Quimbob's Endorsemens
This is primarily for the 45223 zip.
For President of the US - None of the Above
No presidential candidate deserves my or your vote.
US Congress, Dist 1 - (holding nose) Steve Chabot
Driehaus doesn't offer much more than Chabot and Chabot has some seniority ranking at this point. A major sticking point with Chabot is reproductive rights but I don't see any improvement with Driehaus. Chabot voting against the bailout and for the Delta Queen are pluses.
State Representative Dist 32 - (in the category of anybody but Dale Mallory) Theo Barnes
Theo Barnes seems to be a goofball but Mallory seems to be a ghost when he is not getting impeached or having charges filed against him. He couldn't even be bothered to fill out the LWV SmartVoter form.
Judge Court of Common Pleas - (in the category of anybody but Pat DeWine) Norma Davis
County Commissioner - Ed Rothenberg
County Commissioner - Chris Dole
Pat DeWine, Todd Portune and Greg Hartmann are all part of the unholy pact made by the local Republican and Democrat parties to rig the elections. I endorse all their opponents. Rothenberg is a joke, Davis seems ok and Dole actually looks pretty good. Honestly, is the county being served best by the 3 Cincinnati lawyers on the Hamilton County Commission ?
A Crosby Twp trustee and a Realtor® sound like good alternatives.
issue 1 - NO
Issue 1 makes it harder for citizens to get initiatives on the ballot. (notice I am voting against most of those - go figure)
Issue 2 - (holding nose) YES
Issue 2 issues bonds to fund environmental projects that need to be done. We will still have to pay back these bonds in the future. Here's hoping the economy is better when they are due.
Issue 3 - YES
Issue 5 - NO
Issue 5 The restrictions on
"Payday Lenders" are too severe. This is too lenient. A compromise is needed.
Issue 6 - NO
Issue 6 Casinos are no answer to anything.
Issue 7 - NO
Issue 7 Red Light Cameras are a use of technology that frees up valuable human resources and deals with people with bad to malicious driving habits who threaten the lives of people daily. Concerns about their implementation can be addressed.
This is not a vote to use or not use the cameras. This is a vote to amend the city charter to disallow the use of a technology for all time. This is an inappropriate bit of legislation to be added to the city charter.
Issue 8 - NO
Issue 8 Instant Run off voting is not needed, it is expensive and the effort to implement it is pushed by people with racist and fringe social agendas. It might have been valid when we transitioned from a ward based government to an at-large government but it provides no benefit today to the general public. The efforts by non-residents to promote this and the not too ethical methods used in the campaign are also disturbing.

Information about the cndidates and issues can be found at the LWV's Smart Voter.

Every explanation I have read about the merits of Proportional Representation voting (PR) have involved a notion that everybody is a racist and when a race is in a minority, their racist agenda cannot be realized. The idea that people don't enter the voting booth (or whatever you call those things nowadays) and that elected officials won't rise to the occasion is petty and small minded. Actually, it's downright un-American.
I have never felt councilmembers I have and haven't voted for, Leslie Ghiz, Roxanne Qualls, Laketa Cole and Cecil Thomas have ever thought any less of me because I have a white penis. The idea that populating our city council with vaginas and black flesh will make for better governance is ridiculous.
PR is credited with getting a mulatto son of an immigrant nominated as a corporate party's candidate for president, but it also shut out a woman whose American heritage runs generations deeper. Women make up a greater proportion of the country. Children of immigrants certainly don't make up a majority. How is this more fair ?
Further, if we want to make sure our demographics are equally represented on the council, we will need to make sure we have the proper number of black and white men and women. The notion gets even crazier when you take in things like religion, economic class, education, age, sexual orientation, handicaps and so on. Indeed, I would think wealth and education would be a better standard for a candidate than race or sex (obviously ideas don't count).
The cost to implement this goofy plan has been estimated to be somewhere between $20,000 and $3,000,000. For the lowball price we get hand counting that will lend itself to fraud, take about 2 weeks to get a result and cost us accreditation from the Federal government. Then, if it doesn't work the way we want - what plan will we try next ? At what cost ?
The best explanation I can find for why Cincinnati abandoned this method of voting in the 50s is that The White Man is an Evil Racist Scumbag.
yay
Only one other city in the US uses this method of voting. Why ?
I guess that after we get this convoluted mess in place, we can work on quotas for juries.