Monday, June 05, 2006
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Andrew Warner’s individual blog has been making some rounds recently with a post claiming that Democrat David Pepper is making Republican Phil Heimlich look like a more progressive candidate (see ”” . Warner’s entire premise seems built upon the idea that David Pepper introduced the idea of building a new jail into the County’s political discourse. Apparently, Warner does not know how to check his facts.
In a comment on the post, Warner writes the following:
I’m judging Pepper’s rhetoric vs Heimlich’s record. Heimlich has been in office for some time now and has not built a jail. Pepper is pressing the issue and Heimlich may cave and try to jump on board the jail building express.
The mere fact that Pepper is pressing the issue while Heimlich has, in a way, avoided the unwarranted demands of his base shows their respective positions.
In fact, if Pepper weren’t arguing for a new jail, Heimlich could have avoided building one forever… but hey, David’s got to pick up some of those conservative voters, right?
This comment demonstrates Warner’s missing facts. He seems to think that any positions advanced by Heimlich in regard to building a jail are engaged purely to address David Pepper’s campaign.
But the record clearly shows this is not true.
In 2002, Heimlich’s SmartVoter page shows that supporting police was a top priority. In February, 2004, Sheriff Si Leis was talking about the need for new jail space (source). A few months later, Phil Heimlich got on the record talking about the need for a new jail (source). Remember, these reports come from 2004—long before running for County Commissioner was on David Pepper’s radar. From the June, 2004 article:
Heimlich said if a new jail is necessary, the county would probably have to cut spending elsewhere to pay for it. Still, he said, having adequate jail space is a priority.
“There’s nothing more important than having a jail cell for someone who deserves to be locked up for committing a crime,’’ Heimlich said.
Now, Heimlich does present this as an “if-then” statement, but his position becomes more concrete a few months later in this story (which actually features comments by then Councilmember David Pepper):
But necessary or not, a revolving jail door policy might appear to punish police offers more than criminals.
“We can’t continue to have this. ... not an acceptable solution,” said Cincinnati Council member David Pepper.
Council member David Pepper says that it has gotten to the point that when police want to do sweeps in neighborhoods, they have to call ahead to the jail to see if they have room.
County Commissioner Phil Heimlich says the trick is finding the money for a jail without raising taxes and favors… hiring a consultant to lay out the county’s options.
Here’s where we really get to the meet of Heimlich’s slow pace in addressing the jail space issue: he will not “raise” taxes. How can Heimlich pay for a new jail without raising taxes? Pepper supports a casino to fund the expense—and this is the departure point for Andrew Warner. Warner thinks casinos breed crime and poverty.
The problem is that Warner, in failing to fact check, goes on a tirade where anti-gambling Heimlich is depicted as the moral authority. Warner misses that both candidates support a new jail, and that Heimlich supported the idea before he became David Pepper’s opponent.
By September 6, 2005, The Post reported on the need for more County jail space, and by December, 2005, Heimlich was totally on board:
County Commissioner Phil Heimlich said the report validates what Sheriff Si Leis and many of the judges are saying about the need for new jail space [...]
The next step will be determining the cost and location of a new facility and finding the funding to build it.
“There are some locations being considered,” Heimlich said, but he would not reveal them.
“You can imagine what that would do to the price of the land,” he said. “We are protecting the public from paying an exorbitant price.”
The jail needs to be built in less than five years and needs to be among the county’s top three priorities, he said, adding that the business community and other local governments would need to participate in finding a funding solution.
“If we work together and think outside box, we can get this done,” he said.
It should be clear by now that Phil Heimlich has long been figuring out how to fund a new jail construction—and the idea (contrary to Warner’s fallible assertions) has nothing to do with David Pepper’s campaign. If anything, Pepper’s campaign point is a response to Heimlich’s well-known desire to build a new jail.
So both candidates want to build a new jail. Done deal. We can debate whether we like the idea, but it’s going to happen insofar as one of them will win. Next question: how will the thing get funded?
Heimlich is in a dilemma here. He can’t support casinos due to his affiliation with CCV. He can’t raise taxes due to his cronyism with Chris Finney and COAST. So how will he do this? How will he cut taxes?
Perhaps we have already seen the beginning of Heimlich’s plans: destroying the voter approved Drake Levy. We have already seen Heimlich talking about how much money this will save—and each of those dollars is a dollar he can use for jail construction while saying that taxes are not getting “raised.” Ditto for other levies, like the indigent care levy. Looks like Heimlich is going to aim for the jugular of services that provide care for some of our County’s neediest.
Is that really the moral high-ground compared to casino gambling?
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