First Congressional District: No Endorsement
In the battle between U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot and his opponent, attorney Michele Young, we’re making no endorsement.
Chabot, a Republican who serves Cincinnati’s West Side and its northern suburbs in Ohio’s 1st congressional district, has been in and out of that office since 1995. During that time he’s hewn pretty closely to deep-red conservative principles. Those have included cutting federal funding for affordable housing, authoring legislation blocking abortion, voting against 2013’s Violence Against Women Act, working on local efforts to block 2002’s Metro Moves regional light rail initiatives and other stances that seem out of step with efforts to move our region forward.
Then there’s Chabot’s support for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Chabot has called comments Trump made bragging about groping women “unacceptable,” but has refused to reject him. He should have shown some moral courage and fully denounced his party’s choice for president.
Chabot has also been scarce around his district, traveling to 46 countries since 2011. He says that travel is part of his duties on the House’s Small Business and Foreign Affairs Committees. We would prefer someone who is present more often among constituents and whose values match those of the people she or he represents.
Young, on the other hand, represents a more progressive approach and has some policy proposals we support. She has also promised to put the district first, pledging efforts to find solutions to problems like the looming necessary repair or replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge.
But she’s a first-time political candidate running for a big gig. She has served on other local political campaigns — running Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco’s successful bid last time around, among others — but doesn’t have any experience as an elected official. That concerns us.
Truth be told, Chabot might not have such a tight grip on the district if Republicans in the State House didn’t redraw it to include more safely conservative northern suburbs in 2013.
Chabot lost his seat in 2009 to then-State Rep. Steve Driehaus, who served one term before Chabot won it back. We would like to see someone take his seat again. We’re looking toward the Ohio Democratic Party on this one, wondering when they’ll put up some meaningful resistance to entrenched politicians like Chabot. We think Young is promising, but not quite ready for that challenge this time around.
Second Congressional District: No Endorsement
Like the First Congressional District, this district including a sliver of Hamilton County and rural Adams, Brown, Clermont, Highland, Ross and Scioto Counties isn’t very competitive these days because of heinous redistricting in 2011. We’re not a fan of incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup’s staunchly conservative and partisan politics. But Democrats have not fielded a worthy candidate to replace him, either. Perennial challenger William Smith, a truck driver in Waverly, has once again not mounted an actual campaign to challenge Wenstrup. And Smith is not even endorsed by the Democratic Party anyway. Write-in candidate Janet Everhard is. It’s a mess, and we’re staying out of it.
State House
District 30: No endorsement
The fight for Ohio’s 30th district pits heavily experienced and term-limited State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican, against Democrat Mark Childers. Seitz is looking to replace party mate State Rep. Lou Terhar, who wants to pull the ole switcheroo with Seitz for the latter’s Senate seat. We’re not enthusiastic about that swap.
Look. Seitz is deeply conservative, but has at times been bipartisan in his efforts and has shown an open mind on issues like reforming the state’s justice system, even appearing on panels about changing Ohio’s death penalty. We also have to remember he voted against SB5, the draconian limits on state workers’ collective bargaining rights pushed by Gov. John Kasich’s administration in 2008. We appreciate his willingness to act on principle — when we agree with his and when we don’t.
On the other side, Seitz opposes extending Ohio’s redistricting reforms to congressional districts. He also sits on the board of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a lobbying group which crafts corporate-friendly legislative templates for national and state politicians to champion. Obviously, we find that very problematic.
On the other side of the coin is Democratic candidate Mark Childers. He has never held an elected office before, though he did run a campaign for the same seat in 2014. Republican Terhar pulverized him in that election, winning 75 percent of the vote. Ouch. We like Childers’ ideas about boosting educational opportunities and workforce development initiatives and fighting the state to restore local tax revenues it has recently scooped up. But aside from serving on the Price Hill Civic Club, he has little political experience.
Childers’ values resonate with us, but we find his experience lacking. On the flip side, we find Seitz’s experience and occasional willingness to step out of the partisan frame valuable, but have a hard time swallowing his hard-right conservative moments and his alignments with groups like ALEC. For those reasons, we’re not endorsing in this race.
District 31: Brigid Kelly
Here’s a race with a candidate we can get behind. That’s good, because we’re losing a local political great in Democrat Denise Driehaus, who is term-limited and can’t run again in Ohio’s 31st state house district.
But her potential successor, Democrat Brigid Kelly, shows promise. Like Driehaus, she has been close to her community. Kelly grew up in Norwood, attending Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati and serving on Norwood City Council before taking a job with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. We like that mix of political experience and local commitment.
Her challenger, Mary Yeager, has a decade’s experience as a certified public accountant, which would be valuable in the state house. But Yeager has little other experience that can recommend her for the job, and some of her policy stances — her staunchly pro-life bearing, for example — are simply values we can’t support. For those reasons, Kelly is the clear choice here.
District 32: Catherine Ingram
The race for Ohio’s 32nd state house district offers two education-focused candidates. But one has a wealth of other experience that makes her the clear choice.
Democrat Catherine Ingram, who is facing off against Republican Matthew Wahlert, has years of civic and political work that make her candidacy for the State House a logical next step.
A two-decade veteran of the Cincinnati Board of Education, Ingram has also served as president of the Ohio School Board Association, as well as serving on that organization’s National Black Caucus. Ingram is also active as the vice president of the Mount Auburn Community Council and various civic associations, including the Uptown Consortium.
Her opponent, who has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Miami University, touts his 20,000 hours in high school and college classrooms teaching political science, government and history. That’s commendable and important work — but it doesn’t necessarily translate into the ability to craft policy proposals or convince others in the State House to take them up. We prefer Ingram’s real-world experience and record as an advocate for Cincinnati’s communities.
District 33: Alicia Reece
We’re supporting incumbent Alicia Reece, who has done an excellent job as the State Rep. for Ohio’s 33rd District. As the House president for the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, she has been a strong voice for important state-level issues like justice system reform and economic opportunity for minority communities at the State House. This is an incumbent we can’t afford to lose.
Reece’s opponent is no slouch. David Miller has a lot of local political experience, most recently as chief of staff for Cincinnati City Councilwoman Amy Murray and before that in the same position for Councilman Charlie Winburn. He also has state-level experience from his work as a policy director for State Auditor David Yost. But he has some troubling bits of history as well: His stint as the vice president for public policy with the deeply conservative and staunchly homophobic Citizens for Community Values gives us deep pause, for example.
We endorse Reece without hesitation.
Yes on Issue 52: Tax Levy Renewal for Hamilton County Parks
Yes on Issue 53: Tax Levy Renewal for Hamilton County Children’s Services
We hope voters will pass both Issue 52, which will renew levy funding for Hamilton County’s beautiful and popular parks, as well as Issue 53, which will continue vital funding for Hamilton County’s efforts to protect children.
Issue 52 would generate about $18 million a year for Great Parks of Hamilton County that will be used for park maintenance and upkeep. It won’t raise taxes and ensures the county’s parks and wildlife habitats have the resources they need to provide the county with wild spaces and recreational opportunities.
Issue 53 would generate about $40 million a year for Hamilton County’s Job and Family Services’ Children’s Services division. Those funds are used to serve children who have been victims of child abuse. The division has seen cuts in recent years due to budget constraints, even as high-profile cases of child abuse and child endangerment have slipped through the cracks. The county can’t afford to lose any more resources that go to protecting children.
CityBeat Endorses:
• Hillary Clinton for President
• Denise Driehaus, Todd Portune for County Commission
• Hamilton County: Alan Triggs, Seth Walsh, Aftab Pureval, Jim Neil and Lakshmi Sammarco
• Congress and State House: Brigid Kelly, Catherine Ingram and Alicia Reece
This article appears in Nov 2-9, 2016.