By S. Durm and Geoff Raker

Vote the CityBeat Ticket

The campaign season draws to a close Tuesday with Election Day. Voters and candidates likely will be happy to wrap it up.

A public service we've offered for several years now is the "Who's Endorsing Whom" charts of all local races and issues. In case you missed a newspaper endorsement page or wondered which candidates are backed by the AFL-CIO and Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), we've organized them all into one place.

We tried to cross-reference the endorsements by contacting the newspapers, political parties, political action committees (PACs), unions and civic organizations and comparing them to the endorsements each candidate claims. For the statewide races in Ohio and Kentucky -- Issue 1 and governor, respectively -- we contacted major out-of-town newspapers to get their endorsements.

All in all, the charts provide a quick reference to how candidates and issues have done attracting widespread support -- or how narrow the support really is for certain candidates and issues. They also can demonstrate how evenly divided certain races are.

(Note: Not all media, parties and organizations endorsed all races. If there's a blank under an organization's name, they're either not offering an endorsement or haven't issued one yet.")

How many Cincinnati City Council candidates received both the AFL-CIO and FOP endorsements? Not many, as you can imagine -- only John Cranley and Jim Tarbell.

How many council candidates were endorsed by both the liberal Stonewall PAC and the conservative Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST)? Just one -- challenger John Schlagetter.

How many council candidates were endorsed by both the official police union, the FOP, and the African-American police union, the Sentinels? Only one -- Cranley.

How many were endorsed by both the official firefighters union and the African-American Firefighters Association? One -- Laketa Cole.

How many council candidates were endorsed by all four newspapers (CityBeat, Enquirer, Post and Herald)? None.

Which council candidate received the most endorsements? Incumbents Cole and David Crowley, 13 each. Who received the least? Independent challengers Larry Frazier, Glenn O. Givens and Eric Wilson, none.

Which Cincinnati Public Schools board member got the most endorsements? Incumbent Florence Newell.

In the other races, The Enquirer was the only endorsement for Kentucky Republican Ernie Flechter in the governor's contest. Passage of the zoo levy, Issue 17, was almost universally endorsed. And Issue 1, which would amend the Ohio Constitution, was backed 10-5.

In case you didn't see last week's CityBeat, in which our endorsements were published, here they are again. And check our Web site for all previous coverage of these and other Election 2003 issues.

Cincinnati City Council
Laketa Cole: Appointed during the recent term after finishing 10th in 2001, Cole deserves to be elected on her own. Among the new generation of young council members, she holds more promise than most of her peers.

David Crowley: He's an argument against re-electing twentysomething council members who've wasted their youth and energy supporting the status quo. Crowley is a codger who's weathered the storm -- politically and personally -- for his liberal beliefs.

Jim Tarbell: The ultimate arts backer who finally squeezed a few dimes out of City Hall. His vision for the new Art Academy neighborhood will energize both the arts community and a good chunk of Over-the-Rhine.

Brian Garry: He's done what CityBeat encourages all citizens to do -- take a stand, get involved and make a difference. Having literally grown up in City Hall (his mother, Pat, was a longtime council aide), Garry's activist leanings will help shake the cobwebs off the old building.

Damon Lynch III: The most controversial non-incumbent, Lynch is used to being a lightning rod for public discussion of vital issues. His natural leadership came through loud and clear during the 2001 riots, though it's uncertain whether his presence will unite or divide city council. Lynch speaks for a part of the community that gets shushed too often, and it's time for the shushing to end.

John Schlagetter: He seems to spend more time analyzing city financial deals than anyone currently on council, which is both bad and good. Bad because Convergys, Kroger and other deals get rushed through council with less than vigorous debate, good because Schlagetter could help remedy that lax attitude.

Nick Spencer: In a time when city council and business leaders have jumped on the "creative class" bandwagon only to fall short on actual implementation of policies helpful to young professionals, Spencer is the real deal. He's young, smart, energetic and, as a Charterite, independent.

Cincinnati School Board
John Gilligan, Florence Newell and Rick Williams: Flipping from CityBeat's position on the city council race, we endorse all three incumbents running for re-election. Some of the challengers, particularly Robert Killins Jr., would make great additions to the school board, but we're pleased with the current direction of the board and Superitendent Alton Frailey.

Issue 1 (State Constitutional Amendment): No
This constitutional amendment would allow the state to issue up to $500 million in bonds and give the money to science and technology purposes, which are supposed to create jobs and stimulate the Ohio economy. Why an amendment? Well, the pesky state constitution doesn't allow the state to give the public's money to for-profit corporations unless those corporations provide a product or service in return.

In this instance, the corporations will use the public's money to pay for research and development in the hope of turning Ohio into the high tech capital of at least the lower Great Lakes. Which will attract on-the-move tech firms, which will create cool jobs, which will attract those highly-desired "creative class" folks. Or not.

It's a big risk, of course -- the kind of risk driven by desperation over the idea of neighboring states doing the same thing. Like with the Convergys deal here, it's shameful that a government would hand over the public's money to a profitable corporation. But if Cincinnati or Ohio doesn't do it, someplace else will, and the corporations will head over there.

Changing the constitution for this one exception (yeah, right!) isn't worth the precedent, especially when Gov. Bob Taft and the legislature has such a terrible record with our money.

Issue 17 (Cincinnati Zoo Tax Levy Renewal): Yes
The levy raises more than $6 million a year, about one-third of the zoo's total annual revenues. People have complained for years that the zoo should wean itself off of public funds, but the current depressed travel market has moved that idea off the table for the time being.

About the only time one of these county levies gets defeated is in response to a scandal of some sort. Six years the zoo levy failed, mostly due to the organization's arrogant dismissal of concerns over its finances and the nepotism of the ruling Maruska family. The zoo learned some humility and some advanced accounting, and in 1998 county voters passed the levy. CEO Ed Maruska "retired" shortly thereafter.

The new top guy, Gregg Hudson, seems to have the zoo straightened out. And, gosh, those animals are just so darn cute. Seriously, though, until Hamilton County gets its act together by eliminating or scaling back all these special tax levies, it's hard to penalize the zoo.

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For City Council endorsement chart, click here.

For the Cincinnati School Board endorsement chart, click here.

For the ballot issues endorsement chart, click here.

For the Kentucky Governor ednorsement chart, click here.

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VOTE TUESDAY: Ohio polls are open 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., and Kentucky polls are open 6 a.m.-6 p.m.