AG says councilman should apologize for tweet
Cincinnati Councilman Chris Seelbach’s Twitter post calling the federal corruption and bribery charges filed against fellow Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld “weak” has drawn the ire of the Ohio attorney general.
“Councilman Seelbach knows not whereof he speaks (when) he attacks the prosecutor here,” Attorney General David Yost said back on Twitter. Yost said, “an apology is in order.” Seelbach said in an earlier Twitter post Friday that he was standing by his friend Sittenfeld.
“He is ethical and a good father, husband and friend. The charges, brought by a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney, are incredibly weak,” Seelbach said. “I believe in our justice system and
strongly believe PG will be exonerated from these charges.”
On Thursday, Sittenfeld became the third member of the nine-person Cincinnati City Council to be arrested by the FBI and indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges. Sittenfeld, a Democrat, was considered to be a frontrunner in next year’s mayoral race before the arrest. He’s accused of bribery, wire fraud and attempted extortion and faces up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted.
Yost said Seelbach’s disparagement of the prosecution of Sittenfeld by David Devillers, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, was uncalled for. Yost said that Devillers is a career federal prosecutor with a sterling, apolitical record.
“To accuse him of political motivations is utterly unsupported by Devillers’ long record,” Yost said.
Yost wrote that he noticed Seelbach, a Democrat, did not call the earlier indictment of Republican Councilman Jeff Pastor politically motivated.
“So it’s justice when you indict a Republican, but you’re a political hack when you indict a Democrat? Balderdash!,” Yost wrote.
He said Seelbach should apologize for his comments.