GOP's Seitz defends Empowerment agency

State Rep. Bill Seitz said he doesn't know how the Cincinnati Empowerment Corp. picked his name out of the Cincinnati Bar Association directory.

"I don't know why they hired me. I think they wanted someone who was going to be a combination of proactive and aggressive, and that's me," Seitz said.

Seitz was hired last week after the development agency fired Dinsmore & Shohl, a prominent downtown law firm that had advised the board not to answer questions about possible conflicts of interest at the Empowerment Corp.

If you want to take on a fight with bureaucrats and lash out against the media, Seitz's smartest-guy-in-the-room attitude and five-dollar vocabulary can come in handy.

But it's hard not to notice that the agency also chose a prominent Republican to defend itself it what might be seen as a Democratic scandal -- inasmuch as Dale Mallory, a principal figure in the city's investigation, is a Democratic candidate for state representative.

Seitz considers himself a friend of the Mallorys. Like many GOP lawmakers, he endorsed Mark Mallory for mayor last year, citing the Mallory family's tradition of bipartisanship in the state legislature.

Seitz blamed the Mallory controversy on his Democratic primary opponent, former Hamilton County Recorder Eve Bolton, in concert with anti-Citylink activists who supported former Councilman David Pepper for mayor last year.

But even as he did so, he said, "This isn't about politics." The issue, he said, is the city cutting off funding to an important program based on "bogus" conflict-of-interest allegations.

And while Seitz supports the Republican candidate in the 32nd Ohio House district, he had trouble remembering the name of the North College Hill cooking oil salesman running against Dale Mallory.

"I don't even know who Mike Poast is," Seitz said when prompted. "If he's the Republican candidate, I'm sure I would support him once I met him."

More:

• Seitz's July 17 letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (PDF).
• Enquirer: "Empowerment Agency Faces Probe," (July 19).
  
• Enquirer: "Inner-city Nonprofit's Funds Frozen," (June 29).
• Enquirer: "Two on Council Seek Audit of Group," (June 28).
• Enquirer: "Mallory's Bills 'Troubling," (June 19).