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Carl Weiser,
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Howard Wilkinson,
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Thursday, August 02, 2007

Showdown with the Sheriff











Hamilton County Commissioner Pat DeWine and fellow Sheriff Simon Leis both Republicans, had words at Wednesday's commission meeting.
The sheriff blasted DeWine for not supporting Democrat Commissioners David Pepper and Todd Portune's sales tax increase to pay for a new jail and safety plan.

The exchange occurred during a discussion about what to do about the 300 overflow inmates being housed in Butler County. Commissioners can't afford to rent space there anymore and want to triple bunk at the Justice Center until a new jail can be built (read the Enquirer story.)

We'll bring you the video from the meeting too as soon as it's available. In the meantime here's some of the exchange:

Sheriff Leis: "DeWine, you've created nothing but serious problems for safety in Hamilton County. I want to tell you that personally. And you'll be the person responsible in the event that a major catastrophe happens."

DeWine: "We don’t need to have a shouting match. You can come to these meetings and yell but the approach that you and the majority of the board has taken is not faring very well."
DeWine said he believes voters should have a say where their money is spent and pointed out that more than 50,000 people - those who signed a referendum petition - agree with him.
" Let’s not have a bullying match," he said.

He asked the sheriff to sit down. Leis refused. He asked again. Leis refused. After several more requests, the sheriff finally sat.

But Leis wasn't done. He continued to blast the commissioner while talking to the media after the meeting.

Leis: "I'm not a DeWine supporter. He's caused major problems in the county. He's caused more problems than any commissioner in my experience. He doesn't make any sense. Everyone knows we need a new jail and now he's submarined the plan."


9 Comments:

at 10:16 AM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

we're way past the point where its time for a fascist like leis to just leave. he no longer serves a useful purpose in hamilton county.

 
at 10:20 AM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Si Leis is a school yard bully who refuses to mature. Cudos to Pat DeWine for standing his gound. Thank God he chooses not to make policy in the face of name-calling, threats and attempted intimidation.

By the way, the unilateralism of Portune and Pepper, shamefully trying to force a tax down the throats of unwilling voters, appears unproductive as well.

Instead of threats, intimidation, name calling and unilateralism, why not try compromise, conciliation, and rational discussion of a solution.

Nah,... that will never work.

 
at 10:25 AM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Sheriff Lies, the voters have spoken! Get over it. Lies is upset he has to submit himself to us stoopid voters to get his new palace, and he's taking it out on DeWine.

Sorry, but DeWine didn't sign those petitions 57,000 times. He was just one person and a huge chunk of the county has already taken a position in support his.

If Sheriff Lies wants to make those accusations, he should be man enough to look in a camera and say that to all 57,000 voters who signed the petition. Perhaps Lies could better deal with prisoners if he spent more time running his jails and less time acting like the 4th County Commissioner. If Lies is this obsessed with the Commission, then he should have the guts to give up his safe seat and run for Commissioner.

 
at 2:59 PM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never thought I'd see the day when I side with Simon Leis. I hope he arrests Pat DeWine as an accessory to the murder of Marcus Feisel and as a threat to public safety.

 
at 4:40 PM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

www.dumpdewine.com

 
at 6:37 PM, August 02, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sheriff Leis for calling out Commissioner Dewine on his continued failure to address crime in Hamilton County. Commissioner Dewine's continued lack of support for the Comprehensive Safety Plan proposed by Commissioners Pepper and Portune leaves one to wonder what he thinks should be done . . . oh, right, budget cuts . . . Really? That's it? Budget cuts (and seemingly counterproductive ones) are going to provide funding for treatment and prevention programs? Really?!? Commissioner Dewine has missed the mark, as have the others behind the petition drive that aimed to put the issue on the November ballot.

 
at 7:56 PM, August 02, 2007 Blogger Unknown said...

I applaud Commissioner DeWine for standing up to a bully that shows zero respect for those who elected him. It makes you wonder when 3 elected officials are so completely disrespectful to their own constituents.

They were elected to serve us, not themselves. Pat DeWine is the only one of these 3 Commissioners and 1 wannabe Commissioner who seems to understand that. DeWine is for a new jail and wants safety improvements, but he's doing it within the constraints that we the people voted for instead of completely disrespecting our opinions.

This plan by The White Democrats is a joke. They know it's a bad plan and they know we know it too. If they felt they had a good plan, they would have been proud to present it to the people and ask for our support. But they don't know what to do, so they tried to sneak this by us and hope we wouldn't mind. Sorry, but this is our money and our government and we the people have taken it back!

 
at 2:11 AM, August 03, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

It doesn't surprise me that DeWine told Leis to sit down - Pat isn't a stand up kind of guy, himself.

And, let's not forget that the NAACP community came out in force against this as a stand against the incarceration of African Americans - while COAST would screw over their own mother to save a buck.

And the other signers just want to have a say.

I wish everyone would just come to their senses and solve the problem

 
at 5:10 PM, August 04, 2007 Blogger CD said...

Ok, for those of you who do not support a tax increase to pay for new jail space, what is your alternative?

Pay $$$ more to ship them to another county, and then pay for the sheriff to truck them back and forth to court?
Put people back out on the street?

I personally find it down right racist the way we spend money on jailing people, but nothing on the social programs needed to attack the causes in the first place.

But the he simple short term fact is that the county is out of jail space. And there are very few options left.

 
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