Roundtable with David Pepper
Local bloggers, independent journalists, candidates, and "concerned citizens" attended a round-table event tonight and had a chance to discuss the future of Cincinnati with councilmen and mayoral candidate David Pepper. This event was hosted by the Dean and Steve Novotni. Those in attendance included Justin Jeffre (and 3 volunteers), Andrew Warner, Robert Wilson, Spacetropic, Funnelcake, myself and several others who weren't introduced in detail.
One of the topics that Pepper emphasized was his belief in the importance of a strong mayor that can set the agenda for city council. With City Council perpetually in disarray, I agree that a strong mayor is needed to keep Council efficient and on task.
The issue of campaign finance reform caused some disagreement between Jeffre and Pepper. Jeffre criticized Pepper's belief that $1000 maximum campaign donations was suitable for local campaigns and went on the suggest a $10 maximum in order to level the playing field.
Another interesting topic that Pepper mentioned in passing is that the state legislature has a tendency to pass legislation that makes it difficult for city leaders to do their jobs. He did not give much detail on this but I am interested to find out more. I'll email Pepper to ask for specific examples of such legislation and update here.
I enjoyed this round-table session with David Pepper. I left seeing him as a person who cares about this city rather than as the politician I saw him as prior. The Dean had a similar finding
I'm looking forward to the next blogger meeting with a mayoral candidate. I hope to see more people in attendance next time.
One of the topics that Pepper emphasized was his belief in the importance of a strong mayor that can set the agenda for city council. With City Council perpetually in disarray, I agree that a strong mayor is needed to keep Council efficient and on task.
The issue of campaign finance reform caused some disagreement between Jeffre and Pepper. Jeffre criticized Pepper's belief that $1000 maximum campaign donations was suitable for local campaigns and went on the suggest a $10 maximum in order to level the playing field.
Another interesting topic that Pepper mentioned in passing is that the state legislature has a tendency to pass legislation that makes it difficult for city leaders to do their jobs. He did not give much detail on this but I am interested to find out more. I'll email Pepper to ask for specific examples of such legislation and update here.
I enjoyed this round-table session with David Pepper. I left seeing him as a person who cares about this city rather than as the politician I saw him as prior. The Dean had a similar finding
Sitting in a roundtable, intimate format with a politician is inherently in the interest of the politician. This is just as true with Mark Mallory and Justin Jeffre as with David Pepper. After meeting each of these folks in person for extended talk, I walk away with favorable impressions.
I'm looking forward to the next blogger meeting with a mayoral candidate. I hope to see more people in attendance next time.
Do you mean "Roundtable with David Pepper?" I think you got the title wrong! Might throw off people using RSS newsfeeds for headlines...
Posted by
Someone |
2:52 PM
BTW, glad you came for the event. I am hoping to pin something down with the Reece team soon, but they seem very disorganized in terms of scheduling an event like this. I just got a list of questions the other day that seemed odd. They even thought they would need to come with laptops to a location with internet connectivity since we are "bloggers." I guess they thought it was a chat-room discussion!
Posted by
Someone |
2:54 PM
Reason # 343 why Josh shouldn't blog after a night at the bar.
I enjoyed the event and hope you can get Reece locked down. According to City Beat she recently declined an interview with them. What is up with that?
Posted by
JN |
3:22 PM
Very nice site!
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Posted by
Anonymous |
11:48 AM