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 l W Rocky Here. Who do I trust for all my floorin needs? You know who it is. Shock Tile and Carpet, family owned and operated