David Pepper’s “Deeply Illegitimate Act”

David Pepper betrays his own promises,
and Hamilton County taxpayers

It is hardly unusual for politicians to lie to us about their intentions on raising our taxes – we have come to expect that.  It is extraordinary, however, for a politician to tell us in advance that such an act on their part would be nothing short of treachery. 

Commissioner David Pepper not only went back on his repeated promises not to reduce the Stadium Property Tax Rollback, but a year ago told us that this very act that he undertook – independent of fiscal considerations -- would be a “deeply illegitimate act.”  This is an important, defining issue for Hamilton County.

David Pepper told Hamilton County voters on his own blog that it did not matter the fiscal state of the Stadium Fund –“Fulfilling the PTR Promise -- Some Things are Simple” – he would firmly oppose all efforts to eliminate or reduce the Property Tax Rollback that was an integral part of the 1996 deal with the voters.

What the readers of the Enquirer will never learn – because the Enquirer refuses to tell us – is that Pepper and fellow liberal democrat Commissioner Todd Portune have made the Stadium Fund deficit infinitely worse by voting to add hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending for the Banks project since they took office – spending from an insolvent fund.

Thus, Pepper’s treachery is all the more pronounced.  He scored the amazing trifecta of duplicity by (i) promising never to reduce the rollback, (ii) voting to accelerate spending to make the deficit worse, and (iii) then voting to reduce the rollback, brazenly claiming he had no other option.  Even worse, pepper received more than $40,000 in contributions for his County Commission race from Bengals executives and attorneys to do their bidding on the Commission.

David Pepper, who voted when he first joined the Commission for the “Super-Sized Jail Tax,” without submitting it to a vote of the electorate, has shown himself unqualified for the office he currently holds.  He is utterly unworthy of the promotion to State Auditor, a post he is currently seeking.