CINCINNATI — The day following the passage of her charter amendment, City Councilwoman Betsy Sundermann filed paperwork to initiate suspension proceedings against Councilman Wendell Young.
Sundermann's action follows Tuesday's passage of Issue 2, a charter
amendment she proposed that grants City Council the authority to suspend a member who is under felony indictment.
"We need to listen to the voters and act swiftly to suspend Councilman Young," Sundermann said during a news conference Wednesday morning. "If we don't act swiftly on this... we need to answer to 77% of Cincinnatians on why we are not doing exactly what they asked us to do yesterday."
READ MORE: Issues 1 and 2 easily win over Cincinnati voters
Young came under felony indictment last month, accused of tampering with evidence during the 2018 "Gang of Five" text message scandal. Over the course of the year prior to Young's charges, three other sitting City Council members came under indictment on federal corruption cases.
One of those council members, Tamaya Dennard, resigned early last year, and members Jeff Pastor and P.G. Sittenfeld were suspended after their indictments in November.
The string of scandals, Sundermann said, led her to propose Issue 2, which would require seven votes out of Young's eight colleagues to approve his suspension without a court proceeding.
City Council could consider Young's suspension as soon the Hamilton County Board of Elections certifies the election, which Sundermann believed will be in about 10 days.
Besty Sundermann Request for Wendell Young Suspension and Indictment by WCPO 9 News on Scribd
