We the  People  - must hold our own accountable.

As a deeply concerned group of residents of Hamilton County, both Democrats and Republicans, as well as, advocates and many members of multiple environmental organizations such as Oxbow, Rivers Unlimited, Ditch the Dump, Greater Community Groups, the LWV, Sierra Club, Cardinal Land Conservancy and the Solid Waste Caucus, who find ourselves betrayed by Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus, we demand she be removed from her position as chair of all environmental committees, or in lieu thereof, removed from office.

She promised us environmental oversight and progress, but instead, we find ourselves worse off now than before her tenure and grappling with a fox in the hen house

Driehaus accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from those she regulates - one of whom is Rumpke, a company infamous for controversy and the polluting of Hamilton County. The question arises - is it ethical to claim to be protecting our environment while accepting money from those that are most harmful to it?

While juxtaposing the democratic platform and Driehaus's actions over the last 4 years, we conclude that her actions demand her removal because:

1)  Denise Driehaus fought to keep Rumpke on the Solid Waste Policy Committee, despite knowing that landfill operators  were prohibited from being on the committee;
2)  Denise Driehaus kept Tony DiPuccio on the committee despite knowing he is a paid Rumpke consultant and prohibited under ethics law from serving on the committee overseeing he's own employer
3)  Denise Driehaus went against thousands of residents in SW Hamilton County and gutted the first rules ever proposed to regulate Rumpke and supported by the above-named organizations' representatives.
4)  Denise Driehaus secretly negotiated a deal with Rumpke that stripped her own committee of the oversight authority they possessed in order to protect Rumpke's monopoly operations
5)  Denise Driehaus and Joe Deters (both took tens of thousands from Rumpke) conspired together to strip Hamilton County of their legal duty to oversee and regulate landfills in the county.
6)  Denise Driehaus ensured that SW Hamilton County would remain the Trash Capitol of the USA by giving unfettered operational and siting authority;
7)  Denise Driehaus' lax revised rule allowed all the toxic waste from E Palestines, Clermont County, and every other hazardous waste incident to be dumped in Hamilton County WITHOUT charging any additional fees while Rumpke's profits from these operations were about 100 times greater than normal "trash". Rumpke got the money, we got the hazards.
8)  Denise Driehaus illegally prohibited her own committee from speaking to their private legal counsel when she engaged in these activities
9)  Denise Driehaus used the power of her office and seat on the committee to pressure fellow committee members to not "rock the boat" in order to forward her schemes to benefit Rumpke.
10)  Denise Driehaus accepted thousands in campaign donations from both Bill Rumpke and the law firm representing Rumpke in an action against Hamilton County and while Driehaus was pushing through the new environmental plan to be adopted by the county

Clearly, our environment is worse than it was before Driehaus gutted the work of those who care about our environment.  She paved the way for the industry to thwart the first notable regulation of the industry, decades behind surrounding counties who protect their communities from toxic waste.

It is worth reminding the public that these actions were taken by an elected official, a commissioner tasked with protecting and preserving our county's interests, not undermining them for personal gain. 

In light of all this, the path forward is clear: we need to take action to remove Denise Driehaus from her committee positions associated with environmental policy or be voted out of office entirely.  It is not an action taken lightly, but one born from necessity. 

The Hamilton County Democratic Party must hold its own accountable.

Sign this petition and call for the removal of Commissioner Driehaus from environmental committees and from public office. Our fight for an ethical and just regulation of our environment starts here.