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Thursday, December 27, 2007
Phil Heimlich’s “Transformations”
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Photo courtesy of here.
In a recent campaign email, Phil Heimlich said he would make an effective congressman because of his record on being a good steward of money. He claimed to have “transformed” government in Hamilton County. One year after he lost to a Democrat—giving control of the County to Democrats for the first time in decades—The Cincinnati Beacon asked Commission President Todd Portune and Commissioner David Pepper what they thought about the effects of Heimlch’s alleged “transformations”.
“Phil transformed county government all right - almost into bankruptcy,” said Portune. ” By using short term gimmicks to balance the budget, spending money out of the county reserve like a drunken sailor, and failing to initiate any long range economic program to deal with a declining revenue base, Heimlich’s ‘leadership’ left us inheriting a county government on the fringe of bankruptcy.”
But what about Heimlich’s claims that he would be a “good steward” of our tax dollars?
“Immediately on being named President, Heimlich orchestrated the ousting of long-time County appointed officials,” explained Pepper. “He installed in their place his long-time political crony as the top behind-the-scenes County administrative leader. Together, the duo proceeded to burn through millions of dollars on headline-grabbing political solutions to complicated problems, draining the County’s reserve fund to a precipitously low amount.”
Indeed, the effects of Heimlich’s spending have put the County is a situation where it may get its bond rating downgraded—which could cause the cost of doing business for Hamilton County to rise.
“Pointing largely to the decisions Heimlich made in 2006 that drained the reserves, Moody’s is considering downgrading the County’s bond rating,” said Pepper “If it does so, this will only compound the millions already wasted due to the spending, delays and poor decisions made from 2004-2006 under Heimlich’s leadership.”
Perhaps Heimlich’s strategy counts on the bulk of the 2nd Congressional District being outside of Hamilton County—in other words, people less familiar with his bad decision-making.
“Whether it’s apppointing unqualified friends to key positions or spending money you don’t have,” concluded Pepper, “the Heimlich years also taught key lessons on how NOT to run government.”
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27 Dec 2007 at 02:33 pm | #
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We are surprised no one mentioned Phil’s Drake asset give-away ?
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27 Dec 2007 at 06:57 pm | #
Heimlich and his Pit Crew - including DeWhine, Finney the Fink, COAST, & the Rothenberg crowd - are subscribe to Colorado COLA policy which decimated the state’s budget forcing them to retrack the failed policy in order to simply maintain basic services throughout the state.
The big problem with the Heimlich/DeWhine fiscal policy was that it lacked any planned response to anomalies in revenue projections. Well, really, it lacked all foresight.
Hamilton County is a micro example of what happened in Colorado that required a huge tax increase in order to stablize the state’s economy.
Unfortunately, that’s what Hamilton County is facing - 3 choices - 1) raise taxes, 2) bankruptcy or 3) cuts in primary, basic services ( like Detroit had to do - and look where it got them)
28 Dec 2007 at 10:06 am | #
#2,
in response to: 3) cuts in primary, basic services ( like Detroit had to do - and look where it got them)
Using Detroit as an example here doesn’t work. 1) Detroit has to provide those basic services to miles and miles of abandoned space. having to service sewer and roads for 2 or 3 active houses in a multi-block area is not a way to save money. 2) The Detroit economy is very different than what you are facing here. Detroit is made up of a number of very poor and uneducated people. These people came to Michigan after no-education factory jobs in the early 1900s and their kids followed them. This maintained ignorance has not allowed the area to evolve economically.
I’m not sure what services Detroit has had to cut. I’d love to hear about them.
28 Dec 2007 at 12:08 pm | #
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”...These people came to Michigan after no-education factory jobs in the early 1900s and their kids followed them. This maintained ignorance has not allowed the area to evolve economically….”
And, just how is Cincinnati any different ?
What brought individuals to Cincinnati ?
Hello, General Motors, Fisher Body, Autolite (now GE) etc.
Some’un has un kin’a folk ina mota city, but’n’ a thuk’n they be uppity !
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28 Dec 2007 at 05:47 pm | #
Detroit is just like Hamilton County! And the approach to solving problems mirrors that which our previous administrationS have used.
It is time for a change in policy.
Foremost, elected officials from other offices have tied the hands of commissioners to solve problems by making unrealistic demands for money when times are tough.
There needs to be an overhaul in thought to fend off the images of Detroit in our future