Standing up for choice

Here’s a name to remember – Chris Dole, local elected official and defender of the notion that democracy works best when the voters have real choices.

Dole is not a politician many people have heard of. He holds the office of Crosby Township Trustee. Crosby Township, for those of you who have never been there, is a mostly rural northeast of the village of Harrison in Northwest Hamilton County. Dole has held his office for two years. According to Enquirer records he was elected in 2005 with 359 votes, which made him the top vote getter in a five person race in which the top two candidates were elected.

Dole may not be a big political fish, but he believes in the system, which is why he was outraged last week to learn that Hamilton County’s Democratic and Republican bosses had connived to give each other’s candidates a pass in this year’s county commissioner races. Republican Chairman George Vincent agreed his party would not to endorse anyone against Democratic incumbent Todd Portune. Democratic Chairman Tim Burke agreed not to run anyone against Republican Greg Hartman, who is seeking a seat vacated by Pat DeWine. Ed Rothenberg, a Republican without his party’s endorsement, has field to run against Portune, but without the endorsement, his chances of success are remote. The Democrats get to hold onto their 2-1 board majority, with Portune and incumbent David Pepper. The Republicans get to keep their one seat, which Vincent apparently thought they were in danger of losing.

The real losers are the county’s citizens, who have no choice, will hear no debates about county issues and whose opinions clearly don’t matter diddly to the party bosses. That’s what Chris Dole thinks. I’m proud to agree with him.

A lot of people expressed their outrage at this deal on our online discussion board. Dole, a Democrat, went a step further. He took out petitions Tuesday to run as an independent candidate against Hartman in November. If he can get 2,875 valid signatures by March 3, his name will be on the ballot and people will have a choice.
“I was flabbergasted when I heard about the deal,” Dole said. “I know Todd Portune is a popular guy… Greg Hartman is a lawyer and may be qualified, but why take away the peoples’ choice?”

Dole is an electrician, a member of Local 212 who works at Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. He knows that getting 2,875 signatures won’t be easy. That’s eight times as many people as voted for him in his previous run for office. It is also 22 more people than the entire population of Crosby Township. “But I think I have a chance if I can get into the union halls and get my message out,” he said. “Heck, I’ll stand on Fountain Square every day at noon if I have to.”

Like Rothenberg, Dole’s chances of success in November aren’t high. But that is beside the point. Without candidates willing to offer the voters choices, the public has no option but to accept the decrees of the party bosses.