BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOVELAND -- A city council member who wants President Clinton out of office should step aside himself, a local minister says.
The Rev. A.J. Hamilton is upset over a resolution Brad Greenberg pushed through council this week urging the U.S. House of Representatives to begin impeachment hearings against President Clinton. The Rev. Hamilton, a member of the association, has called a meeting at 8:30 a.m. today at City Hall to ask that the resolution be set aside. He wants Mr. Greenberg to consider resigning.
The Rev. Mr. Hamilton, a semi-retired plasterer, said public hearings should be held on the issue.
He said he thinks the resolution was politically motivated because it is not going to have any impact on what the House of Representatives does. Mr. Greenberg should resign, he said, partly because he introduced the resolution, but also because he is an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor.
"I think he introduced the resolution just to please his boss, who is running for a state office," the Rev. Mr. Hamilton said. Joseph Deters, county prosecutor, is running for state treasurer. "Why else would Mr. Greenberg introduce such a motion? If his boss wins, they will need a new prosecutor. Sounds strange to me," the Rev. Mr. Hamilton said.
He called for the meeting today with Mr. Greenberg and other members of council.
Mr. Greenberg said he will not be able to attend because he is participating in a walk to fight diabetes. But he said ; Councilwoman Mary Newman; and Mayor Lee Skierkiewicz will meet with Mr. Hamilton. "There was public input," Mr. Greenburg said. "The resolution was on the agenda and people came. Some spoke for it and some spoke against it."
Since the resolution was introduced Tuesday night and passed 5-0 with two members abstaining, it has been publicized nationally.
"This is going all over the world as if the people of Loveland supported it, when there was no public input at all," the Rev. Mr. Hamilton said. "The other council members received the resolution minutes before the council meeting and didn't have much time to consider it."
Mr. Greenberg, Mayor Skierkiewicz, Rob Weisgerber, David Bair and Paulette Leeper voted for it. Council members Mary Newman and Donna Lajcak abstained.
Mr. Greenberg said he doesn't think the motion will be set aside because five people voted for it.
