Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Ever since I saw that Republican Steve Chabot wrote a letter in support of an issue being discussed by Christopher Smitherman and the Cincinnati NAACP, I’ve been thinking about how the emerging boondoggle over Dwight Tillery’s “Closing the Health Gap” can hold Steve Driehaus back from beating the incumbent Republican.  At the end of the day, the Chabot-Driehaus race will have less to do with political parties (since, after all, Driehaus has the same values as Republicans), and more to do with what kind of community connections each candidate can make to solidify electability. 

A few thousand votes could be all it takes to decide the winner between Driehaus and Chabot.  And in a presidential election year with Barack Obama on the ballot, the 1st Congressional District’s Black vote could be a huge factor.  While the national stereotype is that African Americans vote Democrat, on the more local level things can become a bit more fluid—and with the local NAACP growing exponentially under Smitherman’s leadership, they could have a huge impact on Black voting patterns in between Driehaus and Chabot.

Remember, the NAACP has shown it can work across the aisle on issues important to its membership, like its partnership with COAST on getting issues onto the ballot.  With the NAACP now celebrating its third success at achieving ballot access in just two years (the jail tax, the red light cameras, and Proportional Representation), the membership has established itself as a real citizen front for engaging the political process.

The whole Dwight Tillery situation smells like Democrats running insider deals for their friends.  A few years back, when Council threatened to shut down health clinics in the inner-city, they managed to find a few hundred thousand dollars for Tillery’s operation—even though it is a private corporation not run by doctors.  And if this recent Enquirer article is any indication, Driehaus has it in for the Cincinnati Health Department.  (Could all of this be part of their plan to systematically shut down the Health Department, privatizing the operation through Tillery’s corporation?)

So I think Driehaus has a quick decision to make on this issue.  He can side with the NAACP, or he can side with his buddies in the Hamilton County Democratic Party.  If he chooses his Party over people, then Steve Chabot is already positioning himself to advocate for the NAACP membership and to earn Black votes. 

Besides, that the City would wish to give monetary support to a private corporation instead of a public agency run by doctors that also qualifies for a huge state grant—well, it kind of fits with the theme of “fiscal irresponsibility” that Republicans love to use to hammer away at Democrats.  Driehaus could be setting himself up to look like a wasteful Democratic spender playing cronies at the expense of people.  The move could lose him thousands of Black votes, and it could be just the thing to concretize another term for the incumbent Chabot.

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.