Saturday, October 16, 1999
Broadnax pitched for agency
But vote falls short of majority
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Supporters of former Cincinnati Health Commissioner Stanley Broadnax, who served 28 months in prison for drug abuse and cocaine trafficking, want him to lead a public agency charged with rehabilitating nine of the city's poorest neighborhoods.
Cincinnati's Empowerment Zone board voted 16-6 in favor of Mr. Broadnax's appointment as CEO at the members' October meeting. . City manager John Shirey, a board member, said the appointment was not adopted because the 16 votes fell short of a majority for the 33-member board. Several members were absent and three or four abstained, Mr. Shirey said.
The board decided to pursue the services of a loaned executive until a permanent CEO can be hired.
It wasn't clear Friday whether another vote will be taken on Mr. Broadnax.
Mr. Shirey was among those who opposed Mr. Broadnax's appointment.
“I do not think a struggling, fledgling organization that did not receive promised federal funding needs to add to those difficulties by appointing a controversial figure,” Mr. Shirey said.
Cincinnati's Empowerment Zone program, which will attempt to reduce unemployment and increase home ownership in its neighborhoods, received $3 million in January of a promised $100 million over 10 years.
The Empowerment Zone board consists of members of community councils, the business community and government, nonprofits and religious organizations.
Mr. Broadnax became the first — and only — African-American health commissioner in Cincinnati when he was appointed in 1979.
A University of Michigan graduate who championed minority health issues and expanded services to the poor during his tenure, Mr. Broadnax resigned in 1993, after The Cincinnati Enquirer re vealed he had taken sick time to moonlight as a prison doctor at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
In the months after his resignation, he began using cocaine to manage stress, Mr. Broadnax said at his sentencing Nov. 16, 1994.
He also once owned or controlled at least 17 properties in Mount Auburn.
In 1993, the city sued Mr. Broadnax for ignoring repeat ed violations on Mount Auburn properties. Later that year, the city said it would take over and develop Mr. Broadnax's property.
Mr. Broadnax responded by charging discrimination and asking City Council to intervene with city administrators.
In February 1994, he was arrested on drug charges after a two-month investigation.
He later admitted to being a drug abuser and was convicted of selling cocaine to a police informant.
He entered prison in November 1994 and was released in March 1997. His medical license was revoked.
In August, the $20,000 fine imposed on Mr. Broadnax after his 1994 conviction was thrown out by Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Melba Marsh because Mr. Broadnax was broke and jobless.
Prosecutors said Mr. Broadnax still owns several parcels of land and may have shielded some assets in a corporation owned by relatives.
Efforts to reach Mr. Broadnax on Friday were unsuccessful.
The nine neighborhoods in the Empowerment Zone program are Avondale, Clifton-Fairview, Corryville, Evanston, Mount Auburn, Over-the-Rhine, Queensgate, Walnut Hills and the West End.
The nine Democratic candidates for City Council support empowerment zones and expansion of the concept to additional neighborhoods.
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