Thursday, June 17, 1999
Older, wiser Deters back in politics
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A decade ago, Eric Deters was the golden boy of Northern Kentucky Republican politics.
He was party chairman at age 24, had a well-known and politically connected name, a growing law practice, a killer smile, boundless energy and a thirst for victory mixed in with a taste for his opponents' political blood.
He wasn't afraid to tangle with Clyde Middleton, the first Republican ever elected Kenton County judge-executive, or buck the marching orders of then-congressman and now Senator Jim Bunning.
And they were members of his own party. Think about how he treated the Democrats.
Thick-skinned and outspoken, Mr. Deters could compete with the best of them on the political scene.
But he was also arrogant, vindictive, mouthy, selfish, power-hungry and at times just plain mean and nasty. Ultimately, he was politically self-destructive.
He'll be the first one to tell you about it.
Second chance
“I was young and dumb,” Mr. Deters said last week from behind the desk in his Fort Mitchell law office.
“I've mended some fences that should have been mended just for humanity's sake,” he said. “I don't want to get melancholy, but as I sit here today I don't hate anybody.”
There is a reason for this contrition and confession. Mr. Deters is jumping back into the political arena.
Political arena, watch out.
In what has to be the earliest overt run at an office since a flat-topped Bill Clinton shoved another teen out to the way to press flesh with John Kennedy — we've all seen that early Rose Garden photo op — Mr. Deters has announced he will run for Kenton County attorney in an election that won't be held for more than three years.
Mr. Deters swears he is a changed man. He certainly looks different, and is in a different life situation than when he dropped out of the political scene after the 1993 election.
At 35, the muss of blond hair is mostly gone, but a goatee now rings his mouth. He has left Deters, Benzinger and LaVelle, the powerful law firm his father, Charlie Deters, started, to strike out on his own.
He is an accomplished and successful business owner and investor, with stakes in a real estate firm, a gymnastics school, restaurants, gas stations and a health club.
But the most profound, life-altering change came on a devastating personal note. Mr. Deters is a widower with three young children, ages 10, 9 and 7, having lost his wife, Lisa, to cancer in December.
Own initiative
“I am totally different than I was in the early 1990s, when I was knee-deep in politics,” he said. “I've matured a great deal on every front.
“Then with Lisa and the cancer ... ” he said, his booming voice trailing off ever so slightly. “My outlook on life is I savor every day, even the bad days.
“Every day.”
You can feel sad for Eric Deters, but don't feel sorry for him. Because he doesn't want pity.
He wants another chance. He wants it so bad, he's taking it.
Nobody from the Republican Party, or the Democratic Party, or anywhere else came and asked Mr. Deters to run for county attorney. It's something he wants to do, needs to do, has to do.
“I just can't help wanting to run for office and be involved in the game,” he said.
Nobody has really heard too much of Mr. Deters in political circles since 1993, when after a public and brutal falling out with the Republican Party, he managed the losing Democratic primary campaign of Kenton County judge-executive candidate Bob Rade macher.
“I wanted to get everybody back,” Mr. Deters said, explaining, or maybe rationalizing, his switch from Republican to Democrat.
By the way, he'll run for county attorney — an office now held by two-term Democrat Garry Edmondson — as a Republican.
Mr. Deters had plenty of success in that party.
He helped elect Mr. Middleton to the county's highest office.
“I bled for the man,” Mr. Deters said.
In the 1990 state Senate race, he helped elect Republican Dick Roeding — who is still in the General Assembly — by hammering Democrat Gordon Martin for being convicted of DUI.
He helped organize and build the party in Kenton County as well as in the 4th Congressional District.
But, by his own admission, he went too far.
He tried to dictate who Mr. Middleton should appoint to certain boards.
“I didn't want him to appoint people without talking to the party,” Mr. Deters said of Mr. Middleton. “And that was foolish of me.”
He fell out of favor with Mr. Bunning after supporting Larry Forgy over Larry Hopkins in the 1991 GOP gubernatorial primary.
“I couldn't help it,” Mr. Deters said, “I worshiped at the altar of Larry Forgy. I loved him.
“I tried to control too much when I was chairman of the party,” Mr. Deters said.
“I chased people out of campaigns. I encouraged people to run ... but there are some things you just can't control,” he said. “And I learned that from Lisa.”
Had his wife not taken ill, he was going to challenge Mr. Edmondson, who ran unopposed, last year. He already was slowly trying to rebuild some of those bridges he had burned, giving $1,000 to Mr. Bunning during his winning Senate campaign of 1998.
Mr. Deters is quick to mention that Mr. Bunning sent flowers to his wife's funeral.
“Eric tried to reach out to me; he did it in my Senate race,” Mr. Bunning said this week, sounding as if he's open to if not forgetting, then at least forgiving.
“If someone can direct Eric's unbelievable energy, and no one can do that except Eric, then he can be an asset to Kenton County and Northern Kentucky,” the senator said.
Mr. Deters said he will run an aggressive, but not dirty or nasty campaign.
“I'm humbled,” Mr. Deters professed. “I'm not as self-righteous. I am more relaxed. I have the same amount of energy.
“But I think a lot more before I talk and act than I used to.”
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or 502-875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net
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