The Cincinnati Area Board of REALTORS® process for reviewing candidates for endorsement.

Have you ever wondered how the Cincinnati Area Board of REALTORS® makes its decisions about local elections? If you have, you’re in luck! Here is a quick review of our process and some of the candidates and issues you will find on your ballot this year.

Every year members of the association are appointed to serve on the RPAC committee. It is this group that works with staff to understand, vet, and ultimately decide where to invest CABR resources. For candidates, this process often involves a written questionnaire and an in-person interview. Once the RPAC committee decides which candidates to interview, they develop a questionnaire for candidates to answer. The questionnaire can vary from year to year but generally speaking, it focuses on policies and issues important to Cincinnati area REALTORS®. Additionally, candidates are asked why they are running and why they wish to receive the support of our board.

This year the RPAC committee chose to screen candidates running for Cincinnati City Council and for Cincinnati Mayor. In the questionnaire, candidates were asked to share their opinion on Cincinnati’s tax abatement program for residential real estate and whether they would like to see it continue. They were also asked to discuss the City of Cincinnati’s proposed Charter Amendment, Issue 3. Candidates were also given an opportunity to talk about their top priorities, what they feel their biggest challenge will be and how they will approach it.

Once the questionnaires are submitted to CABR, each candidate is asked to meet with the members of the RPAC Committee. This can be a long process, often taking committee members more than one day to complete. Once completed, the committee reviews the written questionnaires and the content of their face-to-face discussions. The final step is to select the candidates that will be CABR endorsed and therefore able to receive a RPAC investment. Once the committee has come to its final decision, CABR staff notifies the candidates and when appropriate prepares a check.

So, what were the results of this year’s candidate screening process? The committee endorsed nine candidates running for Cincinnati City Council and one candidate running for Mayor of Cincinnati.

The CABR endorsed Cincinnati City Council candidates are: Kevin Flynn, Steve Goodin, Galen Gordon, Kurt Grossman, Scotty Johnson, Liz Keating, Greg Landsman, Victoria Parks, and Betsy Sundermann. The CABR endorsed candidate for Cincinnati Mayor is David Mann. Each of these candidates received an official endorsement and a RPAC investment.

The RPAC Committee has yet to take an official position on the City of Cincinnati’s proposed charter amendment. If they choose to do so, we will let members know ASAP.

Stayed tuned for more information. We will have several more communications before the vote on Tuesday, November 2.