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Given the topic — how to curb violent crime — it wouldn’t feel right to say State Sen. Mark Mallory’s campaign has now drawn the first blood in the mayoral race. But after the happy-talk fest that was the Hamilton County Democratic Forum one week earlier, Mallory’s March 21 criticism of his opponents marks the first significant effort to delineate himself from the other two Democrats in the race.
The attack came in a statement issued in anticipation of City Councilman David Pepper’s proposals for reducing crime. Patrick McLean, spokesman for the Mallory campaign, not only managed to criticize Pepper prior to his having spoken but also worked Vice Mayor Alicia Reece into the same sound bite.
“David Pepper has been on council for four years and he’s spent more time fighting with Alicia Reece than addressing the violent crime problems in the city,” McLean said.
Having the campaign flak handle the negative talk freed Mallory to sound more diplomatic.
“It’s time to stop talking about competing plans and time to start working together with neighborhoods and the police department to make Cincinnati safer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Reece might do well to hire a proofreader for her own campaign literature. The March 5 announcement of her candidacy featured this headline: “Less than two years after race riots rock city, Reece launches historic candidacy to build a progressive and more inclusive city.”
Never mind the grandiosity that is Reece’s trademark; her math is wrong.
The uprising in Over-the-Rhine was in 2001, nearly four years ago — not less than two.
Then there’s the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, which is engaging in the time-honored but illicit practice of politicking on the public’s dime. Concerned about cuts in state funding, the library is distributing a “Call to Action” that asks patrons to contact lawmakers.
“Write to your state legislators to urge them to preserve library funding,” the leaflet says.
The document is no bland recitation of facts — it uses no fewer than 13 exclamation points to argue against cuts proposed by Gov. Bob Taft. The flier helpfully provides addresses, phone numbers and e-mail information for the county’s state representatives and senators.
That’s quite a switch from the library’s decision last year to bar “MTV Rock the Vote” — a nonpartisan voter registration drive — on the theory that the event was tilted toward one side of the political spectrum. There’s nothing impartial about the library’s plea for political assistance.
Exercising Their Right to Speak out
About 150 people stood witness for peace March 19 on Fountain Square, marking the second anniversary of the war on Iraq. That wasn’t their plan, but lightning made organizers cancel plans to march on the Federal Building and to social service agencies whose funding has been adversely affected by the Bush administration’s war spending. City Councilman David Crowley eloquently spoke against the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, then focused on its domestic consequences.
“Specifically as a member of city council, I’m concerned about the impact the war is having on our lives right here in Cincinnati, Ohio,” he said. “At the same time we’re trying to fight this ridiculous war, we’re cutting back services for our urban areas. … Not only do I have a right to speak on behalf of the city of Cincinnati, I have a responsibility to speak on behalf of the city of Cincinnati. Let’s bring our troops home.”
The local rally was part of the Day of Global Action Against the War. An estimated 45,000 protested in London, according to the Associated Press. Among the more than two dozen arrested in protests in New York City was Faith Groesbeck, who hosted a contingent of Cincinnati protesters during the Republican National Convention last year. She and others were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking the entrance to an Army Recruiting Station in Brooklyn.
Groesbeck is scheduled to speak April 10 during Global 3, a conference at the University of Cincinnati about the effects of globalization of the economy.
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2005.