Pepper's 'most diverse campaign staff ever'

About 42 minutes into the WLWT/League of Women Voters debate Tuesday night, Councilman David Pepper made what sounded like a dubious claim.

Cincinnati Herald managing editor Tiana Rollinson had asked the candidates about the importance of diversity, and how their campaign staffs reflected those values.

"I have to have the most diverse campaign staff ever put together in the city of Cincinnati," Pepper boasted.

Huh? On its face, that's a pretty bold assertion -- especially for a campaign office that looks like a reunion of the Cincinnati Country Day yearbook staff from the mid-'90s.

When challenged afterward, Pepper scribbled down the lineup on a scrap of paper: Campaign Manager Greg Landsman (Jewish), Field Director Ross Meyer (Pacific Islander), Finance Director Melissa McVay (Hispanic), Director of Voter Contact Travis Hines (African American) and Communication Director Anne Sesler, who would describe her diversity status only as "soccer mom."

Add his council staff to the melting pot, and you get Council Aide Loyce Page (African American), and Chief of Staff Amy Minardo (Italian American).

That leaves Pepper as the whitest guy on his campaign. He describes himself as a "WASP."

And the Mark Mallory campaign? It includes two African-Americans, Campaign Manager Simone Lightfoot and Field Director Shawn Butler; and three Caucasians, Communications Director Jason Barron, Development Director Dan Phenicie and senior adviser Patrick McLean. Mallory is African American.

David Pepper's handwritten accounting of the ethnicity of his campaign staff, provided to a reporter Tuesday night.