Lots of readers probably saw that Sunday story in the Enquirer about $25 million wasted by the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone and thought: “Here we go again. Yet another textbook case of government malpractice.”
But really, it’s worse than that. It’s also a textbook case of race hustling, politically correct cowardice and newspaper negligence.
In fact, finding out that the Empowerment Zone is a rip-off should be news to no one — at City Hall or at the Enquirer.
I visited the Empowerment Zone offices in 2002. When I asked for accounting, they got nervous. When I asked for examples of jobs created, they took me on a tour of companies that were shuttered and closed within a year or so. The tour was conducted by Empowerment Zone staffer Laketa Cole — now on City Council – and Empowerment Corporation President Harold Cleveland, who was not enthusiastic about discussing his board of directors, as I recall.
That’s because the board included George Beatty and his brother, Howard. Beatty, who ran the crime-magnet Parktown Cafe and June Bug’s, also ran the West End neighborhoods. Now he’s in prison, busted with his friend, Lawyer Ken Lawson, in a drug-peddling scheme. Howard Beatty is in prison, too, for killing activist Kabaka Oba in front of City Hall.
But back in those days, George “June Bug” Beatty ruled the West End.
I did some research in 2002 and found that the Empowerment Zone — fueled by millions in Clinton Administration grants – had spent $100,000 for martial arts training; $500,000 for holiday crafts, puppets, rhythm and movement; nearly $400,000 for hip-hop, choir and karate; and so on.
Believe it or not, the Empowerment Zone board tried to hire as its executive director the disgraced, convicted drug dealer Dr. Stanley Broadnax, who had once been the city’s health commissioner.
The big Empowerment Zone supporter at the time was Mayor Roxanne Qualls — who now tells the Enquirer she is “disappointed.”
Aren’t we all. But some of us are not surprised. We expected as much because we know that liberal “programs” that pour millions of tax dollars into poor neighborhoods are like rain in the desert that never reaches the ground. The cash is siphoned off by hustlers. The poor stay poor, and a few sharp operators get wealthy in the name of “social justice.”
Back in 2002, when red flags were waved in the faces of council members, they looked the other way.
And when I took my fat file of Empowerment Zone documents to editors at the Enquirer, they nodded and mumbled and gave me the brush off.
I figured the reason in both cases was that minority programs were untouchable. The riots were still too fresh. Riot instigators and protesters were making extravagant accusations of ”economic apartheid.”
So council members and city officials decided it was not worth picking a fight over a few million in federal appeasement cash.
Politicians without a backbone are common as government waste.
But editors are held to a higher standard. And in the Enquirer newsroom, the editors at the time — now long gone – couldn’t find their spines with a search warrant. A story like that was guaranteed to bring accusations of “racism,” regardless of the truth. So they ducked.
I wrote about the Empowerment Zone anyway. And as expected, I was called “racist.” I always figured that putting up with that kind of name-calling was just part of a newsman’s job. But political correctness and the newsroom diversity police have made cowards of us all.
So now we’re supposed to be surprised that the Empowerment Zone has “Little to show for $25 million,” as the Enquirer headline said?
Please, child.
The story by Jane Prendergast is good reporting, including:
– The Empowerment Zone contributed $6 for every $1 staffers put in their 401-K. Incredible.
– Cleveland, still CEO, earns $170,000 to run a tiny agency that can’t even account for the jobs and development it was supposed to create.
– The percentage for administration has been as high as 30-40 percent.
Good story. But it’s $25 million short and eight years too late.
It makes me wonder: How many millions could have been saved for taxpayers if the Enquirer had investigated in 2002 instead of 2010?
Wow Pete…that is pretty eye opening. You need to get this kind of information to the people of Cincinnati and not just via your blog! (or maybe get it to them by convincing them to link to your blog!)…good to hear from you.
Dear Mr. Bronson,
You are spot on!
The Beatty Crime Family ran the EZ show. Junebug’s wife still works there. Junebug and the Killer controlled Clevland’s salary and Cleveland bought their greasy spoon building. They also hired Mallory and Seitz to give them political cover.
Look at the Mallory Center finances too for a good laugh.
The Cole/Qualls involvement is amazing…they are in a “I know nothing” mode now.
This info was brought up several times over the years. I know Hurley had it on Newsmakers.
PS – Smitherman is still crying economic apartheid.
Peter, while you’re entitled to your opinions about the Empowerment Zone and The Cincinnati Enquirer, I think you owe it to your readers to give a fair accounting of the coverage of this issue over the years. As you know, I’ve detailed at least 30 stories, columns and editorials documenting problems at the Empowerment Zone over the last decade or so.
Our former colleague Ben. L Kaufman has reviewed this list and concluded he was wrong in his criticism of the Enquirer’s coverage.
I hope you’ll do the same.
Greg Korte wrote many of those stories about the Empowerment Zone, when he was covering City Hall, so I understand why he is proud of his work and feels justified to defend it. He’s a good reporter. And I agree with him, up to a point. My own review of the coverage shows it is more extensive than I remembered. There were many stories that exposed the fraud, but the view is through a prism, giving us a splintered Picasso image of disjointed parts that require imagination and lots of interpretation to put together the whole picture. There’s a good reason people don’t remember any big investigative expose by the Enquirer. And that’s because there never was one. The paper never put together the resources and commitment to dig into the story and get to the bottom. My own reporting showed me where it led. My own discussions with editors showed me they were unwilling to go there, for a variety of reasons, foremost among them the fear of being labeled “racist” by the race hustlers and City Hall parasites who were getting fat on EZ money. The coverage was better than adequate. But given such a story, it fell far short of its potential – and it still does.
Why is it that when people of color receive the benefit of grants and money to help the less fortunate…it is viewed as less than official, less than honest, shady, corrupt!! Get real! I guess that’s just racism in America!