Smitherman Cincinnati Elections Commission Complaint

8/12/2019 Smitherman Cincinnati Elections Commission Complaint

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IN THE CINCINNATI ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

NATHANIEL LIVINGSTON, JR. :::

:Complainant : Case No.

:v. :

:CHRISTOPHER SMITHERMAN :1000 Lennox Avenue :Cincinnati, Ohio 45229 :

:

Respondent :

/NATHANIEL LIVINGSTON, JR.ComplainantPro Se

/

VERIFIED COMPLAINT OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE REGULATION

VIOLATIONS BY CHRISTOPHER SMITHERMAN

(SWORN AFFIDAVIT ATTACHED)Article XIII of the Charter of the City of Cincinnati and Chapter 117 of the

Cincinnati Municipal Code

To the Honorable Members of the Cincinnati Elections Commission:

Having been duly sworn and cautioned, Complainant, Nathaniel Livingston, Jr.,

proceedingpro se, now comes and hereby respectfully represents to the Commission as follows:

I. PARTIES

1. Complainant NATHANIEL LIVINGSTON, JR. is an individual citizen of theState of Ohio, who, upon personal knowledge, sets forth the alleged violations of the Charter of

the City of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Municipal Code outlined below.

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2. Upon information and belief, Respondent CHRISTOPHER SMITHERMAN is anarrogant politician who is closely aligned to the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. 1

Smitherman has publicly stated that his life goals are to become a decamillionaire and President

of the United States. Chris will do anything to obtain money and power.

Smitherman is a corrupt politician and political fraudster who calls himself a financial

planner, even though, according to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., he

is not recognized as a professional CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, and he has not

completed the training and experience requirements necessary to become a CFPprofessionals --

including undergoing a background check; meeting character and fitness standards; adhering to

ethical standards, and obtaining continuing education. Not only does Smitherman lack financial

planner certification, he lacks any formal training in finance or accounting. He basically makes

money by selling mediocre insurance products to gullible individuals.

Despite Smithermans lack of financial credentials, he holds himself out to the public as a

financial expert.2 Neither lack of credentials nor grossly inaccurate financial predictions have

stopped people like Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley from aiding and abetting Smitherman in his

ongoing masquerade as something he isnt. On the contrary, Smitherman has cleverly convinced

Mayor Cranley to appoint him Chair of the City of Cincinnatis Economic Growth and

1 Since taking office in December of 2011, Smitherman has mimicked the playbook used by his Tea PartyRepublican allies in the U.S. Congress. He has used his position of power on Council to unethically funnelmoney to his family members, friends and political cronies; investigate, demonize and punish those who refuseto blindly follow him; and take public money away from the poor and needy to give it to the rich and powerful

in the form of corporate welfare. Smitherman has participated in numerous discussions, and voted multipletimes on Council Ordinances involving Cincinnatis Streetcar Project, knowing full well that his brother,ALBERT SMITHERMAN, his sister-in-law, LIZA SMITHERMAN, and the Smitherman family constructioncompany, JOSTIN CONCRETE, were contractors on the project. (See attached letter from Attorney CaseyCostin.) These actions and votes are clearly unethical and they probably violate numerous federal, state, andcity laws and ordinances against corruption, nepotism, and double dealing.

2In the past, Smitherman has made wild accusations about the financial health of the city, including, in 2006, aprediction, based on a claimed calculations, that the city would go bankrupt in2007. It didnt. But that didntstop the lazy, local, white media from pretending that Smithermans opinions on financial matters are credible.

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Infrastructure Committee a committee with jurisdiction over development agreements, road

improvements, residential and commercial development processes, inclusion policies, downtown

development, casino development, the Port Authority, infrastructure, and GO Cincinnati.

Smithermans claim to be a financial expert is relevant to making a determination of whether he

knowingly violated the citys campaign finance laws by accepting illegal contributions from his

brother, his brothers wife, and the Smitherman family construction company. Someone who has

run for Council four times and purports to know about money, finance, budgets, law, and fund

raising cannot credibly plead ignorance of the citys campaign finance laws or of the actions

taken by individuals working on his political campaign.

Mayor Cranley also appointed Smitherman Chair of the Citys Law & Public Safety

Committee. In this position, Smitherman has operated like a thug. He has used his enormous

oversight power over the Cincinnati Police Department and the Law Department to bully the

cops, shakedown the citys lawyers, interfere with prosecutions, and lecture the people of

Cincinnati about being bad citizens. Fear of Smitherman may explain why the Commission has

looked the other way and failed to perform its duty to review Smithermans reports, investigate

whether he is in compliance with the citys municipal election campaign finance laws, and take

action against him if he is determined to be non-compliant. Also, because Smitherman exercises

oversight authority over the city solicitors office, and the solicitors office has demonstrated

they fear Smitherman, the Commission should request the city solicitor employ outside counsel

to assist it in carrying out its investigative and enforcement duties.

Smitherman seems to believe he is above following rules. He routinely uses personal

email addresses to conduct public business. This is done to avoid making the communications

available for public inspection and complying with Ohios public records laws. This behavior,

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quite possibly, represents criminal behavior. The Commission must consider this relevant

information when determining whether to exercise your power to subpoena witnesses and/or

production of documents.

3. Upon information and belief, ALBERT C. SMITHERMAN is ChristopherSmithermans brother. He cant legally contribute more than $1,100 to any one Council

candidate in the period between successive Council elections.

4. Upon information and believe, LIZA D. SMITHERMAN is married to AlbertSmitherman, making her Christopher Smithermans sister-in-law. She cant legally contribute

more than $1,100 to any one Council candidate in the period between successive Council

elections.

5. As indicated in online records from the Ohio Secretary of State, the Smithermanfamily owns, operates, and controls the for-profit corporation known as JOSTIN

CONSTRUCTION, INC. (The corporation is formerly known as Jostin Concrete Construction,

Inc.) There are no records showing that the corporation is a political action committee. The

corporation is listed in the citys Small Business Enterprise (SBE) program directory. Upon

information and belief, as the politician in the Smitherman family, Chris Smitherman works to

get jobs and contracts for the corporation. In return, the corporation kicks back contributions to

the politicians political campaigns and other activities.3 Jostin Constructions website lists

Albert Smitherman as president and chief executive officer, and Liza Smitherman as vice

president of professional development.

3In 2012, Jostin Construction, Inc. reportedly funded Chris Smithermans NAACP campaign by purchasingdozens of Cincinnati NAACP memberships, giving them to Jostin employees,and instructing the employees tovote for Chris as Cincinnati NAACP president. Jostin helped buy the NAACP presidency for ChrisSmitherman who leveraged his NAACP position to get contracts, jobs,and money for his familys company.

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II. JURISDICTION

6. Article XIII of the Charter of Cincinnati grants the Cincinnati ElectionsCommission jurisdiction to administer and enforce the citys campaign finance laws. The

Charter imposes a duty on the Commission to review and investigate potential violations of

municipal election finance requirements when presented with a sworn complaint based on

personal knowledge alleging a violation of the citys campaign finance laws.

7. Rule 11 of the Commissions Rules for Administration and Enforcement ofArticle XIII and Chapter 117 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code provides that upon presentation

to the Commission of a sworn affidavit of any person, made on personal knowledge, setting forth

an alleged violation of the provisions of Chapter 117, the Commission shall be immediately

required to transmit, by certified mail, a copy of such affidavit by certified mail to the candidate

and the treasurer of the candidates campaign committee, and proceed to investigate the charges

made in the affidavit.

III. FACTS

8. Smitherman was a Council candidate in 2003, 2005, 2011 and 2013. He was notelected in 2005.

9. The Commission is required to review candidate campaign finance reports todetermine if Council candidates are in compliance with the campaign finance regulations of

Article XIII and Chapter 117 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code.

10. The Commission is required to investigate any matters that appear to violate anyof the provisions of Article XIII or Chapter 117 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code.

11. Article XII authorizes the Commission to request the city solicitor to employcounsel to assist it in carrying out its duties.

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12. In the period between successive elections of members of Council, a person maynot contribute more than $1,100 to any one Council candidate. A Council candidate may not

solicit or accept a contribution exceeding the maximum limit permitted by law.

13. At the conclusion of the reporting period following the November 2013 Councilelection, Christopher Smitherman filed a candidate campaign finance report. The report was

uploaded to the citys website. I cannot determine if the Commission reviewed the report.

14. I reviewed an online copy of the report and found that Albert Smithermancontributed $1,100 to Christopher Smitherman on November 11, 2011; and another $1,100 to

Chris on June 29, 2013. Albert Smithermans total contributions to Chris Smitherman for the

period equals $2,200.

15. The report also shows three donations from Liza Smitherman to ChristopherSmitherman during the period. She donated $1,100 to him on November 11, 2011; $1,100 on

February 22, 2013; and $500 on October 30, 2013. During the period, Liza Smitherman

contributed a total of $2,700 to Chris Smitherman.

16. The address associated with the October 20, 2013 donation from Liza Smithermanis 2335 Florence Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45206. This is the address listed for Jostin

Construction, Inc. in the Secretary of States records. The $500 contribution made by Liza

Smitherman may be from the account of the for-profit corporation mentioned above or from an

illegal political action committee or political contributing entity.

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PR YER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Complainant prays that this Commission do the following:A Immediately transmit, by certified mail, a copy o this sworn complaintand affidavit, to Christopher Smitherman and the treasurer o hiscampaign committee;B. Proceed to investigate the charges made in this sworn complaint, by,among other things, issuing subpoenas to Chris Smitherman, the treasurer

o his campaign committee, and the officers o Jostin Construction, Inc.,for production o all relevant records;C Immediately request the city solicitor employ outside counsel to assist youin carrying out your investigative and enforcement duties;D After providing notice to the public, hold a hearing, open to the public,

where members o the public are afforded the opportunity to address theCommission, for the purpose o making a preliminary determination owhether Smitherman violated the city s campaign finance laws;E. For making, soliciting, and/or accepting contributions that exceed themaximum permitted by law, penalize Chris Smitherman by fining himthree times the excess contribution and requiring him to return all illegalcontributions accepted.

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Respectfully submitted,

TON, JR.

Telephone:


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VERIFIC TION ND FFID VIT

STATE OF OHIO

COUNTY OF LUCASSS:

I, Nathaniel Livingston, Jr., having been first duly sworn and cautioned, state that Iam over 8 years o age. I have read the Complaint and Affidavit. I have personal knowledgeo the contents o the Complaint and believe the same to be true and correct to the best o myknowledge and belief. I am signing this Affidavit and Complaint freely, voluntarily, andwithout duress.Further, affiant sayeth naught.

Date: V i a ~ J 8 Zul

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged, sworn to and subscribed by NathanielLivingston, Jr. , in my presence on this 28th day o May, 2014.

JODI CONNORSNotary Public State of OhioMy Commission Expirespril 27 2019

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Smitherman Cincinnati Elections Commission Complaint

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