*

*
Politics Extra
Enquirer reporters give the scoop on what your politicians are doing


Jessica Brown,
Hamilton County reporter


Jon Craig,
Enquirer statehouse bureau


Jane Prendergast,
Cincinnati City Hall reporter


Malia Rulon,
Enquirer Washington bureau


Carl Weiser,
Blog editor


Howard Wilkinson,
politics reporter

Powered by Blogger

Friday, December 29, 2006

Smitherman: chair of NAACP elections not a member

Chris Smitherman, a former Cincinnati city council member who is challenging Edith Thrower for the presidency of the NAACP’s local chapter, said the man responsible for running the disputed election last month isn’t even a member of the NAACP.

Smitherman said his team was notified Thursday that the Rev. A. Victor Brown, current chairman of the election supervisory committee, is not a member of the human right’s group. It was Brown who oversaw the election in November, and took home 24 disputed ballots that had been challenged.

Brown said he took the ballots home for “safe keeping.”

Thrower has refused to produce a list of NAACP members, Smitherman said.

When asked by a reporter Friday if she has been notified that Brown is not a member of the NAACP, Thrower said: “I have not, and that’s all I have to say. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Smitherman defeated Thrower 134-120 at the Nov. 28 election. But there were 24 ballots that were challenged and therefore not counted.

On Dec. 7, Brown declared Thrower the winner, saying the current president won 16 of the disputed ballots, Smitherman one, and another candidate two. Five the ballots were thrown out.

That resulted in Thrower winning the election by one vote, 136-135.

Officials from the national office could not be reached Friday afternoon. Smitherman said Brown’s status with the organization will play a major role in his court challenge to the election result.

“That’s a major piece of it,” Smitherman said. “Mr. Brown’s status is not a reflection on anybody but the current administration. There’s been no explanation of his status by the current president.”


23 Comments:

at 7:39 PM, December 29, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Taking contested ballots home for nine days for "safe keeping"? What a joke! I'm sure Carl Weiser asked some anonymous "experts" and they said there was no conspiracy.

If the Enquirer had bothered to send a reporter to the event they would've seen the membership knows Smitherman is the President-elect. The Cincinnati Beacon covered it, why didn't you?

 
at 8:57 PM, December 29, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Smitherman proves once again that he can't work with anyone.

 
at 1:33 PM, December 30, 2006 Blogger Nathaniel Livingston Jr. said...

Alicia

You certainly know that Christopher Smitherman is a declared candidate for Cincinnati City Council. He announced his candidacy months ago. Thus, this does relate to Cincinnati politics.

Anon #1

I'm not sure where this story about Rev. Brown taking ballots home came from, but the Cincinnati Herald reports that this is not true. Two representatives from the Ohio NAACP have certified the election and declared Edith Thrower the winner.

 
at 2:47 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went to the NAACP Dec. 28th, 2006 meeting (Edith Thrower’s last meeting presiding as President) and she was so so very unprofessional. Now I truly know what people in the community are talking about when they describe the utter disrespect Ms. Thrower conveys toward the black community. Ms. Thrower started the meeting by saying that she would take no motions from the floor, because of what, she “forgot, could not find, could not produce the NAACP roster.” Edith, at least change up on your lies, because the dog eat the roster bit is truly getting old and made you look foolish the first couple of times you used it. In other words as President of the NAACP organization she was not prepared to run the meeting. Edith Thrower then DICTATED to the membership at the beginning of the meeting that she would not accept any motions from the floor or the body of the membership. In other words the only person who could talk in this NAACP meeting (with probably one of the largest turnouts in the history of the Cincinnati NAACP Chapter) was her. When the membership challenged this as an obvious violation of Robert’s rules, the NAACP bylaws, and just poor basic democratic principles, Edith Thrower and her 3 or 4 cronies got up and walked out of the meeting to a 300 person standing ovation elated to see her go. Thank God it was her last meeting is what I heard people saying. Thrower walking out at the beginning of the NAACP meeting and for the reason she walked out just confirmed all the negative comments I have heard about this woman. Everyone else remained at the meeting and a remaining officer ran a very professional meeting. The meeting went well with good open dialogue. Something Edith Thrower apparently knows nothing about.

Between the voter fraud and her absolute unprofessionalism I now know why people say that Thrower is an embarrassment to the city of Cincinnati. She lost the election despite her and her cronies cheating and now we are all glad she is finally gone.

Mr. Smitherman spoke and did an excellent job and announced his swearing in ceremony will be held at his Church (I do not remember the name) on January 6th, 2006. See you all there for a new beginning and new hope for the city of Cincinnati.

Karen

 
at 3:55 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Cincinnati Enquirer writers and articles have been extremely poor on this subject. I saw the December 8th Enquirer article written by Allen Howard. Very poorly done. He titled the article “NAACP Prez (Edith Thrower) wins by one vote.” This is despite the well known FACT at the time, of a NAACP membership certified election result giving Smitherman the win with 134 votes to Thrower’s 120 votes. Very very irresponsible and blatantly biased article title. Why not entitle the article, the NAACP Presidency challenged or Thrower does not concede, or Smitherman’s win challenged or NAACP Presidency up in the air etc….. But NAACP Prez (Edith Thrower) wins by one vote.” What’s the Enquirer’s agenda?

Mr. Howard of the Enquirer goes on to report in the lead section of his article that Victor Brown has ruled the certified NAACP election on November 28th, null and void, but failed to report directly following that statement (not a quote), that Brown had no authority to void the election according to the NAACP bylaws. It would just seem to me such a basic point, if you are going to report on something as significant as someone voiding an election you would want to know if the person doing the voiding had the authority to do so. Just minimal investigation of the NAACP bylaws would have confirmed that Brown did not. Now we find out Victor Brown is not even a member of the NAACP. And I could go on with this poorly investigated and reported article. Seems purposefully biased reporting. What’s the Enquirer’s agenda?

I have no axe to grid here nor am I supportive of any particular candidate in this election, but it seems based on all the objective facts that Smitherman clearly won the election.

Good Journalism is not about personal agendas. Shame on Allen Howard and the Enquirer. As a reader I just want the facts not your opinions.

Bert

 
at 4:19 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shame on the Enquirer for not doing its homework, printing quotes from Rev. A. Victor Brown, the so-called current NAACP chairman of the election supervisory committee under the leadership of Edith Thrower, only now to embarrassingly find out he is not even a member of the NAACP and holds the NAACP Election Chairmanship illegally according to the bylaws of the organization.

This is the same guy who took 24 ballots from the NAACP election site home with him, then brought them back after nine days, doing who knows what with these ballots while at his home, and then wanted them counted.

Wow, on how many levels did you miss this one Enquirer?

Ann

 
at 4:24 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Edith Thrower and her cronies lost the election even with their fraudulent behavior. The more I read and hear about Ms. Thrower and her team's improprieties and illegal behaviors the happier I am she is gone. Now to learn that A. Victor Brown is not even a member of the NAACP !! Thrower and Brown should be ashame.

Look forward to Smitherman's Presidency.

Thanks for the update Enquirer.

John

 
at 5:13 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alicia, to answer your question: Because like it or not, the NAACP is a factor in local politics.

 
at 6:47 PM, December 30, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Victor Brown, taking unopened ballots off election site home with him. It is a comedy. Now he is not even a memeber of the NAACP. Can it get any funnier.

 
at 5:33 AM, December 31, 2006 Blogger Cincinnati Change said...

African Americans live here now and this is one of the organizations that has historically represented them.

If you are looking to bring the leading organizations of the African American community together, as Cincinnati Change is doing on the 2th of January 2007, then on most anyones list would be the NAACP.

 
at 10:19 AM, December 31, 2006 Anonymous Anonymous said...

.....and this relates to Greater Cincinnati politics how?"....

Anyone who thinks that the NAACP does not have political influence is:

Either "Clueless" or a wRong wingnut whacko, period !

I suspect, both !

PATHETIC !

HAD ENOUGH, VOTE DEMOCRAT 2007 !

 
at 12:18 PM, January 01, 2007 Blogger Nathaniel Livingston Jr. said...

Dan

You really should do a better job of reporting on this issue. Did you call the national office to verfify this information? Did you ask if all the thugs on General Christopher Smitherman's splinter group -- aka "team Smitherman" and "the Christopher Smitherman fan club" are members? Did you ask how memberships are reported from the local branch to the national office?

To hear General Smitherman tell it, I am not a member of the NAACP, even though I've got a signed membership card and a receipt proving that I paid my membership dues.

Here is the bottom line. General Smitherman prematurely declared himself the winner before all the votes were counted. When all the votes were counted, Edith Thrower was certified the winner. For reasons that only he knows, General Smitherman refuses to concede defeat and would rather see the Black community divided over this issue.

 
at 8:48 PM, January 01, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let me pose this emotion:

WHO CARES???
WHO CARES???
WHO CARES???

Questions from the audience?

 
at 4:02 AM, January 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alicia asked how this relates to local politics?? And you all answered her question very well and have shown that it does relate to local politcs. However to the guy who called her a wacko. I don't think she said anything about the NAACP having or not having political influence. Nice job twisting words but she said nothing about the Political Influence of NAACP.

 
at 5:15 PM, January 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

...Nice job twisting words but she said nothing about the Political Influence of NAACP....

Since when is political influence not politics, whacko ?

 
at 5:55 PM, January 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

The controversy of the local branch of the NAACP appear to rest on to issues (1) were the challenged ballots handled in accordance with the policy (2) Was Victor Brown a member of the NAACP on the date of the election?
When I read the Herald it appears that the ballots were handled in accordance with the policy. When I read the Beacon it appears that the ballots were not handled within policy.
Any suggestions on how to resolve this?
As to the membership of Victor Brown, he and the local branch can easily show evidence of his membership status. Has either done this?

 
at 10:51 PM, January 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

...When I read the Herald it appears that the ballots were handled in accordance with the policy. When I read the Beacon it appears that the ballots were not handled within policy....

This may help ?

The Herald actually have a paid subscriber base.

The Beacon is a group of "green" kids trying to make a name for themselves with clearly bias positions.

 
at 6:05 PM, January 07, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just read the Cincinnati Hearld from this week and the article clearly leads you to conclude that Edith Thrower lost the Nov. 28th NAACP election.

This weeks Cincinnati Herald article helped me understand what really happen during the NAACP election. The article carries first hand accounts, not the meanderings & opinions of people who were not there. This Victor Brown is simply a crook. This guy and anyone who would support his behavior should really be ashamed.

 
at 6:26 PM, January 07, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The Beacon is a group of "green" kids trying to make a name for themselves with clearly bias positions."

I could not disagree more with the above statement. The Cincinnati Beacon and other independent Blogs are GREAT and bringing much more balance and objectivity to reporting then many mainstream newspapers. I beleive The Cincinnati Beacon does a really fine job.

?????? What does having paid subscribers have to do with whether a Media outlet is bias or not. There are plenty of bias media formats (newspapers, magazines, etc..) with paid subscribers!!!!!! What a naive statement.

 
at 7:33 AM, January 08, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why is the Enquirer creating links to Nate Livingston's website/Blog without at the same time links to The Cincinnati Herald or the Cincinnati Beacon for example? Just additional links to other sites with more balanced reporting. Seems intentionally bias to me.

Nate Livingston is well known in the black community to be both anti-Black leadership and to mostly spread mistruths. Livingston has very little if any credibility in the black community. It is ok to link to that kind of stuff, but for the Enquirer to solely link to that stuff makes one go uhmmmmmmmmm. Just seems bias to me.

 
at 6:38 PM, January 10, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Has NAACP President Christopher Smitherman been sworn in yet?

We are excited and can not wait for this happen. This will mean new hope for Cincinnati.

 
at 2:42 PM, April 01, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!
Mayor
As Mayor of the Munchkin City, In the County of the Land of Oz, I welcome you most regally.
Barrister
But we've got to verify it legally, to see
Mayor
To see?
Barrister
If she
Mayor
If she?
Barrister
Is morally, ethic'lly
Father No.1
Spiritually, physically
Father No. 2
Positively, absolutely
Munchkins
Undeniably and reliably Dead
Coroner
As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her.
And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.
Mayor
Then this is a day of Independence For all the Munchkins and their descendants
Barrister
If any.
Mayor
Yes, let the joyous news be spread The wicked Old Witch at last id dead!

 
at 2:10 AM, April 07, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Outside looking in. After living in many cities, Cincinnati presents itself as an angry and unforgiving town. I notice the power struggles from African Americans in this town.

Very much criticism of one another.
On this blog, it appears to be malicious rhetoric about people that the signatures don't want to give their names.

The challenge over this NAACP election came across for myself as mean spirited due to the defamation of people. This is the first time I have observed power struggles amongst African Americans so in your face here in Cincinnati as told thru tv, the press and the radio. I guess diplomacy is out the door and replaced with the mantra just let us trash our sisters and brothers in view of white America to say we (African Americans) can't get along.
Or else we can say this election is similar to George Bush and Al Gore's fight for the presidential election. I will have to say the 2000 U.S.presidential election rhetoric did not come across so hateful towards individuals as this local NAACP election. It was painful and distasteful to be on the outside looking in. Again, Cincinnati is an unforgiving town.

One day you may have to answer for the defamatory statements on this blog, in the press, tv and radio for what you said about people. I hope you can sleep at night.

For some of us, we believe we are not the final judge for our actions. No one is perfect. There is a higher power that will some day judge us all for our actions in word and deed. We need to practice more on forgiveness because we all may not get a chance to take back hurtful statements we shouldn't have said.

 
Post a Comment*

* Our online blogs currently are hosted and operated by a third party, namely, Blogger.com. You are now leaving the Cincinnati.Com website and will be linked to Blogger.com's registration page. The Blogger.com site and its associated services are not controlled by Cincinnati.Com and different terms of use and privacy policy will apply to your use of the Blogger.com site and services.

By proceeding and/or registering with Blogger.com you agree and understand that Cincinnati.Com is not responsible for the Blogger.com site you are about to access or for any service you may use while on the Blogger.com site.

<< Home


Blogs
Jim Borgman
Today at the Forum
Paul Daugherty
Politics Extra
N. Ky. Politics
Pop culture review
Cincytainment
Who's News
Television
Roller Derby Diva
Art
CinStages Buzz....
The Foodie Report
cincyMOMS
Classical music
John Fay's Reds Insider
Bengals
High school sports
NCAA
UC Sports
CiN Weekly staff
Soundcheck