Brad Wenstrup takes COAST pledge

Seventh City candidate to commit to voters:
No tax increase

Brad Wenstrup is only candidate for
Cincinnati Mayor to take COAST pledge

Brad Wenstrup, candidate for Cincinnati Mayor, last week signed COAST’s pledge against raising taxes in the coming term as Mayor.

COAST encourages you to call or write Brad Wenstrup for this courageous stand. You can e-mail him here or call him at 513-378-2716.

The pledge, modeled on the pledge for Presidential candidates, and candidates for Congress, and State Legislatures of Americans for Tax Reform, is a promise from Council candidates and the Mayor not to raise property taxes, earnings taxes or add new fees such as a garbage tax during the coming term for which they are running.

To date, Council incumbents Leslie Ghiz (R) and Chris Monzel (R), and challengers Charles Winburn (R), George Zamary (R), Amy Murray (R) and Lemarque Ward (I) have all signed the Pledge.

Mayor Mark Mallory and the remainder of Council’s incumbents have refused to sign the pledge so far. Please encourage them to do so.

Boycott Government Motors?

COAST polls readers on whether to join

One way for consumers to protest the massive government subsidy of General Motors and its subsequent bankruptcy and sweetheart deals cut for the labor unions is for conservatives to boycott the new company. In doing so, those advocating limited government could both show their displeasure with this outrageous conduct of our government and at the same time help the new entity to fail more quickly.

Those advocating a boycott include Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt.

COAST ponders, should it join the boycott? Cast your vote to the right of this window. COAST will decide at its September membership meeting. Please only vote once.

Mark calendars for 3rd annual North COAST picnic

Sunday, October 4 at 4 PM at

Blue Ash Recreation Center/Park

COASTers will be gathering on Sunday, October 4 at 4 PM at Blue Ash Recreation Center/Park, 4343 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 to celebrate their 2009 successes, plan for the November elections and thank their volunteers and Board members.

COAST provides the fried chicken and beverages. Attendees are asked to bring side dishes and desserts.

Please mark your calendar and plan on attending this annual and fun COAST function. There will be a charge of $5 per person to cover the cost of the chicken and beverages.

Call or e-mail COAST Board member Kim Grant at 513-479-8475 to make your reservations, for directions, or for more information. Be there!

Stadium Sales tax rollback:

Tax? Cut? Pepper and Portune vote to add more debt

When Hamilton County voters passed the stadium sales tax in 1996, a key part of the bargain was that 30% of the revenue from the ½ cent sales tax would be devoted to property tax reduction. As the Business Courier and Enquirer report, because of continuing over-spending, including new spending on the Banks project, the fund available for bond repayments are going broke, requiring either a general fund subsidy or elimination of the promised property tax rebate.

Last week, County Commissioners were faced with a vote on the shortfall. Would they decide to finally cut over-spending? Would they reverse the firmly promised tax rebate? Rather, the Commissioners decided to take on an additional $5.5 million in debt and postpone the hard decisions until January.

Now that’s leadership!

Treasury Secretary Geitner:

Will taxes be raised?:
"Absolutely right."

Although we were firmly promised during the Presidential campaign that there would be no tax increase on the middle class, administration officials are hedging. Last week, Treasury Secretary Geitner was asked on ABC’s This week whether it was right to suggest it is a matter of when, not if, taxes will be raised, Geithner responded, "It is absolutely right." So much for that promise!

Trolley Amendment submitted for November ballot

WeDemandAVote.Com places issue in voters’ hands

On August 3, 2009, the WeDemandAVote.Com coalition submitted more than 11,530 signatures on petitions to the Clerk of Cincinnati City Council to force a vote against the poorly-timed and poorly-planned trolley proposal of Mayor Mallory and Cincinnati City Council.

The petitions, already pre-checked by the Hamilton County Board of Elections, require City Council to place the proposal before Cincinnati voters on the November ballot. The amendment to the Cincinnati City Charter will prevent expenditures on passenger rail for right of way acquisition or capital improvements.

The WeDemandAVote.Com coalition is a unique banding of the NAACP, COAST, the Green Party of Ohio, the Libertarian Party of Ohio and the Hamilton County Business Owners Association that was originally formed to fight the Super-Sized Jail Tax of Todd Portune and David Pepper in 2007. The Trolley proposal is the fourth proposal the coalition has placed before the voters in three years.

Mayor’s P.R. junket to Portland backfires

Channel 5 lambastes misplaced priorities in midst of City’s fiscal crisis

July’s public relations stunt of a junket to Portland by Mayor Mallory and other City staffers to promote the City’s wasteful and ill-timed trolley proposal backfired with the media lambasting Hizzoner for wasting money the City simply does not have to spend.

The day the Mayor returned from his public relations junket on the taxpayer dime, the City announced layoffs of City employees, that resulted in the reduction of 138 persons from the police force.

One example of the media coverage of the junket was this great Channel 5 piece on the wasteful spending and wrong direction of the City.

COAST estimates that the City spent more than $10,000 in tax dollars on the junket that served no purpose other than promoting the trolley proposal that is opposed by 65% of City voters.

Enquirer: stop trolley proposal dead in its tracks

Mayor and Council still refuse to listen

It’s a rare day when the Enquirer editorial pages even consider a limited government approach to our region’s problems, much less get it right. However, this great editorial tells Council and the Mayor to stop, now, their spending and promotion of the trolley.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the Mayor’s and Council’s stated priority of pushing the trolley, they still are not listening. Fortunately, and thanks to the NAACP, COAST and the WeDemandAVote.Com coalition, voters will have the last say on this topic.

Cincinnati lays off 138 police officers; discontinues four fire companies

Foolish over-spending remains the problem

After years of wasting monies, the chickens have finally come home to roost on the policies of Cincinnati City Council last Monday when the City Manager announced layoffs of 138 police officers and the closure of four fire companies.

“If Council would limit their role to the basic functions of government,” said COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd, “there would be now and for the foreseeable future, more than enough funds to police the streets and provide adequate fire protection.”

However, for decades, Cincinnati City Council has spent hundreds of millions on non-priority projects such as subsidizing the Film Commission and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, operating a City environmental protection, inspections of nursing homes and day care centers, all of which are duplicative of state and federal agencies, and squandered limited city resources on ill-considered mega-projects such as the $42 million squandered on the Riverfront Transit Center. Currently it is spending money planning and promoting a trolley plan that will never happen.

COAST believes that City Council intends to foist a massive property or earnings tax increase on Cincinnatians shortly after the November 4 elections to pay for these foolish spending policies.

Cincinnati Public Schools seek yet another 9.11 mill property tax increase this November

School board believes it hasn’t hammered taxpayers sufficiently

Immediately on the heels of a massive 14% property tax increase in 2009, Cincinnati voters are facing a similarly massive 9.11-mill property tax levy on November 3. Meanwhile, CPS just added 55 new employees. Huh?

Driehaus sides with big-spenders with votes on stimulus, cap and trade and health care

Removes any doubt about liberal leadings

Freshman Congressman Steve Driehaus takes a sharp left turn

Freshman Congressman Steve Driehaus has clarified any question about whether he would be a lockstep liberal in Washington or reflect the conservative values of his district. In nation-changing vote after vote in Washington, he has consistently sided with the Nancy Pelosi left-wing of the democrat Party.

During the 2008 campaign, Steve Driehaus campaigned as a fiscal conservative; however his voting record thus far in Congress has been an abysmal display of his true values as a tax-and-spend liberal.

In February, Driehaus voted in favor of the trillion-dollar “stimulus” package that was supposed to keep unemployment below eight percent. What are the current results of this bill? How about a national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent coupled with an unemployment rate of 11.2 percent in Ohio… so much for those shovel-ready, job-creating projects.

As self-proclaimed fiscal conservative, one would have thought that Steve Driehaus would have opposed the $3.6 trillion budget that was passed in April. Well, that hope would have been misplaced as Driehaus voted for the budget and help set our country on a course for the biggest deficit in our nation’s history.

As if the stimulus vote and the budget votes weren’t enough, Driehaus again caved to the pressures of Nancy Pelosi by voting in favor of the Cap and Trade bill that passed the House in June. Driehaus even admits that this bill will cause the local consumer at least a 5-10 percent increase in their energy bills.

Steve Driehaus has lost all credibility as a fiscal conservative and we have a good feeling that voters will take notice of this next November. His own constituents hammered by his own constituents at this Town Hall meeting. Maybe a one-termer?

Toledo Red Light campaign charges forward; Tiny little Heath is already submitted

Pernicious devices under attack from Ohio voters

COAST staffer Scott Ross and volunteers traveled to Toledo in July to spur the petition drive for a Charter Amendment against Red Light Cameras in that City to the November ballot. Activists in tiny Heath Ohio quickly collected their required number of signatures to assure ballot access there.

COASTers Kim Grant, Dan Regenold, Chris Finney and Scott Ross joined Americans for Prosperity staffers Jack Boyle and Jonathan Petrea in Toledo in July to spur efforts there over the top. At the same time, in a matter of days, activists in tiny Heath Ohio printed their petitions and gathered the required number of signatures to assure ballot access there.

As of the publication of this newsletter, the Toledo effort has reached 6,250 signatures against a needed 4,750 valid signature requirement. Toledoans have until approximately August 13 to finish their signature-gathering efforts to attain ballot access for the November 4 election.

“COAST was proud to provide important volunteer resources for petition campaigns in both Heath and Toledo,” said COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd. “In addition to advancing the cause of liberty in those cities, we have identified local leaders for the future legislative and political battles throughout Ohio.”

Already, Heath volunteers have indicated a willingness to help with petition campaigns in nearby Columbus and its suburbs.

NAACP, AFSCME submit City petitions to force water works sale to a vote

Would charge ratepayers $475 million for assets they already own

Would you pay good money to buy something you already own? That’s what the City Manager is proposing with the sale of water works assets to a new public entity. Under the Manager’s proposal, the City of Cincinnati would follow Ohio statutory procedures to form a “Regional Water District.” A Charter Amendment advanced by the NAACP and the labor union AFSCME would force that proposal to a City vote.

Under the Manager’s proposal, after the formation of the new water works entity, the City would enter into an agreement to transfer to it assets of the Cincinnati Water Works in exchange for a payment of $475 million.

Who pays that $475 million under Dohoney’s proposal? The very ratepayers who already own the water works assets. As explained by Dohoney at a June presentation, the sale is proposed “because the City needs the money.” In other words, the sale is a hidden tax increase to feed the City’s unrestrained habit of over-spending.

In response, Cincinnati’s NAACP and AFSCME have circulated a petition requiring that any sale of City waterworks assets be submitted to a public referendum.

“Using the legacy of 100 years of asset purchases by Cincinnati water ratepayers to fund the City’s operating deficit is the height of fiscal irresponsibility,” said Christopher Smitherman, Cincinnati NAACP President. “We cannot allow Council to mortgage our future and our children’s future in this manner to finance nothing other than their open-ended spending addiction.”

COAST will be considering an endorsement of the Waterworks amendment at its September Board meeting.

Jennifer Miller & Arnie Engel seek re-election

COASTers encouraged to help them with money, time

Loyal COASTers Jennifer Miller of the Mason City Board of Education and Arnie Engel of the Fairfield City Board of Education are each seeking re-election this November. Both have given of themselves selflessly and repeatedly in COAST activities. It’s time for COASTers to recriprocate generously.

The web sites and contact information of these two fine candidates are below. COAST will be arranging volunteer weekends to help each of these two fine candidates. Please plan on volunteering and helping them both.

Jennifer Miller for Mason Board of Education
4579 Angeline Lane
Mason, Ohio 45040
ElectJenniferMiller.Com

Arnold Engel for Fairfield City School Board
6237 Firestone Drive
Fairfield, Ohio 45014
TheTaxpayersVoice.Net