Sunday, November 1, 2009

Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner

Dear fellow tax hikers, we are writing to endorse one of our favorites Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner. You may be saying, "but isn't she running for City Council"? She is indeed on the ballot for City Council, but most of her time is being spent running for County Commissioner. This City Council race is a mere steppingstone to her real goal, replacing her mentor David Pepper on the County Commission. We are going to respect Mrs. Ghiz's choice and endorse her for the position that she actually cares about winning, Hamilton County Commissioner.

We know that Ghiz will make a fantastic Commissioner. If you liked Bob Bedinghaus, you will love Leslie Ghiz. Ghiz has been a strong promoter of higher taxes, big new spending programs like the $200 million Streetcar, and high-profile support of great tax-and-spend Democrats such as David Pepper and Jeff Berding. Please take a few minutes to consider the Ghiz record:

1. Endorsed David Pepper for County Commissioner, which gave the Democrats the majority on Commission for the first time in 40 years.

2. Joined with Marc Dann to endorse Pepper's big 2007 Sales Tax increase for the county.

3. Voted for Cincinnati's $200 million Streetcar plan, and is working against Issue 9 which could threaten to stop the streetcar.

4. Gave an $800,000 subsidy to The Freedom Center, along the way complaining that the city wouldn't give more.

5. Endorsed Democrat Jeff Berding and Charterite Chris Bortz, both of whom have also earned our endorsements, while heeding our warning to oppose Charlie Winburn. See, Leslie Ghiz does not support her fellow Republicans if they work too hard to limit the size of government.

Leslie Ghiz has built a superior record that is based around endorsing Democrats, raising taxes, and finding new, creative ways to spend our money. She deserves our support. When you vote this Tuesday, vote for Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner!

Cincinnati City Council Endorsements

Dear fellow tax hikers, we are now ready to announce our endorsements and non-endorsements for the 2009 Cincinnati City Council. Cincinnati residents are lucky to be governed by some of the best tax hikers in Southwest Ohio. We intend for this to continue. In accordance with our stated beliefs, we proudly endorse the following candidates:

1. Chris Bortz. Mr. Bortz claims he is a Republican and has been a leader in raising taxes and spending in Hamilton County. Bortz proudly stood with Marc Dann to support Issue 27 which would have raised Hamilton County's Sales Tax. In prior years Bortz has frequently voted against property tax rollbacks. Bortz is the chief advocate for the $200 million streetcar plan which we proudly support, and voted to give $800,000 to The Freedom Center. Bortz also endorsed pro-tax Democrat David Pepper for County Commissioner to help give our county the tax-hiking majority we needed, and appointed the awesomely pro-tax Roxanne Qualls to Jim Tarbell's old Council seat. Bortz is one of us and we can't wait to see what he'll do for 2 more years.

2. Jeff Berding. Mr. Berding, who will often claim he is really a Republican too, has compiled much of the same record as Bortz. He stood with Marc Dann and Bortz to support raising Hamilton County's Sales Tax. He has proudly voted for the $200 million streetcar and supported the $800,000 subsidy to The Freedom Center. Berding also endorsed David Pepper to the County Commission.

Where Berding really stands out is in all the work he did to support the Stadium Tax hike! Didn't that work out well for us? Hamilton County is a much better place today because of the Jeff Berding Stadium Tax that we'll be paying for another 30 years.

3. Roxanne Qualls. We're going to cross party lines here and endorse one of the greatest tax hikers we have. You name the tax, Ms. Qualls has supported it. Qualls provided key support to get the Jeff Berding Stadium Tax passed. She endorsed the Light Rail Tax that 69% of Hamilton County voters rejected in 2002. She endorsed Issue 27, the big Sales Tax hike from 2007. She strongly supports the $200 million streetcar plan and has previously announced her desire to fight again for light rail, which would need another tax hike. Over the past year she has been a reliable ally for the Mayor and all the big spending plans he's supported. Given the shortage of pro-tax Republicans running this year, we need to keep Qualls around some more.

4. Finally, we will announce our endorsement of Leslie Ghiz in a separate entry. Her tax-and-spend credentials and overall record merit a special posting just for her.

In addition to these fine tax hikers, we are issuing an urgent plea to vote against Chris Monzel and Charlie Winburn! These two enemies have been notoriously hostile to our agenda. They both opposed raising Hamilton County's Sales Tax hike. They stood with the coalition that restricted red light cameras in Cincinnati. They don't even support our $200 million streetcar plan. Each year Monzel has supported a property tax rollback, and even worse both of these guys have signed a pledge not to raise taxes! We want higher taxes. So vote against Monzel and Winburn.