After spending his first weekend in a month as a free man, Nate Livingston Jr. plans to announce today that he will run for Cincinnati City Council in November.

        The controversial former radio talk-show host said Sunday night he would announce his candidacy at 10 a.m. today on the debut of a talk program hosted by former Mayor Dwight Tillery on WCIN-AM (1480).

        Mr. Livingston, who turned 32 Sunday, was released Friday after serving 37 days of a 60-day sentence for trespassing. He was arrested last year after he interrupted a speech
by the mayor on Fountain Square.

        His platform: Eliminating the earnings tax for city residents only (a move that would likely run afoul of state law) and passing a living wage ordinance.

        Mr. Livingston, of Avondale, said he already has more than enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. More than 20 candidates are expected to file petitions to run for the nine council seats by the Aug. 23 deadline.

        Mr. Livingston said he won't run as a Democrat because the party already endorsed nine candidates for City Council. Instead, he said he would seek an endorsement from the Charter Committee, which now has a slate of just three candidates and a mayor.

        “I don't care where the votes come from. I'm seeking to address issues that affect every single person,” he said. “But I'm not going to run from race issues, either. I think the city has in many ways shown disrespect toward the African-American community.”

        Jim Tarbell, the only Charterite member now serving on City Council, said Mr.

        Livingston doesn't stand a chance of getting a major party endorsement.

        “He's got too much baggage,” Mr. Tarbell said. “And no one's tried harder to find middle ground with Nate than I have. He is certainly intelligent and well-informed. But he has to get a life.”

        But Mr. Tillery, a political mentor to Mr. Livingston, said confrontation might be the only course when the powers that be squash dissenting points of view.

        “He could do a lot to represent a point of view that's not being heard,” said Mr. Tillery, chairman of the African-American Political Caucus. “I think there are a lot of people who have respect for Nate. There's certainly a group of people who wish he would have handled things differently at times. Some of his best friends have said that.”

        A frequent police critic, Mr. Livingston once was investigated for menacing after making what was interpreted as a threatening on-the-air comment about former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters while Mr. Livingston was a part-time host on WLW-AM (700).

        He was fired in June after a 10-month stint as a talk show host on “The Buzz” WDBZ-AM (1230). He has threatened a lawsuit and says his firing was political.

        Mr. Livingston was serving a jail sentence for disrupting Mayor Charlie Luken's speech at last year's Oktoberfest by jumping on the stage and using a bullhorn to demand a meeting with the police chief.

        On Friday, the First District Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that Mr. Livingston was entitled to bond, which allows him to go free pending the outcome of an appeal.

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