Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

Guest article by Nathan Wissman

Recently, in a blog posting, Hamilton County Republican chair referred to myself and other Democrats who spoke out at our party’s County Central Committee meeting as ‘radicals.’ What were we doing?  Well, a coalition made up of myself, former congressman Tom Luken, activist Jenny Edwards, attorney Tim Mara, and trade unionist Mike Wood spoke out against what has been come to be known as ‘the deal.’

’The Deal’ was an arrangement made by the local Republican and local Democratic Parties to disenfranchise the voters of Hamilton County.  Democratic Party chair Tim Burke agreed not to field candidates in the race against Republican Greg Hartmann for county commissioner, as well as for county prosecutor or for 10 of 12 races for municipal court.  For this, the Republicans agreed not to run a candidate against Democratic Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune or Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O’dell Owens.

Crosby Township Trustee Chris Dole protested this undemocratic deal by circulating petitions in order to become Greg Hartmann’s opponent in the November election.  Chris Dole is a registered Democrat and enjoyed the party’s support in past elections to Crosby Township’s board of trustees.

The coalition that I was a part of, the one that Mr. Triantafilou referred to as ‘radicals’ tried to break this deal that attempts to limit voter’s choice.  We tried to override the decision of our party boss to not field a candidate in both of the races for county commissioner by asking the Democratic Central Committee to formally endorse Chris Dole for County Commissioner.

Our coalition lost the vote for endorsement, but Chris Dole remains on the ballot as Greg Hartman’s sole opponent in the November election.  So what makes us so ‘radical’ according to GOP chairman Triantafilou?  The fact that we believe that our political party has a responsibility to field candidates in every single race for office on the ballot from the top to the bottom of the Democratic ticket?  The fact that we think that the voters of Hamilton County deserve the right to vote on who represents them in local, state and federal government?  Are we ‘radical’ because we think that the decision of the voters is more important than backroom deals made by our party bosses?

If you think that perhaps we are not radicals, but mainstream Americans who believe that they have a right to choose who represents them in government, I urge you to either write to the Hamilton County GOP via their blog at: http://hcrp.blogspot.com/

Even better, I urge you to write a letter to the editor of both our largest local paper, The Cincinnati Enquirer and our largest local news magazine, City Beat.

To send a letter to the editor at the Enquirer, go to:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/EDIT0202/302160003

To send a letter to the editor at City Beat, send an email to:


Thanks,

Nathan

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