CINCINNATI — Commercials promoting the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway airing on WCPO 9 no longer feature Mayor Aftab Pureval after a WCPO 9 I-Team investigation found connections between campaigns for the sale and Pureval's re-election.
While Pureval said he has "no direct involvement" in Building Cincinnati's Future, the pro-sale campaign he said was "largely funded by Norfolk Southern," he starred in the campaign's ads airing on WCPO 9 and other channels.
The I-Team on Monday revealed Building Cincinnati's Future and Friends of Aftab Pureval, the mayor's re-election campaign, share the same treasurer, Jens Sutmoller.
"It is an absolute conflict of interest for his treasurer to be involved in this campaign," former Cincinnati Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman told the I-Team.
Pureval told the I-Team he was getting no benefit from starring in the ads, instead saying he only took part in it "because I believe it's in the best interest of the city."
The campaign's commercial featuring Pureval was pulled from WCPO 9's airways on Tuesday and replaced with an ad that does not include the mayor. The commercial featuring Pureval was also taken off Building Cincinnati's Future's YouTube page.
A spokesperson for Building Cincinnati's Future said in a statement that new ads in support of the sale "have always been scheduled to begin this week."
"There are a diversity of voices and perspectives appearing as part of the Yes on 22 campaign showing the variety of the benefits to the city and wide support for the campaign," the statement says.
A complaint expected to be filed Friday by Todd Zinser of Price Hill asks the Ohio Elections Commission whether Pureval violated state law by appearing in the ads.
Zinser, founder of Citizens for a Transparent Railroad Vote, argues in the complaint notarized Thursday it is a conflict of interest that Pureval's re-election campaign and the pro-sale campaign share the same treasurer.
“By holding the position of treasurer for both Build Cincinnati’s Future and Friends of Aftab Pureval at the same time, Mr. Sutmoller had the opportunity to use one source of campaign funds to promote both the passage of Issue 22 as well as promote Mayor Pureval, a declared candidate for re-election,” Zinser wrote.
He’s asking the elections commission to determine if the campaigns failed to file required disclosures for “coordinated electioneering communications,” as defined by Ohio Rev. Code 3517.1011. He’s also asking the commission to investigate whether Sutmoller violated state rules against “corporate contributions to a candidate’s campaign by facilitating” Pureval’s appearance “in numerous TV advertisements.”
In a statement to WCPO, Sutmoller said Build Cincinnati's Future committee "takes all campaign finance questions seriously, even if they lack merit."
"We have only received the complaint through the media and are reviewing it," Sutmoller said. "However, we are confident that our practices are in strict compliance with all Ohio campaign finance laws. As this was given to the media before the target of the complaint, it’s clear this is driven by political motives to muddy the conversation as voters cast their ballots."
WCPO has reached out to the mayor's office for more information on why Pureval is no longer featured in the ads. At this time, we have not heard back.
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