In the highly charged Hamilton County Commissioners’ race, do we choose the tea party-aligned Republican who moved to deny voters the chance to approve Music Hall’s renovation? The 27-year-old IT consultant who was once a ghost hunter? Or the candidate who ran and lost in 2010 as a Democrat, now running as an independent with the added hurdle of being a write-in candidate?
It’s hard to comprehend how this situation came to happen when so much hangs in the balance. Republican incumbent Chris Monzel unleashed a tidal wave of anger from folks in Cincinnati when he lopped Music Hall off a tax plan to renovate it and Union Terminal. Monzel leaned on a tired county vs. city mindset, claiming that Music Hall is for them city folks while Union Terminal is a shining beacon to exurbanites making the dangerous trek into the city for the day.
In doing so, he made himself vulnerable to a vengeful unseating, opening up the possibility of a Democratic majority on commission that would move toward a more cooperative mindset. Except the field in the Democratic primary for the commissioners candidacy was pretty thin pickings, and the candidate of choice is young, inexperienced Sean Patrick Feaney. Feaney doesn’t seem particularly bad in any real way, but he’s running for his first big office with a rather lethargic, low-profile campaign for a very high-stakes, high-profile seat.
Enter Jim Tarbell, who challenged Monzel in 2010 and announced in September that he would go for it again this year. Tarbell’s something of an icon in the city and would have been a fine choice in the primary election. But since he’s not the official Democratic candidate, Tarbell’s name isn’t on the ballot. That means thousands will have to write his name in for him to have a shot. Most likely scenario: Some vote Tarbell, some vote Feaney, and Monzel picks up an easy victory despite angering a significant portion of the electorate with his icon tax shenanigans.
That said, CityBeat believes Tarbell is the only candidate who can bring to the role of commissioner a combination of experience and bigger vision that extends beyond the city vs. county politics we’ve seen lately. Despite the long odds, we’re endorsing him.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2014.