CityBeat and the League of Women Voters will host a City Council candidate forum at The Greenwhich in Walnut Hills on Oct. 5. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by the forum starting at 7 p.m.
The following are this year’s 21 City Council candidates at a glance. CityBeat will cover the candidate forum and the race in more depth during the weeks leading up to the election.
Incumbents
Laure Quinlivan
• Democratic Party
• Quinlivan has served on City Council for four years. She was previously an investigative news reporter for WCPO.
•
Chris Seelbach
•
Democratic Party
•
Seelbach has served on City Council for two years. He’s Cincinnati’s first openly gay council member. He’s also been with The Seidewitz Group since 2007, where he is vice president and chief financial officer.
Yvette Simpson
•
Democratic Party
•
Simpson has served on City Council for two years. She’s currently a member of Xavier University’s Executive MBA
Program and counsel at Ulmer & Berne LLP with a focus on labor and employment law.
P.G. Sittenfeld
•
Democratic Party
•
Sittenfeld has served on City Council for two years. He previously worked for Google and Time Magazine.
• votepg-pgsittenfeld.nationbuilder.com
Chris Smitherman
•
Independent
•
Smitherman has served on City Council for four years, with his current term beginning in 2011 and his previous term lasting from 2003 to 2005. He’s president of the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• smithermanforcitycouncil.com
Pam Thomas
• Democratic Party
• Thomas began serving on City Council earlier in the year when she replaced her retiring husband, Cecil Thomas. She previously worked at Cincinnati Public Schools.
Charlie Winburn
•
Republican Party
•
Winburn has served on City Council for four years, following a previous term of seven years. He has 20 years of management and administrative experience in government and several organizations, including the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the United Way.
•
Wendell Young
•
Democratic Party
•
Young has served on City Council for three years. He served on the Cincinnati Police Department for 25 years, several city offices and Aiken College & Career High School until he was appointed to council in 2010.
•
Challengers
Angela Beamon
•
Independent
•
Beamon is currently a financial adviser and a Cincinnati native who graduated from the School for Creative and Performing Arts.
•
Shawn Butler
•
Democratic Party
•
Butler currently serves as director of community affairs for Mayor Mark Mallory. He graduated from both Cincinnati Public Schools and the University of Cincinnati.
•
Michelle Dillingham
•
Democratic Party
•
Dillingham was a legislative aide to former Vice Mayor David Crowley for four years. She’s worked on affordable housing issues and edited the first “State of Affordable Housing in Hamilton County” report.
•
Tim Dornbusch
•
Independent
•
Dornbusch is head of Proper Plumbing & Electrical LLC, a company he created. He ardently opposes unions and claims they should be reformed and severed.
•
Kevin Flynn
•
Independent
•
Flynn is a real estate attorney at Griffin Fletcher & Herndon and adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He previously ran for City Council in 2009 and 2011.
•
Kevin Johnson
•
Independent
•
Johnson was a legislative aide for Democratic Councilwoman Laketa Cole. He’s currently owner of Amir Wallace Johnson Cleaning Concepts, a post-construction cleaning company that he and two others founded in 2007 and has since expanded to Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.
•
Greg Landsman
•
Democratic Party
•
Under former Gov. Ted Strickland, Landsman worked as director of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and chair of the Ohio Anti-Poverty Task Force. He’s currently executive director at The Strive Partnership, an education consortium that seeks to improve outcomes in the Cincinnati area.
•
Sam Malone
•
Republican Party
•
Malone is currently president of Urban Strategies and Solutions. He lost re-election for City Council in 2005 after serving for two years in part because he was charged — and in 2006 found not guilty — of domestic violence after he disciplined his son with a belt.
David Mann
•
Democratic Party
•
Mann previously served on City Council for 18 years, including three years as mayor, and U.S. Congress, where he represented most of Cincinnati, for two years.
•
Mike Moroski
•
Independent
•
Moroski earned local recognition when he was terminated from his job as dean of student life at Purcell Marian High School, a Catholic school, for supporting same-sex marriage. He currently serves on the board of WordPlay, which helps local children improve their literacy and schoolwork.
•
Amy Murray
•
Republican Party
•
Murray served on City Council in 2011 after being appointed, but she was voted out in an election that greatly favored Democrats. She currently owns a business and formerly worked as an executive at Procter & Gamble with a focus on Asia.
•
Melissa Wegman
•
Republican Party
•
Wegman is a businesswoman in East Price Hill and vice president of The Wegman Company, which installs and warehouses furniture. She promises to bring a “business perspective” to City Council.
•
Vanessa White
•
Independent
•
White currently serves on the Cincinnati Board of Education and the board of directors at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She’s worked at a variety of education and social service groups, including Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati, the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati and Lighthouse Youth Services.
•
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2013.