On August 9 State Representative Tom Brinkman, along with Mark Miller, filed a lawsuit against the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County alleging that the $75,000 given to a film commission from the proceeds of a hotel tax is in violation of the Ohio Revised Code.  The Cincinnati Beacon tried to obtain a copy of the lawsuit and subsequent documents from the Hamilton County Clerk of Court’s website, http://www.courtclerk.org, but was prevented from doing so because of a lock-out policy instituted by the clerk of courts, Greg Hartmann.  The Cincinnati Beacon obtained a copy instead from one of the plaintiffs, Tom Brinkman.

Per a notice on the court clerk’s website, public viewing of documents on the internet has been restricted for over a year due to concern about social security numbers being visible to the general public.  Even if a new document, like Mr. Brinkman’s lawsuit, has in fact no social security numbers, this is the reason given for restricting public access.  This means a person of the general public has to make a special request for the document and wait for it to be proofread for social security numbers before reading it themselves.

For those who are interested, the case number is A0707108.  The lawsuit alleges that sections 5739.09(A)(4) and (B)(2) of the Ohio Revised Code require that any money raised through the hotel tax for the convention center actually has to be used for the costs of the construction, expansion, maintenance, operations or promotion of a convention center in Hamilton County.  The lawsuit further alleges that the money given to the Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky Film Commission does not do any of this.

The above information was found in the copy of the lawsuit provided by Mr. Brinkman.  It was not found on the clerk of court’s website.  Such a restriction on public access makes it that much more difficult for curious members of the public to find out for themselves details of what is going on in the area.

One final comment about the lawsuit: Mr. Brinkman stated that the law is clear in that the tax was to be used for a Hamilton County convention center, including the promotion of the center.  The film commission may in some way promote some tourism to the area, but does not promote the use of a convention center.  If the money were to be used for any purpose other than provided in the law, as for example a jail expansion as Commissioner DeWine suggests, Mr. Brinkman says that the law would have to be changed.

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