Tarbell's campaign pays the rent

Charterite Councilman Jim Tarbell has raised $68,790 in his campaign for City Council -- and has paid himself $11,000 of that.

The expenditures, over the past two years, were for rent in the former Grammer's Restaurant Tarbell has owned in Over-the-Rhine since 1984, according to campaign finance reports. Though somewhat sporadic, the checks are for $1,000, and have come more or less monthly since May.

"It's the campaign headquarters. There are campaign workers over there right now," Tarbell said today. "If there's anyone who has spent less on their campaign headquarters, I'd like to know who it is."

Here's a partial list: Jeff Berding, $500 a month (West Price Hill); Eve Bolton, $300 to $600 a month (downtown); Chris Bortz, $200 a month (downtown); David Crowley, $600 a month (Walnut Hills); Leslie Ghiz, $4,200 paid in advance for six months in June (Westwood); Samantha Herd, $600 a month (Walnut Hills); Damon Lynch III, $500 (Bond Hill); Christopher Smitherman, $495 a month (North Avondale); Nick Spencer, $400 a month (Northside); and Cecil Thomas, $500 a month (Walnut Hills).

The only comparable rents were for mayoral campaigns: $2,000 a month for Alicia Reece, who rented a building owned by her father; $600 to $1,000 a month for David Pepper's headquarters in Walnut Hills; and $1,000 a month for Mark Mallory's headquarters in College Hill.

Council candidate John Cranley pays rent in two buildings, one of which is owned by a family partnership. Cranley has paid a total of $3,468 in rent to the downtown building he partially owns, and $250 for another building in Walnut Hills.

To be clear: there's nothing illegal about a candidate using campaign funds to reimburse themselves for legitimate expenses.

"Certainly there are basic concerns any time you have someone writing a check from their campaign account to themselves," said Elections Commission Director Philip C. Richter. "But you'd have to look at what all the factors are: What's the market value? Do they use a sufficient amount of the building to justify that payment?"

Tarbell has also had some problems with his bookeeping, making a $1,785 "reconciliation" to account for money spent by his campaign but not itemized over the last several years.

(Photo by Michael E. Keating/The Cincinnati Enquirer)