest has been in decline, and to have it come back again, but that’s what we’re going to do.”

He said the GOP-controlled state Legislature has been tainted by corruption and puts the interests of big corporations over workers. He said he will make “jobs, jobs, and more jobs” his priority.

Cranley’s economic plan calls for creating 30,000 new $60,000-a-year jobs annually in such areas as advanced manufacturing and renewable energy, and to improve Ohio roads, water systems and broadband networks.

He proposes using tax revenue from legalizing recreational marijuana, now legal in neighboring Michigan and 17 other states, to pay for his programs. He also would reconfigure Ohio’s privatized job creation office, JobsOhio. He also proposes offering Ohio homeowners $500 dividends paid for from energy company profits.

As mayor, Cranley, who twice lost congressional races against Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot of Cincinnati, aggressively pursued a new soccer stadium project that helped the city land a Major League Soccer franchise and helped Cincinnati police acquire a cutting-edge ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.

His 2018 feud with a city manager who accused Cranley of overstepping his authority to undermine the city manager’s role drew criticism from some fellow Democrats. The city manager eventually resigned with a severance agreement.

Although Cranley, a Roman Catholic, personally opposes abortion, he doesn’t think government should pass restrictions on the procedure that spark expensive, often unsuccessful, legal battles because “it’s just not a good use of scarce resources.”

“I’m pro-choice. I’ve struggled as a matter of faith,” said Cranley, who supports same-sex marriage. As governor, Cranley said he would veto any incursions on the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

While both Cranley and Whaley have managed to keep their noses clean in their respective city's federal bribery scandals on City Council, I just don't see how either one gets more than 40% of the vote in Ohio in 2022.

Of course, I'm expecting DeWine to be replaced by somebody far worse. Former GOP Rep. Jim Renacci has already stepped in on the Republican side and I can bet you dollars to doughnuts that more are coming over the next 12 months.

Stay tuned.

The Next Housing Crisis, Con't

Republicans got their federal judge to overturn the CDC's moratorium on evictions as a public health measure, this time in the DC Circuit, which almost certainly means this will be fast tracked to the Supreme Court.

Federal Judge Dabney Friedrich struck down on Wednesday the national eviction moratorium, potentially leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes two months earlier than expected.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has banned most evictions across the country since September. The protection was slated to expire at the end of January, but President Joe Biden has extended it, first until April, and later through June.

Some 1 in 5 renters across the U.S. are struggling to keep up with their payments amid the coronavirus pandemic, and states are scrambling to disburse more than $45 billion in rental assistance allocated by Congress.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said it planned to appeal the ruling. It also seeks a stay of the decision, meaning the ban would remain in effect throughout the court battle.

Speaking at her daily briefing, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the Biden administration recognized the importance of the eviction moratorium for Americans who’ve fallen behind on rent during the pandemic.

“A recent study estimates that there were 1.55 million fewer evictions filed during 2020 than would be expected due to the eviction moratorium, so it clearly has had a huge benefit,” Psaki said.

Housing advocates have said that the national ban is necessary to stave off an unprecedented displacement of Americans, which could worsen the pandemic just as the country is turning a corner.

Researchers have found that allowing evictions to continue in certain states caused as many as 433,700 excess cases of Covid-19 and 10,700 additional deaths in the U.S. between March and September, before the CDC ban went into effect nationwide.

At least two other federal judges have questioned the CDC’s power to ban evictions. And landlords have criticized the policy, saying they can’t afford to continue housing people for free.

 

Here in Cincinnati, the vote for more affordable housing failed spectacularly this week.

The city of Cincinnati will not have to find $50 million to fund a new affordable housing trust fund.

Voters on Tuesday rejected Issue 3, a charter amendment designed to force city leaders to provide additional housing for Cincinnati’s low-income residents, according to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

With all precincts reporting, 73% of voters had said no, while only 27% approved of the measure.

“We knew that the voters would come through for us,” said Matt Alter, president of the Cincinnati Firefighters Union Local 48. “We knew that they would see through this.”

The union leaders and politicians who fought against Issue 3 agree the city needs more affordable housing, he said, and now must work to find other, better ways to create that.

“I know the Cincinnati Labor Council and some of the other stakeholders, including some of the political parties, are interested in also sitting down and being a part of that,” Alter said. “The voters voted ‘no’ on this. But how do we make sure that this doesn’t just fall to the back burner, and we continue on this pace to ensure that we can bring affordable housing to Cincinnati in a responsible manner that doesn’t damage and doesn’t hurt current services?”

 

City police and firefighter unions made sure the vote died screaming, warning that they would all but go on strike if Issue 3 passed, and they got what they wanted. Aftab Pureval, the Hamilton County Clerk running for Mayor, also opposed the bill. Issue 3 essentially had no chance.

Pureval is the favorite for replacing outgoing Mayor John Cranley, which is all you need to know about where Cincy's affordable housing situation is going.

It's worse here on the Kentucky side of the river, believe me.

Portman, In A Storm

Ohio GOP Senator Rob Portman is the latest Republican in the upper chamber to announce his intent to retire in 2022, opening up a battle royale across the Ohio GOP for his seat.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman emphasized bipartisanship as he announced he will not be running for re-election.

He said he hopes he will be remembered for the legislation he passed, and he urged politicians to do a better job of working together.

“If we just keep pushing out to the right and to the left, there’s not going to be much left in the middle to solve the real problems we face,” he said.

Portman whining about his Senate colleagues and "lack of bipartisanship" is just about the ultimate expression of eau d'Portman, the man has all the intestinal fortitude of a jar of Miracle Whip left out in the sun for a year.  To whit:

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said he hasn’t decided how he will vote on impeachment during former President Donald Trump’s trial.

“I’m a juror, it’s going to happen,” Portman said. “As a juror, I’m going to listen to both sides. That’s my job.”

Portman said Trump contributed to partisan gridlock in Washington, and he also laid blame on Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

And Portman will refuse to convict just like the first time, because Rob Portman is a coward through and through.

The worst part about all this is that the smart money on Portman's replacement in the Senate is almost certainly on the repugnant Rep. Jim Jordan, and that's only because Gov. Mike DeWine was already a Senator once and seems to be happy as governor for now.

And no, considering the Ohio Democrats couldn't beat one single Ohio legislature Republican who voted for the scandalous multi-billion dollar FirstEnergy kickback bill last year, plus all the city council scandals that have sunk folks like P.G. Sittenfeld (and everyone hating Mayor Cranley) I barely expect Ohio Dems to be able to run a candidate, let alone win.

Short of Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown having a twin brother we don't know about, this seat is going to go to an even worse Republican in 2022.

Sadly, I have to give Jim Jordan his own tag now, because we're not going to be able to escape him now here in the Cincy media for the next two years.

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.

Indepen-Dunce Week: It's About The Kids, See

House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy takes to USA Today to sell the Republican priority of legal immunity to COVID-19 lawsuits for businesses by using America's schoolchildren as bargaining chips.

The economic shutdown has transformed many American households into makeshift day cares, middle school classrooms and summer camps. Parents have had to take on the roles of teachers and coaches while trying to manage full-time jobs. Now, as we look to reopen parts of the economy, those same parents are facing limited to zero options for child care.

Under COVID-19 orders, 50% of providers recently surveyed reported their center was completely closed, and most of the providers who did remain open were operating at less than 25% capacity. And 1 in 3 jobs in child day care centers went away, likely for good. Additionally, many schools will reopen this fall with staggered or part-time schedules and at least 60 private schools have permanently closed, displacing more than 8,000 students.

We now see a looming crisis for schools and child care. If it's left unaddressed, it will exacerbate the economic crisis caused by the pandemic by preventing parents across the country from returning to work, and continue to widen the socioeconomic gap.

There is an important role for Congress to play in alleviating the stress on our families. We should begin by addressing the shortage of child care options by working to keep existing providers in business and encouraging new child care providers, including home-based providers, to start up in as safe and healthy a way as possible. Any additional financial relief considered by Congress to businesses to aid in the economic recovery should prioritize child care providers and schools.

Small home-based providers should be treated like start-ups and given small business support, including access to regional networks, to help improve quality and access to group purchasing power. This will also help providers with recruitment and professional development of the workforce, for both new and returning employees. Many of these businesses are owner-operated, women and minority owned businesses. Helping them launch and setting them up for success could be a win-win in aiding the recovery.

Again, this is exactly what Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have been proposing for over two months now, and Senate Republicans have been blocking for over two months now.  So what's the catch?

Next paragraph, please.

A part of helping schools and child care centers confidently reopen will involve providing liability protections against frivolous lawsuits. COVID-19 related lawsuits against businesses (including child care providers as well as K-12 schools), when good-faith efforts to follow best health practices and recommendations are followed, are an existential threat to companies large and small.

K-12 schools across the country have asked Congress to provide meaningful, targeted protection from frivolous claims and lawsuits resulting from possible exposure to the coronavirus on school facilities and property. A wave of such lawsuits threatens to prevent child care providers and schools from reopening, which would undermine the economic and social recovery of our country.

And there it is.

Republicans are already making plans to force schools to reopen this fall regardless of safety. Florida is already forcing all schools to reopen next month and Texas is doing the same thing. Nationally, the Trump regime says it will not allow public schools to reopen on partial or staggered schedules, and that distance learning will not be accepted.

The CDC's guidance for schools recommends that students and teachers wear masks “as feasible,” spread out desks, stagger schedules, eat meals in classrooms instead of the cafeteria, and add physical barriers between bathroom sinks.

Some schools have announced plans to bring students back for only a few days a week, an option that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday said was unacceptable.

“It’s clear that our nations schools must fully reopen and fully operate this school year. Anything short of that robs students, not to mention taxpayers, of their future,” DeVos said.

During a call with governors, DeVos slammed plans by Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools to have families decide between fully remote instruction or two days a week at school. “A choice of two days per week in the classroom is not a choice at all," DeVos said, according to audio of the call obtained by The Associated Press.

DeVos also criticized many schools' attempts at distance education after the pandemic prompted them to move classes online last spring. She said she was disappointed in schools that “didn’t figure out how to serve students or who just gave up and didn’t try.”

The same thing can’t happen again this fall, she said, urging governors to play a role in getting schools to reopen.

They gave up because of school funding cuts across the board by Republicans.  By the way, Cincinnati plans to open schools in the fall on a staggered schedule. Mayor Cranley says he disagrees with the plan and says schools have no choice but to open as normal.

Finally, Donald Trump made it clear today that he plans to cut all federal funding for any school district, college, or university that doesn't open this fall.

Trump on Wednesday morning tweeted, "In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!" 

On Tuesday night, DeVos said she is “very seriously” looking at withholding federal funds from schools that don't open their doors this fall.

“Kids have got to continue learning,” she told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson during an interview late Tuesday. “Schools have got to open up, there has got to be concerted effort to address the needs of all kids and adults who are fear mongering and making excuses simply have got to stop doing it and turn their attention on what is right for students and for their families.” 

Federal funding for K-12 schools includes billions for low-income schools and special education. But education leaders immediately questioned how the administration would propose to hold back those funds or others. 

"To be clear: there is no mechanism by which they can decide to magically withhold funding without Congressional authorization," tweeted Sasha Pudelski, advocacy director for AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

This is going to be the big fight over the next several weeks across the country, and it's going to play out against a backdrop of a massive spike in cases and very soon a massive spike in COVID-19 deaths.  Kids are going to be Republican pawns, put in the direct path of a pandemic that will kill thousands and cripple tens, maybe hundreds of thousands more. And teachers, educators, and school staff?  When they start dropping dead in classrooms?

What then?  "Find a way to open as normal or lose all funding, you have six weeks."

Keep an eye on this. The future of public education in America is now very much in doubt.

And that's exactly what Republicans want.

The end of public education.

A Streetcar Named Retired

In probably the least surprising column of his career, Jason Williams over at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the city has shut down the streetcar amid city worker furloughs announced Monday and doesn't even give it 24 hours before floting the idea that it should never, ever reopen.

Cincinnati's streetcar is shut down. It should stay closed. Forever. 

The magnitude of City Council's streetcar-before-people priorities has never been so glaring. 

The city on Monday furloughed 1,700 employees indefinitely amid the coronavirus-induced financial free fall. The news came as the city also announced it is shutting down the streetcar during the health crisis. 

How many of those temporary layoffs could've been avoided if the city had an extra $5 million? That's how much it costs to run a mostly empty streetcar each year. 

It's days like Monday when everyone should clearly realize that, yes, it's real money being used for these pet projects. So is $100 million, which is roughly what it'll cost to keep the streetcar running for another 20 years. How many future cuts are going to come at the expense of a useless trolley circling around Downtown and Over-the-Rhine? 

It's days like Monday when it's never been more obvious that the streetcar is both a luxury and a liability. The city faces a potential $80 million budget deficit in the coming months, and it can no longer afford ex-Mayor Mark Mallory and the progressives' streetcar. 

This is an opportunity for Mayor John Cranley and City Manager Patrick Duhaney to try and stop the streetcar budget bleeding for good. They must call the Trump administration and ask for it to let Cincinnati out of streetcar prison. My apologies to the four people who regularly ride the streetcar.

Williams is mad and gleeful at the same time, and frankly Cranley probably will have the city kill the streetcar.  But whatever the future holds for Cincinnati's downtown during and after the Trump Depression, the streetcar almost certainly won't be a part of it in any way.  The Queen City's made three big bets in the last few years, on keeping the Bengals in town, on getting FC Cincinnati into MLS with a new stadium, and on the streetcar.

The city's losses on the streetcar will be pocket change compared to the other two.

Trump's Race To The Bottom, Con't

Here in Cincinnati last night, we didn't see the return of "Send her back!" chants.  We got threats of violence against the press and actual outright physical violence against people protesting his visit instead. 

Punches were thrown outside U.S. Bank Arena as Trump addressed the crowd, defending his record and attacking Democrats for what he said were their destructive record for inner cities.

Though many of the protests were peaceful, this one turned violent, forcing Cincinnati police to intervene in the 200 block of Broadway Street.

Dallas Frazier, 29, of Georgetown, Kentucky, was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge and escorted away in handcuffs.

He was taken to the Hamilton County Justice Center, where he was booked and held overnight without bond.

He appeared before a judge Friday afternoon and was granted a $10,000 bond at 10 percent, meaning he only has to pay $1,000 to be released.

“Victim stated suspect exited a vehicle, stated ‘You want some’ then struck the victim multiple times in the face causing visible injuries and breaking victim’s glasses,” Cincinnati police wrote in Frazier’s criminal complaint.

The victim, Matt Alter, went to Christ Hospital to get checked out. After, he told FOX19 NOW he was punched six times in the face.

Alter said he was with anti-Trump protesters and the man who hit him pulled up in a truck, didn’t like what he had to say and started attacking him.

“I was standing with a group of people around and the truck pulled up. He was yelling at people. People yelling back anti Trump stuff whatever, nothing specific and he just started getting violent and I’m like come on guy,” Alter said.

Both men involved in the fight were white.  I'm very thankful that the bastard who jumped out of his truck didn't attack a black protester, because who knows how that would have ended, especially with the police already on scene.

Inside US Bank Arena last night, it wasn't much better.

Open throats, captive minds. Maybe 17,000 of each, deafening in different ways. Joy, fear, love, hate, fellowship. Unbridled, roaring nationalism. Shirts that said “JESUS IS MY SAVIOR, TRUMP IS MY PRESIDENT,” though it was hard to tell the difference here at rally No. 64 of his presidency, on day 923 of his first term.

About 15 minutes into his speech Thursday evening, Donald Trump riffed on one of his favorite topics: American “inner cities,” and how they are utter hellholes.

“We can name one after the other, but I won’t do that,” Trump said. “Because I don’t want to be controversial.” He paused to let the crowd goad him into being controversial. “We want no controversy.” This was his first rally since his pillorying of Baltimore as “infested,” since his last audience chanted “send her back” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the Somali-American congresswoman.

Would he go there again? Would he go beyond? Would they? How racist was everyone feeling tonight?

When asked earlier in the day about indecent chants, outside the White House, Trump said: “I don’t know that you can stop people.”

Presently, onstage, the president pivoted to his left and looked into the crowd at the U.S. Bank Arena. His followers, reacting as one red-hatted organism, had detected an invasion: a few protesters who had unfurled a small banner that said “IMMIGRANTS BUILT AMERICA.” The organism’s immune system pulsed to life. People snatched at the banner, swarmed the protesters.

Trump sidestepped the microphone and addressed the fans closest to him, just off the stage. “Democrat mayor?” he asked them, hand beside his mouth, perhaps to block his audio. “Democrat mayor. Democrat?” When the slight infection was treated, the capacity crowd chanted “U-S-A.” 

“Cincinnati, do you have a Democrat mayor?” Trump said at the microphone. “Well, that’s what happens.”

Yes, that’s what happens if you vote Democrat, or if a Democrat is in charge, or if anyone is in charge but Donald Trump in 2021: chaos, lawlessness, the slavery of socialism, epidemics of disease and drugs, criminal immigrants pillaging schools and hospitals, the slaughter of newborn babies by abortion doctors, pesky investigations of presidential wrongdoing by men such as Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), congressman from Baltimore and chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

He's talking to you, Mayor Cranley.  You're next.  All Democratic politicians are next.  All Democratic voters are next.

Fever bright Trumpies are everywhere.  They are dangerous.  And they see Trump as God on Earth.

Rewind for a moment, to about two hours before Trump’s entrance. It was the fifth rally for Steve and Tina Callahan, real estate agents from Springfield, Ohio. They were waiting in the first row of the second tier of seating, in attire patterned with the American flag, because they wanted to feel unity, to be around people with “common sense,” to see their hero in the flesh.

“He is sacrificing his life to save America from a new world order,” Tina said.

What if he is not reelected?

“God is real and He’s told many people that Trump is going to serve eight years,” said Tina, a born-again Christian. “And Pence is going to serve eight years. And Pence’s vice president is going to serve eight years.”

Jennifer Heinlein, a patient-services specialist, loves how her 401(k) has swelled. She pays “heavily” for her health insurance, but wants to keep it, and worries that a Democrat would take it away. She pointed to her compatriots moving through the concourse in Trump-branded merchandise. “When I see people wearing all this,” Heinlein said, “it makes me a believer.”
Down on the polished concrete floor of the arena, in the standing VIP section, was a woman named Michelle Sellati, wearing a shirt adorned with the letter “Q.” She was part of a noticeable contingent of rallygoers wearing the symbols of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which at least one FBI field office has identified as a domestic terrorist threat, according to a Yahoo News story published earlier in the day. Besides being a portal to uncertain revelations of a dubious nature, QAnon also helps explain the president’s foibles to those who see him as the author of living scripture.

“I wait for him to misspell or mispronounce something, and then I wait for my Serial Brain to decode,” said Sellati, referring to a YouTube channel that she says analyzes the missing letters in the president’s tweets — and the garbled words in the president’s mouth — for clues to what’s going to happen in the future.

What’s an example of something that’s happened, after a clue?

“The chemtrails,” Sellati said.

The chemtrails.

“The chemtrails are gone. Since July 4. Look at the sky. It’s beautiful.”

Do you think these people are going to accept a Trump loss without catastrophic violence against those who they perceive as responsible for that loss?

“We’re all tired of being called racists,” a 74-year-old bespectacled white man named Richard Haines told me. “You open your mouth, you’re a racist. My daughter is a liberal, and she’s [using the word] all the time. We don’t talk politics; we can’t—all the time she always accuses me of hate.”

Haines, who told me he had just returned to the United States from Thailand, where he had done missionary work for 15 years with impoverished children, said that he knew what real racism looked like—that his father was a “bigot” who “didn’t like black people.”

“Donald is not racist, you know?” Haines said. “He makes a statement, and they take the words out of context and try to twist everything so that he’s a racist. And I think it’s gonna backfire.”

Before the rally began, I sat down on the floor of the arena with two women—Roseanna, 50, and Amy, 48—who felt similarly. (Neither woman was comfortable providing her last name for this story.) Roseanna, who wore a red T-shirt, white shorts, and a MAGA hat adorned with multiple buttons, including one featuring the likeness of Hillary Clinton behind bars, had driven an hour and a half from Lexington, Kentucky. She defended Trump’s statements about Baltimore. “He didn’t say nothing about the color of somebody’s skin,” Roseanna said, yet it seemed like everyone was “wishing him toward ‘He’s a bigot.’

“I’m sick to death of it. I have 13 grandchildren—13,” she continued. “Four of them are biracial, black and white; another two of them are black and white; and another two of them are Singapore and white. You think I’m a racist? I go and I give them kids kisses like nobody’s business.”

When I asked Roseanna and Amy whether they would join in a “Send her back!” chant were it to take place that night, both women said no, but out of deference to Trump. “He apologized for that, so I think us as Trump supporters will respect him for that,” Roseanna said. She then shared her thoughts on the chant’s target, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who came to America as a refugee from Somalia.

“Look, but she is gonna get—you know, I don’t want her stinkin’ Muslim crap in my country,” Roseanna said.

“Sharia law,” Amy chimed in. Her iridescent CoverGirl highlighter glinted under the stadium lights. “Sharia law.”

“That’s not America,” Roseanna said. “She is a Muslim through and through …She wants that all here.” She wondered aloud whether Omar had come to the U.S. illegally. (There is no evidence this is true.)

Should Trump win, they will be justified in their racism.  Should Trump lose, they will not accept it. They will want to do something about it.

And they will.

I am terrified of what may happen in 2020.  I will vote, and I will continue to write, and I will continue to witness.  But I would be lying if I said I didn't expect brutal, historic violence in the wake of a Trump loss.

Last Call For Out Of Con Text

The big story in Cincinnati politics this week is the hammer that Hamilton County judge Robert Ruhlman dropped on Cincinnati's City Council on Thursday.  Five City Council members pled to violations of the state's open meetings law by discussing the fate of City Manager Harry Black via text messages last year, and in the hearing today to have those pleas heard, Judge Ruhlman called on all five to immediately resign from City Council instead.

A Hamilton County judge gave a tongue-lashing Thursday to five Cincinnati City Council members who broke the law by secretly conducting public business via text messages.

Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman told the five they violated the trust of voters and should immediately resign from office.

"You essentially lied to the people of this city," Ruehlman said. "The trust is gone. It's going to take a long time to get that trust back."

The five council members – Wendell Young, P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Tamaya Dennard and Greg Landsman – all admitted as part of a settlement agreement that they broke Ohio open meetings law by secretly discussing public business in a string of group text messages.

The spectacle of five council members appearing before a judge to acknowledge wrongdoing is unprecedented in modern Cincinnati politics and threatens to unleash more chaos at City Hall, where personal and professional rivalries have interfered with council’s work for more than a year.

None of the five council members spoke in court Thursday, but the judge did plenty of talking. He said their actions betrayed the ideals of those who created a city government that's supposed to serve the public, not elected officials.

"I really believe the five City Council members should resign," Ruehlman said. "No city voter should ever vote for them again."

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Landsman said he has no plans to step down. "You have to take responsibility for your actions," he said, referring to the texts. "I've said they were a mistake from the beginning."

Sittenfeld said in a statement the group text messages were "an honest mistake" that won't be repeated. But he complained the error has been blown out of proportion by political opponents, including the law firm and the conservative, anti-tax group that have led the charge against the five Democratic council members.

"The important business of the city has been hijacked by politically motivated actions of a local right-wing group and their affiliated law firm, whose goals, put simply, are to cause chaos and enrich themselves," Sittenfeld said.

Seelbach attacked Ruehlman, a Republican, on Twitter, referring to appeals court decisions that went against the judge and describing him as the "most overturned judge in southwest Ohio."

Mark Miller, who filed the lawsuit that brought the text messages to light, said Ruehlman was right to criticize the five council members. "This is very real," Miller said. "How are we going to trust these guys after they purposely did business out of public view?"

One of the five, Young, will be back in court in a few weeks to face a possible contempt of court charge for deleting some of the texts at issue in the case.

Young's lawyer told Ruehlman on Thursday he believes his client deleted the texts before the judge ordered the council members to preserve all of their messages. If that's true, it may shield Young from a contempt of court violation.

And all of this comes from a series of really bad decisions the City Council has made involving Mayor John Cranley.  Cranley and the Council have been banging heads for years now, and both of them have made increasingly bad decisions over protecting their turf from the other, including both sides using former City Manager Harry Black as a pawn.

It's getting ridiculous now, and I'm hoping this will finally be the end of this clown show.

Soccer It To Me, Cincy

Things just got a lot more complicated in soccer club FC Cincinnati's bid to join Nashville and Miami in MLS expansion bids as the franchise's plans to put a new stadium in West End  has drawn the attention of the Cincinnati NAACP, and rightfully so.

As FC Cincinnati pursuesland acquisition in the West End for a possible MLS stadium, the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP is demanding "full transparency and engagement of the community." 

FC President and General Manager Jeff Berding has pledged both, but at a public meeting Tuesday night in which the team secured the right to buy land in the West End no details were given about where a stadium would be located. 

"The West End is a historically African American neighborhood that over the years has seen the fabric of its community strategically and systematically torn apart and gentrified in the name of 'progress' and unfulfilled promises," the group wrote in a press release sent to the media Wednesday morning. 

Berding, in a statement Tuesday night, said that the land FC Cincinnati considering buying from the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority will be used for single-family homes: 

"For the stadium to be a great addition to the neighborhood, this enormous sports facility investment should also bring with it increased density with more housing for new residents, more offices and workers, more retail and entertainment, and of course, more community facilities," the statement said.

He pledged FCC will do "a pro-active community engagement process with residents, stakeholders and those with historic ties to the West End" and that the club and its owners "are fully committed to extensive community engagement, and those activities will be forthcoming soon." 

The CMHA board voted Tuesday to give FC Cincinnati the option to buy 66 parcels of land south of Liberty Street. The team has a year to act on the option. 

The NAACP pointed out CMHA received funding from the federal government in the form of a Hope VI grant that displaced hundreds of residents with the promise they could return when redevelopment was completed. But the development stalled and, the NAACP said, "very few residents had the opportunity to return."

"We are monitoring the developments with serious interest and until a definitive plan is presented, we will reserve comment and judgment," the release said. "However, we demand full transparency and engagement of the community as the conversation develops."

Good for the NAACP putting its foot down here.  The city has jerked several black neighborhoods around on development projects, most recently with the streetcar routes not going anywhere near black neighborhoods (but of course promised for "future expansion" which Mayor Cranley then killed) and in Over-The-Rhine, which has seen serious development but almost no accommodations made for existing resident who were priced out of the housing market.

West End getting a new stadium would be great, but the devil's always in the details and there really isn't too much of a reason why people should trust 3CDC on this. I hope Berding does follow through should the stadium be built here, but frankly my expectations are very low.  3CDC has made a lot of promises that they haven't followed through on.

Also, there's the question of FC Cincinnati getting a new facility at all at this point.  MLS was happy to take Nashville but moved up plans for Miami's team because they were ready to go.  At this point who knows who the other expansion team is going to be, because of the three contenders, (Sacramento, Detroit and Cincy) none of them seem to actually have a plan for a facility right now.

It's all up in the air.  We'll see where this goes.

Cranley Comes Through

Several mayoral contests were settled Tuesday, including Cincinnati, where John Cranley was able to win re-election defeating Yvette Simpson.  The Enquirer's Jason Williams has Cranley's keys:

1. He humbled himself and did something he's never done before. 

Actually, Simpson humbled him in that woeful-turnout primary. That woke the bear, and the next day Cranley began overhauling his campaign. The two weeks afterward were rough. He had to make the tough decision to remove long-time friend and right-hand man Jay Kincaid as campaign manager. Kincaid is a masterful political strategist, the brains behind Cranley's decisive win over Roxanne Qualls in 2013. 

But Kincaid's strength is media messaging, and Cranley needed someone to run a robust door-knocking operation after spending nearly $1 million on TV and radio ads in the primary. The ground game and connecting directly with voters became chic again after Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders did it in the presidential race.

And he did.  Cranley's not a bad guy, even for a moderate Dem, but he understood the issue was turnout, and he turned out the voters.

2. Cranley used one issue to expose Simpson's flaws and define the race. 

Simpson's momentum came to a screeching halt on Aug. 7, the day she surprisingly introduced a motion demanding Children's Hospital hand over millions of dollars to Avondale in exchange for her support of a zoning change on a mega-expansion project.

The skilled politician, Cranley went to work doing what he does best – exploiting his political foes' mistakes. He repeatedly hammered Simpson on the Children's issue all the way until Election Day. Simpson's campaign spiraled downward. She allowed Cranley to define her and the race with the Children's issue.

Cincinnati is pretty proud of Children's Hospital, it's a world-class facility.  But Simpson got smoked on this.  Yes, she was fighting for much-needed neighborhood improvement in Avondale, but it came at the expense of grabbing onto a third rail, voltage be damned.  This is where she really lost the race.

3. Real people had their say.

Cincinnati doesn't live in the Over-the-Rhine bubble. This election proved the so-called progressives remain in the political minority in this town, despite all the hubbub about the streetcar and noise they make in the Facebook echo chamber. 

That vocal minority would have you believe that Simpson was loved and Cranley loathed across the city. Turns out, Simpson's support is probably an inch wide and a mile deep. Meanwhile, Cranley's is a mile wide and an inch deep. 

Overall, Cranley has done more for the everyday citizen. Politics Extra believes this is where his focus on basic government services, keeping the streets safe and giving city union workers raises paid off. More people care about having their streets paved and garbage picked up on time than whether the city has a spiffy Downtown streetcar.

I think Williams is far less correct here.  Cranley did do a lot to piss people off over four years.  He ran specifically on trashing the streetcar project four years ago and won, then ran into Simpson and City Council and the "real people" of Cincinnati, who have made the project a success so far. He picked a lot of stupid fights with City Council and lost them, and was at best neutral in the Ray Tensing trial that saw Sam DuBose's killer go free earlier this year, and he was way in over his head with the mess over Cincy's new police chief.  There was a reason he lost the primary to Simpson in the spring.

Cranley frankly should have lost yesterday too, but Simpson buried herself with the Children's Hospital issue.  That was a fatal mistake, and it gave Cranley the win.

So we'll have a decent mayor instead of a great one.  Cincinnati's seen worse.

Mayor May Not Be An Exciting Race

Cincinnati is one of several metropolitan cities electing mayors in November 2017, but unlike New York City, Chicago, Boston, or Los Angeles, the Cincinnati races for Mayor and for City Council are kind of boring at least if you take the word of Jason Williams at the Enquirer.

No one seems to have the exact answer why city voters are snoozing so far. Based on conversations, here are five potential reasons why voters are feeling blah: 

1. No defining issue 

This is certainly the case for the City Council race. The Children's Hospital expansionis arguably the defining issue in the mayor's race between Democrats John Cranley and Yvette Simpson. Nonetheless, 2017 is nothing like four years ago, when the future of the streetcar was on the line in the election. In fairness, the streetcar could be one of the most divisive issues in city history, and it's hard to top the energy and emotional investment poured into it. But even then, voter turnout was just 29 percent.

2. Trump fatigue

Are voters taking a breather after last year's intense presidential election? The energy around the Donald Trump resistance has subsided since all the marches and protests locally and nationally early this year. Two council candidates told PX they're sensing voters are tired of hearing about politics and are in need of a breather before the 2018 midterms heat up. 

3. Meh about top of ticket 

Neither mayoral candidate has really given voters a really strong reason to vote for them. Mayor Cranley gets things done, but his abrasive personality has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Cranley's campaign has focused on touting his record, but he's not offered any new big plans for the future. Simpson has gotten little done in nearly six years on city council, and her puzzling decision on the Children's Hospital expansion in August has raised serious questions about her ability to lead. She also hasn't presented any solid, new plans. 

4. City's going in right direction 

Conversely, almost everyone PX talked to said they believe voters generally feel like the city is in a good place and heading in the right direction. There are polls out there showing that, but PX is skeptical of all polling. Despite all the childish infighting at City Hall, Cranley and this council have overseen the arrival of GE at The Banks; made a commitment to public safety; improved basic services such as street paving and garbage collection; and fixed the pension system. In addition, someone pointed out we just drew 1 million people to Downtown for the Blink light show – and that's said to be record attendance for a weekend-long event here. 

5. Under-the-radar council candidates 

Insiders had expectations of an exciting race, considering it's the first since council terms moved from two to four years. But it hasn't come to pass. It's not a real deep field of serious nonincumbents. There have been few intriguing story lines. First-time candidate Seth Maney has stood out. The first openly gay Republican to run for council has gone after openly gay Democratic incumbent Chris Seelbach for making too big a deal of identity politics. Democratic candidate Michelle Dillingham has talked openly about overcoming a heroin addiction. But other than that, most nonincumbents seem content to fly under the radar.

Mostly, all sides want to put the Sam DuBose shooting behind the city.  Cranley certainly isn't going to bring it up and risk pissing off the CPD, and Yvette Simpson isn't going to bring it up for the same reason.  Frankly, nobody wants to engage on the injustice of this.  As far as both mayoral candidates are concerned, they've tried their best.

But remember too that Cincinnati is a town where the mayor can't really do much of anything without the City Council and the City Manager.  When County Prosecutor Joe Deters gave up on a third trial in July, this issue simply went away for both candidates other than a couple of gripes.

If I had to pick, it would be Yvette Simpson.  Cranley had his shot and he didn't exactly cover himself in accolades, while Simpson actually has gotten things done on the City Council.  Ironically, it's the fact that Cranley was much more effective on City Council 12 years ago than he is as Mayor now that remains the main argument against him getting a second term.

Go figure.

Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

Here in Cincinnati, the political aftermath of the two mistrials of former U of C campus police officer Ray Tensing over the shooting death of unarmed black motorist Sam Dubose is coming to a head. Now that the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office has dropped charges against Tensing after refusing a third trial, Cincinnati Police have decided that County Prosecutor Joe Deters needs to be dismissed and odds are very good that Deters is in real trouble.

Cincinnati police officers have taken the extraordinary step of issuing a vote of no confidence in the county prosecutor and another that directed their union leader to withdraw from a group working to refresh the city's Collaborative Agreement. 

Both votes, taken late Monday, stem from anger at how Cincinnati Police Sgt. Shannon Heine was treated in the wake of her testimony in the trial of former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing. She said under oath that she believed his actions were justified. 

A jury couldn't come to a unanimous agreement last week on murder or voluntary murder charges brought against Tensing in the fatal shooting of Sam DuBose during a traffic stop, resulting in a mistrial.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said his office was "blindsided" by Heine's testimony and that it changed the direction of the prosecution's case.

An internal affairs report released by the police department Friday found Heine did not deceive prosecutors, but the Citizen Complaint Authority also has received a complaint against Heine. It was filed by Al Gerhardstein, who represents the DuBose family, on behalf of the Black United Front. 

“I’m especially disturbed by Mr. Gerhardstein’s baseless accusations that Sgt. Heine conspired with the defense. That’s a huge accusation. There’s no evidence of it whatsoever, it’s just they did not like her opinion in that case,” Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 69 President Dan Hils said. 

Deters said Tuesday he remains committed to doing the best job as prosecutor he can and that "I have full confidence in the Cincinnati Police Department.”

The vote of no confidence is believed to be the first of its kind and was shocking because Deters has long enjoyed support from the law enforcement community for his tough-on-crime stances. 

The Tensing case was the first he lost while in the top job at the prosecutor's office, but he told the Enquirer he stood by his decision, despite criticism that he over-charged Tensing. 

The Collaborative Agreement refresh was championed by Mayor John Cranley to revisit the police-community agreement that is seen as a national model. Cranley brought back monitor Saul Green for an eight-month look at the agreement with the support of original signers including community activist Iris Roley, Gerhardstein and the police department.

Understand that the issue with Sgt. Heine's testimony is a smokescreen, the issue is that Deters dared to ever indict Tensing.  The police union is making it very clear that the collaborative agreement between the police, the City Council, the Mayor, and the black community is dead unless Deters is fired, and that's something Mayor Cranley can't afford to let crumble as he faces re-election.

That puts Cincinnati in a very bad place.  If the police union bails from the Collaborative Agreement, Cranley is toast and he knows it.

How long Deters survives as County Prosecutor is anyone's guess if the FOP has turned on him.

We'll see.

Last Call For Meanwhile Here In Cincy

Cincinnati is home to more than a few Fortune 500 companies, but nobody's bigger in the Queen City than grocery giant Kroger.  The company is finally planning to build a major downtown store next to its corporate HQ as part of a new mixed-use building.

Kroger plans to open a Downtown supermarket in the summer of 2019, giving neighborhood residents, city officials and boosters what they've sought for decades. 

The company will build a grocery store at the corner of Court and Walnut streets as part of a $90 million, mixed-use tower, officials are announcing Tuesday. The site, next to the Hamilton County Administration building and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles between Court and Central Parkway, is currently a 175-space parking lot. 

One block east of Kroger's headquarters, the two-story supermarket will anchor an 18-story project developed by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC). It will house 139 apartments and a six-story, 550-space parking garage. 

Kroger will close its smaller, unprofitable Vine Street store in Over-the-Rhine once the new store opens. Kroger officials say the 45,000-square-foot Downtown store will be a relocation of its Vine Street market with just 11,000 square feet of retail space. It will serve Over-the-Rhine, Downtown and the West End. 

The new supermarket will have a second-level wine and beer bar – an amenity that Kroger also installed at its newly opened Corryville store – designed to broaden the store's appeal and encourage some shoppers to linger. 

Developers will seek $8.5 million from the city for the parking garage and residential aspects of the project. Kroger is investing $19 million into the site. 

Mayor John Cranley hailed the project, which must be approved by City Council, as a hard-won milestone for the city. 

"I feel like getting a Downtown grocery store has been like chasing Moby Dick for 20 years and we're finally catching it!" Cranley said. "This is a sign that renaissance of Downtown and OTR is here to stay and is accelerating."

Frankly, Kroger has caught a lot of well-deserved flak for turning downtown Cincy into a food desert. It does have a store about 6 blocks north of its HQ in OTR on Vine, but as the story says, it's "not profitable" and the company hasn't bothered to build a new downtown store to serve the people in the city it calls home in decades.

That is at least looking to change, to the company's credit.  That is if City Council doesn't scuttle it, which is entirely possible if they don't get what they want from Mayor Cranley out of this, so it's not a done deal by any stretch.

We'll see where this goes.  After fighting the streetcar for years, Cranley really loves to take all the credit for OTR's revival.  He seems really excited about this, which means the rest of City Council might have him over a barrel.  I predict this will pass and get built, but it's going to cost Cranley something.  Question, as always around here, is what.

Last Call For Crime In Cincy

Cincy police are still looking for the suspect in a nightclub shooting early this morning that left one person dead and 15 injured.

Cincinnati police have yet to make arrests in a nightclub shooting early Sunday morning that killed one person and wounded at least 15.

Police said the violence started as a dispute between "local men" who were caught up in an argument.

The victim who died was identified by authorities Sunday as 27-year-old Obryan Spikes. Another victim is in critical condition, police said.

The shooting at around 1:30 a.m. at Cameo Nightclub created an atmosphere of "chaos," said police, who described the 21-and-over nightspot as one frequented primarily by young people.

"The bar was very crowded" at the time, with hundreds of people inside, police said.

“People were going to have a good time and ended up being shot. That is unacceptable,” the city's mayor, John Cranley, said at a press conference Sunday.

Police early on in their investigation ruled out terrorism as being behind the attack, but Cranley said that didn't diminish the tragedy.

"To the victims, what difference does it make?” the mayor said.

It makes a lot of difference actually Cranley, but that's besides the point.  Cincinnati police have a pretty decent post-2001 riots record, or did until Ray Tensing, but Cranley's still very much a blockhead on things like this.

Still, this looks like a beef gone very, very bad, so we'll see if arrests are made this week.

Last Call For Sub-Tweeting Mayor Cranley

Cincinnati's mayoral race just got a bit more interesting as long-shot Democratic candidate Rob Richardson wants to not only run on expanding the city's streetcar program, long the bane of Mayor John Cranley's political existence, but he also wants to expand on Cincinnati's infamous abandoned subway system.

Mayoral candidate Rob Richardson Jr. has added four intriguing words to his campaign website: "Revive Cincinnati's subway system." 

Forward-thinking? Pandering? Unrealistic? Maybe all of the above. Regardless, the progressive Democrat wants to jump start the conversation about what – if any – role Cincinnati's unfinished and abandoned subway system could play in improving one of the nation's worst public transportation systems for connecting people to jobs. 

Richardson's campaign hatched the idea based on the fact 75,000 jobs in the region aren't accessible by public transportation, according to a 2015 study by the University of Cincinnati Economics Center. So why not take another look at the 2.2 miles of abandoned subway tunnels underneath Central Parkway? 

"The current infrastructure of the tunnel system provides a launching pad for this effort," said Danny O'Connor, Richardson's campaign manager. "We are confident that Cincinnatians are eager for legitimate and substantive investment in a variety of public transit options beyond the squabbling over the streetcar." 

As for paying to resume subway work, well, that's where Richardson is short on details. Construction stopped in 1929 amid rising costs, and it's difficult to determine what a cost to upgrade the tunnels would be, let alone burrowing on. For context, the two-mile Second Avenue Subway that opened in New York City this year cost $4.5 billion. 

"Rob plans to bring together several different constituencies – something he has always done – to determine how we can properly invest in the infrastructure and resources that are critically needed by thousands of Cincinnati residents," O'Connor said. "The reality, however, is that we will be assuming a $25.1 million budget deficit from the incumbent candidates in this race. Fixing that issue will be our first priority."

Well, if Robertson wanted to differentiate himself from Cranley in the primary election in two months, running on a huge expansion in the Queen City's mass transportation is definitely the tack to take.  As improbable as the plan is, the goal I'm hoping is a serious look at Cincinnati's terrible mass transit system, one of the worst in the country for a major US city, and one that just happens to have limited or no service to the area's black communities (looking at you, Cincy Bell Connector).

Subway or not, that's a problem that the next Mayor needs to work on, and I'm hoping Roberston at least makes that a major campaign issue this year, even if his subway plan is already sunk.  We've already got one of the worst transportation infrastructure problems in the country between our lousy mass transit and the Brent Spence Bridge, and it should be a top priority among voters.

We'll see how Cranley responds.

Cincy Police Chief Blackwell Fired

It was inevitable that somebody's head had to roll after two Cincinnati police stories made national headlines this summer: first, the death of Officer Sonny Kim in the line of duty, and second, the death of Sam Dubose by a UC campus officer.  On Wednesday the hammer fell on Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell as he was blasted in a 35-page report by City Manager Harry Black in front of City Council and Mayor Cranley, and then summarily dismissed.

Cincinnati's city manager has fired Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. 

In a 35 page document, City Manager Harry Black cites "lack of sufficient and proper communication" and "consistent and pervasive disregard for chain of command." 

Morale in the department, Black wrote, "is at an unprecedented low level, and the general sentiment throughout the department is that Mr. Blackwell's leadership has created a work environment of hostility and retaliation."

Assistant Chief Eliot Isaac has been named Interim Chief. 

Documents included in the city’s release outline myriad problems with the chief and his leadership style. He is depicted as unprofessional, uncommunicative, and disrespectful to officers and other staff. There are repeated instances of the chief reportedly berating co-workers. 

In a statement, Captain Paul Broxterman says the chief asked him, on several occasions, to use his contacts with the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals to get free game tickets. 

Broxterman says the chief often made promises he wouldn’t fulfill. He adds the assistant chiefs were frequently frustrated over a lack of communication and direction from the chief. “They clearly felt powerless in the day-to-day operations of the department.” Broxterman does praise the chief for being passionate about community outreach, especially reaching out to the city’s youth. 

Now Interim Chief Eliot Isaac says rank and file officers repeatedly told him they felt unsupported by Chief Blackwell. 

Other complaints include the chief allegedly using profane language and harsh, berating language with co-workers, and taking 'selfies' along the funeral procession route for Officer Sonny Kim.

Blackwell got thrown under the bus by everyone in Cincy: his own officers, Mayor Cranley, the police unions and the press. Harry Black did praise Blackwell for his outreach program ti Cincinnati's black neighborhoods, but that was literally the only nice thing anyone's had to say about Chief Blackwell in months.

His days were numbered since Cranley was elected Mayor and Black appointed City Manager, but the deaths of Officer Kim and Sam Dubose were the final straws.  The Cincy FOP was going to give Blackwell a no confidence vote next week, and everyone couldn't wait to get rid of the guy.

Blackwell did have his supporters, most notably City Council members Chris Seelbach and Yvette Simpson, but that wasn't enough to save his job.  What's clear is that Blackwell was summarily fired because the police union and Cranley wanted him gone, and badly.

At City Hall, the former chief, Jeffrey Blackwell, told reporters he had not seen or read City Manager Harry Black's report. He said, Wednesday morning, he was "escorted out like a criminal."

"I've had the support of the White House, the attorney general, the national media, all the national think tanks, but I could never get the support off John Cranley or Harry Black and because I have never had their support, ever, I could never command the department the way it was supposed to be led."

Last week, Council Member Wendell Young, a former police officer, said he thought it was time for Blackwell to go. But, at Wednesday's council meeting, he said he did not like the way it was done, with no opportunity for Blackwell to respond.

"This has been bad theater here,'' Young said, directing his remarks to Cranley. "Mr. Mayor, you created this atmosphere; this is on you."

And you can't tell me that having an African-American police chief didn't have a role to play in why Blackwell never got the support he needed to run the department responsibly.  His job was to clean up the department that's had race issue for decades.

Instead, the CPD cleaned him out and trashed him.  This whole thing stinks, and there's more to it than Blackwell's behavior or going to Reds games.

The Coming Conflagration In Cincy

The recent shooting of Samuel DuBose by a University of Cincinnati campus officer has barely made national news, even in the era of increased awareness of police brutality and murder of black lives, but all of that is about to rapidly change here in the Queen City.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said he's confident police are ready for whatever happens this week after prosecutors release video of a fatal shooting by a University of Cincinnati police officer.

Cranley said city officials are preparing for the video's release, as well as the conclusion of a grand jury investigation, in two ways: They are making sure police have the resources they need to respond to any protests or unrest, and they are reaching out to community leaders to prevent trouble from getting started.

"I think we're prepared," Cranley said Tuesday. "Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate lawlessness."

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has said he expects the grand jury investigating the shooting to complete its work this week, at which time he will announce whether UC Police Officer Ray Tensing will be charged with a crime and also will release video of the incident from the officer's body camera.

Tensing shot and killed Samuel DuBose, 43, during a traffic stop on July 19. The officer stopped DuBose at Rice and Valencia streets in Mount Auburn for having a missing front license plate.

Many questions remain unanswered. The police incident report said Tensing was "dragged," but there was no mention of the dragging in the police dispatch call. Deters has refused to release video of the incident until the grand jury's work is done, saying it is part of the investigation.

Cranley and other city officials say they have not seen the video, but City Manager Harry Black said Monday he has been briefed on what it shows.

"My reaction is that it is not a good situation," Black said. "Someone has died that did not necessarily need to die."

The various reactions by Mayor Cranley, Police Chief Blackwell, and City Manager Black tells me that 1) the body camera video is explosively bad, and 2) that there's little question that Officer Ray Tensing is in a world of trouble.  For this administration to go into damage control mode before the video is even made public tells me Cranley, Blackwell, and probably the city council as well are all terrified of the city's reaction to this, and after the 2001 protests they are painfully aware of what can go wrong.

Cranley in particular is arrogant, even when he's beaten, full of bravado and noise. You have only to look at how he's the champion of Cincinnati's streetcar program after running on killing the streetcar two years ago. Now Cranley's acting like he's the voice of reason and is the one making the streetcar "work" when it would otherwise be a mess.  He's more than happy to take credit for "reforming" it these days.

But for Cranley to go into damage control mode publicly without being pushed by protesters and national press?  Cranley's not even attempting to fight this.  I don't think Cranley is overreacting at all, because I think the body camera video of the stop must clearly show that Tensing murdered DuBose.

Usually you have local governments prevaricating and qualifying things, "I can't comment on an ongoing investigation" or "We're still looking at all the evidence" or "You'll have to talk to UC President Santa Ono about this", and for Santa Ono to be openly talking about reforming the campus police rather than having to be forced into reforms and the defense attorney for the University saying that he expects an indictment is amazing.  Remember, 99% of the time police are never convicted of murder of citizens, especially black citizens, and the trial is just for show.

This is starting to look like it might be the 1% where justice actually happens.  The Cincinnati Enquirer is suing for the release of the video but the news now that the grand jury expects to wrap up this week is very strange and almost too orderly.  It's like the entire city administration is getting out in front of something horrific that hasn't gone public yet.  This just doesn't happen, even with Cincy's history of reform, and Chief Blackwell's crusade to make the police more accountable.  You always deny deny deny and circle the wagons, not, you know, do the right thing.

All we can do now is await the video's release later this week, and I'm betting it's going to put Cincinnati in a very, very harsh national spotlight.  But maybe that spotlight will see justice done for Samuel DuBose.

[UPDATE] Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters is holding a press conference on the DuBose shooting at 1 PM, followed by Mayor Cranley and Chief Blackwell giving a press conference at 2 PM.

University of Cincinnati is cancelling classes today starting at 11 AM ahead of the press conference, which means that that grand jury decision may very well be coming down this afternoon, plus the video.

More later today.

A Streetcar Now Desired

Time to check in on Cincinnati politics again, and as a reminder Mayor Cranley's quixotic battle against the streetcar ended last December.  He's not only accepted the fact that the streetcar is cheaper to finish than the kill right now, but suddenly with Cincinnati being in the mix to land the GOP National Convention in 2016, getting the streetcar done ahead of time to show off to the country is suddenly making the project a priority.

Cincinnati's streetcar could be open to riders up to two months earlier than expected if the city lands the 2016 Republican National Convention.

"It's certainly possible," said John Deatrick, head of the streetcar project. "If all goes well, it could be done quicker than the time we've laid out."

The $133 million streetcar currently is scheduled to open on Sept. 15, 2016, but project leaders have started looking at whether they can open it in time for the convention – most likely in July or August.

Cincinnati is one of six cities on the short list to land the Republican convention. Members of the Republic National Committee's convention site selection committee are scheduled to visit Cincinnati on Tuesday to help determine whether the city makes the next round of cuts in mid-May.

Business leaders have told The Enquirer that the local steering committee expects to push for the streetcar to open early if Cincinnati makes the next round of cuts. The streetcar was not mentioned in Cincinnati's official convention bid package, because the steering committee did not think it would be finished in time, City Councilwoman Amy Murray said.

But Murray said she now expects the possibility of the streetcar being ready at convention time will be discussed with RNC officials on Tuesday. Murray is a member of the local convention steering committee and chairwoman of City Council's transportation committee.

"Ideally, if we have any large convention in the summer of 2016, it would be great if the streetcar would be done in time," Murray said. "If we get the Republican National Convention, then I think it's time to have a serious conversation."

What a difference five months makes, huh John.  The streetcar project went from albatross and boondoggle to selling point for the Republican National Convention in near-record time.  It would be hysterical except for the fact that Cranley largely won by opposing the streetcar, then dropped that opposition within weeks of taking office, and now he's hoping to sell it as a convention draw.

That's our Mayor!

Losing It All In Cincy

While Mayor-elect John Cranley is busy railing against the streetcar, maybe he should be setting up city bus service to Columbus, Louisville, Lexington, or Indianapolis for women who need to get abortions, because Cincinnati is about to become the largest metro area in the country without an abortion provider.

Abortion restrictions tucked into Ohio's budget are threatening to close facilities around the state and leave 2.1 million people in the Cincinnati metropolitan area – Ohio's most populous – without an abortion clinic. 

If the Cincinnati-area clinics were to close, the region would become the largest metropolitan area in the country without an abortion clinic, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer analysis cross-referencing U.S. Census data and abortion providers. 

Ohio had 14 abortion clinics at the start of 2013 and could soon be down to seven. Three have closed so far this year – in Toledo, Cleveland and Akron – although those closures were mostly unrelated to the new state rules. Two other clinics, one in Toledo and one in Sharonville, are seeking reprieves from the Health Department's moves to revoke their licenses. And two more, in Cincinnati and Dayton, have asked the state to give them special permission to stay open.

And while everyone is telling us how awesome John Kasich is for being all MAVERICKY and bucking the tea party and expanding Medicaid, let's remember it's Kasich's tea party budget that is about to close basically all the abortion clinics in the state, and that was the point.

"The entire western part of the state is in danger of losing access to safe, legal abortion care. And it's because of politics," said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. 

Without abortion clinics in Cincinnati and perhaps Dayton, Southwest Ohioans, Northern Kentuckians and even some Hoosiers would face hours of driving, days off work and gallons of gas to get an abortion – especially because Ohio law requires an appointment at a clinic at least 24 hours before an abortion, unless the woman is endangered by the pregnancy.

 The goal here is to continue to punish women for being women.  That'll teach them to vote against Republicans, right boys?