'No controversy' for new city health chief

New Cincinnati Health Commissioner Noble A-W Maseru (center) posed for pictures with Board of Health Chairman Steven J. Baines and Vice Chairwoman Linetta D.C. Collins after being hired by the board Tuesday. (Photo by Jeff Swinger/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Cincinnati's new health commissioner, hired Tuesday by the Board of Health, has "no controversy" dogging him from his current job, his old boss says.

That would go without saying, but Noble A-W Maseru is from Detroit, after all.

The administration of Kwame Kilpatrick, a 35-year-old political phenom dubbed the "hip-hop mayor" by Detroit's newspapers, has been embroiled in scandal almost since he was sworn in four years ago. Aides embezzled as much as $190,000 from a petty cash account. Former bodyguards said the mayor used them to set up sexual liaisons. He ran up more than $210,000 on his city credit card, and used policy money to buy his wife a Ford Navigator.

But Maseru, hired by Kilpatrick in 2002 as the director of Health and Wellness Promotion, has mostly kept his name out of the Detroit newspapers -- unless it was curing syphilis, combatting asthma or promoting prevention.

Reference checks similarly found no whiff of scandal. Here, in an e-mail released by the Board of Health, an assistant to search consultant Jim Mercer relays a conversation with Detroit Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams:

I finally got called back by one of Dr. Maseru's references. This was the Detroit Deputy Mayor.

He has known Dr. Maseru about one year and Dr. Maseru reports to him. He says there is nothing in Dr. Maseru's background that could be considered negative. He calls Dr. Maseru an outstanding individual who that all do not want to lose. He has been involved in no controversy during his time in Detroit. Detroit has a very aggressive media and Dr. Maseru is one of few people who has not been criticized, states the reference.

Maseru said the political intrigue had nothing to do with his decision to leave Detroit. Kilpatrick pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory last month to win a second term as mayor.

City Manager David E. Rager will introduce Maseru to City Council today.

• Download the city news release and bio (in .pdf format).
• Download Maseru's 23-page resume (in .pdf format).
  
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