Councilman seeks dismissal of federal charges
Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld filed a motiononWednesday requesting the federal bribery charges against him be dropped, claiming his actions werenotcriminalbutareflection of his pro-development positions as a councilmember in Cincinnati.
Sittenfeld agreed to temporarily step down fromhis position in early December but has maintained his innocence through several video posts on socialmedia.
A federal grand jury indicted Sittenfeld, 36, last month on charges of honest serviceswire fraud, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and attempted extortion under color of official right.
Sittenfeldpleadednotguilty whenhewasarraignedinfederal court.
Wednesday’s20-pagefiling argues that the government has failed tocharge a genuine crime in his case and that he did not promise to exchange any official actions for campaign contributions.
ThemotionstatesSittenfeld rejected requests to accept campaign contributions, but simply pointed to hispro-developmentposition fordevelopment deals in the city.
Sittenfeld’s indictment, the motiontodismissstates,“fails as a matter of law” because Sittenfeldwassimplydiscussing
politics and his ownpolicies, which aligned with the FBI’s informant, identified as former CincinnatiBengals player and developer Chinedum Ndukwe.
“In our American democracy, elected public officials have always sought ‘support on the basis of their views and what they intendtodoorhave done’andhavesolicitedmoney based on those views and promises,” the motion states.
Federal officials said in November that Sittenfeld promised to deliver votes in Cincinnati City Council in November and December 2018 in support of a development deal in exchange for four $5,000contributions to his PAC. Sittenfeld allegedly acceptedfourmore checks in SeptemberandOctober2019.
Accordingtotheindictment, when asked how he wanted to receive the money, Sittenfeld said, “Idohave aPACthat one, no one’s like snooping around in who’s giving that there, ImeanI think frankly a lot of peopledon’t even know Ihaveit. AnyLLCorindividual cangiveupto$5,000tothat.”
Sittenfeldsolicitedmoneyin exchange for favorable votes on a project Ndukwe hoped to develop, a building formerly known as Convention PlaceMall at 435 Elm St., the indictment said. Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Pastor is also accused of accepting bribe money from Ndukwe for votesonthesameproject.