Jonathan Pearson for Hamilton County Commissioner

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the way to work and all day in fault
check in throughout the day.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Fifty five KRC the talk station. Seven oh six. Here

(00:25):
at fifty five kr CD Talk Station. I'm very happy
for Friday Day to you remember fifty five kr SE
dot com. Get your podcasts, get the books and the
authors I interview like yesterday's Captain Elkanna Cohen with the
book October seventh. He's a captain with the Israeli Defense Force.
And the conversation I'm getting ready to have right now
Jonathan Pearson. He's running for Hamilton County Commissioner and he

(00:46):
is running against Alicia Reath. Jonathan, Welcome to the fifty
five KRSE Morning Shows. Nice to have you on today.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, thank you, Brian. I appreciate he's giving me time.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Happy too. And I guess I'm a little befuddled. I
don't I can't find you anywhere online except that you
are running for Hamilton County Commissioner. The Hamilton County Republican
Party website doesn't have any profile information. I can't find
a website. Do you have a website that people can
go to?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Hey, don't have a website. I'll have to check with
the for the County down the event. I am using
it through the Hamilington County Party website in that one,
I need to make sure that I have that clarified. Yeah,
because I my page that I didn't get that rectified.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, I just because when I click on Hamilton Kunty
Republicanparty dot org site for you, they have you listed
as an endorsed candidate. But when I click on about
the informations is candidate's qualifications for office seeking slash background
and experience just as under development. So there's no substance
of information there, So maybe we can get some out today.
What are your qualifications for office seeking? Jonathan? Your background,

(01:52):
part of town you from? Why are you run for
Hamilton County Commissioner? To dive through all that today, Well.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I'm I'm from the Fairfax area. I live in Facts
and you know, the short version of why I'm running is,
I'm just tired of what we're seeing. I moved here
in eighty four from Springfield, Ohio and other great city
as you can see in the current news. But I
was just tired of what's going on. We used to
be affordable. It isn't. I don't know what happened to

(02:18):
this county. We went from being a modest taxes modest
home prices to seven point eight sales tax to property
taxes that you and I both know are both crazy
right now. But my background is that I had run
golf courses and then started running private estates and up
in Indian Hill we subdivided a private estate that I

(02:40):
worked for. Was a property manager and became the site
foreman for that. And after we subdivided that, I became
my own businessman because I decided I wanted to run
my own company and started taking care of some of
these very expensive properties. Got to meet a lot of
different people that both famous not famous, but got used

(03:00):
to working with a lot of people, a lot of
different things, and working for an immense amount of money property,
so should I say, And it made me understand how
to manage that kind of money, sure, and that was
something that I enjoyed doing.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Understood business experience is important, I believe because it's real
world experience.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
The biggest thing that I was that you know, what
I learned is how you communicate with people and get
people to understand what you're trying to do and you
understand what they try to do and you're not sitting
there arguing with them, because that's really what started this
whole thing. Back last summer, if you remember, there was
a meeting with the Convention Center and Alicia Reese came

(03:46):
out saying that it was you know, racist, and it
was you know, like pac Man Jones, And I was like,
what did that have to do with anything? It was
just a racious trope that didn't need to be said.
You know, there's a lot of money on the table
the Convention Center at one hundred and twenty million. When
they're arguing that point, obviously people get a little testy,

(04:07):
and either she doesn't know that or the fact that
she just wanted to make a racist trope. And that
offended me as a Hamlet County resident. It offended me
because I'm expecting my elected officials to just handle the
fact that when you're dealing with a lot of money,
people get a little tested. I've had that happen in
my own business, people like, hey, wait a minute, and

(04:30):
sometimes the words they say aren't exactly kind. He just
learned to deal with it. You don't sit there and
go make a big statement and you know, Splanner somebody else.
So that was really what offended me. I thought, we
need people that can deal with that. Feels a little
bit better. But more importantly, we have some serious negotiation
dollars coming up.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yesterday, I guess the stadium deal.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, the stadium deal. I mean, you saw those numbers yesterday,
A little, a little stiff one.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Point five bill for improvements, Jonathan, you can build a.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
That's the budget for the county. Yeah, we're we're taking
think about this. We say, you know what, Hamlin County,
Let's take the entire budgets for our county and slap
it on one area. That sounds like a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, before I privately owned business, effectively.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
For a privately owned business, because in my business, I've
never had the county buy me a single piece of equipment.
They've never bought any of my trucks, they've never bought
any of my mowers. They've never bought any of my
hand tools, none of my power tools, none of that.
So based on that logic, how much are we supposed
to buy for somebody else? Good point, that's really what

(05:55):
the question comes down to, you know, put some skin
into games.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I certainly viewed as defensive myself, but then again, I
thought the building of the stadium for half a billion
dollars was ridiculous and shouldn't have been the taxpayer expenditure either.
But when you have the threat of the Bengals pulling
the plug and leaving town, I suppose it's more important
to be in NFL football town than it is to
you know, take a look at what the where the
money's going and why the taxpayers are being asked to

(06:21):
keep it. But that's all been done and over with
water under the bridge. But now they're asking for more
and a hell of a lot more. So that's something
you're going to have to struggle with. And so where
what is your position? Okay, Jonathan Pearson County Commissioner, the
issue comes before you. What's your response to this request? Recognizing,

(06:41):
of course, than under the current lease agreement, we do
have contractual obligations. So what do you do as a commissioner?

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well, as we both know that that was a horrible
deal from the beginning, So that's that's our first problem.
But you're right, we have to deal with it because
there it is. But mind's simple, you know, I think
from the you know, the reality is that we started
in the hole, you know, so I'd like to see
the Brown family step up. You know, they can't claim

(07:13):
they're poor because they do revenue sharing and when they
bought the Bingals outright from the Sawyer family, they suddenly
had two hundred million in the cage to do the deal.
So it's not like they're lacking in money. And I'm
not I'm not trying to say that we need to
sit there and just say, hey, let's let's oviscerate the deal,

(07:33):
because we made it and we have to honor it.
But at the same time, I think a business needs
to step up and be that business for themselves, and
so I would like to see a lot more skin
in the game from their sides and then take an
honest look at it and see what it does. Does
it does the other things that they're talking about actually

(07:56):
have value to the county residents as it helped the
downtown area. Those type of things. Are they public use
areas that we can all look at and go, okay,
that makes sense or is it strictly Bengal only oriented
stuff exactly?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
And that's that new corporate office facility they're building in
front of the new practice stadium that they're built, or
a practice field they're building, and to the best of
my knowledge, none of which benefits us generally speaking, unless,
of course, they're going to make an argument that, well,
everybody that works there is paying tax dollars into the
kind of the coffers of the city. But I'm not
quite sure that cuts it for the rest of the
Hamilton County voters.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, it doesn't because we lost Hilltop and the process
of putting up some big inflatable balloons so they can practice.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm finding that the
Bengals are here. I have a problem with the fact
that we kicked out a well established business. Yeah, to
do that that did not benefit the Hamlin County residents
by getting rid of a very large employer and taxpayer.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Excellent point, you know, Jonathan Pearson. I forgot about that,
but it's a great point. Let's pause from it down.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
We make money in this county, we don't. I'll have
to keep adding taxes. Let's add businesses.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Hey, there's the thought, Jonathan Bierce that hold on, We're
gonna take a break right now. We'll come back with
Jonathan running against Alisha Reese. You have choices this November.
Let's make spart Ones. He has been endorsed by their
Hamilton kind of Republican party. We'll get more from Jonathan
just a moment. I want to mention twenty two three.
I rout forty two between Mason and eleven of my
favorite gun store. I am a customer and I have
shot on the range multiple times. Safest indoor range, cleanest

(09:24):
indoor range, best indoor range I've ever shot it, and
I have feeling you'll reach the same conclusion. A bunch
of membership options for the range. You just gotta walk
on in and show them your card and take place
on the range and squee Boss Squeeze awes some rounds
safely with the range safety officers constantly monitoring the situation.
Theyking sure, but he's following the rules and mining their
p's and q so you can feel very comfortable there,

(09:44):
and you will. You're interested in buying a firearm for
the first time, you couldn't be in better hands. Their
staff are extraordinarily knowledgeable about the products they sell, long guns, handguns,
ammunition accessories. They literally have everything. The owners the best
people around. Wendy and Jeff. They're outstanding people and you'd
be glad you're supporting them. They're always on the right
side of everything, Wendy and Jeff. So get on into route.

(10:05):
It's out Route forty two between Mason and Lebanon. You
can find them online. Learn all about the store and
what they have to offer you. And it's a lot.
It's twenty two three dot com the number twenty two
five of the word three spelled out twenty two to
three dot.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Com fifty five KRC.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
We're just ours. Here's your CHANNELINE weather forecast. It's going
to be a sunny day and a hot day going
up in ninety three overnight lowes sixty eight with some clowns,
partly cloudy, Tomorrow hot again. Ninety three overnight lowes sixty
nine with clouds and a cloudy Sunday, maybe some showers
and thunderstorms as a chance. Keep our fingers crossed eighty
five for a high on Sunday. It's sixty three right now.
In time for a traffic update from the UCL.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Traffic Center of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center is open.
The most comprehensive blood cancer center in the nation. The
future a cancer care is here called five and three
five eight five u s cz NO Ben four seventy one.
That is loading up way too fast into the barrels
for it to just be the construction. I'm checking to
see if there's an accident between Grand and Memorial southbound

(11:05):
seventy five. I'm seeing a few break lights approaching the
Brand Spence Bridge in Bend seventy four. Still okay, Chuck
ingramok fifty five KRC The talk station.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Seven twenty year fifty five KRST Talk station. Bryan Thoma's
talking with Jonathan Pearson, running for Hamilton County Commission against
Alicia Reese. All right, Jonathan, here's a quick question for you.
Started off and ask you know why you're running. Everything's
gotten sadam expensive in Hamilton County. No one can deny
that it's obviously a problem that's pervasive in our country.
But when you look at the surrounding counties and you
look at where people choose to do business, they tend

(11:39):
to lean more Butler Warren in Claremont than Hamilton anymore.
How do you level the playing field? How do you
make Hamilton as attractive as apparently Butler Warren in Claremont
County seem to be, And what do you think their
draw is over Hamilton County.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Well, the one thing that we've got to do is,
as you know in the Commission's office, we can't change
the tax walls. But there's nothing like a bully pulpit
they get the conversation started. I mean, I'll use the
sales tax alone. We added that stupid point eight percent
for the busses, and you know they're also full. When

(12:15):
you drive around town, you see the bus is completely
full being used and everything else. Because obviously that money
was needed, not to mention they got a sixty two
million dollar grant from the government last year too, on
top of that tax, if you didn't know that. And
so we're we have all this extra sales tax that's
going in there, and it makes people think, geez, my

(12:37):
product's going to be that much more expensive if I
sell it within my area. Here's a crazy thing about
sales tax. I can go to Claremont County buy all
my new appliances for my kitchen, and the money I'll
save on sales tax will deliver them to my house.
That's just stupid. We need to start reconsidering certain things.
Hamlin County has a lot of very nice residents, so

(12:58):
they vote yes on two any things, and that's the challenge.
We've got to get people to rethink they're taxing themselves.
As for the appropriation are the moneys for the property taxes,
that can be done by having a county auditor. Tom
Brinkman is running for that that actually looks at the
true value of homes instead of saying what's the maximum.

(13:20):
We can run this too. I know there's a constitutional
reality that we have to evaluate homes, but the Constitution
of Ohio does not mandate that you maximize every single
penny and start squeezing people out. And that is one
of the big things that I think people find is
that just the tax structure alone is a little tough.

(13:41):
When you have your home in a community and suddenly
your taxes are up an extra thousand dollars. That doesn't
mean they didn't go up in Warren County in Butler County,
but not to the same proportions because per land value,
Hamlet County does have expensive land comparatively, and so the
property taxes will be a little bit higher. But we
don't need to start taxing to that extreme. And I

(14:05):
say that with great understanding because I live in the
Merrimont School District which is one of the highest tax
areas in the region.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
And so believe me, my tax bill tells me you
live in the Marrimont School district. And I think that
those are the things that we can work on from
the bully pulp that, so to speak. There the practical
matter is first and foremost. Just because a dollar comes
to the door doesn't mean we need to spend it,
and we don't need to you know, look at everything

(14:34):
and say oh, that's a good project, this, let's do that,
and those type of things. The first thing that Adam
and I would like to do is to take a
look at that budget and say what's redundant, get rid
of those immediately, What do we not need to spend
money on, or are we spending too much money on?
Actually look at the budget instead of just saying, oh,
the administrator said this is okay, and not actually look

(14:56):
at it. I mean, that's what the commissioners are elected for,
to actually look at the budget. I'm not convicted that
that's happening, that there's a true understanding what they're looking at.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well, the silence think that the silence from the Commissioner's office,
generally speaking, is deafening. I rarely read anything about what
the commissioners are doing and how they're approaching things. And
there's a lot coming up, Like again, going back to
the stadium deal, the least needs to be renegotiated. This
one point twenty five billion dollar request for improvements needs
to be dealt with, and I know the sheriff's departments

(15:28):
down on numbers that has to be dealt with. I
just don't hear anything about where they are on any
given issue.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
In the sheriff's office. Look at the sheriff's office, the
largest single budget the commissioners deal with. Yeah, and we
have a sheriff that I'm not sure if she knows
what she's doing because she has her car stolen, a
gun that is in her car. You would think that
the commissioners would have something to say about that, since
they're the one that appropriate the money too the sheriff's department. Nope,

(15:56):
not a word from them. And then other things are gone.
They're they're closing part of jail because they just don't
have enough deputies. They're leaving the sheriff's office. And this
is something that should concern the commissioners, not just the sheriff,
but should concern the commissioners along with all county residents.
This is an issue that we don't talk about in

(16:16):
mine is complete transparency. You want to walk through the
building or walk into my office and take a look
at what the deputies make, I'll show you. I won't
show you what individual deputies make, but I'll show you
what the overall budget for all the deputies is. I
have no problem as an elected official. You want to
know exactly to the pinny what I make. Here's what
I make. Transparency, and you know, I'm happy to stay
in front of a camera or stand with you know,

(16:38):
sit down with you once a week, just to let
people know what's going on. It's their money. It's not
my money to go, oh good, I have a new
money in my checking account. That's not the way the
game's played, and I think people forget that. As elected officials,
we see that, especially unfortunately in the Democratic side, more
than we do the Republican side. But I think that
that's the great danger that we're seeing right now is

(17:02):
those type of things make people not desires to be here.
What happens is more and more businesses slowly pull out,
and as those businesses pull out, people pull out. The
more people you have in this fair county, and the
more businesses you have in this county by giving a
reasonable tax structure, suddenly we don't need new taxes. We
just need more people and more businesses. Were actually making

(17:24):
more taxes than we need.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Sounds so simple to do, Jonathan Pearson.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
It is that that's how you work in your own home.
You're saying, Hey, I don't need a brand new car
this year.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Right right now, I'm with it. Yes, if we ran
the government like we run our households, generally speaking, we
would all be in a much better place, Jonathan Pearson.
As soon as you get the website up, or you
get more information, get her over to the Hamilton County
site so people know where to connect with you and
learn more. You're welcome here on the fifty five Carson
Morning Show. I like what you're saying, Jonathan, and I'll
look forward to talking with you again, and if you

(17:55):
get elected, I will take you up on the opportunity
to speak with you on a regular basis about county
issues since no one seems to be doing it. Good
luck to both, Good luck to you and Adam Kaylor.
Thanks listeners for tuning in on that, and Jonathan, we'll
talk again soon. I'm sure have a great weekend seven
twenty six. Right now, if you have k City Talk station,
we're gonna learn about from Charles Tassey returns to talk
about the annual street rescue event. Let's get those illegal

(18:18):
guns off the street. I have no problem with that,
and of course have a strong recommendation for you get
a free roof inspection from the honest professionals at Fast
and Pro Roofing. It's a free quote if work needs
to be done. But I say, don't wait till your
roof is coming off or shingles are disappeared. If you
have to say a decade or fifteen or however many years,
you look at your roof like I've never had it inspected.

(18:38):
Think about my friend Steve who called Fast and Pro
Roofing up specifically to have them replace the siding on
his home. They did the free roof inspection just because
they do it as a matter of course, and they
found some latent defects up there that could have caused
him a serious problem down the road. He's like, oh
my god, I'm so glad I called them. You will
be too complete roof inspection. If they come off the

(18:59):
roof and you give you a clean bill of health,
that's peace of mind in and of itself and doesn't
cost you anything to do that, and you might be
able to get ahead of a problem and save yourself
heaps of money over the long haul. If you do
need a new roof, you're working with the right people,
both residential and commercial. And if you get a shingle
roof replacement, they'll automatically and for free, upgrade you to
the certainty Landmark pro fifty year shingle that's also peace

(19:20):
of mind a plus with a better business thrill, and
they are truly honest, I assure you of that. Five
one three seven seven four ninety four ninety five. Five
one three seven seven four ninety four ninety five. Check
it all out online. Fasten fastnfastenproroofing dot com. Fifty five
car the talk station to those supporting recoveries.