Photo courtesy of here.

Melanie Bates has been endorsed by the Charter Party as a candidate for Cincinnati City Council.  At the same time, Bates is a Democratic Party precinct executive, and she recently attended a meeting to vote on the slate of candidates for City Council endorsed by the Democratic Party.  While technically acceptable, some have claimed this has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  If Bates is running as a candidate for the Charter Party, what does it mean that she is influencing the endorsement process for another party?

Recently, Bates exchanged a quick email dialogue with The Cincinnati Beacon pertaining to this topic:

The Dean:Though, as a Democratic Precinct Executive, you have the “right” to vote on a slate of Democratic candidates, since you are running as a Charterite that has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  Why didn’t you recuse yourself from that vote last Tuesday?

Melanie Bates: I am running as a Charterite, but I am a registered Democrat and elected precinct executive.  There is no conflict of interest provision in the bylaws of the Cincinnati Democratic Committee that would preclude my participation in the endorsement process. 

It appears Bates totally avoided our question.  We asked why she didn’t recuse herself due to the appearance of a conflict of interest—though we acknowledged she had the right to vote.  If she disputes our claim that the interests apparently clash, she could have explained her position.

This appears to be yet another example of obfuscation and misdirection from the Charter Party.  Despite claiming that membership in their organization is open to “all voices throughout Greater Cincinnati,” they have recently started making up new rules as they go along to prevent people they do not like from joining their organization.

(For more on that topic, read this story about how they refused to allow me to join their organization.  It is interesting how they say that, in “organizational memory,” no member of the media [including bloggers] have tried to join Charter—while, in 2005, one of their endorsed council candidates was Nick Spencer, who, at the time, was also one of the City’s most active political bloggers.)

Jeff Cramerding, Executive Director of the Charter Party, also attended the Democratic meeting.  (He worked on Democrat David Pepper’s recent campaign for the County Commission.) It’s noteworthy how these active Democrats are affiliated with the Charter Party—considering Charter’s most viable candidate right now is Chris Bortz, a registered Republican with corporate connections to the likes of 3CDC.

So Melanie Bates finds herself, at this particular moment, at the convergence of several supposedly divergent political parties—Democrats, Republicans, and Charterites.  It comes as no surprise, therefore, that she is scheduled to appear Sunday afternoon (April 22nd, at 2:30 pm) on the main steps of the County Courthouse.  At this press event, Bates will join Todd Portune, Charlie Winburn, and Chris Kearney, to release a plan to target interventions for violent criminals in Hamilton County.

The multi-partisan composition of this group begs some questions, however:  does this indicate a level of collaboration across vastly different ideologies, or does it exhibit the manner with which local political parties are converging upon a shared influence?  What corporate and/or lobbying interests might be involved?

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