Perfect or trick or treating in my opinion. But coming up later will be
Kevin Jackson to the Black sphere. He's on one of the proud African American
conservative voices in America. He hails out of Arizona and Nevada, having moved
out of Chicago, which made a lot of sense to me. He has
some several great columns up about the real goals of Hamas and Israel and what
it means down the road. But until then, Christopher Smitherman, former vice
mayor, former councilman, and so much more. Chris, welcome again to
the Bill Cunningham Show. And Christopher might ask you a big question right at
the front. Of course you can't. Yesterday I'm doing well. I mean
it's Halloween, so you know, I see Tony Benders all dressed up in
his alien outfit like Joe Burrow. And Joe Burrow did pretty well when he
dressed up in San Francisco. Is an alien? Of course to live in
San Francisco, you'd have to be an alien. But that's a different issue.
And but yesterday you may know that I had on your good friend of
mine, the great Bill Sites. He's been in the Columbus legislature for twenty
five years, a quarter of a century. He bounces between the State Senate
and the State House, and every time he's in a room, he makes
a lot of sense. He's bride his articulate, and so I spent time
with him yesterday on Norfolk Southern issues, so called Issue twenty two. Now
I want to know where the issues between three and twenty two, but that's
a different issue. There's got to be a bunch of issues out there somewhere.
And he made the point that he and Senator Blessing, another rock rib
conservative, put so many guard rails in place to protect the money's one point
six billion to be gotten from Norfolk Southern that he would be comfortable voting yes
on Issue twenty two because of the guard rails. He said, Before legislatively
we put in the guard rails, I wouldn't have supported it, but now
I do. Now, if the guard rails are in place, if Bill
Sitz and Lou Blessing are correct, would you then vote yes on twenty two?
No? No, so so first of all, no, so,
Lou Blessings, Uh Bill Sites, good men, Uh, as you know,
Uh Bill Sites endorsed me in the previous election. I support him and
with all of his good intentions. You know, so many good leaders have
good intentions. But you realize that politicians, right after Bill Sites announced his
retirement and he's going over to green pastures, that the politicians that are left.
You and I have to believe that lock boxes can't be picked, right.
You and I have to believe that lock box, that I got social
Security in a lock box? Where where So if you listen to every person
at the federal level who's told is who said your social Security is in a
lock box? Right? The reality of it is you have to believe,
which I do believe that Sites has put every guard rail possible in place.
But what he doesn't understand is that we have the best lock pickers in Cincinnati
that the planet has to offer. We've got three members of council arrested by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one that's gonna be sentenced here in November.
So please let's not lecture the former vice mayor about guard rails. And and
I'm telling you that lock boxes and Cincinnati have been picked for a long time.
And so my concern is I don't believe them. Number Two, I
mean, I don't believe it's not I don't believe Bill Sites. I don't
believe that the mayor and Council, which is run by a very liberal democratic
mayor, a very liberal council, won't change their binding They have a non
binding resolution meaning everything you're seeing on TV. We're gonna fix the firehouses,
We're gonna fix everything. Here's here's the reality. Now let's go back,
Willie. Did you remember the discussion right before the street car vote when they
said we're absolutely against the street car. In December, they voted, they
voted to build the streets the street against No, no, not now,
not now, all right, go ahead, just remember it. Just remember
this, brother, Just remember this. They told us they were against it,
and then they were for it. Within thirty days, we had a
streetcar that was a lock box. It was picked. Now, what I
want to share with you is that that's a Capitol project? True or fall?
Is that a Capitol project? Willie Conningham, True are fall? I'm
looking for hundred and fifty four Yeah, But my point is they spend one
hundred and fifty million dollars on the street car, ninety four million dollars in
debt and I'm sharing with you. Instead of fixing our roads and firehouses,
instead of fixing our recreation centers and buying snow review snow removal vehicles, they
built a three and a half mile to tree train downtown. So I'm just
sharing with you that I don't trust them. I would rather have the twenty
five million dollars that's coming in every year. By the way, in two
years, Willie Cunningham, that number jumps to thirty seven point four million dollars
per year in perpetuity, and they've never missed a payment in one hundred and
fifty four years. I'll stop there. So it's not that I don't like
Bill Site, great guy, great intentions, But we have the best lock
pickers in Cincinnati that the country has, and we've got some even being indicted
and found guilty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I can't tell you,
brother, I just don't believe that those guard rails will stay in place.
It's odd bough bedfellows. When you have Joe Mallory, who's a left wing
extremist, along with Tom Brinkman, who's a right wing activist. You've got
Foxy roxy Qualls hooking up with John Cranley. You got odd bedfellas coming together,
and they are on opposite sides of the fence, and sometimes they both
agree, and sometimes they both disagree. And pg piraval are mayor at this
point, doesn't he appoint the five members? Right now? It's Amy Murray.
I like her a lot. I like Charlie Luke, and I wish
you would seize power once again. I like the attorney immute thing, and
so I look at that. I think Mark Mallory's on the does pg pyrival
Does he appoint the five members of the railway board? Yes, right there,
but that board's been in place for a long time, and so they
don't dance to pg pyrival's tune. At that point he could fire them,
correct or whatever personality that's in the mayor's office. Right you might wake up
and your worst, your your best dream comes that Smith had made an elected
mayor of the city of Cincinnati, and I decide to appoint your I decide
to appoint your wonderful wife. Sounds a judge down there. Brother who actually
reads comes prepared to meet and let me tell you, let me tell you,
Norfolk Southern would be in trouble if she if I appointed her to that
real war. So my point to you is that, yes, it is
personality driven nic and I'm sharing with you it is so important, it is
so important that we consider that once if this transaction were to go through.
We now know that Norfolk Southern is paying the majority of this campaign four point
two five million dollars, which is like dropping money out of a plane above
us. No one's ever spent that much money on an issue or a candidate
in the history of the city of Cincinnati. They're trying to buy the election.
The entity that is trying to buy our railroad. I'm saying to you
that if citizens vote know on it, we then keep the land, we
keep the payments for perpetuity, and we go back and negotiate this lease with
Norfolk Southern or whichever rail wants to use our three hundred miles of rail all
the way to Tennessee. Let's go to point two. This is from the
great Bill Sites who's out the stud good Man in about a year. Good
Man, he made the point, and you're in the financial world as like
financial advisor. He made the point that no good person would put all their
eggs in one basket. You got to diverse things a little bit that Uh,
the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio cost Norfolk Southern eight hundred million dollars.
If that railroad gets two or three and more of those disasters, they're
going to file bankruptcy. And suddenly the city of Cincinnati have all their eggs
in one basket. If we take out of the deal the one point six
billion, we can diversify those moneys into various pots and maybe get more money.
But nonetheless you're not as a financial advisor. Would you tell Tony Bender
to invest in one stock all of his money? Answer that question, great
question, Answer that question. I will. It's a great question. First,
Norfolk Southern to answer that question. Is Warren Buffet the greatest investor arlier
world? It's wind up the largest investor in rail period period because rail business
is expanding, it's not contracting. And so this notion that rail that Norfolk
Southern is going to find an alternate route that cost them eighty million dollars.
Their own consultants told them that eighty million to change the route. They're not
going to do that. And that in some form that when you look at
a company like Boeing who had two planes drop out of the sky. They
paid millions and billions of dollars in penalties. That this that this multi billion
dollar operation called Norfolk Southern is going to all of a sudden go out of
business because they've had a derailment two in the state of Ohio one and that's
master just a massive one in East Palestine. That they are not going to
pay those liabilities. That is what reinsurance is for Willie Cunningham. Let's make
sure we understand that Norfolk Southern pays premiums to deal with that issue. They're
not taking that money out of their dog on EPs. They're taking that money
out of the money that they pay to ensure for those things that could happen.
Period. And so no, this is a this is a fly on
the back of the biggest rhinos you can find in the in the in in
Africa, and it's an absolute non starter. Christopher Smother answer the question,
Well, you're tell Tony Bender to put all his money in one stock would
you do that? It's not it's not the question. You're asking me what
I will would I really would I take one point six billion dollars and put
it in the stock market. The answer is hell no, meaning I'd rather
take my my annuity payments that are coming in from whomever is on that rail.
You're acting as if Norfolk Southerland is the only rail on the planet.
It's just not a fair question. What is a fair question to say is
would you take one point six billion of your money? And I know you,
Willie Cunningham a little bit wrbon investor, would you put your money in
the s and p. Five hundred and say I'm gonna kiss this money and
roll off into the sunset? Are you? Are you a person that would
say I'm gonna pay off my mortgage is yes, I make sure that I
have enough cast Yes, yes, that's what you would do. You would
not invest your money in the s and p. Five hundred knowing that last
year the bond market, the stock market, all things went went south.
And if you look at how the city has handled the Cincinnati retirement system eight
hundred million dollars unfunded liability, meaning when the city had the opportunity to invest
money, they didn't do a good job. Willie. We can only look
at people from their track record, meaning the citizens don't even know what you
and I are talking about. That we manage a Cincinnati retirement system with the
only city in the in the state of Ohio that does it, and we've
done a very poor job of it, and it could literally send us into
them something about the City of Cincinnati send us into bankruptcy. It's not a
fair question to say, would I put all my money in once back?
Of course I wouldn't put all of my money. I'm answering your question,
but I don't do that. That's what we're doing for one hundred and fifty
four years. We've never had a mispayment. We have the land, we
have the air rights, we have the fiber optics on three hundred plus miles
of it. It's just a bad deal for us. I look back in
the history to the fathers, and there were all fathers. I think of
the city of Cincinnati. No other city in America has had things like we
own a railroad from here to Chattanooga. We have a water system, which
is the envy of the world. We have a sewer system. We had
Blue Ash Airport. We forget about blue Ash Airport that's now being developed.
That was going to solve lots of economic So the City of Cincinnati had assets
all over the place. No other city did this kind of stuff, And
at one point I think the city administration wanted to sell the parking meters.
The parking meters are gone, the water was gone, the sewer is gone,
Blue Ash Municipal Airport is gone, and now the railroad is gone.
Hell, what's going to be left? Nothing? Now you got convince it.
I'm somewhere. If it's not, if it's not nailed down. This
council and mayor have tried to sell things and it's never a good thing.
What we need is a mayor and a council that knows how to balance the
budget. Remember what they've done with the Cincinnati retirement system for decades is the
prior to John Cranley is they were underfunding the pension and then saying they were
balancing the budget. They balanced the budget on the back of our assme workers.
And now that that Cincinnati retirement system is struggling because when the market was
down, they didn't put they didn't put their required contribution. When the market
was up, they didn't put their required contribution. And so what has happened
here is over decades we have an unfunded liability, probably eight hundred million dollars
in that pinsion. I don't want to see our asset of one point six
billion dollars squandered by politicians who know how to pick locks. Now unfair fair
for us to say that that money is going to be in a lock box.
Well, you am fare Well. I can't find the damn lock box.
I forgot about the lock box. Well used to have kings and queens
on city council. I can name Lez Keating and Scottie Johnson the other seven.
I have no idea who they are. Do you know who they are?
Who are these people? Where they come? Have it? I have?
Yeah? I haven't. I haven't met them. But I can tell
you that Liz Keating is somebody that is incredibly important for I like her on
this city council. She's a good person, she's thoughtful, she's she's she's
conservative around our budget, and she's a voice that we need to have.
And I can tell citizens that they don't go in there and vote for her.
Can you name anybody on council? Who are these people? Yeah?
Listen, you know that we have of Kearney, who's my neighbor, who's
the vice mayor of the City of Cincinnati. I mean she's lost her way.
Let us go. I'm not going to sit here. I'm not trying
to promote people on council, she said, spent out and the and like
I seventy one and shut it down. They're committing crime. Let's give them
city property to commit more crime by having the having the broughtout artists go to
the Hamlet County Fairgrounds and Carthage. Let's give them access. Well, Chris,
we got to go. But tell you what, Uh, I don't
live in the city of Cincinnati. I did once. Thanks for giving me,
Thanks for giving me the time. Brother. No, I'm a no
no, no, no, no no. And I just pray no,
I pray, I pray that citizen now. Like the water issue we rejected,
the parking issue are rejected. They tried to still portion. You forgot
that blue ass airport, the demutualization of Anthem, all of these things,
all the money was spent lock boxes with promises. And we have the best,
we have the best faith pickers downtown. We should absolutely reject that.
Do you trust me? Do you trust pg? Pure of all? I
do not trust our mayor pure of all with my money. M O.
N E. Y. I don't know the mayor pure Ball. I've never
met him. I've never had lunch with him. I met him. I
can just I've not met him. He might be a nice guy, wonderful
man. We good stresses. Smell with an asset we've owned from one hundred
and fifty four years smells goods unfair? How about this? You got peridof
sitting there? Joe Dieters is on the right one side, I'm on the
other side. And both of us looked at the pierval and said, how
you feeling now? He said, not good? Look right, and this
isn't good anyway. We got to run. Chris, keep walking with that
lock box. If you're located, let me know. I'm gonna look for
the lock box. People find me on at voat Smithermans, find us,
look for a no on twenty two, Willie, I'm gonna we're gonna pound
this into Novembers. Pound after that. No, look, even after they
spend five million dollars, imagine when I come on on November the eighth and
they lost. Keep paying talk keep pound. No, thank you, Christopher,
thank you, Let's continue with more. I'm going an event that the
three of us are sitting and I'm going. I said, I, you're
in trouble. He said, I don't know. I don't like my position
right here. Let's continue. Bill Cunningham, News Radio seven hundreds, w
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