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.

In his endorsement Sheriff Leis gets some major facts wrong, such as the number of early releases in 2006. He claims that it was “over 8,000,” though at the Commissioners’ staff meeting this Monday he conceded that the data sheet given to the commissioners earlier was accurate.  That data sheet says that the number of early releases in 2006 was only 258.  Mr. Leis also conceded during the meeting that the only ones released early since the county started sending inmates to Butler County were a relatively small number of females.

Sheriff Leis concludes his endorsement letter with naked campaigning: “It is easy to ignore the problem by saying no new taxes, but the County does not have funding for the new facility without additional taxes.  The jail crisis requires leadership.  Commissioners Fortune and Pepper have exemplified leadership in its truest form.  They recognize the seriousness of the issue as it pertains to the safety and well being of our citizens, which the latter failed to recognize last November.  The Portune-Pepper Plan and the jail issue deserves our support.”

That may well be Mr. Leis’s personal opinion, but many taxpayers and voters of Hamilton County disagree and object to his using taxpayer money to promote his personal opinion.

Per Section 9.03(C) of the Ohio Revised Code: “… no governing body of a political subdivision shall use public funds to do any of the following: (1) Publish, distribute, or otherwise communicate information that does any of the following: (a) ... (e) Supports or opposes the nomination or election of a candidate for public office, the investigation, prosecution, or recall of a public official, or the passage of a levy or bond issue.” (emphasis added).

Groups opposed to the jail tax do not have access to county funds to tell the voters their side of the issue—why does Sheriff Leis?

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