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CINCINNATI – The frontrunner to be Cincinnati’s next mayor was arrested at his home this week by federal agents for allegedly accepting $ 40,000 in bribes, questioning his once bright political future and further tainting a city council beset by accusations of corruption.
Alexander Sittenfeld, known as PG, is charged with two counts each of honest service wire fraud, bribery and attempted extortion, federal prosecutors have said.
He is the third member of the nine-member Cincinnati council to be arrested this year on federal corruption charges.
Prosecutors said Sittenfeld’s arrest was linked to a downtown development project that an undercover agent posing as a real estate investor wanted to start. Sittenfeld faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
Before his arrest, Sittenfeld, 36, represented a new generation of emerging political leaders, said David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.
“He had a clear path to the mayor’s office. He presented himself as the young, next, newest, best, and brightest in politics, ”Niven said. “He proposed what appeared to be a new, cleaner policy, but obviously the allegations are older.”
As part of an alleged ploy to display his influence, Sittenfeld presented voting data to an undercover agent who showed his political popularity, federal prosecutors said.
Every successful developer and business owner in Cincinnati has “already placed their bets with me,” said Sittenfeld, who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, according to undercover officers, according to the Act. charge. “I can move more votes than any other single person.”
Many of his fellow councilors would not support this point, although it no longer matters.
“It’s very sad. I have known PG and his family for years and could not be more shocked, amazed and disappointed,” said Councilor David Mann, a Democrat who has served as mayor twice.
For his part, Sittenfeld said he was innocent of the charges.
“The allegations against me are just not true,” he tweeted on Friday. “The attempt to portray appropriate assistance for a project bringing jobs and growth to our city that benefits the public is a blatant exaggeration and injustice. I hold my record of public service firmly.”
He did not return phone calls for further comment.
Sittenfeld’s arrest comes after former Democrat counselor Tamaya Dennard, 40, pleaded guilty in June to honest service wire fraud.
In 2019, Dennard, a first-term adviser, allegedly committed and attempted bribery and extortion by trying to trade her votes for money, federal prosecutors said.
She faces up to 20 years in prison and fines and restitution for allegedly asking someone between $ 10,000 and $ 15,000 to pay for their expenses, NBC 5 reported in Cincinnati.
Months passed and town hall apparently began a new chapter when the page passed to Republican councilor Jeff Pastor, 36. Federal agents charged him last week with an indictment of 10 counts of corruption, extortion, money laundering and fraud.
Prosecutors say he solicited and received $ 55,000 in bribes from August 2018 to February 2019 in exchange for promised official action related to projects before the council. The pastor pleaded not guilty.
“The city of Cincinnati is now on its knees. We need sweeping reform unlike anything we’ve seen in the history of this city, ”Hamilton County Republican President Alex Triantafilou tweeted. “Voters in this city need to make some serious changes in 2021 and they need to understand just how broken City Hall really has become.
Sittenfeld was arrested after a federal grand jury indicted him this week in a sealed indictment.
“Three of us out of nine are charged, that’s insane. I’m glad this is resolved and people are getting discouraged, ”said Councilor Betsy Sundermann, a Republican. “I think he should resign. We cannot ask him to come up with a bill and vote on things if he has accepted bribes.
“They (the residents) don’t trust any of us, and I understand why they don’t trust any of us,” she added. “They think the government is dirty. It will take a lot of time or rebuilding to try to fix this problem.”
Just three days before Sittenfeld’s arrest, Sundermann had announced his intention to change the city’s charter to allow the dismissal of any council member accused of a crime or displaying unethical behavior.
“Our city charter contains no provision for dismissing a board member for unethical behavior,” Sundermann said. “You can be a member of the council and be convicted of murdering 10 people without being excluded from the city council. It’s a big problem. “
She said she needed 15,000 signatures to get the proposed amendment in the November 2021 ballot after formally presenting it to city council members.
Sittenfeld, a Democrat who graduated from Princeton University, was born and raised in Cincinnati. After college, he received a Marshall scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford, according to his council member page on the city’s website. He is serving his third term.
After announcing his run for mayor, he was backed by unions and most community leaders and raised $ 700,000 for his campaign, making him the clear favorite in next year’s election.
Federal officials say Sittenfeld accepted eight checks totaling $ 40,000 from 2018 in return for “specific action” in his role as city official. He solicited and received the money through a federally regulated political action committee that he organized and monitored as part of the supposed development, federal officials said.
The payments, which he repeatedly requested, were for a downtown property owned by the City of Cincinnati, which was then transferred to the Cincinnati Port Authority, prosecutors said.
An undercover agent acting as a real estate investor had wanted to develop the property for years, but could not move forward without council approval, according to the indictment.
In November and December 2018, Sittenfeld promised he could “cast the votes” on city council to support a development project in exchange for four $ 5,000 contributions to his PAC, prosecutors said. He accepted the checks in September and October 2019, they said.
Over the next few months, Sittenfeld reportedly told investors he would apply additional pressure on public officials regarding the development project.
City Councilor Mann, 81, said the city prides itself on good government and was one of the first in the country to adopt some form of city management government. Even the son of an American president once served as mayor, Charles Taft, whose father was former President William Taft, he said.
Mann, the mayor of Cincinnati in 1981 and 1991, runs against Sittenfeld in next year’s mayoral race.
“We all have to remember what this is about is serving the public and the greater good, and how we went down that road, I don’t know,” Mann said. “It is incompatible with the history of this community in my experience.”
Niven, the political science professor, said the numerous accusations against council members may have caused residents to lose faith in those they once supported.
“There is enormous pressure on the remaining board members,” Niven said. “The lesson the community would rightly take is cynical. No matter who you vote for, their service may not be fair. And that’s a sad conclusion.
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