BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CRESCENT SPRINGS -- The race for mayor pits a Boy Scout leader and church council member against a 55-year church member who's the daughter of one of the city's early mayors.
So why has this campaign deteriorated into claims of background checks, allegations of stolen campaign signs, and residents wearing T-shirts with the top 10 reasons not to vote for the current mayor? Challenger Claire Moriconi, 61, said this is the first time in four elections that she's had to defend herself against allegations of misconduct by an opponent.
"One thing I can offer is stability on council and trust," the nine-year council member said. "I want to hear from people. Before we undertake any major project, I want to hear residents' thoughts on it."
"When you don't have an issue, you try to create an issue," said Mayor Ken Robinson, 48, a council member who was appointed mayor in January. "If there's any mistrust, show me where it is and I'll try to clarify it."
Mr. Robinson says Mrs. Moriconi and her supporters hired a private investigator to do a background check on him, a claim she denies. He also said his opponent's supporters have accused him of removing Mrs. Moriconi's campaign signs at 3 a.m., a charge she called "ridiculous."
If elected to a four-year term as mayor, Mr. Robinson pledged that he will continue the progress the city has seen during his administration and that of former Mayor George Stewart. The mayor and self-employed private investigator also said that he "won't be a puppet to apartment owners and developers" like his opponent.
"That is so untrue," Mrs. Moriconi said. She said her opponent voted on the sale of park property to Caresprings, proposed to sell a piece of residential property to United Dairy Farmers and supported the rezoning of the Walgreen's property.
"If those weren't developments, I don't know what was," she said.
Park started problems
On one thing, the two agree. Much of the feuding can be traced to a controversy over a city park.
Last year, negotiations between Crescent Springs and Villa Hills to pay for a joint park dissolved in acrimony.
The split reached its worst when Crescent Springs Council members supported putting a nursing home on land that Mrs. Moriconi and other critics said should have gone to park use. City officials abandoned the nursing home plan.
Since then, the majority of council has sparred with residents over a decision to borrow money to develop a park.
Mrs. Moriconi also accused Mr. Robinson of rushing the dedication of the park last weekend, when only the shelter and parking lot were finished. She was particularly upset by a $1,650 bill for a disc jockey.
Mr. Robinson "did the dedication for political reasons just so he could say, "I gave you a park.' "
Mr. Robinson, in turn, accused Mrs. Moriconi of trying to stop the project.
"Mrs. Moriconi tried three times to get us to stop building the park this year," he said. "I honestly believe that if we hadn't done as much work as we did, she would have sold the park property if elected mayor."
"I would never have sold that park property, even if we would have had to wait another year or two" to develop the park, Mrs. Moriconi said. "What I'm concerned about is that money is being spent wastefully."
On another issue, Mrs. Moriconi said the creation of a city administrator's job and the subsequent hiring of Mr. Stewart, the former mayor, at an annual salary of $50,000 prompted many Crescent Springs residents to lose faith in their city government.
Mr. Robinson said the city administrator has saved the city about $300,000, including $256,000 on park infrastructure improvements, by having the city's public works employees do the work instead of contracting it out.
Mr. Robinson said Mr. Stewart also helped the city obtain a $20,000 grant from the state to develop a park trail, and a $21,000 grant from the state to put computers in city police cars so that officers can do their paperwork in their cars and stay in the field more.
"He may have saved us some money, but (Mr. Robinson) forgot to tell you how much money he's borrowed to do this park," Mrs. Moriconi said. "We have to pay back $1.3 million. That's a lot of money."
Mrs. Moriconi, who has pledged to be "the citizens' voice on council," also said that her administration would let residents address council on important issues, and she promised to reduce the number of special council meetings.
Since January, Crescent Springs Council has held 13 special meetings. Nine of those were called for 6 p.m., a time that Mrs. Moriconi says reduces council attendance.
Mr. Robinson said the early meeting time was necessary to accommodate a council member's work schedule.
Minutes of the Aug. 10 meeting show that a majority of council said they would prefer that all meetings be held at 7 p.m. Mr. Robinson said he would try to schedule meetings at 7. Since then, five special meetings have been called, all at 6 p.m.
