(**UPDATE: Tim Burke was reelected to another two-year term as chairman in a 198-64 vote, or 75.6 percent of ballots cast to Tolliver's 24.4 percent.)
The Hamilton County Democratic Party’s central committee will meet this evening to decide whether to replace the party’s longtime chairman.
Darren Tolliver, the party’s treasurer, is challenging incumbent Tim Burke.—-
The choice will be decided by the party’s central committee, which is comprised of precinct executives, ward chairs and other top local Democrats.
Tolliver is African-American, and some black members were angered in January when Burke pushed to have the party’s executive director, Caleb Faux, appointed to the Board of Elections instead of Silverton Mayor John A. Smith. Some party members wanted an African-American appointed, whether it be Smith, former Cincinnati Mayor Dwight Tillery or someone else.
The Board of Elections appointment pays $19,812 annually. Burke said Faux deserved the appointment because the party couldn’t afford to increase his executive director’s salary, and the additional income would be a consolation.
Burke has been criticized in recent years for lobbying the party to endorse candidates who allegedly don’t abide by Democratic principles but are good at raising campaign money like Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes and Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding.
Also, Burke was blasted for not having a Democratic candidate for county prosecutor on the ballot in 2004, when incumbent Prosecutor Mike Allen decided not to seek another term following a sex scandal. A Republican write-in candidate, former Prosecutor Joe Deters, won that race.
And Burke took more heat in 2008, when he agreed to a deal with the GOP not to field an endorsed candidate in one of the two county commission races that year. Because of record-setting Democratic turnout in the presidential race, some party members believe Democrats could’ve captured all three seats on the commission.
Burke, a downtown attorney who lives in Columbia Tusculum, has been party chairman since 1995.
In a letter sent to precinct executives last week, Tolliver said his goals as chairman would be to ensure that Democrats are competitive in every elected position in Hamilton County, and to engage and include precinct executives in “specific and meaningful roles” in the local party.
Tolliver wrote, “It is imperative that we give voters a strong Democratic choice when they go to the polls. In the past, there have been too many instances in which voters have gone to the polls and found no Democrat on the ballot to vote for. As chair, I will work to involve as many members of our party as possible to make certain this does not continue.”
He continued, “The biggest issue is the absence of a long term plan that all of us as Democrats can rally around. Ask yourself if you are familiar with a concrete, long term strategy for success that you can work towards. Have you been asked to contribute to the party in a way that maximizes your potential?”
The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the United Aerospace Workers hall, 10020 Reading Road, in Evendale.
The event is open to the public.
