Is Ohio often penny-wise and dollar-foolish when it comes to foster care?  That is the contention of the Contact Center’s Safe & Stable Families Campaign. During the Hamilton County Commissioners’ meeting Wednesday several people spoke out about the importance of placing children with relatives if they have to be removed from their biological parents.  Yet relatives receive far less support payments than foster parents who are not related.  The amount of support is so small that in many cases the family cannot accept the child.  If the relatives live in a small place to begin with, the county may even refuse to consider placing the child there.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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From what I’ve been told, Steve Black—who is running against Vic Wulsin for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Second District—has never voted as a Democrat.  Allegedly, in the last election he took a Republican ballot, which would have allowed him to vote for Jean Schmidt.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Guest article by Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune.

The Beacon article quoting Suhith Wickrema’s statements that we do not need to house federal prisoners and which then forms the basis to launch other attacks against the Hamilton County Comprehensive Public Safety Plan offers a multitude of inaccurate or incomplete assertions in the ongoing effort to defeat the plan at the polls.  As a consequence, people like Dan La Botz react without full knowledge, or worse yet, La Botz has willfully chosen to join in.  Either way a full recitation of the facts and the reasoning is needed for the voter to make an informed decision. 

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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by Vice Mayor David Crowley

In March of this year I, along with former Vice Mayor Tarbell, cast the two lone votes against an ordinance that criminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Just to be clear, the vote in March of 2007 made the law permanent after it was instituted on a trial basis the year before—a decision I also opposed. 

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Why is it that 3CDC’s problems have such a keen way of finding me?  This evening, my family decided to go downtown to Benihana for some live-action dinner.  My wife, who was driving, parked in the 3CDC garage at Fountain Square.  I got out of the garage, grabbed my son’s hand to walk toward the elevators, and two older gentlemen asked for my help.  They were holding their parking ticket, and they wanted to know if I had ever parked there before.  They wanted me to explain the parking system to them, because they did not understand how to pay!  (What would happen if I were not around to explain such things to these poor victims?) But what’s more shocking is what happened when my turn came to leave the garage!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Last night, WCPO aired this I-Team report.  Looks like someone must have forwarded The Beacon’s information to Laure Quinlivan, as the whole piece looked like a recap of what Michael Earl Patton has been posting for the last several days.  Who knows!  But the real treat in this report is how Si Leis looks like he is about to become totally unhinged!  Go to WCPO and check out the video!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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A story in Wednesday’s Cincinnati Enquirer relates how Mr. Jeff Capell criticized Sheriff Leis at the commissioners’ staff meeting Monday, after which the sheriff is alleged to have approached him and threatened him with a lawsuit for calling his behavior unethical.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Yesterday, this Beacon contributor spoke in front of the Hamilton County Commissioners at their meeting and stated that Sheriff Simon Leis, by his use of county money to campaign for the jail tax, was engaged in unethical behavior and requested that the commissioners do something about it.  I also mentioned his threat to sue another critic, as reported in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Mr. Portune said Sheriff Leis believes he has behaved legally and that by turning over documents to the prosecutor the sheriff demonstrated that he is a man of integrity. When I started to ask if that meant that the sheriff would continue to campaign in the manner he has been, Mr. Portune sharply cut me off and said that my two minutes were up.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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The more I think about the alleged “Charter Party,” the more questions I have.  Yesterday, I started thinking about their bank accounts.  All bank accounts must have one of two things:  an associated Social Security Number, or a Tax ID Number.  Which one is tagged to the Charter Committee’s bank accounts?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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No Jail Tax PAC, the grassroots citizens’ political action committee that led the fight to defeat the jail tax proposed on the ballot last November, will oppose the jail tax again in this coming election, according to spokesman Suhith Wickrema, a social worker who lives in Cincinnati.

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Posted by Media Release
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There is an old saying, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I asked a friend of mine who worked with horses all his life about this saying and he explained that there are many reasons why one SHOULD look a gift horse in the mouth, in fact, one would be a fool not to.  Similarly, one should always check out free gifts of industrial property.  Anybody who has paid attention to the news in the past thirty years knows about toxic waste sites, poisons, lead paint, Superfund, groundwater contamination, and underground storage tanks.  Cleaning up such sites can cost many millions of dollars.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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As readers of The Cincinnati Beacon know, there has been an issue lately with the housing of federal prisoners in an allegedly overcrowded jail system. Proponents of the practice point to the relatively low number of federal prisoners—35 maximum—and the importance of keeping a “good working relationship” with the U.S. Marshall Service.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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It seems that there is no end to Sheriff Leis’s spending of taxpayer dollars to campaign for the new jail.  First, found that he had sent a letter to his personnel on county computers urging them to vote YES under the implied threat of layoff.  Then he used county vehicles as a platform for signs urging support for the new jail at the Harvest Home Parade. Now he also has a press release on the sheriff’s website endorsing the Comprehensive Safety Plan, which includes a sales tax increase for 15 years, on the official Hamilton County Sheriff’s website.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Photo courtesy of here.

Today’s Enquirer provides all kinds of cover to the good-old-boy network as exemplified by the dead baby Slaby case.  Thank God for Bill Sloat, who reminds us that Hamilton County once convicted a Black woman for leaving her child in the car—and the kid in this case lived!  Some people have faulted the NAACP for comparing the Slaby case to the Smith case involving a dead dog.  Fine.  Let’s compare apples to apples—a white woman whose child cooked to death and who did not get charged, and a Black woman whose kid lived and who got charged anyway!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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When regular people want a short term loan, they are subjected to the high interest rates and harassing collections tactics from predatory lending agencies like “Check Into Cash.” But, if you are a high-profile politician, and you want to borrow a thousand dollars, the solution is simple:  just get a donation from a friend that is over the amount allowed, and then take your good old time paying it back!  There is not a penalty for borrowing money in this manner!  And it looks like that’s just what Jeff “Gerald” Berding has done with Neil Bortz.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The State of Ohio only recognizes two political parties:  Democrats and Republicans.  How can it be, then, that the Charter Campaign Committee has given $10,000 to Chris Bortz’s City Council campaign, with the record of that contribution listing it as the type “Political Party”?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The Cincinnati NAACP is doing some real work fighting for civil rights in our area, and now the group is taking on the criminal injustice system.  Despite the fact that membership is strong, and that meetings are well-attended, watch as people change the subject and complain about Smitherman.  I remember, when Todd Portune first visited to speak about the jail tax, he remarked that on his last visit about ten or fifteen members were in the room.  On that day (as well as on the day Pepper came to defend the tax) there were a hundred or more.  This post includes details about the local NAACP standing up for another woman who seems to be getting an unfair deal.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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A Hamilton County resident has written the county prosecutor and requested that he apply for an injunction against Sheriff Simon Leis to prevent him from again using public money to advocate for a new jail and to recover the money Leis has already spent.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Photo courtesy of .

Sheriff Leis continues to campaign for the new jail using taxpayer dollars.  (See the earlier Beacon story, Simon Leis: Campaign Solicitations on the Taxpayer’s Dime?) Look at the pictures provided in this article and note the signs saying “Support the New Jail” on the different sheriff’s vehicles in the Harvest Home Parade.  Even the tractor-trailer carrying the sheriff’s riot tank has a sign.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Word has it that CityBeat has just given the axe to their monthly columnists—including Ben Kaufman and Dan LaBotz—so they could save the $75 fee they used to pay.  This is sad news, when CityBeat is forced to follow suit of cutting interesting content so it can beef up ad revenue profits.  Is this another example of downtown office space being judged more important than keeping good writers on payroll?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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In John Eby’s platform for City Council, he talks about the importance of “fiscal responsibility.” It occurred to me that I’ve never seen anyone run on the platform of “fiscal irresponsibility,” so I thought I’d ask some questions to clarify his thoughts on the concept.  Here are his detailed replies.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Photo courtesy of here.

DeWine Reiterates Call to End Practice to Free Up Jail Space

Cincinnati, OH - - September 5, 2007 - - An opinion made public today, and authored by the County Prosecutor, supported County Commissioner Pat DeWine’s position that the current contract to house federal prisoners in the County jail does not comply with Ohio law.  DeWine first identified the illegality of the practice, and introduced a motion to end the practice on August 15.  DeWine noted that Ohio law only allows such an arrangement to be entered by the County Commissioners and the Board of Commissioners had never acted to allow such a practice.  The full Board held up acting on DeWine’s request, requesting an opinion from the Prosecutor. 

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Posted by Media Release
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A message from Christopher Smitherman.

After finding Ms. Smith guilty on August 22, 2007 of cruelty for one stray dog found in her backyard, Judge Heather Russell did not extend a bail.  This means that Ms. Levonn Smith would have been in jail from
August 22, 2007- September 6, 2007 for a stray dog found dead on her property that her nephew brought to her private property. 

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune met this afternoon with Justin Jeffre and other members of the Southwest Ohio Green Party, attempting to gain the support of progressives for his nearly billion dollar jail proposal.

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Posted by Media Release
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Amid Crisis, Bipartisan County-City Effort Showing Results; Will Be Expanded

[September 4, 2007] Hamilton County, Ohio- Amid the national and statewide headlines surrounding foreclosures, a bipartisan group of elected officials and community leaders announce the results of a successful Hamilton County and Cincinnati anti-foreclosure program and its expansion.

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Posted by Media Release
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Cincinnati, OH - Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati kicked off its 11th annual fall giving campaign during the first week of September.  Community Shares provides an opportunity for Cincinnatians to support causes and charities they care most passionately about. 

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Posted by Media Release
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Posted by Bearman
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In the past week, The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote two stories about City Council candidates that, when juxtaposed, raise some significant questions.  The first was about how Leslie Ghiz opposes the CPS school levy; the second was about how Nick Lachey came to town to support Justin Jeffre’s campaign for City Council.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a look at the photos The Enquirer decided to put with each story speaks volumes about their own corporate campaign to endorse and even provide “advertising” for certain candidates.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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One of the problems with the City of Cincinnati heavily subsidizing a few favored developments is that it may hinder other projects as their backers realize that they are not competing on a level playing field. An example of a development that is favored is Baldwin 300, which is getting up to $30 million to build a parking garage for a new office building and hotel. This is a heavy subsidy and may have been a factor in the cancellation of the Encenter project in Madisonville.

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Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Photo courtesy of here.

Last month, I issued this public letter to both Bill Donabedian and Chris Bortz, asking questions about the private restaurant business that has been planted on Fountain Square, a public space.  Not surprisingly, I do not get responses to these kinds of inquiries, which does nothing to quell suspicions about nefarious dealings.  So I suspect that they will not answer my latest questions—in which case I’m wondering if anyone else can provide the answer.  Does 3CDC have rights to show films in public exhibitions when they have their movie nights on Fountain Square?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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