CincyPAC gears up for 2011 election season

The nonpartisan CincyPac political action committee is gearing up for the 2011 election season with a kickoff on April 29.

The event will be at The Famous Neon's Unplugged in OTR, starting with a 7:30 p.m. Happy Hour. This will be one in a series of planned monthly happy hours across the city leading up to November elections, President Shawn Baker said.

The public event will be part get-together, part fundraiser. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door, which will go toward CincyPAC. An Urban Scavenger Hunt is also set that night from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The cost is $25 a person. Funds go toward CincyPAC operations and endorsed candidate campaigns.

This political action committee is a rare breed; founded in 2007, it's comprised of young professionals across the political spectrum and is focused on the urban core of Cincinnati. Baker described it as progressive, not in a left-leaning political sense, but in advocating for council members and city policies that move the city forward in a host of areas from economics to education.

CincyPAC support revolves around a host of core issues that include: Access to Economic Prosperity, Adequate Public Transportation, Health and Environmental Sustainability and more. This year it's added Access to Quality Education among those issues.

"Anything that we think fits into those core values is where we focus our attention," Baker said. "We will support candidates who support those issues, analyze policies, and reach out to council members to support any member who is involved in these issues."

In the past CincyPAC supported Issue 1, the Ohio Third Frontier economic developing funding initiative. CincyPAC members also supported Cincinnatians for Progress' "No on 9" campaign, which defeated a ballot initiative that would have required a public vote on all passenger rail and transit expenditures. Those opposed saw Issue 9 as a way to halt the still controversial Cincinnati streetcar project.

The organization will continue to get involved in issues including the streetcar which faced another recent setback when a state agency pulled $52 million in appropriated funding from the project.

"Streetcar, new business development, progress in our neighborhoods - there's a lot that our constituents are interested in," Baker said. "We are the voice of Cincinnati's urban professionals. We aim to educate our community on the issues that are critical to Cincinnati's success, and which council candidates best support those issues."

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Shawn Baker, president CincyPAC