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Monday, July 17, 2006

Heimlich has a heart? So does Portune?


Republican Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich faked a heart attack today.


That’s because he was getting assistance in his bid for re-election from fellow Commissioner Todd Portune, a Democrat who has endorsed Heimlich’s opponent.

The commissioners were in a staff meeting today being briefed on the 2007 “report card” – a staff-compiled look at the services Hamilton County provides and how well it believes it is doing.

The staff suggested the report card be released to the public Nov. 1.

Portune then noted that was before the Nov. 7 election where voters will either return Heimlich to the commission or replace him with David Pepper -- a candidate who, Heimlich has noted often, is receiving plenty of help from Portune.

Portune suggested the delay partly “for Phil’s protection,” saying some would criticize the report or belittle it as a political document based only on the timing of its release.

Two seats away, Heimlich dropped to the table the eyeglasses he was twirling in his hand, clutched at his chest and joked “Just a second. I may be having the big one.”

Commissioners agreed to release the report card after the election.


11 Comments:

at 7:22 PM, July 17, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

What are they afraid of? Why not be transparent? Elected officials should never protect themselves like this. It's undemocratic and reinforces exactly why people don't trust politicians. It's disappointing and makes me wonder why they are so afraid to share the findings before one of them is up for reelection.

 
at 1:32 AM, July 18, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

portune'g good heartedness lets him forget he is swimming with sharks - the state of the county is relevant information for voters to consider prior to the election. the report should be released when avaialbe, not when convenient and heimlich should release it. but generally, those reports are a bunch of fluff and you have to have a degree in "reading between the lines" to get the real story.

 
at 11:54 AM, July 18, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

If they have the report card why not release it tomorrow ?

Where is the public right to know ?

If released now the claim of political is moot !

 
at 10:14 PM, July 18, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

The point is -- the report card will be nothing but a pro-Heimlich campaign advertisement. He has completely politicized the administration over there, so any report card will obviously be a big glossy touting his results. So Todd is right--to send out a mass mailing on taxpayer funds only days before an election is shady. Do it either well before or after the election--and make it a nonpolitical document. The last one was pretty good, actually.

 
at 11:38 PM, July 18, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

the last one was not "pretty good" if you know the issues. the language was creative, but the punch lines were all bad and jokes on county residents.
but release it now andget it over with.

 
at 11:12 AM, July 19, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the news was good hindlick would have been chocking at the chance to pen a wRong wingnut wacko, rubberstamping, fishwrap press release printed in elephant dung ink !!

 
at 12:55 PM, July 23, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

On Tueday Phil Heimlich appeared as a non agenda item at a meeting of the Sycamore Township Trustees. He addressed them for over 20 minutes about "his" plan for a new county jail, which includes a new higher tax for all in Hamilton County, Ohio.

He passed out copies of "The Phil Plan" to the Sycamore Township officials, and completely ignored giving copies of his plan to the apparent only two interested Sycamore Township citizens in the audience...one a senior citizen and one with multiple disablities.

If he "forgets" about the senior citizens and disabled folks in Sycamore Township, how and when will he "forget" about the already overtaxed citizen to stop "the Phil plan tax" in this election year for him?

 
at 3:03 PM, July 24, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

The wRong wing fishwrap certainly knows how to blurr the fair and balanced line, DON't They ??

 
at 8:39 PM, July 24, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

phil and his tax "gut" committee headed by lap dog chris finney already cut services for MRDD ( those most severely disabled) and told caring elderly parents on fixed incomes to dip into their own pockets to pay for services under some obscure outdated law requiring financial support from the parents of handicapped.
He also has his tax "gut" committee reducing the senior services levy across the board in hamilton county.
heimlich doesn't care about anyone except "his own"; his own frich friends, his own pocket book, his own lilly white neighbors, etc

 
at 4:35 PM, August 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

About the MR/dd tax levy, Heimlich voted against it because he did not want to incriminate himself in the "fake" Maximus finding that covered up the reason why the school was in decline (it wasn't) or why the space was under-utilitized (it wasn't).

Finney saw an opportunity to close Breyer and the Adult Center across the street and hired Maximus to give him the results he needed to justify a closing.

The "services" for these children had to be kept loosely defined and carefully quoted in the papers so if the legal issue of "notification" was brought up, they could say "services will stay the same, they just might look different to parents."

Parents only heard one quote regarding the "notification" for children placed in their therapy schools through "continuum of alternative services" issue when raised on May 28, 2005 and June 14, 2004. "There will be no change in services."

In fact, MR/dd officials couldn't even define for parents what our new classrooms would look like because they didn't know. According to many sources, Mr/dd had to move quickly find "placements" for the kids because they wouldn't all fit into the remaining schools.

Tell me, what district school do you know of has the financial freedom to provide the same facilities, integrated therapies, and equipment that were provided by Breyer?

Tell me, how can any school being forced into consolidation be expected to serve the extra children and still provide the same intergrated therapies in crowded rooms overrun by noise and interference?

The services to which these children were entitled by law cannot be transferred like a "product." It's like comparing an apple and onion, both are round but provide equally different sensory outcomes.

The children at Breyer and possibly other children throughout the State of Ohio who were removed from their own MR/dd facility and dumped into the school districts without notifying parents have been denied their civil rights.

This is the real story of the MR/dd Tax Levy 2004 and the Enquirer and media didn't want to print any of the information because it was "too hot."

It was a "hot potato" and still is.

 
at 9:03 AM, August 31, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

One Advocate? What obscure law? Remember the joke about how many lawyers it takes to screw in a light bulb right?

None because one lawyer will argue why its not required and the other one will argue that it is.

There is always, always, two sides to coin. For every obscure law, there is one that will overrule it.

 
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