Thursday, September 23, 1999
Portune calls tactic illegal
Councilman files complaint against anti-tax group
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Councilman Todd Portune has filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, saying an anti-tax group is illegally using its “educational” campaign to target him for defeat this fall.
But leaders of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) said Mr. Portune is engaged in an “outrageous” attempt to stifle their free-speech rights.
Mr. Portune's complaint came after COAST began distributing 10,000 postcards to Cincinnati voters, urging them to send them to three councilmen: Mr. Portune, his fellow Democrat Paul Booth, and Charterite Jim Tarbell.
The postcards urge the councilmen to vote for a property tax rollback proposed by Republican Councilman Phil Heimlich and sign a pledge that they will vote for any tax rollback that comes up in the next council term.
Supporters of the Heimlich rollback need five votes on the nine-member council to pass the issue.
But Mr. Portune said that, on June 30, he voted for the rollback with the three Republicans on council, when the issue failed by a 5-4 vote.
Mr. Heimlich wants to raise the issue in council again before the Nov. 2 election. Mr. Portune has said he will vote for it again “unless a better plan providing broader tax relief is on the table.”
“I've already voted in favor of the rollback, and (COAST) is out there giving voters the impression that I don't,” Mr. Portune said.
COAST's letter to Cincinnati voters accompanying the postcards, Mr. Portune said, violates Ohio election law prohibiting false statements about the voting record of a candidate or public official.
Attorney Chris Finney, one of COAST's organizers, said the letter does not say that Mr. Portune voted against the Heimlich measure; it asks voters to tell Mr. Portune they want him to support it when it comes up again before council.
“This is not aimed at affecting the election,” Mr. Finney said. “This is aimed at getting (the rollback) passed. It's an education campaign.”
But Mr. Finney and COAST organizer Tom Brinkman Jr. said last week that the postcard campaign was aimed at Mr. Booth and Mr. Tarbell because they are appointed councilmen and considered vulnerable candidates this fall, and at Mr. Portune because the issue could affect his chances of being the top vote-getter and, thus, the next mayor.
“We stand by every jot and tittle of that document,” Mr. Finney said.
“Todd Portune has equivocated on this issue and he desperately wants to avoid making this pledge.”
Mr. Portune's complaint, Mr. Finney said, “is the most outrageous attempt at throttling free speech I have ever seen.”
Officials at the Ohio Elections commission could not be reached for comment on when a hearing on the Portune complaint would be held.
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