Photo courtesy of here.

Since his mayoral bid in 2005, frequent critics have issued a small number of complaints against Justin Jeffre—periodically accusing The Cincinnati Beacon of failing to force Jeffre to be held accountable.  Now that Kevin Osborne, at the CityBeat blog, has reported there are rumors that Jeffre is considering a run for County Commissioner (while also reiterating the small number of old complaints that keep recycling since 2005) The Beacon has decided to interrogate Jeffre, forcing him to address these so-called criticisms once and for all.

These self-styled critics scoff that Jeffre earned just over 700 votes in the Mayoral primary.  They combine that number with labels like “boy band” to discredit him.  How could Jeffre possibly defend himself?

“First of all, there is a low voter turn out anyway because the mayoral primary is at a weird time,” said Jeffre.  “I advocated for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) to do away with these primaries.  It would save the City $200,000, and it would be less of a burden on voters.  IRV would also benefit grassroots candidates, giving them more time to run—especially since the media doesn’t really cover the candidates until after the primary.”

But what about the small number of votes?  How can that be turned into any kind of point?

“I don’t think its a bad showing since I’ve never run for office, and had no advertising in either print or television,” explained Jeffre.  “I think the media has a responsibility to cover candidates who are on the ballot.  I was on the ballot, but I did not get the same kind of coverage as those who made large media buys.”

“The corporate media plays a major role in our corrupt campaign finance system,” concluded Jeffre.  “Besides, it’s not like I spent $1.2 million and lost.”

What about those who suggest the proposal to make a VH-1 show proves Jeffre is just in this for the publicity?

“I actually wanted to get a documentary about what’s it’s like to go through the political process:  getting on the ballot, and everything else that is involved with a campaign,” said Jeffre.  “I wanted to expose the corrupt campaign financing in our elections.  Maybe that’s why the show didn’t get picked up!”

“I am publicizing citizen engagement and challenging the status quo,” he continued.  “I am publicizing Green politics, clean elections, fair taxes, ending corporate welfare, and shifting power back to the people.  What’s wrong with that?  We need more publicity for those kinds of things, not less!  There are a lot of anonymous bloggers who want to complain about what I’m doing, but I often wonder what they’re doing.  (Well, actually, no I don’t.)”

How can Jeffre defend his apparently sparse engagement in politics prior to 2005?

“Like most people, I was disenfranchised with what is a blatantly corrupt political system,” said Jeffre.  “We have the lowest voter participation in the Western world, and that is because we have two corporate parties that don’t represent the people.  When I do find an issue or candidate I care about, I am happy to get my hands dirty—giving time and money to support the cause.”

“Several years ago, I worked on the mass transit campaign here in Cincinnati—the Greater Cincinnati Regional Rail Plan.  I helped make a video to get some corporations on board with the campaign.  I attended meetings, helped to promote the plan, and so forth.  It was not a perfect plan, but I think especially now people are realizing we need mass transit.”

Finally, there remains what appears the most troublesome of arguments against Jeffre: his ownership of stocks and bonds in major corporations—the same kinds of corporations against which he frequently rails.

“I have some income placed in a portfolio managed by a professional investor,” explained Jeffre.  “I actually make no decisions about what gets bought and sold, which is very common in that kind of investment situation.”

“I understand why some may be concerned that I have made a profit off stocks in Wal-Mart, but it’s not like I ever sat on the board with Hillary Clinton.  Some are upset that I own stock in the allegedly left-slanted media conglomerates that I think are part of the problem in our political landscape,” continued Jeffre.  “But does anyone bother to notice that I have invested some of those profits in independent media, like DemocracyNow and LinkTV?  Does anyone wonder if I have supported our new media project by taking The Beacon to print?  How does anybody know on what I spend my income?”

I think those are interesting questions raised by Jeffre.  We could use his investments to ridicule him—if that is our political motive—but we could just as easily characterize him as a modern Robin Hood, making profits off of corporations to fund projects that attempt to destroy the power of those very corporate interests.

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