Bill Cunningham walked in the front door of 801 Plum St. at 3:15 Tuesday and shouted, “Where's Luken? We want to see Chaz!”

        With sidekick Bill “Seg” Dennison in tow and all the boisterous bluster that fills the airwaves of WLW-AM (700), Mr. Cunningham made a showbiz entrance at City Hall.

        His visit with Charlie Luken on Tuesday marked the first time the top-rated radio talker had ever set foot in the mayor's office. Which is hard to believe, given his influence at City Hall.

        Take, for example, the dust-up he created last Tuesday over alleged “desecration” of the police memorial. So many outraged listeners called and e-mailed council members that by the time his show was over, Councilman John Cranley had already drawn up a motion calling for a complete investigation. (It was quietly dropped after Police Chief Tom Streicher told City Council there wasn't much to investigate.)

        Tuesday, Mr. Cunningham declined to comment on the substance of his 15-minute, closed-door “summit” with the mayor and aide Brendon Cull.

But Mr. Luken said later that he felt like he was on Mr. Cunningham's show. (“Seggie” even did the sports: “Jose Acevedo on the mound for the Reds tonight. Seven-hundred WLW game time 7:05,” he said.)

        “(Mr. Cunningham) was complaining about all the income tax he pays to the city,” Mr. Luken said. “And I said, "Willie, you should be the last person to complain about that. You've made a living at the city's expense.'”

        Mr. Luken has had mixed feelings about the bombastic talk show host dating back to his first stint as mayor in the 1980s. Mr. Cunningham — then a divorce lawyer dispensing free legal advice — would call the mayor at home late at night, often waking the children.

        “The thing about Cunningham is that he is so damned logical. But he's infuriating because he can take that logic to extremes and be harmful,” Mr. Luken said.

        So why does he talk to him?

        “There are two answers. First, when he's not at his extreme, he can be funny. And second, I don't want him to shape public opinion without my input,” Mr. Luken said. “One of the mistakes I made last year is not going on those talk shows more, because they do shape opinion.”

        Spare key: Another one of Mr. Cunningham's recent causes was the campaign to get Mr. Luken to give a key to the city to a cow that had escaped a Camp Washington slaughterhouse.

        Mr. Luken obliged — twice.

        The mayor presented the first key to Peter Max, the New York artist who bought the cow, at the Findlay Market parade two weeks ago.

        But the ill-tempered bovine has already broken that key (retail price: about $13), and so the mayor's office sent off a replacement this week.

        More talkers: Former Mayor Jerry Springer isn't the only confirmed donor to the city's secret fund to pay plaintiffs' attorneys in the recently settled racial profiling lawsuit.

        WDBZ-AM (1230) talk show host Jene Galvin — a close friend of the television host — says he's added $500 to Mr. Springer's $25,000.

        Quoteable: “It's kind of like Michael Jordan or Ryne Sandberg. The first time they retired, they filled stadiums. But the next time around, it's not as big a deal.”

        — Councilman David Pepper, on the second retirement of his father, Procter & Gamble chairman John Pepper.

        City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at 768-8391.

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