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Monday, October 31, 2005

Crowley owns up, moves on

It is not every day that a candidate for public office advertises his mistakes, but Democratic Councilman David C. Crowley has sent a mailer to voters saying his 2002 vote on the Empire Theater redevelopment was a big one.

"I thought it was important that we acknowledge that a mistake was made and tell people how we learned from it,'' said Crowley. "I've always lived my life that way. When I make a mistake in any aspect of my life, I want to learn from it.''

Crowley was part of the council majority that voted in 2002 to give $184,000 to LaShawn Pettus-Brown to restore the Over-the-Rhine theater. Instead, Pettus-Brown took the money and ran. He was tracked down, arrested, and did prison time for his crime.

The idea of admitting mistakes and learning from them, Crowley said in the mail piece, "seems to be lost on most public officials these days.''

"Instead of learning from their mistakes, they usually won't even acknowledge them,'' Crowley said. "So I'm going to own up to a mistake and tell you what I did to make sure it doesn't happen again.''

Crowley said in the mail piece that he co-sponsored legislation to have the city auditor report directly to council, made sure that a comprehensive audit was made of the Department of Community Development and Planning, and supported new procedures for evaluating recipients of city funds and holding them accountable.

Two years ago, the Hamilton County Republican Party ran a television ad mocking Crowley and fellow Democratic council members John Cranley and David Pepper for their votes on the Empire theater project. The ad portrayed the Democratic trio as dancing, bouncing bobble-heads cavorting on a theater stage.

Crowley said Monday that there was some concern inside his campaign that the Republican Party would come after him again on the Empire Theater.

"There was a lot of discussion inside the campaign about this mail piece,'' Crowley said. "Some wondered why we were even bringing up the subject again. But I wanted to get it out there.''

Brad Greenberg, executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party, said Monday that the GOP has no plans to run ads attacking any council candidates.

Crowley said he is certain that "some of my colleagues probably won't like it very much that I brought this up again. But I felt it was something I had to do.''

(Photo by Tony Jones/The Cincinnati Enquirer)


18 Comments:

at 6:04 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow. This move takes guts and I give Crowley credit for choosing to do it. I wish more Council members had the fortitude to own up to a mistake. If they did maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we are in!

 
at 6:38 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Guts, my ass.

This liberal democrat and others never learn.

Government-based solutions do not work. Market-based solutions do. Thus, the new Chiquita deal -- no better than LaShawn, Pettus Brown. Crowley will vote "yes."

And Convergys, and Saks, and Federated, and Krogers, and expanded convention centers and on and on and on.

Learned their lesson?

Does ANYONE really believe this for a heartbeat?

 
at 6:47 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

He would repeat that vote all over again if the opportunity presented itself.

 
at 7:16 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Finally a politician that is accountable and can own up to his/her mistakes.

The president wont do it. The governor wont do. Other council members wont do it. At least we have one council member who will do it.

Forget mayor... Crowley for President

 
at 8:16 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

O Felix
The chiquita deal!
And Convergys, and Saks, and Federated, and Krogers, and expanded convention centers and on and on and on.

These don't work, what's vague about that?

He thought the Republicans were going to point it out again. That's not gut's, that's damage control.

He should have kept going, he's made a lot more mistakes than that.

Learned his lesson? A no vote might teach him

 
at 8:52 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
at 10:07 PM, October 31, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

O Felix- your dumber than I thought, those welfare handouts for the poor little corporations don't work to help our city. your brain doesn't either.

 
at 7:51 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I see from this morning's fishwrap that Crowley was able to get some earned media from his friends at the Enquirer.

See? You can get free press from admitting how stupid you are so long as your intentions were in the right place.

 
at 8:29 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree, I think it is just a move to get free press and make him seem responsible, but he isn't or he would have done this long ago.

 
at 9:36 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Crowley is able to do what David Pepper won't...own up to his mistakes.

Pepper also voted in favor of giving Pettus-Brown money. Pepper voted to give $60,000.00 to a theatre group to do a play which portrayed Jesus as a drunk and homosexual. Pepper voted to give a convicted drug trafficker (just one conviction in a long, long list of convictions) $50,000.00 as a city consultant, and to date no report on how that many is being spent, and what qualifies this person as a consultant.

For every dumb thing Pepper has done, it is always someone else's fault according to Pepper.

So kudos to Mr. Crowley for standing up, owning his mistake, and moving on.

 
at 9:37 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Didn't the drug trafficker endorse him in May, and she got the $50,000.00 in July?

 
at 9:40 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish this was about owning up to past mistakes. It's not. Crowley is feeding off the national discussions about Bush's need to acknowledge mistakes to move on. There has been a lot of debate about Jimmy Carter's "new approach to the Presidency" and about other Presidents' mea culpas. Crowley probably contends that since all politics is local, that if he then acknowledges a past mistake, people will see in him what they don't see in their President...maturity and responsibility. Those are his campaign themes. The problem is, of course, why has he waited until now to admit this mistake?

 
at 9:57 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can we get back to more important issue, like who are the cutest candidates?

I think Ghiz, Cole & Herd all have pretty faces. Crowley, in his time, was probably more handsome than any of the Dem candidates. Bortz is cute.

Landsman is good looking, but what'd he run for? Pepper, minus 10 lbs., would be cute. Cranley, plus 5 inches in height, would be cute. Smitherman is attrative.

2004 . . .

Portune's a hottie. So was Harris. Fanon was finnnnne. Aestheticaly speaking, 2004 was an attractive year. Boehner is almost too good looking--thw George hamilton thing. Portman definately attractive. Hackett a hottie!

Luken is actually an attractive man, if you can look past his unattractive personality.

 
at 11:04 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

So it takes him three years to admit a mistake? How exactly is that a good thing?

 
at 11:52 AM, November 01, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for making that point 11:04. Three years later and during an election. Wow, what a great guy.

 
at 1:16 PM, November 02, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for your many comments. For the record my hair styles has changed because the season has changed. If you take a look back over the many years since 2000 I have worn my hair down this way, only this summer did I wear the braids, because of the heat. Anyway, I am proud of my record of the past 2 years I created the Neighborhood Business District Support Fund, Neighborhood in the Neighborhood Fund, found the financing to end Brownouts, created the Neighborhood and Business District walk program, supporting over $50million in funding for neighborhhood programs, working to creat TIF districts in neighborhoods and not just downtown. If you have questions about what I have been doing check my voting record. Not only that I am in the community all the time, and not just during election time. I am a hard worker and will continue to work hard for the citizens of Cincinnati.

 
at 1:18 PM, November 02, 2005 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for your many comments. For the record my hair styles has changed because the season has changed. If you take a look back over the many years since 2000 I have worn my hair down this way, only this summer did I wear the braids, because of the heat. Anyway, I am proud of my record of the past 2 years I created the Neighborhood Business District Support Fund, Neighborhood in the Neighborhood Fund, found the financing to end Brownouts, created the Neighborhood and Business District walk program, supporting over $50million in funding for neighborhhood programs, working to creat TIF districts in neighborhoods and not just downtown. If you have questions about what I have been doing check my voting record. I am in the community all the time, and not just during election time. I am a hard worker and will continue to work hard for the citizens of Cincinnati.

 
at 9:34 AM, November 05, 2005 Blogger The Sour Kraut said...

I have never been good at small talk but these blogs over a venue for the craft of small talk.

It starts with a politico admitting a simple fault and ends up with another politician describing her hair style.

The most ironic is to have the cowards who sign on as anonymous making comments about someone having guts, like they know anything about guts.

 
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