39 Facts About PG Sittenfeld

Alexander Paul George Sittenfeld was born on October 1,1984 and is an American politician and former member of the Cincinnati City Council until his resignation after being convicted of felony bribery and attempted extortion.

On March 15,2016, PG Sittenfeld lost the Senate Democratic primary election to former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

On July 12,2020, PG Sittenfeld announced that he would run in the 2021 Cincinnati mayoral election, but dropped out of the race following his arrest on political corruption charges.

On November 19,2020, PG Sittenfeld was arrested on federal charges of corruption and bribery, and later suspended from council.

PG Sittenfeld's arrest was part of a broader FBI focus on rooting out political corruption in Cincinnati.

PG Sittenfeld accepted $40,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate investors in exchange for votes on a matter before the city council.

On July 8,2022, following a two-and-a-half week trial in US District Court in Cincinnati, PG Sittenfeld was convicted on two felony counts of bribery and attempted extortion and is currently awaiting sentencing.

PG Sittenfeld was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the youngest of four children.

PG Sittenfeld's mother, Betsy, is a retired school teacher who served as a librarian and art history teacher at Seven Hills School.

One of his three older sisters, Curtis PG Sittenfeld, is a novelist known for Eligible, and Rodham.

For high school, PG Sittenfeld attended The Seven Hills School, an elite private school, where he was an all-city basketball player.

PG Sittenfeld matriculated at Princeton University, where he served as the president of his freshman class.

PG Sittenfeld remained involved in journalism, including as a columnist for the Daily Princetonian, and as a student stringer through the University Press Club for publications including The New York Times, Trenton Times, and Princeton Alumni Weekly.

In 2011, at age 27, PG Sittenfeld became the youngest person ever elected to Cincinnati City Council.

PG Sittenfeld received the second most votes of the 23 candidates.

PG Sittenfeld was sworn into office on December 1,2011.

PG Sittenfeld was re-elected to the council in 2013 and was the leading vote-getter among the 21 candidates.

PG Sittenfeld sponsored legislation creating the Vacant Foreclosed Property Registry to require banks and lenders to maintain vacant foreclosed houses under their control.

PG Sittenfeld started an initiative known as the "Golden Cincinnati Initiative", the purpose of which was to provide support to Cincinnati's elderly community.

PG Sittenfeld worked with Cincinnati Area Senior Services, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, and the Office of Aging and Accessibility, to direct city funding to keep the center operational.

In January 2019, PG Sittenfeld advocated for the city's human services budget to incorporate resources for senior citizen services, which had not previously qualified for funding.

In 2020, PG Sittenfeld sponsored the first "renter's choice" legislation in the United States, allowing apartment-renting tenants alternatives to cash security deposit.

In 2019, working with the AMOS Project, the University of Cincinnati Law School, Northern Kentucky University Law School, and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, PG Sittenfeld sponsored legislation ending the City of Cincinnati Law Department's prosecutorial division's policy of requesting cash bail when prosecuting defendants.

PG Sittenfeld later introduced legislation allowing prospective job-applicants to the City of Cincinnati with prior marijuana possession charges on their records to not be denied employment.

In 2020, with councilmember Greg Landsman, PG Sittenfeld introduced legislation to move toward a policy of citations to court, instead of arrests, for low level offenses.

PG Sittenfeld sponsored legislation creating Cincinnati's first-ever bus-only lane to provide dedicated avenues for Metro buses to traverse city streets, with an emphasis on the Central Business District, to reduce congestion and improve travel times.

In 2019, PG Sittenfeld sponsored an amendment to the city charter which allowed for a regional funding mechanism for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority's Metro bus system, which previously had only received direct local funding from the city's earnings tax.

PG Sittenfeld sponsored city funding for a new health and wellness center in the neighborhood of Evanston, which serves immigrant students and families.

PG Sittenfeld has advocated for additional school nurses in the city budget.

PG Sittenfeld has participated in efforts to convert Cincinnati into a smart city, including sponsoring legislation to create the city's open data portal, expanding wireless internet access to a low-income Cincinnati neighborhoods, creating the city's Government Technology Advisory Council, and calling for implementation of technology tools that can be deployed for public safety, such as ShotSpotter.

In 2018, PG Sittenfeld was caught leading the "Gang of Five", a group of five city council members who communicated via secret text messages attempting to undermine the mayor and bypass public meetings and debates.

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 PG Sittenfeld encouraged the then-city manager, Harry Black, to work with African American community leaders to avoid being fired.

On November 19,2020, PG Sittenfeld was arrested by federal agents on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable votes on developmental deals.

On July 8,2022, PG Sittenfeld was convicted of bribery and attempted extortion and was acquitted on two counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of attempted extortion.

PG Sittenfeld is currently awaiting sentencing and his post-trial request to overturn the conviction was denied.

On January 22,2015, PG Sittenfeld announced his candidacy for the US Senate seat held by current Republican Senator Rob Portman in 2016.

PG Sittenfeld lost in the Democratic Party primary to former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

On January 28,2016, PG Sittenfeld announced a proposed amendment to the Ohio legislature to restore home-rule authority on gun control.

On July 12,2020, PG Sittenfeld announced that he was running in the 2021 Cincinnati mayoral election to succeed incumbent mayor John Cranley.