CityBeat has been trying to confirm the hottest rumor swirling in political circles since last Thursday, but the information was already the talk of the town at today's annual AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic at Coney Island: Local union leaders have rescinded their endorsement of Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding, a Democratic incumbent.

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Although she’s no longer a TV news reporter, maybe Laure Quinlivan still isn’t used to not having fact-checkers around to provide backup.

Quinlivan, a former reporter with WCPO-TV’s I-Team who is now running as a Democrat for Cincinnati City Council, distributed an e-mail Wednesday in Democratic circles seeking volunteers for upcoming campaign events. Given the targeted audience, however, Quinlivan might have wanted to pay closer attention to her spelling.

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Despite all the fiery rhetoric and political grandstanding at a special City Council meeting Thursday evening at the Duke Energy Center, residents might not notice much of a difference if the city manager decides to lay off 138 people in the Cincinnati Police Department.

Even with proposed layoffs, the Police Department’s staffing level still would be within the range that Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. said was sufficient just a few years ago.

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Just two days after he proposed the idea, Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding quietly dropped his proposal to tax panhandlers and require them to wear signs stating how much the city contributes to social service agencies on an annual basis. Despite the sudden flip-flop, Berding's idea has inspired a similar concept targeting City Hall.

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A few Cincinnati City Council members snickered at a memorandum that Councilman Jeff Berding distributed to them this morning, while some others were irritated.

A memo to the mayor and City Council, written on Berding’s official city letterhead, begins, “Mayor Mallory and Council Colleagues.” The document then asks council to hold public hearings on the possibility of police and firefighter layoffs as a method for helping balance the budget. The problem? It’s signed by Berding and a first-time Democratic candidate for City Council, Tony Fischer.

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UPDATE: Cincinnati City Councilman Greg Harris, a pledge opponent, said Berding's description of the pledge is disingenuous. "Did Berding's anti-layoff pledge in any way make furloughs a condition?  No," Harris said. "The effect of the pledge would have been to prevent the FOP from making any concessions because they wouldn't need to. The manager's only leverage is the threat of layoffs."

ORIGINAL ITEM: Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding believes a council majority is being self-defeating by refusing to sign a Berding-created pledge not to lay off police officers or firefighters in 2010 or 2011.

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UPDATE: City Councilman Chris Bortz called Thursday morning to say that although Councilman Jeff Berding included Bortz's printed name as a co-sponsor on Berding's motion, Bortz won't sign the pledge. "I think it's premature to sign a pledge at this stage," Bortz said. "I support the thrust of it."

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The COAST/NAACP anti-streetcar petition crew is causing all sorts of debauchery and grabbing headlines for its attempt to garner support for a sweeping, all-inclusive anti-rail ballot initiative. And it is exhausting.

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Sparked by festering resentment over several recent votes, some Democratic Party precinct executives are mulling whether to call for a special meeting to try to rescind the party’s endorsement of Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding.

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This week’s issue of CityBeat features an interview with Dr. Brad Wenstrup, the physician who’s the Hamilton County Republican Party’s mayoral candidate.

Wenstrup, who turned 51 on Wednesday, is an orthopedic surgeon who lives in Columbia Tusculum and is an Iraq War veteran. This is his first run for political office.

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