Fischer "Endorsement" Under Review

Patrick Fischer, a first-time candidate for city council, drew on his extensive ties as a former Cincinnati Bar Association president to raise more money for his campaign than most incumbents so far this year. Now his ties to a neighborhood group have drawn criticism — and could get it into legal trouble.

A recent issue of The Informant, the quarterly newsletter published by the Pleasant Ridge Community Council, includes a column praising Fischer, who also is the community council's former president. But the article didn't stop there, and urged neighborhood residents to vote for Fischer, a Republican, in this fall's city council elections.

The column, written by Pleasant Ridge resident Patty Meder, only mentioned Fischer and no other candidates. It featured several glowing paragraphs touting Fischer and included a photograph of him and his family. It concluded with, "Give him your vote. We need one of our own at City Hall."

Trouble is, Cincinnati’s numerous community councils — which receive taxpayer money through the city’s Neighborhood Support Program — aren’t allowed to advocate for political candidates.

Rick Dieringer, director of Invest In Neighborhoods (IIN), the agency contracted to administer city funding to community councils, said he received a complaint last Thursday about the newsletter column. IIN’s contract with the city specifically prohibits such activity. Also, community councils are registered as 501(c)3 non-profit groups, and advocating for a candidate could jeopardize their federal tax-exempt status, Dieringer added.

IIN typically reimburses community councils for many of their expenses, such as newsletters. The cost for The Informant’s current issue, estimated at about $1,200, won’t be reimbursed, Dieringer said.

“There have been questions in the past about accepting political advertising for newsletters, but I’ve never seen anything this blatant,” Dieringer said. “I feel, ethically, there should be some sort of penalty about what was done, but we don’t have that authority.”

Steve Simon, an attorney who is president of the Pleasant Ridge Community Council, said he didn’t see the newsletter before it was published and only learned of the column when Dieringer called him. He’s trying to determine who had final authority to approve the newsletter’s contents before publication.

“I was absolutely shocked,” Simon said. “As president, you can’t keep an eye on everything. It shouldn’t have been in there. It was not authorized.”

Simon believes volunteers who compile the newsletter in their spare time inserted the column due to an honest mistake. Still, that doesn’t excuse the action, he said.

“We like Pat, but I’ve made it clear we can’t do any kind of endorsement by the community council,” Simon said. “It looks like someone wanted to do something nice for Pat and went too far.”

The newsletter's final copy may have been signed off by community council secretary Kate Powell, an attorney who also is volunteer coordinator for Fischer’s campaign, although that's unclear at present, Simon said. Some critics — mostly Democrats — question if the newsletter glitch was a mistake at all. They note that both Fischer and Powell are attorneys and should’ve known better.

After Dieringer informed the community council about the violation, one member wondered whether the column actually was paid advertising. That wouldn’t matter, Dieringer said, although he continued, “If it is, it’s certainly well-disguised. It’s part of a column that has other (news) items in it.”

Some Democrats say privately they are considering filing a complaint with the Cincinnati Elections Commission over the newsletters, as well as over large tarps hung last weekend at the annual Ridge Days festival. The tarps contained the hand-painted phrase, “Vote for Fischer,” but didn’t include the required disclosure notices on them about who paid for the signs, they said.

Fischer raised more than $135,000 in the most recent reporting period for his campaign, more than any other candidate. More than 30 of Fischer’s almost 100 contributors work at the Keating, Muething & Klekamp law firm, where he is a partner.

— Kevin Osborne

Comments

[proudtobeindy]

This is bullshit. Complete BULLSHIT. NO mistake! I live in P.Ridge, I don't vote for city elections, but this is bs with a little horseshit mixed in with it! If dem leaders don't file a complaint, someone else needs to.

[Not the Mamma Cass!]

Great post, Kevin! What tipped you off to this? :)

[anon]

Powell is listed as the contact for the Communications Committee so it seems pretty likely that she'd have signed off on it

[anonymous]

not the mama cass-
"sounds fishy" wrote about this to Porkopolis on July 10

proudtobeindy- maybe this will get you to vote in this year's council elections? Plenty of indys do, you know.

[anonymous]

perhaps Fischer failed to remember that the Democratic party headquarters are in Pleasant Ridge, so his banner saying "this is Fischer country" is up for debate

[A Concerned Reader]

Surely two lawyer types should know that this kind of stuff doesn't pass muster.

[ladyblue]

Fischer & Powell....what a disappointment! Yet this doesn't surprise me considering the crap they pulled with the Cincinnati Bar Association a few years back.

[The REAL Margo Pierce]

“It looks like someone wanted to do something nice for Pat and went too far.”

___________

What's "too far?" In an election, when visibility is key, this kind of “goof up" can cause serious problems. Will Pleasant Ridge print an equally lengthy column explaining that the community council is NOT endorsing this candidate and WHY the original column is inappropriate?

At the risk of insulting the intelligence of the readers with an explanation of the reasoning behind a retraction - endorsements, city money, favoritism, conflict of interest – this is an opportunity to provide readers with the fundamental of ethics in politics that are essential for free and fair elections but are regularly ignored or dismissed in the race to win.

The CityBeat new staff would be happy to provide just such a column, just let us know the deadline.

[Not the Mamma Cass!]

Margo: I think that would be welcome. Would it include guidance regarding reporting on the campaign activities of the wife of a CityBeat contributing writer and disclosure of same?

[anonymouse]

Thanks Mama Cass for pointing that out- for readers who may not be aware of it, Joan Kaup, Charter candidate for city council, is married to Rick Pender, who has frequently written for CityBeat, and who I believe is the director of development for Cincinnati Opera.

[anomy]

Some people in Pleasant Ridge got e mails from Fischer when they never signed up:
cincyblog/2144467196160652844

cincinnatibeacon:hey cec investigate pat fischer please!

[just wondering]

Can anyone point me to information on the "crap [Fischer and Powell] pulled with the bar association"?
I was at the Pleasant Ridge Community Council meeting when Fischer was elected president. One other guy was interested in the position, so they had questions from the audience followed by a 3-minute speech by each candidate. An obvious Fischer partisan asked if either had aspirations for higher office. The other guy said maybe yes. Fischer said absolutely not.
Then during the first speech the secretary started passing out the receptacle for votes! Obviously they thought that nothing could be said that would make people vote for the other guy or not vote for Fischer. It wasn't technically rigged - but they obviously thought any result other than Fischer's election was impossible.