The Cincinnati Beacon - Todd Portune’s Opportunity for Flip Flopping

I just found this item over at The Enquirer’s politics blog, and it struck me how dishonest Commissioner Todd Portune has become. It really looks like he will say anything to get his own ideas passed, even when his new statements are a direct contradiction to what he has said in the past. First, Portune blasted last year’s Heilmich jail tax for being “regressive” (he called a regressive tax “the worst kind of tax,” saying it burdened “children and the poor alike"), but this year he is advancing his own regressive sales tax. Now, Portune is flip-flopping about putting people in jail for smoking marijuana. What’s outrageous is how all these hypocrisies are documented, but the Portune apologists will still find a way to dismiss these findings.

Portune also noted that Bennett was in the county jail recently on a charge of possession of marijuana. He notes critics of the jail plan say people with minor convictions like that shouldn’t be taking up room in the jail.

They’re obviously wrong in Portune’s view.

Back in February, Portune wrote a letter to the Mayor and members of Council, asking them to repeal their anti-marijuana ordinance. Here is an excerpt:

As we have examined the issue of jail overcrowding I have been approached by numerous members of the county judiciary who have complained that the legislation was unnecessary; inappropriate and a major contributor to current overcrowding.

When I lobbied individual Members against adoption of the ordinance the response given by supporters of the ordinance was that the intent was to get addicted users the treatment they needed. Instead, according to many of our judges, it has worked to clog our system and jail even more. There are so many studies that indicate that America’s War on Drugs is a failure that I don’t need to repeat them here.

If Portune has noted that critics of his plan say people with minor marijuana convictions should not be in jail, then he must be referring to himself! (Maybe it’s time to ask what Todd Portune has been smoking?!)

On top of all this, Portune’s overall point is to use a human tragedy as a chance to stump about his billion dollar jail proposal. Consider this from the Enquirer blog:

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune is using the case of the Blue Ash man who was shot and killed by police (see Enquirer story) as an example of why his Comprehensive Pubic Safety Plan (a sales tax-funded new jail and set of safety programs) is needed.

Had it been in place, he said, perhaps there would have been a different outcome for the unfortunate Charles Bennett, he said.

Always be careful when politicians make arguments that center on words like “maybe” or “perhaps.” Perhaps there would have been a different outcome. Perhaps not. Perhaps, if it had rained on Tuesday, none of this would have happened. This is like Cecil Thomas arguing that the anti-marijuana ordinance is working because it took 62 guns off the street that “might” have been used in a crime. Well, maybe thousands of new criminals have been created by getting pushed into the system, who will now go on to commit a crime. Playing the maybe-game is easy, but it is not honest policy.

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