By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The ousted city councilman, the establishment guy, the woman, the township guy and the judge.

The population of an updated "Gilligan's Island"? The cast of the new "Survivor"? No, it's the crowded field competing for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune in November.

With 50 days until thousands of Hamilton County Republican voters go to the polls, the first order of business for the five candidates is to distinguish themselves from their opponents.

They have the added obstacle that their race threatens to be overshadowed by another GOP primary between Commissioner John Dowlin and his challenger, Cincinnati Councilman Pat DeWine.

That's why the would-be candidates are scurrying to define themselves in speeches at fund-raisers and local Republican clubs and in regular missives to local media.

• Former Cincinnati councilman Chris Monzel, 35, of General Electric Aircraft Engines, starts with the most name recognition and, thus, with a big target on his back. Other candidates are branding him a loser after he failed to win re-election in November, but he says his views are more compatible with the more conservative Hamilton County suburbs than the city.

In one litmus test for candidates, Monzel says he supports a proposal by Commissioner Phil Heimlich and Auditor Dusty Rhodes to make all countywide levies - which support services to children, the elderly, the zoo and other institutions - compete on one ballot.

The Winton Place resident also stresses the need to tackle crime countywide: "There is crime in the city, but the cancer is spreading out to the county. That's a concern."

• Blue Ash Councilman Jim Sumner is emerging as the establishment candidate, with endorsements from Prosecutor Mike Allen and Sheriff Simon Leis, and campaign help from party insiders Buck Niehoff and George Vincent.

Sumner, a 47-year-old GE Aircraft Engines manager, calls himself a moderate. He told supporters at a fund-raiser Thursday that he wants to control taxes but "some of the ideas that are being floated around these days could bankrupt the county."

If levies are put in a position to fail, he says, the county will have to find millions of dollars elsewhere to provide mandated services for neglected children, people with mental retardation and others.

• Sandra Faith Hall, a 45-year-old financial planner from Sycamore Township, is running a grass-roots campaign with "as little money as possible." It's her second try for office, after a run in 2002 against Tyrone Yates for state representative.

Hall, who opposes the one-ballot proposal, says she represents a more compassionate side of the Republican Party: "I believe of the five candidates I am more likely to pull from Portune's base. I think I am more responsive because I am a woman."

• Anderson Township Trustee Russ Jackson, 60, wants to be the voice of the townships, which are home to 34 percent of the county's residents. "We spend our money wisely," he says. "We don't have a lot of bureaucracy, and we don't have high taxes."

And unlike many politicians who talk about running the county like a business, Jackson says, he actually ran a truck company for many years.

• Retired Juvenile Judge David Grossmann of Springfield Township is the only candidate who has won countywide office, although he hasn't been on a ballot since 1992. He also notes that he is the only candidate with administrative experience in county government, overseeing a staff of more than 600 employees as a judge.

Grossmann is the oldest candidate, at 75, but says he's in good health and serious about his candidacy: "I've never been in a campaign that wasn't serious."

The winner of the primary will take on Portune, a former Cincinnati city councilman from Westwood, who defeated Republican Bob Bedinghaus in 2000. Bedinghaus was the architect of a sales tax increase to build Paul Brown Stadium, which ran $51 million over budget.

Portune was the first Democrat to win a commission seat since 1964. Early polling by both parties indicates he will be hard to beat this year.

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E-mail candrews@enquirer.com