Greg Bauer wants to be Mayor of Portsmouth. That's a nice thought, can any thing be wrong with that? Let's take a look at Mr. Bauer's track record and associates and see if this is the man for the job.

Greg Bauer is a Chillicothe Street business owner, recently resigned City Councilman, member of the Chamber of Commerce, member of the Retail Merchants Association, Board Member of the Retail Merchants Association, and past president of the Retail Merchants Association. Pretty impressive resume.

Now let's look at what all that means.

Chillicothe Street business owners have been very successful in preventing people from parking on their street, unless of course their businesses are open to take the people's money. It is almost a private street, solely to benefit the downtown gang. City Council stands behind this abuse, and the City Police rigidly enforce these rules. The City Police take their orders from the Mayor, that is the law. Many people believe that we need a Mayor who is concerned with every street in town, instead of just Chillicothe Street.

Mr. Bauer was City Councilman. As 2^nd ward councilman he was faced with the possibility of recall. Enough signatures were obtained from the 2^nd ward to recall Mr. Bauer. Mr. Bauer went to the homes of the good citizens who had signed for his recall, and caused their names to be removed from the recall petitions, according to witnesses. State law absolutely forbids such election tampering, as done by Greg Bauer. The Ohio Supreme Court had to set them straight. Mr. Bauer resigned his council seat, and still yet might be brought up on charges related to election tampering. As a public official, he didn't appear to have respect for the state election laws, or the good citizens of the 2^nd ward. This is the man who wants to be Mayor.

Even though he has shown no respect for the law, he still wants you, the voter, to put him in position to supervise the Chief of police. Pretty scary stuff.

Mr. Bauer admitted to being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Retail Merchants Association (RMA). He was president of the Retail Merchants and remains a member today. The Retail Merchants and the Chamber of commerce are subsidiaries of the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership (SOGP), popularly known as the Same Old Gang Program. The RMA and Chamber are funded by the taxpayer-funded secret society, SOGP. When asked, Mr. Bauer was unable to tell the amount of annual funding for RMA from the SOGP.

As RMA president, Mr. Bauer was responsible to and reported to Mary Moore of the SOGP. The SOGP is controlled by the following local businessmen: Andy Glockner of Glockner Chevrolet and Andy's Toyota; Ron Burke of OSCO; Mr. Keating of Mitchellace; John Kennard, local president of American Electric Power; and Ron Fischer of Bank One.

Now for a look at Mr. Bauer's associates, the men of SOGP.

President Clinton designated 30 cities throughout America as Empowerment Zone (EZ) cities, Porstmouth was chosen as one. Money was sent to Portsmouth from the federal government in an effort to promote industry and jobs in our rural, economically deprived area. The Same Old Gang Program (SOGP) managed to get their hands on some of this EZ Money.

The local daily newspaper, the Daily Times, ran an article promising to watch over the spending of the EZ Money.

After many months went by, with no substantial reports on the spending appearing in the Times, the Sentinel began an investigation.

The Sentinel discovered several newsworthy items. The first item was that the SOGP has no intention of telling the truth to the public about what they did with the public's money.

Another interesting fact that surfaced is that some of the EZ Money went to pay the salary of Mrs. B. J. Riley, wife of the Daily Times publisher. She was employed by the SOGP. When the EZ Money ran out, Mrs. Riley was then hired by Ron Fischer, SOGP Acting Director, to work in Mr. Fischer's bank, as related by other SOGP employees. This leads to speculation as to why the Times did not truthfully report the SOGP spending, as they promised they would. Was the newspaper bought off? We can only guess at this point.

Just what did Mr. Bauer's business associates do with the money intended to empower this area. We can't yet say. Mr. Fischer said that some of the money, $93,000, went to teach youth entrepreneurship in area high schools. A check with local schools shows that this did not happen.

At the time of the EZ Money, and immediately following, a few significant things did occur.

SOGP's Mr. Keating was able to get a new shoestring factory overseas, in Honduras. Perhaps the EZ Money meant for our economic future has been used to export jobs. Many Mitchellace workers have complained about being fired for joining a union at Mitchellace. Keating does not seem to care about our people making a decent living, and neither does he care to tell us what he did with the EZ Money.

SOGP's Mr. Burke also refuses to discuss what happened to the EZ Money. Mr. Burke does not make a fine business associate for a man who would like to the Mayor of our town.

Mr. Andrew Glockner has also been able to make substantial improvements to his business, during the time of the EZ Money. A very deep ravine directly south of Andy's Toyota was filled in, smoothed over, and Andy now has a fine new parking lot for his business. Mr. Glockner has been unable or unwilling to tell the public what has happened to the EZ Money.

Mr. Dan DeSantis was director of SOGP during the EZ Money era. Mr. DeSantis also refused to tell what happened to the money. Mr. DeSantis built a mansion on the hill during his stay at SOGP. The EZ Money ran out and so did Mr. DeSantis.

Even SSU ponies up money to these phonies. While student fees increase, SSU pays dues to the RMA. With negligent spending of this type by Clive Veri and company, it is no wonder enrollment drops. It is opportune to mention here that Mr. Clive Veri Jr. is a Vice President of Bank One, Ron Fischer's bank. How deep does it all go?

Mr. Bauer's close associates get massive welfare, they are on the public dole in a big way. They have all benefitted. They have shown great growth at the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership. One partner has a new parking lot, another has a new factory locally, while another has a new factory overseas. They are exporting jobs from the city of Portsmouth, all the while they tell us that they working on industry and jobs for us. One guy got a new mansion on the hill. As they say in Clive's family, "You guys did good."

The RMA has received our tax dollars. Greg Bauer did not say how much. They continue to operate in secrecy. Bauer is their man. Now they want their man to run the Portsmouth Police Department, by installing him as Mayor.

We finally get a decent Chief of Police, a Supreme Court ruling against a crooked City Council, an opportunity tomove forward, and these guys want to return to the days of secret deals with the Same Old Gang.

Is Greg Bauer the man for the job?

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