The GOP & the Recorder's Office

Norbert Nadel & Charlie Winburn squared off on Newsmakers last Sunday in their race for the Hamilton County Recorder's Office.
Nadel & Winburn were both disingenuous.
Coates hasn't had budget problems, the County Commissioners created budget problems. Similarly, the County Commisssioners continue to manufacture scandal in their partisan games today with MSD.
Nadel plans to extend hours while the commissioners suggested cutting hours. Further, he knows Winburn can't be held accountable for MSD charges.
OTOH, Winburn, a Republican of convenience, goes off on Nadel for not being a real Republican & complains about Republicans discriminating against blacks (like Winburn).
His biggest offering was, essentially a couple more web pages with his 'plans'.
Nadel does have more governmental management experience than Winburn but he sure didn't make the point. Further when Nadel was fairly in charge of the court, he & others refused to significantly cut their budgets when the county was hurting (when isn't it?) for money.
Yeah, It's probably a good idea to just keep Coates this fall.
Who will have the better Republican campaign? Winburn is always good for a laugh. Who is selected to replace him on council? Doubt Sam Malone would be a shoo in at this point.
But Nadel? He appers to be going off into Tom Luken territory in this show.

Winburn v. Thomas

wotta show. Dan Hurley hosts Chas Winburn & Cecil Thomas on Halloween.
Winburn is, as usual, full of bluster, strange factoids and a bizarre notion that he is a qualified a Republicrat.
Thomas seems to grasp that the state legislature is not a city council but I am not so sure Winburn grasps this.
The claims of who Cranley supports is semi bizarre as is Winburn's claims of creating 4,400 jobs in 12 months. Economic Development Zones in Cincinnati was pretty much a corrupt failure, no idea why Winburn wants to re-invent them. His dismissal of JobsOhio is fairly incredible.
I really expected this to be a complete wash and, while Thomas isn't a great candidate, he clearly is better than the Windbag.
So I guess Winburn will be the hands down fovorite in the Bizarro world of SWOH politics.

The WKRC circus here

Flippity Floppity
Every year local liquor sales permits are reviewed by the city and recommendations are made by the city to the state as to objections for license renewal. Cincinnati has over 1,000 licenses and usually fewer than 20 merit objections each year (contrary to what the local media might have you think, most people are AOK). The state of Ohio makes the final decisions.
What flags establishments are frequent police runs and complaints from neighborhood groups, institutions or individual citizens.
This year, nutjob Chas Winburn has decided that the process is flawed, subject to a lawsuit & he wants to have a review of all the local licenses every year. This desire to burden the city with needless paperwork is probably why COA T endorsed the dumbass. If nobody's complaining, why bother?
What's strange is that last year Winburn wanted to implement a policy where, if anybody was shot in or around a licensed establishment they would receive an automatic license objection. Now he feels such incidents are being judged unfairly? Once again, he has wetted his finger & thrust it into the air to see which way his political fortunes blow.
Councilmember Wendell Young is concerned about who gets new licenses. Laketa's staff could have surely told him this.
An applicant for a liquor sales license submits paperwork to the state, provides personal info including criminal convictions & financial viability. He agrees to background checks and the state informs the local government, law enforcement & nearby institutions of the application. Other than law enforcement, they have 30 days to file an objection. In Cincinnati, the neighborhood community councils are informed, the applicant is urged to meet with the councils and city councilmembers can certainly arrange to attend those meetings.
The community councils' opinions weigh heavily on objections.
If the police see problems emerging with an existing permit holder, they work with the establishment to keep it open. I think there is some room for corruption there but I don't know There has been some strong arming of some places, The Phoenix Cafe immediately springs to mind. Some objections are frivolous & are usually tossed out.
Councilwoman Amy Murray summed it up nicely, that it is a subjective process but counclilmembers have to do their best. Winburn's concepts of introducing science are laughable. Laketa Cole's "matrix" idea was kinda helpful but poorly implemented by the police. It certainly wasn't science, tho.
Winburn's tergiversation & kooky ideas waste time, money hurt morale & slow the business of the city down. I see no evidence of success of his custom made Jobs Creation committee. The man should step down now.

How to apply for a liquor license here.

The Blogging Isn't Cool Voting Guide


Because I know my reader would likely have a panic attack without this.... Man, I had no idea I had so many posts about Charlie Winburn. I think this explains why the Fishwrap endorses the clown. He makes for easy copy !

Issue 2
Link
Link
Ohio Staves of HSUS

Issue 3
Link

Issue 7
Link

Issue 9
Video Report
Video Report
9 Makes Kids Cry
Populations
Changing Trends
Permanence or Success ?
Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder
Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder

Charlie Winburn
Can Charlie Be Trusted ?
Charlie Winburn's Dreaming

HamCoGOP Announces Cincinnati City Council EndorsementsThe local GOP announces 4 ~ count 'em ~ 4 candidates for city council. 1 incumbent, 2 losers & a newbie.

• Sam Malone
• Amy Murray
• Melissa Wegman
• The Windbag

Malone has served on council before & lost reelection as has Amy Murray who never actually won an election. The Windbag is a Republican even The Fishwarp can't endorse. And Wegman appears to work for her family's business. She cites her notable qualification as living west of I-75 (by a couple miles). Malone & Winburn were in cahoots in Winburn's prosperity theology Encampment Church that dissolved as soon as the Windbag got a gig on council. Malone can't seem to stay out of trouble. When he isn't beating the crap out of his kid, he's driving around town like a maniac.
Wegman hasn't got much on her website other than "we can't build a streetcar" & the populist "I support ALL the neighborhoods" crap. malone & Winburn are just pointless retreads. I couldn't find a Malone site. I'd had high hopes for Murray and even voted for her but she turned out to be a party shill with no real ideas. I can see why they don't want to run a mayoral candidate. Dunno why they didn't endorse Smitherman, technically everybody runs as an independent.
Pretty sad, all in all.

Low Voter Turnout?

Brain damaged Cecil Thomas narrowly edged out ethically challenged Dale Mallory for the Democratic nomination for an Ohio Senate position and will likely win.
The Republicans installed a 'placeholder' and now the mentally challenged self help scammer, Charlie Winburn has slimed his way into the position.
It's pretty much Tweedledee & Tweedledum for that district senate seat.
Then, of course, there's the question of who would take Winburn's seat on city council. Very likely Sam Malone would finish out the majority of Winburn's term.
So, what's the point of voting?

Charlie Winburn's Dreaming
You could probably make a song to the tune of California Dreaming with that, but.....
The result of the Windbag's "Cincinnati Dream Neighborhood Recovery and Economic Plan" would be the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Maybe God Bless the Child would be a more appropriate song.
In his plan, every neighborhood has to hire a full time person to create a plan that will employ approximately 200 people and each neighborhood has to raise about $4,000,000 dollars to get a matching amount.
Sure, we can do that in Northside easy. It's only about $1,000 per adult.
He wants to get his matching money from the funds that are slated to be used for streetcar development. He really doesn't seem to understand how the financing works. Some of the money comes from TIF funds which can only be used locally. TIF funds from Hyde Park cannot be used in Clifton. Other funding is transit specific and some funding is specifically for the streetcar project (For a detailed breakdown of the funding check out Cincinnati Streetcar). The city's half of his 400 million dollar plan is, essentially, non existent. The other half is wishful thinking.
I think most of the neighborhoods would be hard pressed to find the funds to pay a full time employee let alone dig up 4 million dollars.
I have no idea how the neighborhoods would "create" 200 jobs.
The fact that the Windbag's plan would never work would mean the city would never have to give out any money so there would be a good bit of savings there. However as the quality of life continues to erode under his Cincinnati Dream Neighborhood Recovery and Economic Plan, the need for more police and emergency room care at the hospitals will only rise. I guess he can spend his imaginary money on those services.
The streetcar will provide a simple easy tool to "circulate" people about a few communities and create the opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop housing, offices, shops and such within the area. This will result in the creation of jobs. Similar projects have proven to work in many other cities. A side effect of development in the OTR area, specifically, will be a reduction in crime and a reduction in the costs the victims and taxpayers bear to deal with the crime. It will result in the ability of the city to redeploy police officers to other neighborhoods.
Some say Winburn is an agent of Satan. I think the boy is just clueless.

Paranoid Realtors®

The Cincinnat area Board of Realtors® has released it's endorsements for Cincinnati City Council.

• Kevin Flynn
• David Mann
• Amy Murray
• P.G. Sittenfeld
• Christopher Smitherman
• Melissa Wegman
• Charlie Winburn

Dunno what some of these guys have done to promote the real estate market in the area. I don't know what Charlie Winburn has accomplished at ll other than keeping the heating bills down. Hyde Park's biggest worry is maintaining the high property values in what's likely the nicest residential neighborhood in town. To that end, strict zoning enforcement is a top priority for the Parkers. Their favorite daughter, Amy Muuray's big claim to fame, from her short term on city council, was ramming a zoning variation through council. That makes sense. Chris Smitherman floated the idea (while channeling Mr Rogers) that the city should use eminent domain to seize people's personal property & redistribute it for cheap to "responsible" owners. That's bound to improve the local market. Who doesn't want to live in a city that will steal your property to give to someone it likes better. Nevermind the expense & unconstitutionality of the scheme. The Bored claims

With a majority of current councilmembers having already voted to increase property taxes by more than 20 percent, it’s easy to understand why [they would want a bunch of clowns elected to council]

Nice fear tactic but, while mathematically correct, most people would say it was a less than 1% increase in a part of the overall property tax.
Meanwhile the Bored did not endorse the candidates who created tools for neighborhoods to better control development in their communities thus keeping property values and quality of life up & candidates who moved to enable more business expansion in their neighborhoods like Quinlivan, Simpson, Seelbach & Young.
All I can figure is that The Bored spend a lot of time in their cars listening to Fear Channel & then relax at home with Faux News.

Fishwarp on the endorsements here

Biz Courier on the tax increase here>here

Fox 19's take here

WINBURN IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!

Charlie Winburn & his crazed zombie minions are out of control, placing his campaign signs illegally on the lawns of handicapped people regardless of whether they are in his jurisdiction or not.
READ MORE HERE.

Gamble House Update

11/23/10 Livable Communities Committee
Not much new. Winburn seems to be thinking too much & making for a very convoluted direction. The committee will hold the measure til after a hearing on Dec 6 when Greenacres will be seeking permission for demolition. Appropriateness of eminent domain was rehashed. Nobody from Greenacres spoke. Nobody spoke in favor of Greenacres. (I had to trim the comments to fit this thing on Vimeo).
Berding brought up the issue of who possesses the property after an eminent domain takeover. This was the major issue in regards to the Norwood eminent domain case.
Quinlivan reiterated the most common sense opinion that is probably on everybody's minds (except maybe Greenacres) - that Greenacres & the Preservation Association just work it out.

PS, not in this clip but right before, a vote was made to liberalize zoning along the streetcar route in regard to minimum parking. I can only guess that Winburn (and 1 other, I couldn't tell who it was) opposed this due to his blind hatred of the streetcar project. His love of big government should certainly raise some red flags amongst local Tea Baggers.
oh, right....

Robo Call from Charlie Winburn on 9/30/09 6:40 PM
uh, Chas ? I think you need to re-record your robocall. No police officers have been laid off. Or did you mean to lie and scare citizens into voting for you ?
You might also think about turning down the volume if you re-record, too.
PS - the mayor doesn't really fit the profile of a mass murderer, either.
UPDATE:Winburn on WKRC NooseMakers warning us the mayor might try to poison us. link

COA T is howling about the Cincinnati Enquirer(R) not endorsing their candidates. Endorsing Peter Srautberg, their nemesis Jean Schmidt & their & Bill's, Brian's & Justin's nemesis, Denise Driehaus has sent them over the edge. This after HamCo GOP Chair Al Trianifilou said of their candidate & co-founder Tom Brinkman

"[Brinkman] just needs a job."

COA T's role in the mainstream GOP is becoming increasingly marginalized. While their support of Cincinnati councilman Winburn (Rino) has waned since they first endorsed him their support of Councilman Smitherman (Dino) is still strong - but - did their influence in their campaigns actually accomplish anything?
Regardless of their support within their party, I guess we can always count on inanane ballot initiatives & Annoying frivolous lawsuits from them in the future.

How Much Will Hamilton County GOP Obstruction Cost Us ?
6/4/13Recently the hard core liberal unionist Chris Seelbach proposed on Cincinnati City Council, that the city adopt an onerous policy that fairly shuts out non union contractors doing business with the city. His bill also wants contractors to fund a "pre-apprenticeship" program. This amounts to remedial education crap - the stuff taxpayers already paid for when they funded the public school system.
The poop hit the fan, however when MSD got the ok from the EPA to go forward with some projects mandated by the federal agency and do nothing showboating Hamilton County Commissioners led by the worst commissioner in recent history, Kid Monzel, decided to institute a work stoppage til he could impose his will on the city of Cincinnati.
The MSD is a Hamilton County owned entity managed by the City of Cincinnati which owns significant assets used by MSD. This agreement has existed for 45 years & expires in 5. Clearly the Hamilton County GOP is gearing up for some power grabs. Still, Hamilton County should be used to lousy deals by now and we should only expect more bad deals from them in 5 years.
In a meeting of Cincinnati Council's pointless Jobs Creation Committee, pretty much the Chris & Charlie show, the two possibly mentally ill council members claimed the county work stoppage was the city's fault and peppered the MSD rep with inane, leading questions about what HE was going to do. He repeatedly explained, he had to wait for the two legislative bodies to figure it out.
But he also stated that the work stoppage will result in higher costs as grants expire, construction moves into the winter & EPA deadlines are missed. Why would Hamilton County Commissioners do this to the ratepayers? Good question. Why would City Council lay the added expenses of their overbearing "Responsible Bidder" policy on rate payers? Another good question.
This is a prime example of power mad radical ideologues paralyzing and punishing The people they are supposed to represent.
Seelbach, Smitherman, Winburn & Monzel need to go.
6/14/13 UPDATE:The Fishwarp investigates Monzel's reckless grandstanding here

COA T's witch hunt of Cincinnati councilwoman Laure Quinlivan has netted them a cool $10,000. That is, they have drained the city's coffers of $10,000. The altruism of these guys cannot be exaggerated. What's ironic about COA T's hatred of Quinlivan is that councilwoman Quinlivan has done more to encourage entrepreneurship & create jobs than COA T's mule, councilman Charlie Winburn, who even has his own custom made "jobs committee".
What will this award mean to city services? If another tragedy occurs due to a fire station brownout, it will most assuredly be on Mark Miller's bloody hands.

The City of Cincinnati MUST Hire an Exorcist NOW !How many businesses have to fail at 7th & Race before the city admits the place is cursed? The latest looking at moving or closing is the fairly itinerant Blue Wisp Jazz Club. I have been to this location in a number of incarnations & it is just unbelievable. The presence of some evil force is palpable. Clearly the problem is rooted in the kitchen but it permeates the whole facility & who knows what mischief it has wreaked in the rest of the building which is apparently owned by the city.
It is only a matter of time til we start having problems in the Washington Park garage. It was never ghost proofed which is about dumber than poop when you bury a garage in a cemetery.
Maybe Winburn can pull something off with a bag of salt.

Business Courier article here

Divided Council ?
How do Cincinnati voters fix a divided city council ? Easy, they re-elect it's most divisive members and toss in the village idiot. When people say Cincinnati gets what it deserves because of the governments it elects, our new council is a shining example. Did voters think the Windbag was going to anoint us with cash ? Did they find Harris' honesty & pragmatism frightening? Why in the world were Cole & Ghiz returned to office? Those two would do better on a radio program.
Harris, Murray, Watson, Young or Zamary - heck my neighbor's yapping bitch, Chelsea were more qualified than Winburn & more likely to play well with others than Ghiz or Cole (especially Chelsea).
Well, don't blame me.

Because I know you've been on needles & pins to know…

Issues

• 1. YES
• 2. NO
• 3. NO
• 32. NO
• 37. YES
• 38. YES
• 44. YES
• 45. YES
• 46. NO
• 47. NO
• 48. NO

Council Candidates

• Chris Bortz
• Kevin Flynn
• Nicholas Hollan
• Roxanne Qualls
• Laure Quinlivan

~maybe~

• Wendell Young
• Kathy Atkinson

or - for a more Craptacular Cincinnati

• Sandra Queen Noble
• Chris Smitherman
• Charlie Winburn
• Cecil Thomas
• Leslie Ghiz

Cincinnati Needs to Keep an Eye on Columbus

Cincinnati needs to be very concerned about the next Ohio gubernatorial administration because, if we can make it that long, that governor will be picking the commission that oversees Cincinnati in a state of fiscal emergency. There is no doubt that Cranley's shortsightedness and recklessness will lead the Queen City into the abyss and councilmembers like Smitherman, Winburn Mann & Murray will not be the ones to put him in check due to either lack of mental faculties or will. This is going to be a one way ride.

The Malefic Attacks of Small Men

Only Smitherman & Winburn have voted 100% with Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. A number, Yvette Simpson, Wendell Young, PG Sittenfeld, and Chris Seelbach have all stood up to the tyrant, but who are Cranley & the radio comedian Cunningham attacking? Yvette Simpson.
Are these small men just attacking "the girl"?
Classy
While Cranley cites Simpson's prostitution program a failure and Cunningham laughs and derides it for lawsuits being filed against it, Simpson gives her take here
And, apparently, the Police Chieff disagrees with the petty little men, too.

A very difficult to listen to WLW podcast, here

If You Can't Be With the One You Love...

The lying and delusional Cincinnati streetcar opponents have started yet another club. This one headed up by a trio of abrasive, belligerent loudmouths, one of whom doesn't even live in the city. The usual suspects have popped up along with failed state auditor candidate, David Pepper & Connie Pillich in tow. Pepper is no longer a Cincinnati resident, either. Tyrone Yates has yet to join in. Do they really believe Luken's demented ravings & Miller's distortions ?
What is humorous, hypocritical & just bad politics is the overlap between the streetcar opponents & Westwood special interest proponents. That Kuhl & the Windbag think the city should invest in a venture in Westwood that will have virtually no positive economic impact & will likely get hauled into court with the city losing even more money and to not invest in a downtown venture which should have an acute economic impact on the city at large is the height of arrogance / stupidity. The improvements in just the OTR area should free up emergency personnel across the city. Using eminent domain to procure the Gamble House will likely end up an expensive failure costing the city millions & still not saving the home.
Is one more of a "pet project" than the other?
Will Charlie Winburn wind up with blood on his hands if the city purchases the Gamble House?
Is it really good form to ask the residents of OTR to buy a house in Westwood while at the same time telling them their neighborhood can go to hell? How do the COA Ters feel about their new allies circumventing personal property rights through eminent domain? oh yeah, they don't care about rights - that's the Libertarians.
COA T & Republicans fighting for the unions is straight out of bizarro world. Their efforts are sure to keep costs down, tho......
I know people like to work for the government because it offers a degree of stability, the city isn't going to close down anytime soon, but the government is not immune to economic upheavals. Economists pointed out that government bodies were going to suffer as commerce dropped, unemployment rose & tax revenues fell. Conservative citizens & politicians are constantly clamoring for balanced budgets & we are legally bound to adhere to that conservative principle. Cincinnati is fortunate that, while it's operational budget is hurting, it's capital budget is not in as bad shape. Can the capital budget be used for operating costs?
Here.
Now, why is there no clamoring for the Windbag's head for offering up capital budget money for the Gamble House? Why are we not hearing about Chuck, Mary & Dusty trying to kill us all? They have all been bought and paid for by the unions? COA T's best buddies for now...
hmmmmm........
Glad the Tea Party is around to call this shit out.


more on the subject.
Fishwrap ramblings