Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

A vague outline which plans eventually to tell us what will happen with nearly a billion dollars to build a new jail is not good enough.  It is just not good enough.  For a billion dollars, I expect something comprehensive, and not a booklet that uses the word “comprehensive” without any real substance.  The Democrats have failed their progressive base, evident in the history of how they have handled this Super-Sized Tax.  That’s why The Cincinnati Beacon formally endorses a “NO” vote for Issue 27. 

Right after Todd Portune called a regressive tax one of the worst kind, he voted to support Phil Heimlich’s jail tax—which failed miserably at the polls.  Why did he do that?  For all his talk against the Heimlich tax, why did Portune vote to support a regressive tax after blasting it for its injustice?  I am sure he has an answer of gobbledegook legalese, but the vote really shows how Portune has locked onto the new jail since before he became Commission President.

That’s why the first thing the Democratic majority tried to do is slide a jail tax under the radar—constantly talking about special elections where experts told them low voter turn out would increase the likelihood of passage.  These actions show that they have never cared about educating voters, and developing a real plan.  They have always been about a new jail, and a new tax.  And they have tried to use their position in the party to get progressives to join lock-step on the iteration of their corn pone opinion.

Whenever critics try to discuss the problems with the local justice system, Pepper and Portune play the finger-pointing switch-a-roo game, doing anything to hack up sound bites of campaign rhetoric designed to deflect public discussion to the real issue.  So instead of talking, seriously, about who is in jail, and who needs to be there, they just try to scare us into the voting booth.

Their double-pronged campaign technique has been designed to appease everyone on the political spectrum, but in reality they have failed everybody.  Conservatives may hesitate at the thought of funding social programs, and liberals my not feel right about building bigger jails—but at the end of the day both sides realize the plan is incomplete.  It just doesn’t make the cut.

So right to the very end, what have they done?  Have they presented us with a plan that deserves the phrase “comprehensive.” No.  Instead, they are playing publicity stunts with the likes of Simon Leis, trying to help him springboard into his final re-election campaign.  I know my own critics will accuse me of rhetoric and playing politics—but when I do it there isn’t a billion dollar price-tag associated with it.

We need to get this right, and that is always better than getting it done in a hurry.

Vote NO on Issue 27.

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