WALNUT HILLS - Some of Cincinnati's top business, civic and church leaders have agreed to join a new task force to explore the creation of a minority-owned bank.
Pat Fischer, a lawyer and Cincinnati City Council candidate, announced the formation of the 11-member task force Monday at the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce.
Fischer, who will serve as the task force's co-chairman, said his involvement was not politically motivated.
Fischer and other organizers say a minority-owned bank is needed in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area because local minority entrepreneurs say access to capital is one of the biggest obstacles they face.
"Businesses that want to grow need funds to operate," said Steve Love, president and CEO of the chamber, who will be the other task force co-chairman.
Fischer - a partner in the downtown law firm Keating, Meuthing & Klekamp - said it will take at least three to six months for the group to determine the feasibility of a bank and what type of bank would work best.
If the task force should pursue a state charter for a traditional bank, it would have to raise at least $10 million, said Dennis Ginty, a spokesman for the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions. He said the whole process to open the bank could take about a year and a half.
The task force also will include:
Donna Jones Baker, president of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati;
Tony Brown, president and CEO of the Uptown Consortium;
James Clingman, owner of James Clingman and Associates;
James Gudmens, former president and CEO of Anderson Bank Co.;
Gail King, partner at Keating, Meuthing & Klekamp;
Nathaniel Lampley, managing partner of the Cincinnati office of Vorys, Sater Seymour Pease LLP;
Stephen Schrantz, retired executive vice president of commercial banking at Fifth Third Bancorp;
Rev. K.Z. Smith, pastor of Corinthian Baptist Church;
Bishop Dwight Wilkins, president of the Cincinnati Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
Monday, October 22, 2007 - 11:04 AM EDT
Cincinnati City Council candidate Pat Fischer announced today the formation of a task force to explore the creation of a minority-owned and controlled bank in Cincinnati. If successful, the bank would be Cincinnati's only minority-owned and controlled bank.
"While the city of Cincinnati is almost 50 percent African-American, African-Americans control only about 4 percent of the businesses and contribute only about 0.4 percent of the net revenues to the community," Fischer said in a news release.
"The best way to increase the number of jobs, develop more businesses, grow the local economy and expand the tax base is to make sure that credit is available for small businesses, especially minority-owned and controlled businesses," said Fischer, a partner at Keating, Muething & Klekamp PLL.
Fischer is co-chairing the task force along with Steve Love, president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati African-American Chamber of Commerce. The task force will determine whether such a bank or financial institution would be profitable, self-sufficient and sustainable. It will not be a government project, Fischer's news release said. Rather, the release called it "a long-term private sector solution to a problem in our local economy."
The goals of the task force are to determine whether a minority-owned and controlled bank is necessary for the community now. If the answer is yes, the task force will then determine how the community should establish such a financial institution by looking at what models have been successful, why such banks have failed and which models might succeed here.
Once a type of institution is determined, the task force will evaluate whether such a financial institution would be viable and profitable in the long term. And, finally, if the task force finds a model it believes would be successful here, it will recommend the creation of that type of financial institution.
Other members of the task force include: Donna Jones Baker, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati; Tony Brown, president and CEO of the Uptown Consortium; James Clingman, owner of James Clingman and Associates; James Gudmens, former president and CEO of Anderson Bank Co.; Gail King, partner at Keating, Muething & Klekamp PLL; Nathaniel Lampley, managing partner of the Cincinnati office of Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP; Stephen Schrantz, retired executive vice president of commercial banking at Fifth Third Bancorp; the Rev. K.Z. Smith, pastor of Corinthian Baptist Church; and Bishop Dwight Wilkins, president of the Cincinnati Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
August 15, 2007
Council candidate seeks to clean up streets
By Zachary Petit
CITYWIDE - Not entirely unlike a Hollywood script, for four years Pat Fischer worked as a janitor, cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash to pay his way through Harvard College.
Now, with the same work ethic Fischer says he has stuck to his entire life, the 49-year-old Republican wants to clean up Cincinnati crime by securing a City Council seat in November.
"That's the way you make things change," he says. "I will work tirelessly dealing with everything, including literally cleaning up the streets, and not give up. A lot of people are moving out of the City, giving up, and I'm staying."
A graduate of St. Xavier High School, Harvard College and Harvard Law School, these days Fischer serves as an attorney at Keating, Muething & Klekamp, Downtown, and also puts in time on the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services board and VISIONS Community Services board.
The path to his crime-curbing plans, however, stems from his work as the community council president of his Pleasant Ridge neighborhood.
After a jump in local crime, Fischer says he worked on an effort to deter such activity by analyzing police records, mining data and strategically directing resources to areas where more crimes were likely to occur. The result of the "pinpoint policing," he says, was a drop in squad runs by up to 70 percent in some months.
While serving as president of the Cincinnati Bar Association last year, however, Fischer says a trustee's brother and an employee's son were both gunned down on city streets.
He had a thought: Why not bring the program into town?
"My proposals deal with preventing crime, not just arresting people afterward," he says.
Fischer says there are citizens throughout the majority of the Queen City's neighborhoods who want to up their quality of life, and he wants to assist them with his plan. He notes that a similar program has been successfully implemented in a New Jersey city, and says by booting up the system in Cincinnati, everything else in town can blossom as a result. By tackling crime, he adds, economic development will follow, and communities will be able to care for themselves with some help from the City.
"It's crime that's keeping people away from doing things," he says. "Cincinnati can be a thriving City if we deal with the crime issue."
As for another prominent local issue, Fischer says The Banks project "must" be built to help Downtown, and he would make sure it happens. In other issues, he cites his law background as a tool that could come in handy on the political landscape.
Fischer says a Democrat once told him he could be the person to bridge gaps between political parties, and adds that as president of the Cincinnati Bar Association, his belief was that lawyers could disagree without being disagreeable.
Fischer wants to apply that same principle inside City Hall.
"I respect people that I disagree with," he says. "I will be able to lower the rhetoric."
Zachary can be contacted via e-mail at zpetit@townmediainc.com.
If the ability to raise money was the sole indicator of success in the Cincinnati City Council race, newcomer Pat Fischer would win in November.
The Pleasant Ridge lawyer and past president of the Cincinnati Bar Association reported to the city Elections Commission Monday that he collected more than $135,000 in contributions. While incumbents can include contributions from late in their 2005 campaigns in the total amount, Fischer's accounting is for this year alone because he wasn't a candidate before.
All nine city council seats - jobs that pay, at more than $60,000, a fraction of what people raise to get them - are up for grabs. At least one newcomer will be elected to fill the seat of Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell, who will leave because of term limits.
Fischer's amount narrowly tops Jeff Berding's more than $133,000. Chris Bortz reported $165,000, but said $102,000 was raised this year. Individual contributions are limited to $1,000, while corporate donations can be larger.
The top nine money-raisers: Fischer, Bortz, Berding, David Crowley, John Cranley, Charlie Winburn, Leslie Ghiz, Chris Monzel and Joan Kaup.
"That makes me feel good," Fischer said about coming out on top as a challenger. "I've been going door-to-door, talking to people. They want new leadership."
More than 30 of his nearly 100 contributors work at the law firm Keating, Muething & Klekamp, where Fischer is a partner.
Fischer's also a former president of the Pleasant Ridge Community Council, where, he said, he learned how neighborhoods can use crime statistics to direct police attention.
He credits that group's Pinpoint Policing program with helping curb crime and says he wants to apply that same concept citywide.
The city did not receive a report from incumbent Laketa Cole. She said her treasurer was out of town and she will file Monday.
WHO RAISED WHAT
Candidates for Cincinnati City Council were required to file, by 4 p.m. Monday, their campaign finance details dating back to the last time they had to do so. For most, that was 60 days before the end of the last campaign, in November 2005. So for incumbents, these figures can include two months' worth of money from their prior campaign.
Because part of 2005 is included in the reporting period, people who were candidates then must file whether they're running again or not.
The figures below are culled from reports released by the Cincinnati Elections Commission. The city did not receive a report from Laketa Cole.
Reports from Minette Cooper, Andre Harper, Mitch Painter, Michael Patton and Steve Pavelish did not include the same summary cover sheet and therefore were not comparable to the others.
CINCINNATI CITY COUNCIL FUNDRAISING TOTALS
| Candidate | Money raised | Money on hand June 30 |
| Melanie Bates | $29,502 | $21,817 |
| Jeff Berding | $133,335 | $100,368 |
| Chris Bortz | $165,081 | $86,932 |
| John Cranley | $120,966 | $84,600 |
| David Crowley | $122,752 | $41,110 |
| John Eby | $23,510 | $15,329 |
| Pat Fischer | $135,730 | $129,026 |
| Leslie Ghiz | $103,590 | $88,747 |
| Greg Harris | $18,846 | $7,533 |
| Joan Kaup | $29,754 | $29,008 |
| Sean Lackey | $501 | $501 |
| Sam Malone | $15,925 | $14,615 |
| Chris Monzel | $78,785 | $55,993 |
| Christopher Smitherman | $16,150 | $25,913 |
| Jim Tarbell | $450 | $30 |
| Cecil Thomas | $18,950 | $12,417 |
| Curtis Wells | $155 | $26 |
| Charlie Winburn | $119,680 | $88,661 |
| Wendell Young | $1,010 | $585 |
| George Zamary | $500 | $418 |
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Bortz leads pack in fund raising
By Joe Wessels
Post contributor
A one-term Charterite incumbent and a Republican newcomer were tops in money-raising as Cincinnati City Council hopefuls filed their first campaign finance reports Monday.
Leading the pack was Chris Bortz, who raised $165,081 in his bid to win a second term on Council. A distant second was Republican Pat Fischer with $135,730.
After those two, all the top fund raisers were incumbents. Council Member and Democrat Jeff Berding was third with $133,335, followed by fellow Democrats David Crowley with $122,753 and John Cranley, who raised $120,966.
Fischer, a Pleasant Ridge attorney and former president of the Cincinnati Bar Association, labeled himself a "leading contender."
He also has the most cash on hand - meaning money in the bank not yet spent - of any candidate running, $140,730, which included a $5,000 contribution from himself.
"I am tremendously honored by the broad support I have received for my campaign," he said. "I will continue to work hard, and we will win on Nov. 6."
Berding said the contributions received so far are a clear indication of the support he has received for his work on City Council.
"It shows strong support for my efforts to be a leading advocate for change and progress in Cincinnati," he said. "I am most grateful that the support has come from such broad spectrum of this community."
A total of 23 people, including eight of nine incumbents, filed the reports. Charterite Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell is prohibited by term limits from seeking another term, but had to file a report because he had money on hand from previous campaigns.
The only Council member who didn't file was Laketa Cole. She said her treasurer was out of town and would file her report Monday.
Charlie Winburn, a former Republican Council member who left office in early 2001 due to term limits, had the sixth highest total with $119,680.
Among the remaining incumbents, Republican Leslie Ghiz raised $103,590, Republican Chris Monzel $78,785 and Democrat Cecil Thomas $18,950.
The reports are often considered an early barometer of who will win Council seats in November.
But Ghiz said it's early and the numbers should not be interpreted as who would eventually be elected.
"(The report) means nothing," Ghiz said, who admitted she is just getting started on fund raising and expects to generate much more support in the months leading up to Election Day.
Jane Shelton Anderson, an adjunct associate political science professor at the University of Cincinnati, said that about $75,000 is needed to run a successful City Council campaign, but those with less have won - and those with a lot more have lost.
"The assumption is that if you have a lot of money, you are in great shape, better than the other guy who doesn't have a lot of money," she said. "That isn't necessarily so."
The $75,000 figure gets candidates what most Cincinnati voters typically expect at minimum: yard signs, trinkets to give away during visits to festivals, and literature to hand out at the many appearances candidates make throughout the fall. More money could translate into radio or television ads.
"Everybody has a different notion on what it takes," Anderson said. "I have seen people win with $50,000 or with $100,000 - and win fairly handily. I've seen others spending $500,000 and not do well at all."
But no matter how much candidates raise this fall - the deadline to file candidacy petitions is Aug. 23 - it is very early to be calling races, Anderson said.
"I don't think it matters much right now," she said. "Probably, what it (a hefty total) means right now is that you have been working on this for a while or you are an incumbent."
From WCPO.com
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Specialists Reassure They're Ready To Respond For Crisis
As classes resume at Virginia Tech on Monday, the Tri-State is bring reassured that Hamilton County is ready to respond should someone try to commit a copy-cat crime.
"There is always the possibility of a copy-cat crime, but Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board is ready," said Pat Fischer, Hamilton County MHRCB trustee. "We have a mobile crisis team that teams up with the District 1 and District 5 police to deal with those situations."
Fischer wants to remind teachers and anyone else concerned about someone who seems a threat to himself or others to call Mental Health Services for help.
There are two numbers easy to remember: (513) 281-CARE or (513) 558-8888
Link:www.wcpo.com