Referendum Web Site Changes Warning

Updated 6:30 p.m. - see below

It appears a string of e-mails seeking a retraction of a certain statement on the wedemandavote.com Web site has had its desired effect. The statement has been changed.

The web site is operated by a coalition of groups seeking to force a vote on a commission-imposed sales tax increase to fund a new jail and public safety plan.

Previously the web site contained this "Warning."

"In a recent referendum effort to repeal a Cincinnati City council ordinance, opponents of t he referendum effort engaged in fraudulent counter-petition tactics such as forging signatures of recognized electors including Tim Burke, the Chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party and the Chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Election, Cincinnati Reds Owner Bob Castellini and Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Greg Korte."


Equality Cincinnati, a gay-rights group, says the statement is false and sent a press release seeking a retraction. Tim Burke and Gary Wright (of Equality Cincinnati) also sent similar e-mails to Ed Rothenberg, and Dan Regenold who are among those leading the referendum effort.


The result: This morning the web site had changed its statement to say this:


"We anticipate an effort by those who want to avoid a vote on the issue to disrupt the petitioning campaign. Watch for intentionally fraudulent signatures such as "Mickey Mouse," "Fidel Castro," and well-known local and national politicians, businessmen and celebrities. These nefarious activities may also involve harassment and intimidation of circulators.
If you see fraudulent or harassing activity, please notify Ed Rothenberg promptly at Ed@wedemandavote.com"


By the way, if you missed the whole false-signature debacle read the Enquirer's most recent story on it here.

UPDATE: In an effort to get the wedemandavote.com's side of this story, the Enquirer contacted those in charge of the web site to seek comment on the change and try to find out where the initial information came from.

It took awhile to find out what we were looking for. We still are unclear where the original statement came from. But the Web site designer stands by it as factual.

Here's what happened: We were directed by Dan Regenold to Chris Finney, of COAST (which is among the groups involved in the referendum effort). Finney first passed us this written response from COAST chairman Jim Urling:

"WeDemandaVote.com has regularly updated its web site to reflect developments throughout the petitioning campaign. We are unaware of the particular change to which you are referring. There was never any inaccurate information on the web site to our knowledge, and, to our knowledge, no one communicated any complaints about the site to us COAST or WeDemandaVote.com. We stand firmly behind every statement made thereon.
"WeDemandaVote.com has worked diligently to bring to the attention of the voters the gross injustice foisted upon them by Commissioners Portune and Pepper by the unvoted $744 million sales tax increase and will continue to do so. We will update our site as appropriate with accurate information to achieve that end."

We requested further clarification on the specific paragraph that was removed. Finney sent us written responses from Dan Regenold to answer the Enquirer's questions. Here's what we learned:
--Dan Regenold says he is ultimately responsible for web content.
--He says the paragraph referencing "Mickey Mouse and Fidel Castro" has always been on the Web site. But he said the paragraph referencing the Cincinnati Ordinance and Tim Burke etc. was removed so a map could be added.

Here are some of his other comments:
-- Yesterday morning, I created the tax map comparison of the surrounding counties. I wanted that information on the home page of the site, since it graphically and clearly shows the economic disadvantage we will suffer under the Pepper/Portune tax plan imposed without a vote. In doing so, to create space, I removed the second paragraph you noted below.

(He later clarified that the one he removed was the one referring to the Cincinnati Ordinance)

--I never received any calls or e-mails from anyone complaining about our web site content. We have a very loose coalition and it is possible that one of our coalition partners did receive such a communication, but no one e-mailed me directly with such a complaint. I changed the site this morning because I had more important information to convey and for no other reason.

-- To my knowledge, every statement that presently appears on our web site, and has appeared on our web site, is precisely accurate in every single detail. If any inaccuracies are ever brought to my attention, I will fix them promptly. This change was not a result of any thought that the information is inaccurate. WeDemandaVote.com has been and continues to be concerned about fraud being used to disrupt our campaign. Locally and nationally these techniques have been used to discredit those seeing ballot access and we want to educate our petitioners to spot, avoid and report any such activities. We want a scrupulously clean petition drive, and are working hard to achieve that.