Sunday, September 26, 1999

Distractions vs. real issues

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Council race hardly touches council's job

BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        We learned two things in the world of politics this past week:

        1. The 2000 campaign for the presidency of the United States apparently has something to do with Pat Buchanan's rubber-arrow-through-the-head views on World War II.

        2. The Cincinnati City Council campaign in 1999 has to do with two issues — education, over which City Council has no more control than does the Bengals' offensive line, and the city's share of the property tax, which ranks right up there with the proverbial hill o' beans in terms of relevance.

        We would not hazard a guess why anyone in the Republican Party would care if the historically challenged Mr. Buchanan leaves the GOP, but we do think there's an explanation for what is going on in the latter situation.

        Thursday, at a Community Issues Forum at Christ Church, the nonincumbent candidates for Cincinnati City Council had a rare opportunity to address a roomful of voters without the publicity-crazed incumbents around to hog the spotlight.

        The nonincumbents, God bless 'em, did their best to make a favorable impression, but nearly every one of them used part of their four minutes on stage to talk about education and the need for better, safer, more effective public schools.

        Nobody argued with them — rather hard to do that in

        Cincinnati — but more than a few people in the audience were scratching their heads over whether these people were running for school board or City Council.

        It's not just the challengers — many of the incumbents are talking about the same thing.

        The other thing being talked about on the campaign trail is the proposal by Republican Councilman Phil Heimlich for a modest rollback in the city's share of the property tax — one that, for the owner of a $90,000 home, would mean an extra $14 in his or her pocket.

        Most of them could find that much buried in their sofas, but the Republican Party has made the Heimlich plan its do-or-die issue. It has help, too — a group called the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST).

        COAST has printed up 10,000 postcards for Cincinnati voters to send to three incumbent council members — Democrats Todd Portune and Paul Booth and Charterite Jim Tarbell — urging them to vote for the Heimlich plan.

        COAST calls this an “educational” campaign, but its leaders freely admit that they are trying to put election-year pressure on three council members who have a lot at stake in the Nov. 2 election — Mr. Tarbell and Mr. Booth, both appointed councilmen, could have a hard time winning, and Mr. Portune, a safe bet for re-election, desperately wants to be mayor.

        When the Heimlich plan failed in council in June, Mr. Portune voted for it with council's three Republicans. If a voter had read the COAST litera ture and had not been paying attention, he or she might have thought that Mr. Portune had not supported the Heimlich plan.

        Mr. Portune overreacted to this ploy and fired off a complaint to the Ohio Elections Commission, claiming COAST had unfairly and illegally tried to influence the election.

        Less than 24 hours later, the elections commission members practically blew milk out their noses laughing Mr. Portune's complaint out of court.

        As interesting as the great $14 debate might be, most council candidates will admit that the more important issue is how City Council spends the money it has — especially a city council that throws money to projects like barber colleges and gyms for chubby kids, the way this council has.

        The Republican Party doesn't want to talk about it; some of its incumbents voted for the pork. Ditto the Democrats.

        Meanwhile, two nonincumbent candidates are struggling to get people to pay attention to their plans.

        Democrat Scott Seidewitz has proposed a plan that would trim the city's middle-level bureaucracy and save, he says, about $11 million a year. Republican Pat DeWine has a plan to hold city spending to the rate of inflation for about five years, which he says would allow the city to get rid of the property tax altogether.

        These two are talking about real money. You won't find that in the sofa. Not unless you've had Bill Gates to dinner recently.

        Howard Wilkinson's column runs Sundays. Call him at 768-8388 or e-mail at hwilkinson@enquirer.com

        WILKINSON ARCHIVE