WEBVTT - Mike Allen Saturday Mid-Day -- 11/1/25 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.640 News Radio seven hundred WLW Mike Allen and Saturday midday, 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:14.000 how about cold Saturday morning. Well, I'll tell you what 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.840 election time is here. Of course, Tuesday is the election date. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.720 People have been voting by mail gosh, I guess in 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.920 some cases for about thirty days. But the big races 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.600 here in the City of Cincinnati, of course, is the 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:34.800 Mayor's race and the council races. So today I'm going 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.680 to do things a little bit differently. Today we are 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.000 going to speak with some of the candidates that are 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.680 running for City of Cincinnati Council, the ones that I 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.760 think have the best shot at punching through perhaps. And 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.640 at ten thirty we're going to talk to Corey Bowman, 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:54.639 who is a candidate for mayor, and Billy. I'll tell 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.840 you what, if ever there was one you would love 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.480 to see an upset in that race. Of course, Corey 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:07.080 running against the incumbent in that matter, in that whole thing, and. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.679 Mister Pureval, we'll see what happens. 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.360 I mean, when you got a city that's votes three 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.399 to one Democrat, it's an uphill battle. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.800 But you know, this year's different. I mean, it just is. 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.679 With the downtown beat down, in the situation with the 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.720 Chief of Police driving it, so we shall see. But 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.280 at any rate, Liz Keating will lead it off at 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.479 nine point thirty. At ten o'clock we're going to talk 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.720 to Steve Gooden, a ten thirty Corey Bowman candidate for mayor, 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:36.920 as I said, And at eleven o'clock we're going to 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.160 talk to Judge Josh Berkowitz, and he is running to 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.320 keep his seat on the Hamilton County Municipal Court. And 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.520 we're going to conclude at eleven thirty with Christopher Smitheman. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.520 The only problem with all this is I'm probably not 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.160 going to have time to take calls. I mean, if 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.400 you feel compelled and something that you really want to 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.280 get off your chest, you know, go ahead and call 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.560 seven point nine seven thousand, one eight hundred the big 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:02.960 one and I'll try to work you in. 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:04.440 But no guarantees. 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.360 Again, I just think it's important that we hear from 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:11.400 these candidates on three days out from the election. But 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.920 at any rate, I wanted to talk to you about 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.639 something in the rant here, about something I saw this 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.040 week which just really kind of knocked me on my 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.480 butt in a good way. Let me explain it. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:24.799 To you. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.240 It was about an article in this relatively new I 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:34.880 think publication named Semaphore. I've got it open here on 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.360 my computer, and you know, I looked at it this 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:43.079 week and it looks like it's pretty fair right straight 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.799 down the line as far as reporting. Looks like it's 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.840 all political stuff. But that's where this article was. That's 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.919 where I found that. It's a new for profit global 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.440 news network. They have a really interesting website. As I said, 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.840 if you want to check it out. This story in 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:05.320 Semaphore is getting a lot of play. Okay, here we go. 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:11.240 They reported this week that a group called Welcome, which 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.800 is being labeled as a centrist Democrat group, which I 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.760 didn't know there are any more of them left, they consulted. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.360 This isn't a poll. This is a study. They consulted 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:28.200 with hundreds of thousands of voters in the past six months, 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.520 and they also spoke with a lot of Democratic legislators. 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.480 And again, it's more than a poll. It's a comprehensive study. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.200 And I'll tell you what. The results are shocking, but 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.640 really shouldn't be, not really that surprising, but man, it 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.720 just shows you where the Democrat Party is at this 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:53.480 point in time. Here's the introduction to the report from 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.760 this group called Welcome that you can see in Semaphore. 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.240 Just a couple of paragraphs here. Then we're going to 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.240 get down to the gritty. Democrats have badly weakened their 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:07.960 party with left leaning ideas and rhetoric growing only the 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:12.920 party growing only with self described white liberals, while losing 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.680 ground with other voters. Yeah, you know, normal people. According 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.840 to a new center left group's report that was shared 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:25.000 with Semaphore, the group called Welcome consulted hundreds of thousands 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.440 of voters over six months for its broad findings, including 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.080 listen to this one. If there's any bombshell in this 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.040 or although it really shouldn't be, it's this, seventy percent 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:41.119 of voters think the Democratic Party is out of touch. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:46.800 Seventy percent. That's not seventy percent of Republicans. That's not 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:52.160 seventy percent of conservatives. That's seventy percent of voters who 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:53.960 think that the Democratic Party. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:54.599 Is out of touch. 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.479 Now we all know that it is, but to get 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.320 that big of a number, I think is a is 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.320 something that's important and noteworthy. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:03.440 Goes on. 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.560 Most voters, the group found believe the party the Democrat 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:11.640 party over prioritizes issues like are you ready protecting the 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.360 rights of LGBTQ plus you got to put that plus 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:20.240 in there, plus Americans and fighting climate change while not 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:26.800 caring about securing the border or lowering the rate of crime. Okay, 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.960 they looked at the rise in Democrat lawmakers. Now keep 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:35.679 in mind this is Democrat lawmakers. They looked at their 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:42.920 support for radical legislation. Here's just some examples. In twenty thirteen, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:48.359 only one percent of Democrat lawmakers supported a study to 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:53.000 determine if reparations there it is reparations should be awarded 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:58.120 to African Americans. Only one percent in twenty thirteen. Check 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:03.680 this out in twenty twenty four, eleven years later, that 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:08.120 new number is fifty seven percent. So they go from 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:13.120 one percent of Democrat leaders lawmakers that think that we 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:17.400 should look at reparations all the way to fifty seven percent. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:23.800 Okay and twenty thirteen. Also twenty thirteen, only four percent 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.919 of Democrat lawmakers supported inmate voting rights, which is a 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:33.160 burning issue for most of the Democrat party. Four percent 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:40.920 in twenty thirteen supported of Democrat lawmakers supported inmate voting rights. 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:46.400 In twenty twenty four, that number is now forty one percent. 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.760 So you can see the way that the Democrat Party 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:56.320 is going. And support among Democratic lawmakers for an assault weapons. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.600 Ban grew from in twenty thirteen. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:07.000 To now actually twenty twenty four, eighty eight percent of 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:12.160 Democrat lawmakers favor that. Again, you can see the drift. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.560 You can see the drift leftward, drifting so much that 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.920 they just go over the edge on this thing. In 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.400 talking about the shift, this report went on to say 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:28.160 that the defeat or retirement of some conservative Democrats. 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.119 I'm just going to stop here. 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.320 I have not seen a conservative Democrat on the national 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.800 level for god knows how many years. The last one 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.760 I remember is Scoop Jackson, who was a Democrat senator. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:47.000 I forget what state. He was very conservative on defense 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.360 matters and other matters as well. I defy anyone to 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.480 give me the name of a Democrat nationally who could 0:07:55.520 --> 0:08:00.280 be considered a conservative and on the local level, last 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.840 time you saw a conservative Democrat. The last one that 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.360 comes to my mind is somebody who I think is 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.680 a great man, Dusty Rhodes. You know, since Dusty, they're 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.240 just non existent. But at any rate, to get back 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.960 to the report, the defeat or retirement of some conservative 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:19.840 Democrats explained some of the shift, but not all of it. 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:25.720 The Report Study of National Democratic Party Platforms from the convention. 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.800 You always have a party platform at the convention. They 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.400 used to be really important. Not so much anymore. But 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.320 the report Study of National Democratic Party Platforms from twenty 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:39.439 twelve to twenty twenty four found a surge in language 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:45.240 about specific racial groups. That's up eight hundred and twenty 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:49.880 eight percent. About environmental justice, whatever the hell that is 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:54.600 it is up three hundred and thirty three percent. And 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:59.679 about LGBTQ you know what, they didn't put the plus here, 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:06.920 And about LGBTQ plus rights up one thousand and forty 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:13.240 four percent. Mentions of men fell by sixty three percent, 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:19.079 and mentions of fathers by one hundred percent, and mentions 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:24.360 of the concept of responsibility. 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:25.760 Eighty three percent. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:30.640 So in twenty twenty and twenty twenty four party platform 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.680 began with listen to this. This just gives you a 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.640 perfect example where the Democrat Party is. In twenty twenty 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.640 twenty twenty four, the party platform Democrat Platform began with 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:48.000 land acknowledgments for the Native American tribes that have previously 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:55.480 inhabited their convention sites. Who the hell cares Native Americans? 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.400 From everything that I've read, they couldn't care less about 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:03.040 this stuff. Only the in the Democrat Party do well. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.160 The report kind of winds up by saying those shifts 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.600 that I just read up there don't win votes. The 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:14.079 reports analysis of voter data from a thing called Catalyst, 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.800 which is a Democrat data firm, showed Democrats losing some 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:24.079 ground with non college educated white voters. You think since 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.720 twenty twelve, but this is even better for us far 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:32.920 more with non white voters, meaning African American voters meeting 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:34.200 Hispanic voters. 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:35.520 They're losing. 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:39.160 The Democrats are losing voters in those two groups and 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.840 we're gaining. And the closes just to say that those voters, 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:48.760 no matter what their education level is, and it ends 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:53.240 by saying progressive language and politics meant to win those 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.320 non white voters simply didn't work. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.959 So there you go, kind of in a nutshell. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.560 Democrat Party is in the year twenty twenty five. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:05.600 But here's the thing. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.000 This is getting down to the nitty gritty, and it's 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:13.320 just my opinion. This report is it appears to me 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:18.400 to be very well researched and very well reported. I mean, 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.920 I'm not just saying that. I did a pretty deep 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.280 dive this week into it. But it's all going to 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:29.040 go over like the proverbial lead balloon among the so 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:35.360 called leaders of the Democratic Party, the Chucky Schumers, the Aocs, 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:40.040 the Jasmine Crocketts, YadA, YadA, YadA. You think those people 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:45.760 are going to embrace this study, There's no way, even 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.520 if they wanted to, they can't because they are held 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:55.080 captive by the radical leftist wing of the Democrat Party. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.880 It is as simple as that. And again, I mean, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.199 why is it going to go over like a lead balloon? 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.280 As we all know, and I think I mentioned this 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.559 on the first show about twenty six, twenty seven. 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.000 Years ago, just kidding about eight years ago. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:17.120 What is the main trait of a liberal or liberalism? 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.080 What is the main trait? If you don't know it 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:26.000 by now, I'll tell you again. It's arrogance, absolute unabashed arrogance. 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:31.880 They're right, no matter what, will never ever consider another 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.600 point of view. They're right, and if you don't agree 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:38.080 with them, you're canceled, you're out of here. You know, 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.839 they could never be wrong in their mind and any 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:49.640 dissent from this radical narrative will be stomped down. And 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:55.240 guess what that only helps us. So wanted to let 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.920 you know about that study again. It's in the online 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.160 publication Calledaphore. You can get it pretty easily now. The 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.360 one thing is I'm playing around with it. 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:07.720 This always happens. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.040 After a while, something pops up and says, hey, you 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.720 got one more visit left, and then we're gonna charge you. 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.520 I don't know how much it is, but I didn't 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:17.920 have to do that, but you know what I might, 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.520 if it's reasonable, just plunk down a little bit of 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.160 money because I think it's very good. But it gives 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.559 you an idea where they're going. They can have all 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:30.240 these studies. Carville was a part of this study. They 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.240 can have all these studies. But if they're not, if 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.600 the downcats, I'm going to pay attention to it, more 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.559 power to them. Man, they're running themselves into the ground 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:41.280 real quickly. 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:41.520 Here. 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.640 I wanted to let you know this is no surprise here, 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.120 or shouldn't be. We also learned this week that the 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:54.760 Department of Justice is finally investigating the sanctified Black Lives 0:13:54.840 --> 0:14:02.040 Matter organization. They're investigating the outright theft of millions and 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:07.400 millions of dollars that Corporate America threw at them Black 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.360 Lives Matter in the wake of the George Floyd killing, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.439 and we talked about that at the time, and Corporate 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:18.960 America threw money at them like you wouldn't believe. While 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.520 they're throwing money at BLM, they're throwing the cops under 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:24.080 the bus. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:25.680 It's one of the things. 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.040 That urinated me off the most since I've been on 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.640 this show. Story in Fox News just a little bit 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.440 of it, because we're running out of time here. Federal 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:40.040 prosecutors are investigating whether senior leaders of the BLM organization 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.600 defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:49.320 the twenty twenty protest mostly peaceful protests. Remember while the 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.680 reporter said it was mostly peaceful, while something's burning, a 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.960 car's burning behind him. Will always remember that. The AP 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.200 reported that the Justice Department's ongoing in query is based 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.960 on the foundation's handling of donations collected in the wake, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.800 As I said, of the George Floyd killing, when the 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:12.520 groups saw a surge of more than ninety million dollars 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.160 in contributions. I think it's much more than that, and 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.560 the probe is being led by the US Attorney's Office 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.600 for the Central District of California. According to the apd 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.800 investigation began during the Biden administration. Now that surprised me, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.040 but has received renewed attention, you think under the new 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:36.000 Trump administration. The ap also reported that the inquiry extends 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:41.760 to other black led advocacy groups that gained prominence during 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.520 the nationwide demonstrations. Okay, so they go to BLM to 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:51.920 get a comment. They told Fox News, quote, Black Lives 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.360 Matter Global Network Foundation is not a target of any 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.080 federal criminal investigation. 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.200 Blatant, flat out. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.920 They know that, and it goes on their statement BLM, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:10.040 we remain committed to full transparency, accountability, and the responsible 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:15.240 stewardship of resources dedicated to building a better future for 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:20.520 black communities. That, my friends, is a bald face, out 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.600 and out lie. They've known about this all along. You 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.200 may recall a couple of years ago we talked about 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:36.000 on this show, Patrice Colors cullrs her she spent millions 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:42.640 of dollars buying high end homes and condominiums for We 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.800 never did find out who it was for I saw 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.160 one of them. They said, Wow, we're using that as 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:52.560 our headquarters. Just outright theft. Well, they go on in 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.800 the statement we are surprised at some of the incredulity 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.640 and our calculations. I'm sorry, that's not a statement from 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:06.320 this is so too. After that, so too is BLM, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.679 which suggests that if objections to wealth transfers of the 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:16.800 scale are rooted in are you ready white supremacy and 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:23.040 a pathology that black organizations didn't don't deserve to be funded? 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.600 Close quote, you can boil it all down and they're 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.880 blaming it on are you ready racism? What else could 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.040 it be other than racism? Trot that thing out when 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.000 you don't have anything else. But at any rate, I 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.119 really do hope that DOJ puts the pedal to the 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:42.720 metal on this thing. 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:44.600 Hey, we got to take a break from the news. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:44.800 Butt. 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.600 When we get back, we're going to talk to I 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.960 believe the last Republican elected the city council, and that's 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.880 Liz Keating. We'll do that when we get back. Mike 0:17:53.920 --> 0:18:05.560 Allen Saturday midday. Hey, we're back, Mike Allen, Saturday mid day. 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.320 Tell you what that kind of Rocks. 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:11.920 Who is that? 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:17.280 Liam blink two blink one eight two blink one eighty two. 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.080 I knew that. No, I didn't at any rate. As 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:21.280 I said all morning. 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.520 This morning, we are going to be talking about the 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.560 city election coming up, council members and the mayor and 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.240 leading it off is the last Republican. She was the 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:36.200 last Republican on Cincinnati City Council. Talking of course about 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.679 Liz Keating. She served on Cincinnati City Council from twenty 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.960 twenty twenty twenty four. Political philosophy, she will listen to 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:50.440 all sides, ask many questions, drive productive debate, and then 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.720 work to find the best possible solution, which sounds to 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.479 me like it was how she did it in her 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.520 last council term because she was the only Republican. Kating, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.040 Welcome back to Saturday mid Day. It's great to have you. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:05.560 Thanks for having me. 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.320 Let me ask you something, Liz, and you got into 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.679 it a little bit later than some of the others. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.480 Why did you decide to run again this year? 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.840 Honestly because I'm just fed up with everything that's going on. 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.720 I mean, it's almost been two years since I have 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.960 been off council. I finished in January twenty twenty four, 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.200 and during that entire time, I still fielded calls from 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.560 dozens of residents because they weren't getting their trash picked up, 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.200 They litter, what everywhere wasn't getting cleaned up. They weren't 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.560 hearing from the city. When we had that snowstorm, you know, 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:39.760 the street sparn't. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.000 Cloud, schools couldn't open. 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:45.680 When they reached out about concerns about crime, they weren't 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.639 getting any response from city council. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:49.480 And so they're calling me for help. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.880 And you shouldn't have to know somebody who knows somebody 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.040 to get help at city Hall. This is the job 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.440 that city council was elected to do, and they are failing. 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:58.359 They are failing. 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.440 They are not responding to the resident and I am 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.280 just tired of it, and it's hurting the reputation of 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.200 the city. And so I decided to jump in because 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.480 something needs, something needs to change, It needs to be fixed, 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.080 and I want Cincinnati back on track. 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.000 You know, I take it from what you're saying that 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:17.240 you're not in favor of city council getting involved in 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:22.159 issues like immigration and other things that have absolutely nothing 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.639 to do with the daily operations of the City of Cincinnati. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.280 Is that a fair and accurate statement. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.440 Well, there's a lot of things that councils should be doing. 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.880 You know, there are issues that do impact Cincinnati immigration. 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.320 In some ways. But if you're just debating. 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.359 The national level politics of it and policies, that's not 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.320 responding to the residents. Well, you know what you can do. 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.480 You can work on workforce development because we actually have 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.040 more jobs in Cincinnati than we have people to fill them. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.639 We have money coming in from the Railroad Trust for 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.000 infrastructure projects, and guess what, the city's not spending it 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.280 to pay your roads because they haven't figured out how 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.679 to deploy it. We could use a lot more people 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.679 getting trained to be able to fill those jobs and 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.560 actually pave the roads. But if you're not focused on 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.280 actual productive debate and getting things done in Cince, nowive 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.800 that actually helped the residents. And all you're doing is 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.000 complaining about people at the federal level who you disagree with. 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.679 No one benefits, no one benefits. You have to focus 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:20.280 on actual solutions here. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.439 Absolutely, And based on what you said, I didn't realize this. 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.280 Are you saying that from that railroad money none of 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:31.520 it has been spent spent yet on infrastructure, because I 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.640 mean that's one of the ways they sold this thing. 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.520 Not none of it. Very little has been spent. 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:41.560 They appropriated so much money through paving roads and there 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.080 was a report last month that said only four percent 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.480 of it had actually been deployed on actual projects. If 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:49.679 you can't get the money out the door, there is 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:52.240 a problem. And guess what, no the one on council 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:54.680 has been figuring out what that problem is to actually 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:58.480 deploy the money. That's a huge, huge problem. I mean, 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.680 our roads and Cincinematic are an absolute mess. This should 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:04.960 be something that you're focused on because this is something 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.800 that impacts our residents. And right now we are not 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:11.560 getting any productive debate from our council members. They're all 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.880 over the place on things. They're saying everything is being 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.000 run smoothly, and it's not. Residents know that residents are 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:20.399 feeling the pain. And as we've been out on the 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.000 campaign trail the last nine weeks, that's all we hear 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:25.600 from people is they are frustrated and they're set up 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.600 and they're not hearing from their council members. And that 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.240 is what council members are supposed to do. They're supposed 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.120 to be responsive to the constituents that they represent. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.240 Absolutely, and you mentioned road paving. I'll tell you what. 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:42.320 Well, with respect to snow removal, you can always tell Liz, 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.280 I live just outside the city now, but you know, 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:49.080 the townships, the county, others, they do a pretty good 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:49.639 job of it. 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:51.440 But when you enter the city. 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.040 Of Cincinnati, you can tell you don't need a sign 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:57.800 that says corporation line. And one thing this is, I 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.679 guess kind of personal paving road. Will you, because I 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:04.800 know you'll get a handle on it, will you please 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:10.159 have them look in to paving Sunset Avenue as you 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:11.880 turn left off a Queen City. 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.200 It's unbelievable. It's like a battlefield there. 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:18.920 And I guess that's just an example of what you're 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:20.760 seeing throughout the city. 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:24.440 Absolutely, I mean, in sometime is one that has come 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:28.520 up time and time again as we're out talking to voters, 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.119 and I mean something like that that shouldn't be that 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:33.720 hard to get done. There is so much money now 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:36.719 coming in. There's money coming in from the federal government 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:40.640 to other infrastructure projects, things like the Western Hills viaducts 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:43.680 and in the new Brunt Spence Bridge, Like there are 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.280 so many jobs and so much money, tens of millions 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:49.280 of dollars actually one hundreds of millions of dollars coming 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:52.760 in to do these projects. There is no reason that 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:55.320 we should not be prepared to fill those jobs in 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.320 to start paving roads, especially in this kind of economy 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:01.560 where people are hurting. We should get people in those shops, 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.120 get those paychecks going home, support families, and take care 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:07.560 of the roads. We can do it if we have 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:11.000 a council that is paying attention and actually figuring out 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.719 how to implement and implementary quickly so that you can 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:15.240 take care of the residents' needs. 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.240 Absolutely, there something I got to ask you this question. 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:20.440 I think I know the answer, but I'm going to ask. 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:23.400 You what do you feel is keating is the most 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:28.880 important issue facing Cincinnati City Council, and if elected, what 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:32.160 will you do to help alleviate that problem? 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:34.879 Right now? It's crime. 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:38.520 Crime is what we are hearing the top issue, top 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.760