The Winburn jail: Return to sender

The day he stood with Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr. and called for a new Hamilton County Jail, GOP mayoral candidate Charlie Winburn sent a certified letter to all six of his opponents asking them to join him.

As of Winburn's self-imposed July 20 deadline, only David Pepper responded -- thanking Winburn for joining him in calling for a new jail:

Dear Charlie:

Thank you for your certified letter. I was glad to learn that you agree with my assessment that we must increase jail capacity to improve safety. I believe the overcrowded Justice Center is clearly one of the most critical obstacles we must overcome if we are to return law and order to our community and to support good policing.

As you may remember, I outlined the need for increased jail space in my safety plan, Reclaiming our Streets from Crime, released in February and I have been campaigning on it ever since. I was pleased that the County Commissioners have recently taken up the issue through a study of the system.

Pepper said in the letter that he opposed putting the jail at Broadway Commons, and said the city shouldn't pay for it. He concluded, "Other than those disagreements, I welcome your support on this critical issue."

Winburn said he appreciated the response.

"Hey, as long as we get there. Is this about helping our community, or patting ourselves on the back?" Winburn said. Then, with a sly smile, he said, "I guess it's a little of both."

Pepper conceded he was "having a little fun" with Winburn. "But in all seriousness, he's done a very good job of taking things from my platform and announcing them with much fanfare," Pepper said.

The other campaigns apparently saw nothing fun in Winburn's letter. Alicia Reece said she threw her letter away. "We thought it was another piece of campaign literature," she said. "These are too serious of times for theatrics. People have real problems."

Postscript: Pepper sent his response to Winburn's letter to Mount Healthy. Although Winburn has a campaign headquarters in College Hill, the address on Winburn's campaign letterhead is of his treasurer, Robert L. Hall, a Mount Healthy accountant.