Sycamore School Board walks out on critic

Dear fellow tax hikers, we have received several reports that the Sycamore School Board opened a public comment section of their recent meeting, and then proceeded to walk out when someone criticized some of their recent financial decisions. We have opened an investigation and promise our loyal readers that we will get to the bottom of this controversy.

According to the website SycamoreTaxpayer.com, a resident stepped forward to deliver the following remarks to the School Board. As he was speaking he was told his 3 minutes were up, at which point the School Board members walked out of the meeting. We are disgusted that anyone would dare to criticize our tax-and-spend friends on the Board!

Sycamore Schools currently spends around $13,500 per student per year, more than nearly every other school district in Ohio. But that's not #1. Sycamore cannot be content to be outspending only 95% or more of Ohio school districts. They must continue raising taxes until they are the biggest spenders in Ohio.

Because of this shortfall, School Board Member Diane Adamec has been promising everyone that the Sycamore Schools will be seeking a big tax increase within the next 3 years. This is a continuation of her excellent tax-hiking record. Last year we profiled Mrs. High Tax Adamec because of her tireless dedication to higher taxes. Diane Adamec will not stop taxing until they're #1, and if she has to walk out of School Board meetings to help pass a tax increase we will not criticize her behavior. Stay tuned for more.

Simon Leis endorses Leslie Ghiz

Dear fellow tax hikers, we are delighted to report the news that our great Sheriff Simon Leis has endorsed Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner! Seeing these two excellent tax hikers working together is great news for our growing movement. Leslie and Simon share so much in common.

Both have openly endorsed tax-hiking Democrat David Pepper for County Commissioner. Both strongly supported raising our Sales Taxes by $800 million over 15 years. Both are openly hostile to our conservative Republican enemies who refuse to support tax increases and big spending. And both are very proud of all the Democrats they have openly endorsed. It is only natural that these two fine servants would join forces to ensure that Ghiz can continue the legacy of her mentor David Pepper.

Simon says, "Leslie has demonstrated her ability to take on tough issues and fight for what is right."

That's right. Leslie Ghiz fought to bring a streetcar to Cincinnati. Leslie fought to raise our Sales Tax. Leslie fought to elect David Pepper to the Commission. Leslie will remain committed to higher taxes and big spending hikes when she joins the Commission.

Simon Leis knows he can get anything he wants with Todd Portune and Leslie Ghiz in charge. Ghiz will see to it that Sales taxes rise again. Ghiz will make sure that the Sheriff's department continues to be well stocked with new helicopters, fishing boats, military tanks, and blow up dolls of Simon Leis (from when he had hair). Sheriff Leis deserves those important crime-fighting tools - with Leslie Ghiz in charge, he will get them. Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner!

Great 2010 Begins Now

Dear fellow tax hikers, greetings from your fearless leader of Republicans for Higher Taxes! We hope everyone has had as great of a New Year as us. We have enjoyed our break, but now we're getting back to work spreading the message of higher taxes and taking this website of ours to new heights.

There is much work to be done. We promise to you, our loyal tax hiking friends, that we are going to update this blog regularly through the May primary. You all deserve nothing less than our best and you're going to get it!

We are extremely excited that our tax-hiking hero Leslie Ghiz has declared her candidacy for County Commissioner. Of course, readers of this blog have known for two months this was going to happen. Her election will allow her to raise taxes on a higher level than ever before, and just as important, continue the fine legacy of her mentor David Pepper.

When David Pepper was running for Commissioner in 2006 against a Republican, Leslie Ghiz endorsed Pepper to help him win the race and allow the tax-hiking Democrats to take control of our commission. Only 6 months later, Ghiz helped Pepper to pass his Sales Tax hike that we so badly needed.

Leslie Ghiz will be a fantastic addition to the County Commission and we are proud to be the first organization to give her an endorsement. We are putting the rest of the Hamilton County GOP on notice - we will do even more to help Leslie Ghiz than we did to help 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt. That is one promise we will never think of breaking! Leslie Ghiz for County Commissioner.

Ohio Republicans to raise Income Taxes

Dear fellow tax hikers, we are delighted to bring you the news that our Ohio Republican leaders have joined with Democratic Governor Ted Strickland to raise Ohio's Income Taxes! Our tax hiking leaders plan to hold the final vote on Thursday and we expect all of our House and Senate Republicans to support this excellent tax increase.

This is why we vote for Republicans - to raise taxes. We are the party of higher taxes, and we continue to prove it at every turn.

We owe special thanks to our 2007 Tax Hiker of the Year Bill Seitz for his great leadership. Tax Hike Seitz has worked extremely hard over the past couple weeks to build support for this tax hike plan.

We also owe special gratitude to State Representative Connie Pillich for her courageous vote to raise this important tax. We were actually worried about her ability to raise taxes when she first got elected, but she has grown into an excellent tax hiker herself. In fact, if Connie allowed her mustache to grow thicker, she would be nearly indistinguishable from our man Virgil Lovitt. Tax us more!

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.

Rick Bryan for Blue Ash City Council

Dear fellow tax hikers, we are delighted to issue our strongest possible endorsement to Blue Ash City Councilman Rick Bryan. Of all the suburban city councilmen and township trustees, Rick Bryan is simply the best tax hiker we have. It is vitally important that he be re-elected to the Blue Ash City Council so that their city's government can continue to operate under Rick's awesome tax-and-spend leadership. Consider the Rick Bryan record:

1. Like Ohio's former Attorney General Marc Dann, Rick Bryan publicly endorsed the big Sales Tax increase for Hamilton County. Sadly, the voters did not agree and opposed Rick's tax hike with 56% of the vote.

2. Rick voted for and publicly endorsed the 25% Earnings Tax hike for the lucky citizens and workers in Blue Ash.

3. Endorsed the huge Hotel/Motel tax increase earlier this decade championed by Bob Taft and 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt. Rick has continued over the years to support the political career of fellow tax hiker Virg Lovitt.

4. Rick has been heavily influential in the selection of Sycamore School Board members, such as our tax-and-spend superhero Diane Adamec, and a strong supporter of their big-spending policies which have led them to spending more money per student than nearly every school district in Ohio.

5. In the 2008 primary, Rick Bryan proudly announced his opposition to our anti-tax enemy Pat DeWine. Even though DeWine crushed his opponent, Bryan did the right thing. DeWine disobeyed party leaders, and actively opposed that Sales Tax increase. DeWine should have been severely punished for opposing higher taxes and not doing what he's told by party elders.

6. Finally, we are delighted that Rick has been an active participant in the mustache power that has swept our political structure in Hamilton County. You cannot fight the 'stache.

As you see, Rick Bryan has been a fantastic tax hiker and big spender over the last decade on the Blue Ash City Council. When you need someone to raise your taxes, increase spending, and enforce strict discipline against dissent, there is no finer choice in Northeast Hamilton County than Rick Bryan. We strongly support his re-election as Blue Ash Ward 3 City Councilman and hope to see him run for higher office soon.

Connie Pillich spreads high tax cheer

Dear fellow tax hikers, last year we were distraught at the election of Connie Pillich over our 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt. With Virg's excellent record of raising taxes, we were certain that his loss represented a major setback for our tax-and-spend movement. We are now writing to say that we were wrong. Connie Pillich has become an outstanding tax increaser. Her tax-hiking and fee-hiking skills are almost as solid as Virgil Lovitt's himself. Consider Mrs. Pillich's outstanding record:

- Earlier this year Mrs. Pillich supported a budget plan that raised fees on Ohioans by $1.5 billion. We are in agreement with our great Governor Ted Strickland, who stated, "I think higher fees are higher taxes." We concur, higher taxes and higher fees are one in the same, and we applaud Connie for voting with Strickland to raise our fees.

- These fee increases were needed when Mrs. Pillich voted to give $3.1 million to The Freedom Center. How else could such important programs have been funded in a tight budget year? We applaud Connie for recognizing an essential government subsidy when she sees it.

- Mrs. Pillich not only endorsed the Sycamore Schools Property Tax levy that we also endorsed, she went the extra step of placing a pro-tax sign in her yard.

- Last week Mrs. Pillich joined with Governor Ted Strickland, her fellow House Democrats, and great Republican leader Matt Dolan to raise Ohio's Income Tax by $900 million! This is a fantastic idea to ensure the government gets to spend our money instead of us.

- Late last month, Mrs. Pillich took the unprecented step of endorsing a tax increase outside of her ballot area!

Pillich did offer her support for the Winton Woods levy, and told board member John Pennycuff she would help in any way she could.

We strongly applaud Connie for traveling to other people's school districts to tell them why they should support higher taxes! The voters of the Winton Woods School District have rejected this big property tax increase no less than 4 consecutive times. Now they are trying for the fifth time to pass a 7.9 mill levy. Mrs. Pillich does not live or work in the Winton Woods School District but wants to tell them how to vote anyways. Pillich not only supports higher taxes for her own area, she believes that higher taxes should be spread everywhere.

Connie Pillich. Spreading high tax cheer. Making our paychecks disappear. Great job Connie!

Cheviot endorsements

Dear fellow tax hikers, after hours of research and some excellent tips from our supportive tax hikers in Cheviot, we are prepared to release our 2009 Cheviot endorsements. The big contested races are Ward Council seats and city Treasurer.

Cheviot has set a fine example for the rest of SW Ohio about the importance of raising taxes. Earlier this year the Cheviot Mayor and City Council unanimously backed a huge property tax increase, and with our endorsement it passed. Cheviot citizens will get to pay the higher taxes they deserve. With these taxes, Cheviot continues to inch closer and closer to their city leadership's long-term goal of becoming Cincinnati West. Our endorsements are as follows:


Council

Republicans for Higher Taxes proudly endorses incumbents Deborah McKinney (R-Council President), Ryan Zech (R-1st Ward) and Jim Sunderhaus (D-3rd Ward) for re-election. When you needed higher taxes the most, these three answered the call. They voted to move that property tax hike forward, then they worked hard to campaign for it. These are our kind of tax hikers. We strongly encourage all of Cheviot's residents to reward them for raising taxes, and then ask them to raise those taxes some more.


Treasurer

We strongly support tax-hiker Michael Murray (D) for this key post. Murray joined with his fellow Democrats and tax-and-spend Republicans to support this big property tax increase, while his opponent Charlie Norman did not. We will not tolerate Norman's independence or his opposition to higher taxes.

Norman is an aide to Judge Pat DeWine, one of our most notable enemies. In addition to his work helping DeWine implement his limited government agenda, Norman refused to support Cheviot's big property tax hike and he strongly opposed the big Sales Tax increase that we enthusiastically supported. Charlie Norman is cut from the same cloth as Steve Chabot, Chris Monzel, and DeWine. We don't need any more of those fiscal conservatives in office, Norman must be stopped now. We issue a strong endorsement for Murray for Treasurer.

2009 Election Housekeeping items

Dear fellow tax hikers, a few items for your review:

1. We at Republicans for Higher Taxes promise to update this blog regularly through Election Day. We realize we had a slow August and September but we would never abandon you when you need us most. Our coverage will be top notch for the rest of the election cycle.

2. We want to involve YOU in our 2009 election coverage. In this a year of local elections, we need more tips in order to expand our local coverage. Southwest Ohio has dozens and dozens of communities and we can't know what's going on in all of them. This is where you come in. We want all of you, our loyal readers, to direct us to the stories that matter most.

Does your local government have a great tax hiker like Cheviot Mayor Sam Keller? Let us know and give us the scoop on him/her, and we may be able to write a profile for them. Does your community have an important tax increase on the ballot in a few weeks? Email us the information so we can give it the endorsement it deserves! Remember fellow tax hikers: the city of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Public Schools are the only local governments that are broadly covered by the media. We need you to fill in the rest for us.

3. We are down to our final 2 candidates for our most prestigious Tax Hiker of the Year for 2009. Our Executive Committee will make a final decision in the next couple weeks and announce the winner shortly!

4. In the next few days, we will announce a brand new feature to our site. It absolutely rocks! We can't wait to show you this awesome feature.

Ghiz helps Democrat Berding and Charterite Bortz

Dear fellow tax hikers, by now all of you are aware of our deep infatuation with Cincinnati City Councilman Leslie Ghiz. Ghiz is a great embodiment of the values we espouse - higher taxes, more spending, voting for streetcars, and supporting great Democrats like David Pepper and Jeff Berding. We could not be more proud of her recent efforts to help Democrat Jeff Berding and Charterite Chris Bortz raise money for their campaigns. We are thankful of the invitation we got from Ghiz inviting us to the Tri-Partisan fundraiser thrown for her, Berding, and Bortz.

We are especially proud of her attack against our 2008 Enemy of the Treasury Chris Monzel. In her newsletter, Ghiz invited us to, "a Cocktail Reception to Meet the Three Most Qualified Members of City Council". Thank you Ghiz for telling the truth about that awful Monzel. Monzel opposed the Sales Tax hike, opposes city property tax hikes, stood against implementing a trash tax, voted against the great streetcar plan, voted against subsidizing The Freedom Center, and even voted against a $65,000 flyover to see the city's trees from above.

Some are criticizing Leslie Ghiz for helping non-Republicans during this campaign season, but why shouldn't she? Ghiz, Berding, and Bortz share so much in common:

- Each endorsed Democrat David Pepper for County Commissioner.
- Each endorsed Pepper's Sales Tax increase.
- Each voted to send $800,000 of taxpayer dollars to The Freedom Center.
- Each voted for the Streetcar plan that will save our city.
- Each opposes Issue 9, which could kill our great streetcar idea.

We agree with Ghiz that sometimes you have to support Democrats to get the higher taxes that our government deserves. We, afterall, had to endorse Barack Obama and Todd Portune to ensure we all keep paying more taxes. We strongly applaud Leslie Ghiz for slamming Chris Monzel and helping her Democrat friends get elected.

Virgil Lovitt and Bill Seitz endorse new tax hike

Tax Hike Seitz and Virgil Lovitt review their latest tax increase

- by guest writers Bill Seitz and Virg Lovitt.

SO WHO WANTS TO RAISE SOME TAXES!!!!!! We, your 2007 and 2008 Tax Hikers of the Year, thank our great friends at Republicans for Higher Taxes for allowing us the opportunity to make this most important plea. It's time for another tax hike baby! We urgently need your support to pass the only brand new tax on this November ballot. Please vote for Issue 7 the Library Tax. We are proud to endorse this necessary new tax.

If the Library Tax doesn't pass, the library is going to have to make some big changes to balance their budget. There are approximately 30,000 out-of-county library users. If this tax doesn't pass those people might have to pay for their library card. We can't let that happen! We need everyone in Hamilton County to pay higher taxes so those from outside Hamilton County can use Hamilton County's libraries for FREE.

Currently the library allows unlimited free rental of DVD's and CD's. If the Library Tax fails they might have to charge $1 to rent Spiderman 3 or Kanye West's latest (lip-synched) hits! What would happen to Hamilton County if people didn't get commercial entertainment products for free. We need YOU to pay higher taxes so these products can remain FREE.

Ignore our enemies at COAST. They have put out a list of 8 suggestions for the library to improve their finances using existing resources. Every one of these should be ignored. There is no reason for the library to improve its operations. Why should they, when we can just raise taxes?


Sincerely,

Tax Hike Seitz, 2007 Tax Hiker of the Year
Virgil "Virg" Lovitt, 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year