The Cincinnati Beacon - Reform Means New Monetary Model

It is time for Cincinnati reformers to think outside the box when it comes to the alleged accoutrements of credibility. Offices, oftentimes, are overrated. The same trick can be accomplished with a wireless laptop and a cellphone. And if anyone is really worried about having a street address instead of a P.O. Box, Mailboxes, Etc. offers the perfect alternative. They’ll even forward mail to your house, or let you call to see if you have any.

Consider, for example, Kevin Osborne’s recent item about the Cincinnati Democratic Committee. It appears that some members of the CDC would like to split from the Hamilton County Democratic Party, but they feel they can’t because they don’t have the cash. Here is Osborne writing about a letter to CDC precinct executives:

“We were asked what process was used for the selection. Why should you come to vote if the same old thing is done? I was asked a question: Why, when you go to the Precinct Executive School, you only got a copy of the HCDP bylaws? Let us look at these issues closely to find out why the CDC is (in) subservience to the HCDP. Because WE THE CINCINNATI DEMOCRATIC CITIZENS ALLOW IT TO BE.” (Emphasis in the original letter.)

CDC members should participate in the group more, McNeal’s letter continues. He states that the group doesn’t have its own letterhead, mailing address, office space or bank account, underscoring its general inactivity.

“The incumbents have never been brought before the committee after elected,” the letter states. “How can anyone expect the CDC to perform its duties without the basic needs of an organization? MONEY! MONEY! MORE MONEY! Who will step up and give? This is where we are now.”

McNeal’s letter also solicits volunteers for subcommittees to review the CDC’s bylaws, platform of issues, and fundraising efforts.

Some precinct executives who got the letter were angry about the emphasis on raising money and also believe the letter gave scant attention to the issues raised at the CDC meeting.

This is absurd. The CDC does not need office space. Letter head can be made by anyone with a smattering of sense and a word processor. Mailing addresses are free to anyone with a place to live.

Sometimes, I think about outfits like The Enquirer (or even CityBeat), and I wonder what kind of costs are affiliated with their downtown office space. That kind of stuff must come with a price!

Particularly with the case of CityBeat—why do they need offices? A team of employees with wireless laptops and cellphones would do the trick. For staff meetings, they could go out to breakfast—on the company dime—and I bet that would cost a lot less than the monthly rental.

But I digress. The idea that reform cannot happen unless money exists to fund monthly office space rental is absurd. This is a new age of connectivity, and business can be conducted more quickly, and more inexpensively, than in the past. The CDC does not need a bunch of expensive gimmicks to establish an independent presence.

They only need political will, and quite frankly, I’m not sure the Democratic Party has that kind of stuff any more.

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