PX column: FC Cincinnati deal like Abe Lincoln's promise to former slaves, Republican says

Jason Williams | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption Tour of FC Cincinnati's West End stadium site After weeks of hints, FC Cincinnati officials Monday unveiled a West End stadium plan. It calls for building an MLS stadium where Taft High School's Stargel Stadium currently stands. The team also would build a new Stargel across from Taft High's entrance.

Lame-duck Clermont County Commissioner David Uible continues to do a good of job making sure his political career will be remembered for a series of self-inflicted errors.

The embattled Republican on Wednesday made a bizarre comparison between the county's incentive deal for FC Cincinnati's training facility and Abraham Lincoln's "40 acres and a mule" offer to former slaves after the Civil War.

It didn't seem to be racially charged, but Uible's comments were irrelevant, out-of-touch and only added to what's been an embarrassing past year for the Clermont County Republican Party chairman.

Prior to the commissioners' vote to approve using hotel tax money for the soccer team's training complex in Milford, Uible spent three minutes blathering on about how the $30 million facility would "cause a higher standard of living for citizens."

(Ask the citizens of Hamilton County whether taxpayer-vacuum Paul Brown Stadium has led to "a higher standard of living," but we digress.)

HUH? Reading prepared remarks, Uible said:

"Economic development by government has been going on forever. Let us not forget that the Republicans in the House of Representatives offered legislation, which gave 160 acres to all adult male and female, black and white, native born or immigrants, to incentivize people to move west. This was known as the Homestead Act, which Lincoln signed into law in 1862. "Two years later, Lincoln offered 40 acres and a mule to former slaves to go south. Were these healthy economic development plans? Absolutely. Were these giving government assets to a select group of people to advance the country? Absolutely."

Did Uible really compare giving multimillionaire pro sports owners a tax break to offering poor, ex-slaves farmland? Absolutely. I mean, come on. Are we supposed to believe these deals were similar?

Politics Extra watched a YouTube video of the speech twice, then reached out to Uible for further explanation. In an email, he said:

"You will likely spin this as you wish. Lincoln's 'forty acres and a mule' was first designed to pay reparations to former slaves. Secondly, it was to transform the agrarian economy and be an economic stimulus in the South, which was devastated by the Civil War."

Uh, OK.

QUICK HISTORY LESSON: If Uible was trying to show he's smarter than everyone else, he failed to include a key detail about the government's "40 acres and a mule" promise, which was made in January 1865. The promise went unfulfilled.

Maybe Uible intentionally left out that detail, hoping people wouldn't think the heavily subsidized FC Cincinnati deal might fail.

Anyway, former slave-owner Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency three months after the promise was made, and the farmland was never redistributed. GOP Commissioner David Painter made sure to point that out after Uible's speech.

"That legislation was turned over by the next incoming president, and none of those slaves, indentured people, ever received their 40 acres," Painter said. "I just went on the historic tour of Savannah and learned those facts."

At times, the "40 acres and a mule" reference has been construed as racially insensitive, depending on the context. For example, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was left to apologize after a 2013 Twitter post in which the newspaper said an African-American Georgia lottery winner "can get 40 acres and a whole lotta mules."

POLITICAL FREE FALL: Uible worked for several years to woo FC Cincinnati's training complex to his county. Last year, however, a small group of citizens started questioning whether Uible was being fully transparent with the public.

Union Township accountant Chris Hicks led the citizen effort. He hounded Uible for public records and consistently showed up to public meetings to question the commissioner about behind-the-scenes talks of subsidizing the team's facility.

In September, Uible filed a restraining order against Hicks. His supposed no-no? Persistently demanding transparency.

Days later, in the face of public pressure and negative publicity, Uible dropped the frivolous restraining order. But things would get much worse for the New Richmond businessman and buffalo farmer.

The county GOP didn't endorse Uible ahead of the primary – a major embarrassment for an incumbent, let alone the party chairman. Turns out, Uible wouldn't end up on the ballot.

In March, Hicks discovered a discrepancy in the petitions Uible had filed to run for re-election. The mistake disqualified Uible from the ballot. Uible will leave office at the end of the year.

Here's hoping he doesn't trip over himself again.

Follow Enquirer political columnist Jason Williams on Twitter @jwilliamscincy. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com