Candidate for
Commissioner; County of Hamilton; 4 Year Term Starting 1/3/05

Pat DeWine has proudly served taxpayers since 1999 when he was first elected to Cincinnati City Council. He has established a reputation for fighting out-of-control government spending and standing up for taxpayers in the face of increasing pressure to raise taxes.

As a member of Council, Pat has focused on controlling wasteful spending, lowering the tax burden on City taxpayers, reducing government bureaucracy and improving the delivery of basic City services. He has consistently fought to roll back the City property tax. Since his election to Council in 1999, Pat has authored a property tax rollback every year to prevent homeowners from facing high property taxes as a result of increased property values. Pat's legislation has saved taxpayers nearly $22 million over the last 5 years.

Pat saved taxpayers millions by cracking down on abuse of employee take home cars, cell phones, unnecessary overtime and numerous other areas. He helped expose the Empire Theatre spending debacle, leading the City to fix procedures for funding public projects. He has consistently pushed for managed competition and stood up against wasteful Council pet projects.

Pat has also fought to strengthen law enforcement and increase accountability throughout the ranks of the City bureaucracy. He has focused on cracking down on quality of life offenses: pushing tougher weed and litter ordinances, speeding up the process of removing junk cars from private property, cracking down on aggressive panhandling and reducing the time it takes to remove ugly graffiti from our streets. Pat has pushed to provide City police officers with the best technology to fight crime by fighting for a "Compstat" system that tracks crime on a daily basis and ensures police resources are being allocated efficiently and effectively to reduce crime.

Pat partnered with local banks to put together funds to develop market rate housing in City neighborhoods. Pat passed legislation establishing the Housing Development Fund, a public-private partnership that leveraged $100 million for housing development. The fund rehabilitates abandoned buildings, creates new housing across the City and strengthens the City's tax base. Over the ten-year life of the Fund, each dollar of City investment is expected to leverage at least $18 of private investment.

Pat is a 1990 graduate of Miami University, where he was a member of the varsity track and cross-country teams and graduated summa cum laude with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He graduated in 1994 from the University of Michigan School of Law, finishing in the top ten percent of his class and receiving Order of the Coif honors. He practices law with the firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp, P.L.L., specializing in commercial litigation and appellate work. Pat is the father of three sons, Michael, Matthew, and Brian.