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Sunday, June 28, 2009
Examining costs in the Mayoral Primary
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Cincinnati’s system of utilizing a special election for a mayoral primary is incredibly wasteful—costing the City of Cincinnati over half a million dollars to conduct the obscure September vote. Now a new layer of excess and waste has come to my attention: candidates’ fundraising amounts are reset after the primary, meaning the big money politicians can continue to receive donations from their big money contributors once the primary resets the accounts, so to speak. One must wonder how much the City could accomplish if even a fraction of the money spent on campaigning were actually spent getting things done.
First, here’s a history lesson on the City’s mayoral primary. The first one took place on September 11, 2001—featuring Charlie Luken, Curtis Fuller, Bill Brodberger, and Michael Riley. 30,641 votes were cast during that primary. 86,249 votes were cast in the general election. As you can see, that primary had a very low turnout compared to the general election. In addition to the money raised by the candidates, the City of Cincinnati spent over $16 for everyone who wanted to vote. I wonder if each primary vote was worth that expenditure?
In 2005, in a much higher profile mayoral primary that did not share a date with a national tragedy, only 42,749 voted in the City’s second mayoral primary. 69,865 voted in the general election. Less than the general turn out in 2001, but still a substantially higher number of voters. The City still spent about $13 for each person who voted in the primary.
I think it’s key to tabulate figures like this, because there is nothing else on the ballot for Cincinnati’s wasteful and pointless mayoral primary. During the general election, on the other hand, there are tons of other races and issues on which to vote. If the purpose of an election is to gauge voter intent, why continue spending this much money on a poorly attended mayoral primary? Solutions like Instant Runoff Voting in the general election would accomplish the same result, with more participants, for less cost to the taxpayers.
The mayoral primary costs over half a million dollars, and the system also invites big dollar candidates to raise even bigger money after the primary resets the contribution limits. In tough economic times as these, why isn’t anyone on City Council stepping up to end this waste?
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29 Jun 2009 at 04:41 am | #
.
Great point.
Shall we call the Dean, the half-million dollar man ?
Or does wenstrup get that recognition ?
.
29 Jun 2009 at 12:25 pm | #
At least Dr. Brad is real.
29 Jun 2009 at 06:05 pm | #
Berding deserves credit for this undemocratic and wasteful primary. He bragged about his role in creating it while he was out lying about PR and insulting people that were for it.
29 Jun 2009 at 08:55 pm | #
The taxpayers won’t have to worry about this waste of money if your petitions aren’t filed in time & verified by the BOE. As I understand it, Dr. Wenstrup’s petitions are already in the custody of the BOE.
Mallory collecting signatures is rather easy, as that outfit pays people to sign anything & everything put in front of them.
All primaries & special election balloting cost the taxpayers money. This is no different. The vast majority of people know this mayoral election process costs more money & they shrug it off as it’s part of the way of conducting politics.
Well Jeffre, seeing you put it that way, if I remember correctly, you didn’t seem too hot & bothered by it in 2005 when you & your fellow joke also-rans sat up on the stage at CET, bragging, cooing & talking psycho about what needed to happen. I didn’t hear you mention this 500Gs was such a waste.
29 Jun 2009 at 09:27 pm | #
So what if he didn’t think of it then. Is everybody supposed to think of everything at the same time? I thought of it now. I didn’t think of it then, either.
But now that I’ve thought about it, I realize it is a waste.
Other primary elections happen with other issues on the ballot. Or, they are necessary in that a particular party is trying to pick its candidate out of a field. But these are non-partisan primaries, and what they seek to accomplish is totally obscure.
Now that the economy is tanking, and we’re seeing cuts everywhere, it’s time to think about those things that are totally unnecessary. The mayoral primary is a pointless expense we should not continue to authorize.
29 Jun 2009 at 10:16 pm | #
You don’t know what you are talking about. I did talk about IRV back in my 2005 campaign. I talked about how we could save money using IRV at the Cincinnatus forum. But the media didn’t cover it.
30 Jun 2009 at 09:31 am | #
Oh, yeah… That must be why I thought of it this time!
02 Jul 2009 at 08:53 am | #
Dean,
Please run.
I hope you have all the required signitures and all this noise isn’t a big hoax.
We NEED a primary to increase awareness.
Someone needs to shine a light on Mallory corruption. Mallory connections to the Beatty drug cartel. Go through the wacko Mallory family tree to show the incestuous ties with BOE,CMHA,Talbert House,CityLink, SORTA, state house, Mallory center, State election commision, Zoning, Tim Burka etc. etc.
The Mallory Mafia and their “extended family” ties are everywhere.
Look at their ties to crackhead Lawson and the City Hall killer.
Look at their sordid history.
Why are all the country’s political sex scandles front page news…..and Caligula Mallory adventures swept under a rug?
Maybe a primary will enable a bit more scrutany of the Mallory slime and corruption.
02 Jul 2009 at 09:05 am | #
http://thecincinnatusstandard.com/Whistleblower_Newswire_Thursday_June_25_2009.mht
Whistleblower Truth Squad Investigative Reporter Fearless Ferrett checked it out, and what do you know? Old man William Mallory was the 32nd District State Rep-tile for 28 years. His Girly Man son Mark inherited the throne for 4-or-6 years before going to the State Senate. Now thug son Dale is in the 32nd District seat for a second term. Since 1966, the Mallory Mafia has had a Mallory in that corrupt seat for about 36 years. Cathy Barrett (1998-2006) held the seat while the Mallory Klan tried to get Dale drug rehabbed enough so that he could stand up to collect bribes (he isn’t called Dale-For-Sale for nothing) and make the job worth having.
Our Over-the-Rhine Whiner says Mark Mallory’s Senate job was supposed to be jail oversight. He wants to funnel the jailbirds to OTR. Half- Brother Joe’s on the Talbert house Board. Dale took EZ money to pimp CityLink. That’s why the West End Community Clown-cil impeached him. Mayor Mark tried to stack the CMHA board with crony Al Brown to manage Section 8 housing their way. Old Man Mallory wants to control SORTA. The old man got two out-of-wedlock sons to be local judges. Other Mallory bastard children have jobs at CMHA and the Mallory Center. The Mallorys are buddies of the drug lord Beatty family. That’s why our Over-the-Rhine Whiner says you should ask yourself: which family has done more to enabled the destruction of OTR and the West End than the Mallory Mafia? (Our apologies to the real Mafia, wherever they may be.)
02 Jul 2009 at 09:07 am | #
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
We’re Number One
One of the best parts about publishing The Whistleblower Newswire is checking our e-mail first thing each morning to see some of those vile-and-disgusting snitches and bitches we’ve received from our equally vile-and-disgusting subscribers. Our readers’ comments are extremely helpful for our analysis and interpretation of today’s important top stories.
According to data compiled by NeighborhoodScout.com and based on FBI data from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood is the most dangerous location for crime in the entire United States. Who says Cincinnati’s administration isn’t corrupt and negligent? Curiously, we didn’t see any of this reported in the “Everything’s Wonderful Here” Fishwrap.
Our Over-the-Rhine Whiner this news comes just one day after the civil rights baseball game in Cincinnati, where leaders were outspoken about the “progress” that has been made in OTR since the 2001 riots. OTR is one of the most treasured neighborhoods architecturally in the nation and at the same time it is ranked as the most dangerous in the nation. One thing is for sure no neighborhood becomes the most dangerous without serious effort. As many Whistleblower readers know, OTR has been a dumping ground for many years. What many don’t know is that OTR is on the cusp of getting another honor of being the home to the largest felon re-entry program in the USA as soon as Citylink is opened.
Why is OTR a dumping ground? OTR suffers from an over concentration of “social services.” The majority of these services cater to the adult male felons who are fresh out of prison. OTR is a life transition point, a sanctuary neighborhood for the most harden criminals. OTR is the destination for so many indigents because OTR has a very high number of supporting agencies that operate with State contracts. As you ponder this, keep in mind that this dumping ground is in the 32nd District. Now ask yourself which family has controlled that State Rep-tile seat for over 40 years. None of these agencies could have gotten the State funding contracts and been able to maneuver their way into OTR without the State Rep-tile signing off.
And while many of these agencies hide under the umbrella of non-profit, don’t be fooled. There are plenty of poverty pimps that are profiting from these agencies.
Meanwhile, somebody might suggest to the Hamilton County RINO Party’s Great White Hope to beat Dainty DemocRAT Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory in November that some of this might actually be good material for a campaign, if such a campaign were actually being run.
Speaking of last weekend’s White Guilt Game, movement is afoot to begin planning for the Reds next big “event game,” next year’s Gay Rights Game based upon the roaring success of this year’s civil rights match. Expect to see only flat-footed, limp-wristed pitchers and switch hitters at the plate. There will also be plenty of shagging foul balls, with Cincinnati’s Dainty DemocRAT Mayor Mark Mallory throwing out the first pitch one more time.