Horn, Dan, and Sharon Coolidge. 2021. Project opens window on role of campaign contributions: Mayor got most donations on liberty & elm development. Cincinnati Enquirer, Mar 24, 2021. (accessed March 24, 2021).

While working on the Freeport Row project in Over-the-Rhine about four years ago, Cincinnati developer John Heekin met Mayor John Cranley for lunch.

Heekin remembers Cranley asking two questions as they chatted and ate the fish special at Washington Platform: He wanted to know how the project was going, and he wanted to know if Heekin intended to donate to his mayoral campaign.

“He’s not that subtle,” Heekin recalled in an interview with The Enquirer.

[…]

After drawing up an agreement with Freeport Row’s developers, Florea said, she gave it to her boss, Development Director Markiea Carter, who then took it to the city manager and the mayor for review.

“Markiea meets with them,” Florea said. “She runs it up the chain.”

Carter did not respond to questions about Freeport Row, and city officials have not responded to a public records request The Enquirer made in February for documents related to the project.

Read the full article here: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/03/24/mayor-cranley-campaign-how-much-did-cincinnati-developers-give-him/4553686001/