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LOCAL NAACP: Surely many NAACP members must feel ashamed. Last week Christopher Smitherman, the chapter’s president, and his “bodyguard” disturbed a City Council meeting on streetcars. Smitherman has made blocking the project his pet cause, but of the 44 citizens who spoke at the hearing just six were opposed. During the session, the bodyguard put his finger to his throat and made a slashing motion to one woman while she spoke in favor and tried to interrupt others. Later, when an agitated Smitherman was leaving the chambers, he yelled at a person, “Don’t ever take a picture of me, you punk!” as he was held back by followers. The despicable actions clearly don’t foster social justice.
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SCHMIDT & MALLORY: Jean Schmidt has been a waste of space in Congress since she joined in 2005. The cranky lawmaker from Miami Township has done little except take cash from the Turkish government. Then there’s Dale Mallory, the mayor’s kid brother, whose family helped get him elected as state representative in 2006. Since then, he’s not accomplished much except collect a salary and form a Bed Bug Task Force. This week the two underachievers teamed up for a press conference to exploit the tragedy of a house fire in Carthage. The lawmakers want the EPA to approve Ohio’s request to use Propoxur to fight bed bug infestations, despite its potential toxicity to children when used indoors.
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JOHN KASICH: What a spud. First Ohio’s clueless governor rejected $385 million in federal aid to create a passenger rail line between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland — a project that would’ve created 16,000 jobs. Now Kasich has caused the stoppage (temporary, we hope) on casino construction here and in Cleveland. Developers said there’s too much uncertainty now that St. John of Wall Street is seeking to renegotiate a deal and raise taxes on the gaming palaces. The Queen City’s casino is expected to create 2,100 jobs during construction and employ 1,700 once opened. Is it 2015 yet, so we can show this putz the door?
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CINCINNATI EQUINOX: The Queen City’s celebration of Gay Pride Month got a high-priced makeover last year when it was taken over by the Gay Chamber of Commerce. (Notice how the words “gay” and “pride” are nowhere to be found?) Instead of holding the festival in June, which is Pride Month, the chamber moved it to July 4 so it could rent Fountain Square. After spending a small fortune to book singer Kristine W., organizers had a hard time paying off their bills. Now the chamber has scheduled the event even later this year, on July 8-10. No entertainers and few events have been announced. At this rate, maybe we can schedule the 2012 Equinox during Halloween or Thanksgiving and end all pretense of it being a Pride-related festival.
