BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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John Dowlin put fellow Hamilton County Commissioners on the spot Wednesday by proposing they put the stadium issue on the ballot and end the bureaucratic snarl over the petitions.
The two other commissioners, Tom Neyer Jr. and Bob Bedinghaus, called in the county prosecutor to referee, saying they believed Mr. Dowlin's motion was improper.
In a tone that resembled a scolding, Chief Deputy Prosecutor James Harper blocked Mr. Dowlin's effort: "You have done what you are authorized to do by statute. There is nothing further for you to do as a county commission."
Mr. Neyer and Mr. Bedinghaus do not support the effort to switch the Reds stadium site to Broadway Commons, which is the result petitioners are seeking with the question.
Had the two been forced to vote against placing the question on the ballot, they could have been accused of blocking the people's right to vote.
"It would be astounding to see county commissioners . . . act as obstructionists of our constitutional right to vote," said Jim Sonnenberg, a Broadway Commons advocate.
The Broadway Commons people argued that the issue should go to the ballot because the elections board failed to find the petitions invalid on Monday. The board deadlocked in a 2-2 vote.
"Because of the failure of the board of elections to render a decision, pro or con, within the stated time period, this is a de facto valid petition," said Cincinnati City Councilman Todd Portune.
Challengers of the petition, who provoked the elections board's vote Monday, disagreed and said they will continue on course to have Secretary of State Bob Taft break the deadlock. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Columbus.
"We plan to explain why we believe the matter is not yet properly before the secretary, but in the event he determines it is, we plan to file a statement of our position," said lawyer William Seitz. Mr. Seitz, a petition challenger, said he thinks the three-day window to challenge the elections board's decision has not opened because the board reached no decision.
Mr. Dowlin had argued that the failure to decide was a failure by the elections board to carry out its mandate from the county commissioners. Commissioners certified the ballot question to the elections board on July 29.
"The board of elections did not carry out its statutory requirement to certify the petition as either valid or not valid," Mr. Dowlin said during the Wednesday commissioners' meeting.
Ohio law spells out that most ties of the elections board are to be decided by the secretary of state.
Mr. Dowlin said county commissioners could decide.
Mr. Bedinghaus disagreed.
"It's pretty clear that we are specifically left out of this process, according to law, as the issue winds its way either toward the ballot or off the ballot," he said.
