Charlie Luken says goodbye to City Hall

In all the commotion over the election for Cincinnati's next mayor, a lot of people seem to have lost track of the one we've got now.

But Charlie Luken is, after all, the longest-serving mayor in Cincinnati history. His political career spans parts of four different decades -- and he's still only 54 years old.

In an overlooked interview in Cincinnati Magazine's October issue, Luken sat down with Jay Stowe and Linda Vaccariello and talked about his future plans, his council "dream team" and his relationship with the press.

Excerpts below:

Cincinnati Magazine's October cover. (Photo courtesy Craig Tanner.)

Q: What's the biggest pain in the ass nobody told you about before you became mayor?
A: Well, right now the biggest pain in the ass is council.

Q: And it wasn't in the '80s?
A: I don't remember it being that bad. There were times when you'd get into arguments with people, but there was certainly a lot more collegiality.

Q: And that's what's missing now?
A: That's part of what's missing. There's no depth of thought, there's no long-range thinking, there's a great deal of blame-placing. You asked me what's the biggest waste of time? That's the biggest waste of time; there isn't even a close second. The little picking that council members do to get their name in the newspaper. I didn't get along with Guy Guckenberger [in the 1980s]; but if I went to him and said, "Guy, we need this and here's why," we just shut up and did it.

Q: Do you think that's it -- people essentially whining to get their names in the newspaper?
A: Let's don't kid ourselves. It's much more divided than it used to be. It's divided along race lines, it's divided along income lines, and there are a lot of people who just play those divisions for their self-benefit. So the debate is much more acrimonious and unpleasant, and it's not helpful. I saw a poll the other day on council. Two percent of the people thought council was doing an excellent job, 14 percent thought they were good, and the rest was bad. And the pollster said, "I've polled Congress at the depths of their unpopularity, I've polled other councils and commissions, and I've never seen anything like that."

Q: ... If you could create your own City Council "dream team," living or dead, who would it be?
A: Curiously, because we never got along personally, Guy Guckenberger. I thought Steve Chabot was a good member of council. You probably don't know the name Myron Bush, but he was a Charterite. The late Ted Berry. Tyrone Yates. John Cranley. I think people of quality have served the city. I thought Roxanne Qualls was probably a better member of council than mayor. She would be somebody to put on council. You know, there were guys that I served with that I thought were just high-quality people -- David Mann, Pete Strauss. I'm getting nostalgic now. There were some people who really cared about the city. I think there are good people who are running for city council right now who could make a dramatic improvement in this place, and I don't mind telling you their names: Wendell Young, Cecil Thomas, Chris Bortz, Jeff Berding.

Q: ... Is it even remotely possible to be a regular guy and still be a successful politician?
A: I think I'm as regular a guy as you'll ever have in this office. But I get in trouble with that sometimes.

Q: How so?
A: They write -- not you -- but they write, "We saw him at the bar with a woman." I mean, yeah, I was having a beer. Normally, the mainstream press doesn't do that, but CityBeat, they're on me constantly. But that's OK. They've been on me since I was a candidate in 1999 for some reason. I was eating outside at Mullane's and a panhandler came up and I declined to give him money. And they went off on how I was mean to homeless people. Well, I was polite and respectful but I don't give money to panhandlers. That stuff, over time, wears you out....

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've got to pass along to whoever wins?
A: If you could figure out how to have some reliable support on council, that would be fundamental. And the other thing I would tell the mayor -- and I hate to do this because I swore I wouldn't -- but in the abstract I would tell that individual to make the city manager's staff your staff from the beginning. It has taken me a while to get there but I get pretty close to it now. I was all hung up on respecting the lines. Screw that. Work with the city manager, but use the city manager's staff.

Q: You're pretty good about answering your own e-mails. Is that smart?
A: I send too many. That's the other piece of advice: Don't get on your e-mail. I get on my e-mail when I'm mad and write stuff. Then all of a sudden it's on the front page. There's a saying Dave Mann told me years ago: If it feels good, don't say it. They can't blame you for what you don't say. I've had to bite my tongue until I had welts on it.