Jeff Berding(haus) and the continuing stadium tax boondoggle (a media round-up)Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
This might not be the most exciting article—but from an archival and historical perspective, we wanted to make sure there was an easily accessible record of Jeff Berding’s involvement in the stadium tax boondoggle that some suggest has contributed to the terrible state of County budget, leading to the recent massive layoffs and cuts in service. So here are excerpts from a variety of articles, dating back to 1995.
Below you will find article citations and excerpts. This first references “Issue 1,” which was an attempt to introduce the strong mayor form of government—totally funded by corporate interests. It failed. Berding now fronts that as one of his great accomplishments.
Stadium sales tax proponents learned from Issue 1 mistakes
The Cincinnati Post - Wednesday, November 22, 1995
Author: Sharon Moloney
Issue 1, the failed effort to change Cincinnati’s form of government, might prove to have its own special silver lining. It served as an example of what not to do in trying to pass a controversial issue in Cincinnati.
It may save the proposed stadium sales tax.
The supporters of that plan, which voters will decide in March, say they have learned their lesson from Issue 1 .
“A successful campaign requires a lot of grass-roots community involvement,” says Jeff Berding , the savvy local Democrat who was hired to head the stadium campaign. “Clearly this didn’t happen on Issue 1 . This (stadium) issue is too important to make those same type of mistakes.”
Issue 1 ‘s major mistake was in not having wide, grass-roots support. It looked like what it was: a plan developed by the business community for the business community. This was reinforced when the city learned that the campaign to pass the charter amendment was financed entirely by corporate donors. This led to that fatal quip that “not one single human being” contributed to the campaign. One might say that Issue 1 supporters handed their heads to their enemies on a platter of corporate gold.
Stadium tax fight gets Super kickoff
The Cincinnati Post - Saturday, January 27, 1996
Author: Barry M. Horstman
Voinovich will appear at a rally at a downtown hotel, and he will be joined by Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls and Bedinghaus. Jeff Berding , chairman of the pro-tax campaign, said Friday that Voinovich’s appearance underlines the tax issue’s importance.
“The governor understands that 25 years from now, people will look back at this and say that the stadium sales tax issue defined the future of Greater Cincinnati,” Berding said. If Hamilton County voters approve the measure, the increase - from 5.5 to 6 cents on the dollar - would generate an estimated $50 million annually.
Of that, $35 million would be dedicated to building two new riverfront stadiums for the Reds and Bengals, with the remaining $15 million funding a residential property tax rollback. The campaign’s first TV commercials - from the well-funded pro-tax side - also are likely to begin appearing within about the next week, Bedinghaus said.
Squaring off over the sales tax
The Cincinnati Post - Thursday, February 1, 1996
Author: Barry M. Horstman
Neither Bengals General Manager Brown nor Reds owner Marge Schott - the proposed tax’s primary beneficiaries - are scheduled to attend today’s public pro-tax rally in the Westin atrium from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
But players from both the Bengals and Reds will attend, along with Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls and Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus , who drafted the plan.
The selling of the stadium tax
The Cincinnati Post - Friday, February 23, 1996
Author: Rick Van Sant
Berding constantly emphasizes that it’s a “grass roots campaign,” with lots of people donating a little money to go along with the hefty corporate contributions.
He’s trying to avoid the big mistake made by organizers of last year’s failed campaign to give Cincinnati a “strong mayor” type of government. That campaign relied almost solely on television and was financed entirely by corporations. The “human touch” was completely missing and it showed in a sound thumping at the polls.
“The effort the tax people are making goes far beyond the strong mayor campaign,” concedes Luken. “They’re trying to make it look civilized.”
Berding , only 29 but already a veteran of several Democratic congressional and senate campaigns, has five paid staff members - a press secretary, events manager, field coordinator, speakers bureau director and volunteer coordinator.
What was said about the results of Issue 1
The Cincinnati Post - Wednesday, March 20, 1996
“People understood this was about where we’re going to be 20 years from now, and whom they trust to get them there. On one side, you had people and groups like Bob Bedinghaus , Guy Guckenberger, Roxanne Qualls, the NAACP and the Chamber of Commerce, and on the other side, you had a few naysayers who frankly didn’t have a lot of credibility.” - Issue 1 campaign chairman Jeff Berding
“Obviously the voters understood the importance of this. This is a renaissance for Cincinnati. People understood the economic importance of the teams . . . It wasn’t just about sports.” - Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls
Some worry Bengal sales will be short, costing county
The Cincinnati Post - Thursday, September 23, 1999
Author: Mike Rutledge
With the Cincinnati Bengals’ 0-2 start this season, speculation is growing that Hamilton County taxpayers could have to pay the team $7 million or more because county government guaranteed 50,000 tickets would be sold for the first 20 games at Paul Brown Stadium. Through Aug. 18, 40,191 personal seat licenses were sold.
“I certainly understand the speculation, the way the Bengals are playing right now,” County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said. On the other hand: “People will be coming to downtown Cincinnati not just to see a football team next year, but they’ll be coming down to see the stadium.”
Bengals’ Director of Community Affairs Jeff Berding said it is highly unlikely the county will have to pay a significant sum, if anything, because of its ticket-sales pledge.
“I think everyone in the program is extraordinarily confident we will exceed the 50,000 for each and every one of the games,” Berding said.
Who put hex on stadium ?
Cincinnati Post, The (OH) - Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Author: Sharon Moloney
If you were the superstitious kind of folk, you might think that the Bengals’ stadium project on the riverfront is under some kind of hex.
Nothing seems to go right. Poor Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus , point man for the stadium and up for re-election in November, can’t get the tiniest break. Say “break a leg” - the old show biz phrase for good luck - and Bob would break two.
Multi-million dollar cost overruns, thousand-dollar inlaid tables, lavish offices, heated grass, lawsuits. Everybody knows the taxpayers are angry. The question is whether they will take it out with their vote for (or against) the county commissioners.
Berding aiding Bedinghaus bid for re-election
Cincinnati Post, The (OH) - Thursday, June 22, 2000
Author: Mike Rutledge ; Post staff reporter
Cincinnati Bengals spokesman Jeff Berding is helping Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus ’ re-election campaign as an unpaid adviser - a relationship being questioned because of the part Bedinghaus played in funding the team’s new $450 million stadium.
Bedinghaus said Tuesday he has taken advice from Berding , whom he first met while campaigning for the half-cent stadium sales tax increase that funds construction of stadiums for the Reds and Bengals.
The Republican commissioner said Berding has not and will not be paid, and is providing the same assistance as other trusted advisers, such as his former campaign manager, Shannon Walker Jones; political consultant Scott Borgemenke and county GOP executive director Chip Gerhardt.
Berding , a former member of the Hamilton County Democratic Party Executive Committee who once ran the re-election campaign of then-U.S. Rep. David Mann, did not return calls Tuesday or Wednesday.
Mara on sales tax: ‘I told you so’
Cincinnati Post, The (OH) - Thursday, October 12, 2000
Author: Post staff report
Pledges by politicians four years ago that a Hamilton County sales tax increase to build new stadiums could be repealed in 20 years or less have gone up in flames.
The half-cent on the dollar increase approved by voters in 1996 likely will last 36 years after Hamilton County commissioners Wednesday approved a $310 million bond issuance for stadium construction that won’t be repaid until 2032.
“I told you so,” said Tim Mara, a Cincinnati attorney who led a campaign against the tax four years ago.
“Unfortunately, unlike truth in lending or truth in advertising, there’s no law about truth in politics,” said Mara. “Voters were taken advantage of.”
Cincinnati City Council member Todd Portune, who is running against sales tax architect Bob Bedinghaus in the Nov. 7 election for Bedinghaus ’ county commission seat, said extension of the tax is “bad news for taxpayers.”
“This is all about broken promises and mortgaging the county’s future,” said Portune. “That tax was supposed to be retired early, in less than 20 years, and we’re approaching 40 years. It appears the county is moving in the direction of a tax that will go on forever.”
Bedinghaus , who did not return calls for comment over two days, had said before the vote four years ago that “there’s a chance we’ll pay this off quicker than 20 years.” Mara countered at the time that such statements were ways to “hoodwink voters.”
(...)
Jeff Berding , who led a campaign to increase the tax to build new stadiums for the Reds and Bengals and who now works for the Bengals, said publicity brochures four years ago didn’t mention how long the tax would last, stating only that “the tax will be repealed when the stadiums are paid for.”
Berding said the 20-year time period discussed four years ago was in line with a Regional Stadium Task Force estimate that the stadiums would cost $540 million. The project is now expected to cost $930 million.
Debate focuses on stadium , tax - Portune criticizes Bedinghaus , tax
Cincinnati Post, The (OH) - Tuesday, September 19, 2000
Author: Jennifer Edwards ; Post staff reporter
Portune questioned whether the sales tax revenue will be sufficient in coming years to pay the annual bond payments for the stadium.
Bengal notebook
Cincinnati Enquirer, The (OH) - Monday, December 11, 2000
Author: Mark Curnutte, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Former Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus sat in the Adelphia Coliseum press box with Bengals employees before Sunday’s game.
Bedinghaus , engineer of the sales tax increase that financed Paul Brown Stadium and the Reds’ Great America Ballpark, spent the pregame with Jeff Berding , the club’s director of sales and public affairs.
Bengals president Mike Brown has said the Bengals’ poor performance contributed to Bedinghaus ’ election loss to Democrat Todd Portune in the November election.
DEMS MAY NOT ENDORSE BERDING
Cincinnati Post, The (OH) - Monday, April 18, 2005
Author: Kevin Osborne, Post staff reporter
By some standards, Jeff Berding is the ideal Democratic candidate for Cincinnati City Council.
Berding , who is sales and public affairs director for the Cincinnati Bengals, already has raised $75,000 in the four months since he launched his campaign, using an extensive array of business and civic contacts.
With high-powered friends like Bengals owner Mike Brown, Mayor Charlie Luken and local Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke in his corner, Berding is focused on getting the Democratic endorsement in the next few weeks.
The endorsement is considered crucial in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
But many rank-and-file Democrats—including members of the party’s nominating committee—say they have serious concerns about Berding .
They cite Berding ‘s ties to the Bengals and the fact that he pushed for the 1996 half-cent sales tax increase to build a $458 million stadium for the team, a deal that has since alienated many voters and strained the county’s finances.
Even more troubling, they said, is that Berding campaigned for Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus , the Republican incumbent, against Democratic challenger Todd Portune in the heated 2000 campaign, and advised Bedinghaus how to attack Portune.
Bedinghaus lost the race, and now he—like Berding—works for the Bengals.
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18 Nov 2008 at 03:27 pm | #
It’s real cute how Bedinghaus works for the Bengals now. When was the last time someone was tarred and feathered?
19 Nov 2008 at 12:47 pm | #
This was not boring, Dean!
You have reminded us of what is wrong with democracy: stupid, instant-gratification, selfish voters, aka, the herd.