Chris Seelbach (politician)

Christopher Steven Seelbach (born November 14, 1979) is an American politician. He made history in 2011 when he became the first openly gay politician elected to the Cincinnati City Council.[5] On May 20, 2013 the White House named Seelbach a national Harvey Milk "Champion of Change" for his commitment to equality and public service.[6]

Chris Seelbach
Member of the Cincinnati City Council
Assumed office
December 1, 2011[1]
Personal details
Born
Christopher Steven Seelbach[2]

(1979-11-14) November 14, 1979
Louisville, Kentucky
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Craig Schultz
​
(m. 2018)​
ResidenceOver the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio
Alma materSt. Xavier High School
Xavier University
University of Dayton School of Law[3][4]
Committees
  • Budget and Finance (2011–present)
  • Human Services, Youth & Arts (2013–present)
  • Education & Entrepreneurship (2013–present)
  • Strategic Growth (Vice-Chair) (2011–2013)
  • Livable Communities (2011–2013)
  • Public Safety (2011–2013)
  • Rules and Government Operations (2011–2013)[3]
WebsiteSeelbachforCouncil.com

College and early career

Seelbach was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He moved to Cincinnati in 1998. After founding the first gay-straight alliance at Xavier University,[7] he graduated from the university with a degree in business administration and attended law school at the University of Dayton. While in law school, he worked on the council staff of Vice-Mayor David Crowley, with whom he became friends, and was employed by Crowley's 2005 re-election campaign.[2] Seelbach also became involved in the campaign to repeal Article 12, a law which forbade the city council from passing any protections for gay men and lesbians, which was repealed in 2004. In 2014, Seelbach completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

Cincinnati City Council

Seelbach was elected to the Cincinnati City Council in 2011. There are a total of 9 Cincinnati City Council members and all are at-large, representing the entire city. His campaign for the city council was backed financially by the Victory Fund.

Seelbach has previously served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of a small marketing/consulting business, the Seidewitz Group.

On August 2, 2012 Seelbach was announced to be one of the winners of the Cincinnati Business Courier's 2012 Forty under 40 winners.[8] Seelbach was also recognized in the Venue Magazine Fall 2012 edition as one of the "Great Leaders under 40." [9]

Gang of Five

In 2018, Seelbach was caught participating in the "Gang of Five" a group of five city council members who met via secret text messages. They attempted to undermine the elected mayor and bypass public meetings and debates.[10]

In March 2019, the Gang of Five agreed to turn over their text messages in order to settle a lawsuit filed by a local anti-tax activist. Among the text messages were juvenile discussions of city employees' sexuality, messages mocking members of the public who attended council meetings or contacted the city council.[11] The text messages were made searchable and posted on the website of the law firm that brought the suit against the Gang of Five.[12]

In June 2019 additional text messages were released as a result of a lawsuit filed by Sinclair Media reporter Angenette Levy in which it was revealed that Seelbach and P.T. Sittenfeld strategized to highlight and capitalize on racial tensions to protect the then city Manager (Harry Black).[13][14][15] This release also included text messages in which Seelbach discussed promised he extracted from Black in exchange for Seelbach's support, and Seelbach and other council members discussing the Black's habit making late night drunken phone calls to city officials and reporters.[16] Text messages also revealed that Black had engaged in efforts to suppress dissent among city employees, including chastising a city employee after she testified before council about the death of a teenager when 911 operators and Cincinnati police were unable to locate the teen. Despite all these concerns, Seelbach opposed efforts to fire Black.[17]

The Gang of Five's efforts cost the City approximately $500,000 as it resulted in additional costs to fire a city manager, and costs to hire outside lawyers to defend the lawsuit and ultimately in paying the fines and attorney fees as part of the agreed order resolving the lawsuit.[18] Another lawsuit for additional records is pending before the Ohio Supreme Court, State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Cincinnati, Ohio Supreme Court Case No. 2019-0599.[19]

Election history

Italic type indicates incumbent.[20]

YearWinning CandidatesLosing Candidates
2013P.G. Sittenfeld (D): 37,484
Charlie Winburn (R): 27,397
David S. Mann (C,D): 26,443
Yvette Simpson (C,D): 25,449
Chris Seelbach (D): 23,738
Christopher Smitherman (I) 23,604
Wendell Young (D): 22,600
Kevin Flynn (C): 22,059
Amy Murray (C,R): 21,979		Laure Quinlivan (D): 21,079
Greg Landsman (C,D): 19,619
Michelle Dillingham (D): 19,143
Pam Thomas (D): 18,499
Vanessa White (C): 16,892
Sam Malone (R): 16,462
Melissa Wegman (R): 9,942
Shawn Butler (D): 9,788
Mike Moroski (I): 8,688
Angela Beamon (I): 7,943
Kevin Johnson (I): 6,647
Timothy Joseph Dorsbrusch (I): 4,006
2011Roxanne Qualls (C,D): 37,275
P.G. Sittenfeld (D): 30,474
Wendell Young (D): 29,067
Cecil Thomas (D): 28,892
Charlie Winburn (R): 28,829
Laure Qunlivan (D): 27,422
Yvette Simpson (C,D): 27,204
Christopher Smitherman (I): 23,760
Chris Seelbach (D): 23,484 		Chris Bortz (C): 22,044
Kevin Flynn (C): 21,828
Amy Murray (R): 21,433
Leslie Ghiz (R): 20,719
Wayne Lippert (R): 18,397
Jason Riveiro (D): 18,174
Mike Allen (I) 16,598
Nicholas Hollan (D): 14,628
Catherine Smith Mills (R): 13,513
Pat McCollum (I): 6,180
Kathy Atkinson (I): 5,012
Jacqueline Allen (I): 4,555
Sandra Queen Noble (I): 2,726
Orlando Welborn (I): 33

References
  1. "Historic Cincinnati city council sworn in, waiting for budget". WXIX-FOX19. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  2. "Spotlight on: Chris Seelbach". SpyCincy. March 19, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25.
  3. "Chris Seelbach". City of Cincinnati. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  4. "Chris Seelbach - Info". Facebook. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. Anne Thompson (November 9, 2011). "Gay community celebrates first openly gay candidate coming to Cincinnati City Council". Fox 19 Cincinnati.
  6. Unknown (May 20, 2013). "Harvey Milk Champion of Change: Chris Seelbach". The White House.
  7. Anthony Glassman (October 21, 2011). "Article 12 conqueror seeks Cincinnati council seat". Gay People's Chronicle.
  8. Business Courier (August 2, 2012). "Courier Announces 2012 Forty Under 40". Business Courier.
  9. "Venue Magazine".
  10. Cincinnati Enquirer: Judge to council 'Gang of Five:' You 'lied' to people of Cincinnati https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/06/cincinnati-city-council-texts-gang-of-five-faces-judge/3081915002/
  11. Local 12. WKRC-TV "Gang of 5" texts reveal discussion of city business, personal affairs https://local12.com/news/local/gang-of-5-texts-reveal-discussion-of-city-business-personal-affairs
  12. "Text Messages Released by Cincinnati Councilmembers". 2019-03-07.
  13. WKRC, Walter Smith-Randolph (2019-06-05). "Gang of 5 text messages reveal City Hall strategizing as Local 12 wins lawsuit". WKRC. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  14. WKRC, Angenette Levy (2019-06-05). "Newly released text messages detail racial component to city manager dispute". WKRC. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  15. "New texts: Cranley and City Council talked about using private money to buy out Harry Black". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  16. Baker, Jennifer Edwards. "New secret council texts released: Behind the scenes of City Hall power struggle over city manager". FOX19. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  17. "Text messages.PDF" (PDF). Dropbox. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  18. FOX-19 WXIX TV ‘Gang of Five’: More secret council texts coming, taxpayer costs approaching $1M, attorney says https://www.fox19.com/2019/03/09/gang-five-more-secret-council-texts-coming/
  19. "Public Docket". supremecourt.ohio.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  20. "Hamilton County, OH Board of Elections Current & historical election information". July 19, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17.
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