Saturday, January 08, 2000
Portune takes on Bedinghaus
Councilman enters commissioner race
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Portune
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Bedinghaus
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Democratic Cincinnati Councilman Todd Portune will take on Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, a Republican, in this year's election. But another disgruntled Democrat may put some roadblocks in Mr. Portune's way.
Marilyn Hyland of Indian Hill, a Democrat who ran against County Commissioner Tom Neyer Jr. in 1998 and lost, filed for the Bedinghaus seat late last year. She says she will either challenge Mr. Portune in the March 7 Democratic primary or run as an independent candidate this fall.
“I have an obligation to the people who supported me to see this through,” Ms. Hyland said Friday.
Friday was the last day for candidates to file for the March 7 party primaries. Mr. Portune, after rejecting pressure from Democratic congressional leaders to run for Congress against GOP incumbent Steve Chabot, filed his petitions to run for the Bedinghaus seat Friday afternoon.
Mr. Portune said he expected Ms. Hyland to withdraw. Instead, she showed up at the Hamilton County Board of Elections and picked up petitions to run as an independent candidate. Those petitions have to be filed by the day before the March primary to qualify her for the November ballot as an independent.
Democratic Party leaders fear Ms. Hyland more as an independent candidate this fall than as a challenger to Mr. Portune in the Democratic primary in March.
As an independent candidate, she could peel away votes from Mr. Portune that might make the difference between his winning and losing the county commission race.
Hamilton County Democratic Party co-chairman Tim Burke said Ms. Hyland is free to do as she pleases.
“If she runs in the primary, we will make sure Democrats
know that the endorsed candidate is Todd Portune,” Mr. Burke said.
Mr. Portune said he and Ms. Hyland “are not adversaries” and agree on what is likely to be the principal campaign theme for both — that the county commissioners have mishandled construction of new stadiums for the Reds and Bengals. They also contend that commissioners — most particularly Mr. Bedinghaus — gave the Bengals far too much in the lease agreement for Paul Brown Stadium, which is to be open by August.
“The stadiums appear to be the focal point of the commissioners' concerns and, in the meantime, the other business of the county has fallen by the wayside,” said Mr. Portune, who is in his fourth and final term on council under the city's term limits law.
The Republican county commissioners, Mr. Portune said, “have dropped the ball on a whole range of issues, from the environment to brownfield development to water and sewer management.
“I plan to talk about all of it in this campaign.”
Mr. Bedinghaus said he is surprised that the Democratic Party landed on Mr. Portune as their commission candidate.
“He's one of the most liberal council members in recent years,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “I plan to talk about our differences on a whole range of issues — abortion, gun control, managed competition.”
Mr. Bedinghaus said one reason the county's lease agreement with the Bengals was so generous to the football team's ownership is that “back in 1995, City Council left us with a mess that we had to clean up, and the city had already given away a lot of the leverage we had with the Bengals.”
Any Democrat faces an uphill battle because the GOP dominates in countywide elections.
In other Hamilton County races, Democrats will run Colerain Township Trustee Joe Wol terman against Republican County Commissioner John Dowlin.
Former County Recorder Eve Bolton will be the Democratic candidate opposing incumbent Republican Clerk of Courts Jim Cissell. Melanie Bates, a Democrat and member of the Ohio Board of Education, will run for county recorder against incumbent Republican Rebecca Prem Groppe.
Democrat Ronald Cheek will oppose Republican county Coroner Carl Parrott, as he did four years ago. Brian Watson, a Democrat from Springfield Township, will take on Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr.
No Democrats filed to oppose two other incumbent Republican county office-holders — treasurer Robert Goering and engineer William Brayshaw.
Seven judicial candidates — six of them incumbents — will have no opposition for seats on the 1st District Court of Appeals and Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
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