Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
 In an article in today’s Enquirer article about the Empowerment Corporation and Dale Mallory, Greg Korte seems to accidentally kick the door open on Cincinnati’s political inner-sanctum—the backdoor club of power players who’s alliance to each other has nothing to do with Party lines.
Consider the following excerpt:
The Empowerment Corp. has begun to answer some of the allegations publicly, however. Last week, it jettisoned its old law firm, Dinsmore & Shohl, which had advised a strict “no comment” policy, and hired Taft Stettinius & Hollister.
Its lawyer is now Bill Seitz - the same Bill Seitz who represents Green Township in the Ohio House of Representatives. He is a Republican; Mallory is a Democrat.
“The board wanted a more aggressive approach to represent the interests of the Cincinnati Empowerment Corp.,” Cleveland said.
In a letter he sent to HUD Monday, Seitz called the controversy a classic case of “don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper.” He said the issues were stirred up by Dale Mallory’s Democratic primary opponent, former Hamilton County Recorder Eve Bolton, and a group opposed to a proposed West End social services center that the Empowerment Corp. supported.
Republican Bill Seitz endorsed Mark Mallory for Mayor in last year’s election. In fact, many Republicans threw their support behind Mallory—despite the image Pepper had of being more like a Republican than a Democrat.
Some analysts have argued that this Republican support of Mallory was part of an elaborate scheme to stop David Pepper—an up-and-coming politician—before he achieved a high-profile office like Cincinnati Mayor. Despite his famous father, the Pepper family remains on the outside of the political inner-sanctum. John Pepper might have the Freedom Center and Disney under his belt, but his name never seems to appear in local circles with the same reverie of a Carl Lindner—despite being a wealthy, local Republican, too.
The Pepper family just doesn’t connect in the web of dots that plagues the political landscape. Above, we see Republican Bill Seitz, former endorser of Mark Mallory for Mayor, representing Dale Mallory in this recent scandal.
Seitz, of course, is connected with the other big-named insiders: Phil Heimlich, Carl Lindner—and even to a lesser degree Tom Brinkman, whose COAST connections highlight another player who gets little press in the mainstream, Christopher P. Finney, Esq.
Just check out this excerpt of a press release from the Phil Heimlich campaign, entitled ”Heimlich, Leis and Lindner Announce Plans to Build a New County Jail”:
At the press conference, State Rep. Bill Seitz announced his efforts with other members of Hamilton County ‘s state delegation to work with Heimlich, Leis and Lindner to secure $15 - $25 million in state funding for the new jail, which will lower the amount needed to be funded by local tax dollars.
“This is not a sales tax increase. It’s a property-tax reduction,” said Brinkman, founder of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, or COAST. “Our goal has always been to keep (government) spending at the rate of inflation or lower - and we get a jail out of it.”
The indirect connections get even more strange when you start looking at contribution records. Phil’s father, Dr. Henry Heimlich, gave Dale Mallory $1,000 on March 23rd. Additionally, Chris Finney gave Dale Mallory $200 on April 22nd.
Then, consider the lightning-rod that started the controversy surrounding Dale Mallory—CityLink.
CityLink is supported by OneCity—a non-profit incorporated by Mark Stecher, and the legal work was performed by none other than Taft Stettinius & Hollister (that’s Bill Seitz’s firm, as mentioned above). OneCity purports to be a God-loving organization, and they have supported the proposal for CityLink. This isn’t the only intersection of politics and religion when it comes to these guys.
The Cincinnati Beacon has already covered extensively Phil Heimlich’s connections to cult evangelical Bill Gothard. Phil Heimlich’s friend and business partner, Chris Finney, has represented the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum getting ready to open in Northern Kentucky—an organization that has an unusual fixation on dinosaurs.
And while speaking of tangled webs of influence, let’s not forget Richard Weiland (click here, or here, or here).
Mallory et al., Heimlich, Brinkman, Seitz, Lindner, Weiland, Finney—all of these names are just a few on the roster for Cincinnati’s inner-sanctum. This is not about party affiliation, or race—this is about an unbroken chain of power and influence. Keep your eyes and ears alert, in the event that someone cracks the door again. Try to see what’s inside!
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