This week the Cincinnati boycotters - an amalgamation of dissatisfied citizens - at last released their list of demands. It was long on noise and short on reason (April 8 story).

Actually, it was a pre-list summary of 20 demands and 14 sub-demands in five general categories - economic, political, justice, health and education. They said it may be further refined. I guess they left off world peace.

Let's call this shotgun categorization of Cincinnati's ills the "A" list. To make it onto the A list, a demand had to come from the Cincinnati Black United Front, the First Coalition for a Just Cincinnati or the Concerned Citizens for Justice. Those were the groups in attendance at the Cincinnati Sanctions Summit II, held Monday at New Prospect Baptist Church in Over-the-Rhine.

During that meeting another group, the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, protested outside. This group broke off from the organizations inside over questions of leadership and direction. Its spokeswoman claimed to have a separate list of demands - call that the "B" list - not yet released.

A longstanding criticism of the boycotters is that while they have had sporadic effectiveness in keeping some people away from the city, they have never been very clear in explaining just what it is they want. Monday's meeting was designed to correct that problem. Instead, it served to show that this movement is unfocused, unrealistic and poorly led.

This A list is certainly a litany of problems. But they are not the kind of problems that can be solved on demand, which is why a boycott is the wrong way to approach them. Boycotts work pretty well on specific goals, say the desegration of the Montgomery, Ala., bus system in 1956. When people stopped riding the buses, the bus system and those who set its rules were forced to change.

But the demands here include things like "Change Cincinnati City Charter to have election of City Council Members by "Districts" or "Proportional Representation" to assure that the economic and political interest of African-American neighborhoods are equitaly represented." That's a change that is not impossible. It would take an amendment to the City Charter. To do that you would need a majority of council to vote to put it on the ballot or you would need to circulate petitions among registered voters to get it put on as a voter initiative. Once you get such a measure on the ballot, you have to convince a majority of Cincinnati's voters that it's a good idea.

The boycott leaders know this, but they aren't circulating petitions or planning campaign strategies. They aren't promoting candidates for council this year who will take up this cause.

So I have to ask, are they serious about wanting such changes? Or do they just enjoy the notoriety that comes from leading a protest?

One indication of their lack of serious intent was the selection of Stanley Broadnax to answer questions about the demands at Monday's meeting.

"We are only asking for what everybody else gets - a return on the taxes that we have paid for years," said Broadnax. "As black taxpayers we have had our taxes collected from us, but never reinvested in our communities."

Broadnax knows all about taxes and investment. A decade ago he owned property in Mount Auburn that he neglected to maintain, ignoring various violations of the building and health codes. That was particularly embarassing because at the time he was the city's health commissioner.

Broadnax was forced out as health commissioner because he had a habit of working other jobs - as a physician for the state prison in Lucasville and the Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington - while on the clock for his $115,000 a year city position. He said he needed extra money for financial problems caused by his real estate difficulties with the city.

He had other difficulties as well. Cocaine landed him in jail for 28 months on charges of trafficking and abuse, and resulted in the suspension of his medical license.

This isn't a guy who occupies the moral high ground. His supporters among the boycotters say he was the victim of racial discrimination. He was really a lying, cheating, drug-dealing crook who got into trouble through his own failings. Now he wants to lecture the rest of us on the unfairness of the system? Get serious.

Contact David Wells at 768-8310; fax: 768-8610; e-mail: dwells@enquirer.com.