Friday, March 19, 1999
Democrats reserve a place for Luken
TV anchor was top vote-getter in '80s council elections
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Democrats are leaving one spot open on their city council slate for a high-profile candidate they expect to jump into the race by summer — former mayor and TV anchor Charlie Luken.
“Charlie expects to run,” said former Democratic Councilman Peter Strauss, who is heading the party's candidate nominating committee. “And we would be delighted to have him.”
Mr. Luken, who is still under contract as WLWT's news anchor, declined to comment Thursday.
But Mr. Strauss said he and Hamilton County Democratic Party co-chairman Tim Burke lunched with Mr. Luken last week and came away believing he would run for council this year.
The entry into the race of Mr. Luken — twice the top vote-getter in council elections in the late 1980s — would change the picture as a field of council candidates try this fall
to succeed Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who cannot run for re-election under the city's term limits law.
Incumbent council members such as Democrats Todd Portune and Minette Cooper and Republican Charlie Winburn have been mentioned as potential top vote-getters in this year's council race. But Mr. Luken — having done it twice — would also be considered a strong contender. In Cincinnati, political parties generally endorse up to nine candidates for the nine council seats, although party affiliation is not listed on the ballot.
Mr. Strauss said the party's nominating committee is recommending five candidates for endorsement, in addition to incumbents Mr. Portune, Ms. Cooper and Paul Booth.
The non-incumbents include Forrest Buckley, a former firefighters' union president who ran in 1997; Kaye Britton, who was also a candidate two years ago; and newcomers Jane Anderson, an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati; Alecia Reece, a producer at WCIN-AM (1480) radio; and Scott Seidewitz, a Democratic Party activist who has worked in past council campaigns.
Mr. Strauss said the party will hold a spot open to be filled by the August deadline for candidates to file with the board of elections. By that time, Mr. Strauss said, party leaders hope Mr. Luken will be ready to enter the race.
Mr. Burke said if Mr. Luken runs, “it will greatly increase our chances of keeping a majority on council.”
The Hamilton County Republican Party, with three incumbents running for re-election, is hoping to capture a council majority for the first time in 28 years by electing GOP challengers Pat DeWine and Diane Goldsmith.
Speculation about Mr. Luken being on the Democratic Party slate this year has worried GOP leaders for months.
His name has not been on a ballot since 1990, when he ran against J. Kenneth Blackwell and won the U.S. House seat formerly held by his father, Thomas Luken.
The younger Mr. Luken left Congress after one term and went to WLWT as a news anchor.
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