Smitherman Says His Own Amendment Deceiving!

Chris Smitherman, Cincinnati NAACP president, and one of the leading members of the "We Demand a Vote" Coalition who worked with Anderson Township lawyer Christopher Finney to author the ballot language of Issue 9 is now calling his own amendment "political corruption."

In a press release dated October 26, 2009, the local NAACP president had this to say:

"The Cincinnati NAACP remains concerned that a Yes vote on Issues 8 & 9 mean No and a No vote on Issues 8 & 9 means Yes. "This is nothing short of madness and political corruption," Smitherman says."

How could it be "corruption," though? Smitherman himself worked with Christopher Finney to author the ballot language. He even told the Cincinnati Enquirer how proud he was of it back in June of this year. Now all of the sudden Smitherman is concerned that the voters will be fooled? Smitherman's press release continues to spiral into his own pool of confusion and self delusion when he says:

"There is no explanation for a Yes meaning No and a No meaning Yes. This is not a tradition but an attempt to trick voters. "

Who is to blame for this "trick," Chris? You helped write the language yourself! Are you being serious? We all know that Chris Smitherman is no stranger to these types of referendums and ballot language. He worked with Finney and Co. on the previous jail tax and red light camera initiatives. Now all of the sudden he's realized that his own ballot language is deceiving? You have got to be kidding me

Smitherman's half truths and exaggerations continue throughout the press release:

"...reject Mayor Mark Mallory's attempt to build a $200 million streetcar while shutting down our bus system, laying off bus drivers, and raising bus fares on the poor and disabled."

Do we have to cover this again? Smitherman has been corrected multiple times that the estimated cost of the streetcar is $128 million, $185 million with the uptown extension, not $200 million. Also, Mayor Mark Mallory is not shutting down the current bus system. Queen City Metro, our bus system operator, has said multiple times that they support the streetcar plan and have even endorsed a "no" vote on Issue 9. These kind of lies and shallow attacks are what we have come to expect from Chris Smitherman ever since he was voted off of city council. I think Bill Cunningham got it right last week when he said: "Smitherman's a clown."

Now Smitherman is confused by his own ballot language! Leaders like Chris Smitherman exercise the exact kind of antiquated, stupid thinking that has kept us "20 years behind the times."

VOTE NO ON ISSUE 9!

Image credit: The Provost of Cincinnati

Did COAST Mislead Petition Signers? Citizens say: "Remove Our Signatures"

A snippet from the story by Channel 5 WLWT:

"CINCINNATI -- At least three people have asked the Hamilton County board of elections to remove their names from a petition that places a transit issue on November's ballot."

"Attorney Barbara Howard said she asked officials to remove her name because she believes she was misled by the man who collected her signature.

"The representation he made to me that this was in favor of streetcars," Howard said."

On message boards and blogs discussing the streetcar issue, there have been numerous claims and accusations stating that COAST might have been intentionally trying to mislead potential petition signers into thinking it was a pro-streetcar amendment. These quotes are from a large streetcar debate/discussion on UrbanOhio.com:

"The same tactics that some have gushed over in this thread previously - standing outside of bars to get intoxicated people to sign their 'trolley petition,' not mentioning to these same people that if you actually support the street car then you shouldn't sign"

"Streetcar *ahem* passenger rail petition guy is out from of arbys downtown (6th and Vine). I tried to convince people not to sign it. He is preying on the people near the bus stop."

"They are COMPLETELY misleading people into signing something much bigger than they are telling them. My sister-in-law was approached by one of these petition gatherers in Clifton the other day and she was simply asked "Would you like to sign the Trolley Petition?" Luckily for her she knew from me that this was actually the petition that would alter the city's charter amendment and she kindly said no."

"He was asking people if they were registered in the city, and then he would say "Would you like to sign a petition for the streetcar?". Most people just sign anything and with that type of wording it sounds like the petetion is pro-streetcar."

"I was in town this weekend for Easter, and went down to Findlay before heading to the Reds game on Saturday. I grabbed some food and saw a guy getting people to sign a petition "For the Streetcar". I went up and called him on it and I was able to get several people not to sign the petition after telling them he wants to stop the streetcar from being built. By using some clever language he was tricking people to sign it."

Until now these claims seemed to lack validity, however as the recent story from Channel 5 shows, it seems more and more citizens feel that they have been duped by COAST.

COAST's attorney Chris Finney stated in the article:

"This is really electioneering, politicking by our opponents, to suggest that," said Chris Finney, attorney for the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes. "There's nothing in the charter amendment that prevents anything; it requires a public vote."

Chris, buddy, I don't think these folks are trying to "politick" you, they're quite upset. They're upset because they believe you and COAST mislead them. It seems now that citizens are coming forward maybe the claims from Urban Ohio and others have some validity.

Perhaps COAST has been intentionally misleading petition signers?

If you feel you've been deceived and would like to inquire about having your signature removed from the petition, contact the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Full WLWT article with video here.