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Every incumbent on the ballot Nov. 6 won new two-year terms on Cincinnati City Council and will be joined by two new council members, Democrats David Pepper and David Crowley.
Pepper was the top vote-getter in the race, his first bid for public office. In final unofficial results, he had 45,174 votes.
Pepper intends to focus on the goals he developed during his campaign, saying he’d like to see council set an agenda for the next four to five years.
“It’s really what I’ve talked about for months — to get organized as a city government,” he said.
Pepper enjoyed some name recognition as the son of the chairman of the Procter & Gamble Co. board, but he said the key to his successful campaign was taking his message into people’s homes. He and his campaign staff started knocking on doors last May, and he said people welcomed them.
“I’ve had burritos in people’s kitchens and pizza in their dining rooms,” Pepper said. “I think people appreciate hard work.”
Hard work also paid off for Crowley, who said his age, 64, and maturity helped him win.
Crowley, who worked with relief efforts in the Balkans, said he would like to change the demeanor of council meetings.
“I really count on using my personality and my interpersonal skills,” he said.
Crowley believes race relations and police/community relations are big issues the new council will face.
“I will press for the police to take a very serious look at this list of the Justice Department recommendations,” he said. “Hopefully the CAN (Community Action Now) commission will be bringing in some recommendations.”
Crowley said some African Americans might be disappointed that Courtis Fuller wasn’t elected mayor and no new black candidates were elected to council. But they shouldn’t worry their concerns won’t be addressed, he said, because he’s spent his lifetime working for civil and human rights and will continue to do so.
“I’m white, but I understand,” Crowley said.
Fellow Democrats John Cranley, Minette Cooper, Alicia Reece and Paul Booth won re-election, but all finished behind Pat DeWine, a Republican.
DeWine was second in the nine-person race, winning 43,191 votes.
“The first thing that has to happen is we have to hire a new city manager,” DeWine said. “I think it certainly can be someone local, but it doesn’t have to be.”
DeWine said he doesn’t want another professional bureaucrat for city manager. John Shirey, city manager for the past nine years, has resigned effective Dec. 1.
DeWine also believes city council should do a better job with taxpayers’ money and work at bringing the city together.
“There’s been too much division in the city in the last few months,” he said.
Reece finished third, with 43,180 votes. She believes the new council will bring change, which she apparently will lead as the result of being named vice mayor Nov. 7.
“The city had indicated we have to move toward changes,” she said.
City council must change systems that are 30 to 40 years old, according to Reece. One such change was accomplished on election night with the passage of civil service reform (see Charting a New Course).
“That was a 70-year-old system that was changed tonight,” Reece said.
Her main concern will be to keep health clinics open and deal with issues of health care in the next budget.
“To come through an unrest, to come through Sept. 11, to come through polarization — this council has gone through more in two years than many of our seasoned politicians,” Reece said.
Cooper, who had been vice mayor, received 38,040 votes. The only way to accomplish anything, she said, is to work cooperatively.
“I think the first thing we need to do is get together as a council and act as a unit,” she said. “If we don’t have a conversation of diversity and differences, then we’re going to have a hard time getting together. If we’re going to be a strong city, we’re going to have to figure out we all want the same things and we’re going to have to move forward together.”
Cooper believes the city faces a challenge in defining what a strong mayor should be (see “Same Old Charlie,” page 24).
“It’s a skeleton with no definition, and I think it’s important to define it in a way that will make things work,” she said.
‘We’re doing a good job’
With 36,998 votes, Cranley finished fifth. He was appointed to council earlier this year, filling a vacancy left when Todd Portune was elected to the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.
One of Cranley’s goals is to implement recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department for improving the Cincinnati Police Division. He also wants to fight litter, starting in low-income neighborhoods.
Councilman Jim Tarbell, who received 35,533 votes, remains council’s lone representative from the Charter Committee. Crowley finished seventh, with 33,225 votes, followed by Booth, with 27,732.
“This is going to be a council of change,” Booth said. “The public has said there is a mandate. We need a city council that is really going to work together.”
Booth believes the city should expand the convention center and complete The Banks, a proposed residential and commercial development along the Ohio River. But his priorities include unfinished business from the current council term.
“There’s really two things that I want to start working on — the area of police/community relationships and healing the rift there and developing a comprehensive plan for our neighborhoods,” Booth said.
Chris Monzel, a Republican appointed to a vacancy left by Charles Winburn, finished ninth, his 26,479 votes enough to win his first full term. Monzel wants to concentrate on reducing crime, expanding the Citizens on Patrol program and developing a comprehensive plan for the city.
Monzel say the incumbents’ performance got them re-elected.
“We’re doing a good job down there,” he said. ©
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2001.