Feud over sales tax to build new jail gets sheriff sued

Opponents said the county needs more efficient ways to handle prisoners.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The fight over a proposed sales tax increase to build a new jail has created strange political coalitions and landed a sheriff in court, accused of illegally using taxpayer money to advance his cause.

On one side is Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr., a Republican and hard-line former county prosecutor who has joined two Democratic county commissioners who say the county needs a larger jail to fight crime.

A coalition of opposition groups, including the NAACP and the Libertarian Party, say the plan is too expensive and the jail would not be needed if the county adopted more efficient ways to handle and process prisoners.

“We need to quit using the jail as a hotel for people with drug addictions or mental disorders,” said Dan LaBotz, spokesman for Cincinnati Progressive Action.

Voters in November will decide whether to approve a sales tax increase that would raise $736 million over 15 years to build and operate a 1,800-bed jail and add inmate treatment programs.

The proposal would raise the county sales tax from 6.5 percent to 7 percent for eight years, then drop it to 6.75 percent for seven years.

Argument

Critics, including Dan Regenold of the Hamilton County Business Owners group, argue that the higher tax would drive consumers to neighboring counties.

A judge on Thursday denied a motion for a temporary restraining order against Leis but scheduled an Oct. 16 hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction to bar the sheriff from using his office to promote the jail tax.

Leis is accused in a lawsuit by a Cincinnati stockbroker of including a letter with county employees’ paychecks urging them to support the tax increase, and of putting “Support the New Jail” signs on sheriff’s office vehicles in a parade.

Steve Barnett, the sheriff’s spokesman, has said that private money was used to pay for the signs and letters, and that Leis would not comment on the lawsuit.

Opponents kicked off a campaign Tuesday to mobilize county residents to reject the tax proposal.

They had forced the referendum by gathering enough signatures to put it on the ballot after the majority Democrats on the three-member county commission, months after voters had rejected a less costly proposal, voted to build the jail anyway and impose the tax increase.

“My two colleagues never wanted this to be on the ballot because they knew the proposal would not hold up to public scrutiny,” said Pat DeWine, the lone Republican on the commission.

Democratic Commissioner David Pepper disputed DeWine’s contention and predicted that voters would approve the tax “once citizens understand this a comprehensive plan that will lower recidivism.”

“We have a lot of momentum, and we have it because it is a broad-based plan not just to build a jail but to make our county safer,” Pepper said.

Opposition

Christopher Smitherman, president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said members voted to oppose the plan because they believe the justice system treats blacks more harshly than whites, and to show their disapproval of the end run by the commissioners.

“We feel very firmly that everybody in Hamilton County should have the opportunity to say yes or no on the jail tax,” Smitherman said. “We aren’t pro-criminal; all we want is a fair system.”

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce supports the jail proposal, partly because of the enhanced treatment services. But since the tax also would fund additional sheriff’s patrols within the city, the Cincinnati Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police has refused to endorse the plan.