BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tuesday's filing deadline for city offices didn't just shatter some myths about local politics. It slaughtered them.
Myth 1: Nobody cares about politics. Tell that to the candidates for city councils in Independence, 14 candidates for six council seats and six candidates for mayor; Crescent Springs, 11 candidates for six seats; Villa Hills, 12 candidates for six seats; Fort Wright, 11 candidates for six seats; and Alexandria, 12 candidates for six seats.
Myth 2: Past sins doom a political career. Let the voters decide. There are at least two candidates willing to try to overcome some pretty serious past indiscretions in the forms of criminal records and once again win election to office.
Fred Brooks, a former Ludlow councilman, went to jail seven years ago for his role in a scheme to steal thousands of gallons of gasoline. He filed Tuesday to run for mayor of the Kenton County city.
Out in Independence, former Mayor Ike Gabbard, who left office in July, is again running for mayor, in a field of six candidates. Forty-four years ago, when Mr. Gabbard was 19, he was convicted in Ohio of receiving stolen property. He had his voting rights restored, but has faced pressure over the case from the Kentucky attorney general's office and decided last month to step down.
Myth 3: Small-town politics is boring. Please. Some of the very best campaigns will be waged in Northern Kentucky suburbs this fall.
In the Alexandria mayor's race, bombastic former Campbell County Judge-executive Lloyd Rogers, who at times plays political hardball, will go up against incumbent Councilman Dan McGinley. Political watchers in Alexandria say Mr. McGinley is a tough pol who won't back down from Mr. Rogers, who has already knocked on hundreds of doors in the fast-growing Campbell County city. The city's last council race resulted in lawsuits and a state investigation. This once sleepy town is, for better or worse, wide awake when it comes to politics.
Crescent Springs City Council meetings became part circus sideshow, part big-time wrestling last winter and spring as the council battled with a well-organized citizens' group over development of a park and the hiring of a city administrator.
Two of the main combatants in those fights, resident Claire Moriconi and Mayor Ken Robinson, will go at it in the mayor's race. This one should be wild.
Does this sound like a soap opera or what? The spurned and suspended small-town police chief drops an 11th-hour filing deadline bomb when he announces plans to run for mayor against the brother-in-law of the man who will decide his fate as police chief.
Confused? Intrigued? Stay tuned to Fort Wright this fall, as embattled Police Chief Mark Brown runs for mayor against former council member and, in yet another confusing twist, former Police Chief Gene Weaver, who happens to be kin to interim Mayor Paul Hiltz, who gets to decide whether Chief Brown keeps his job.
Chief Brown was suspended in June by City Administrator Marc Bergman for ignoring city policies and threatening a superior. Here's the deal -- small-town politics is where it's all happening this fall.
Some of the county fiscal court races will be equally hot. But for pure drama, bare-knuckle politics, down-and-dirty campaigning, and serious and loud debates on issues that will truly affect a community and its residents, the 'burbs have it all.
That's really what makes small-town politics great. It's easy to get involved. Just about anybody can, and apparently does, run. When in some cases just a few thousand people, or even several hundred, are deciding elections, every vote does count. Voters can get to know all of the candidates, in case they don't already.
And the issues -- parks, streets, sewers, stop signs -- are issues that people encounter every day from Alexandria to Crescent Springs. Small towns are also a place where tomorrow's county, state and federal officials make their names.
These well-known Northern Kentucky pols served on city councils and commissions before taking the next political step, be it serving in or running for, higher office: U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning; Campbell County Judge-executive Ken Paul, Democratic congressional candidate Ken Lucas; Boone County Fiscal Court candidates Jim Collins and Robert Hay; Kenton County Commissioners Barb Black, Steve Arlinghaus and Bernie Moorman; Campbell County Commissioners Roland Vories and Bill Verst; Kenton County Judge-executive candidate Denny Bowman; Campbell County Fiscal Court candidates Jim Stegman, Terry Rasche and Steve Pendery; and state House candidate Joe Fischer.
In Northern Kentucky this fall, small town means a big time when it comes to politics.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort.
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