BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE -- The embattled mayor of Independence held a news conference Thursday to say two things: He was leaving office and, he hoped, coming back.
Ike Gabbard relented Thursday after more than a year of ouster pressure from foes who ultimately included Kentucky Attorney General Ben Chandler. As of midnight tonight, he'll no longer be the city's leader. It was either step down, the attorney general said, or face a lawsuit intended to throw him out.
"I feel that there's going to be a lot of people jumping up and down for joy," said Mr.
Gabbard, mayor since 1994.
But he also fired back at detractorswith another announcement -- that it would be only 11 or 12 days before he throws his hat back into the ring.
"I will leave it up to the voters to decide whether they feel I'm worthy of a second term," he said.
The mayor's problems began as far back as 1954, when he was convicted in Ohio for receiving stolen property. He was 19, and he sold some tires that had been stolen by somebody else. He got less than $100 for the tires, but lost more -- his voting rights. He later had them restored in Ohio and thought that was sufficient.
He did not have voting rights restored in Kentucky. That, a judge ruled last year, put the mayor in violation of state law when he was a candidate in 1993. But the judge stopped there, saying he couldn't remove the mayor from office because he couldn't fairly decide which of the other two mayoral candidates would have won.
Mr. Gabbard's rights in Kentucky have since been restored. That happened in 1993 also, but not in time for his candidacy to be legal. But it did happen in time, said Mr. Gabbard and his attorney, G. Wayne Bridges, for his candidacy to be legal now.
The mayor said he was shocked by Mr. Chandler's decision to pursue his ouster now. Mr. Bridges was surprised, too, he said, because the attorney general had said some time ago that he would wait to act until the lawsuit made its way through the state Court of Appeals. That court ruled the two unsuccessful candidates did not have standing to seek the mayor's ouster. But the mayor asked for a rehearing, and that request is pending.
The mayor will have at least two opponents in November. Council members Jaimie Henson and Rebecca Weber have filed to run. One candidate, former council member Steve Feldhaus, has filed to run for council. Candidates have until Aug. 11 to file.
