Mayor Charlie Luken stood in front of Krohn Conservatory last week as he sharply criticized proposed state budget cuts to local governments.

But he might just as easily have been standing in front of the elephant house at the Cincinnati Zoo.

His press conference last week was vaguely reminiscent of the zoo's 1997 levy campaign, in which former Director Ed Maruska threatened to get rid of the elephants if voters didn't cough up $20 million for a parking garage.

Standing in front of the conservatory and a phalanx of firefighters, Luken didn't deny the symbolism behind his statement.

"Krohn is a good backdrop because, in my political career, people have threatened to close it from time to time," Luken said.

"The cuts we will have to make will have an effect on these kinds of services."

Councilman John Cranley would call that "scare tactics."

That's what Cranley said a year ago, when city budget cuts led the Park Board to even suggest closing Krohn.

Since he was first elected as a councilman in 1981, Luken has often blasted the tendency of city administrators to offer up the most politically popular programs whenever a new round of budget cuts goes around.

At City Hall, they call those cuts "Washington Monuments" - named after the National Park Service's version of the elephant house.

Asked whether he was engaging in the same kind of rhetoric, Luken resorted to the one-word answer he uses when he realizes he's stuck.

"I want you to write this. The mayor said, 'Huh!'"

It depends whom you're lobbying: Standing with Luken last week was James R. Garges, director of the Cincinnati Recreation Commission.

With the mayor's blessing, he urged Cincinnati residents to call their state representatives to oppose the cuts.

This is the same guy City Council took to the woodshed in February for coordinating a lobbying campaign to increase the city's recreation budget.

Campaign trail: Some candidates for City Council are smarting over a new policy by City Manager Valerie Lemmie prohibiting city employees from talking to council candidates.

"All directors have been asked not to participate in that kind of information-gathering with candidates in this upcoming election," said Human Resources Director Rodney Prince.

"I think what it's designed to do is to say that city employees should spend their time working for city of Cincinnati, not devoting time to political activities."

At least two candidates - Republican Leslie Ghiz and Charterite John Schlagetter - are protesting, saying the policy violates the First Amendment rights of employees.

City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at gkorte@enquirer.com or 768-8391.