Mallory hires old hand in search for city manager

Mayor-elect Mark Mallory's city manager search consultant is expected to cost $39,000, according to a draft copy of a proposal submitted by Mallory's California headhunting firm.

Read the proposal from Roberts Consulting (.pdf format).

Update: Judge rejects website restraining order

A county judge -- and a Republican judge at that -- has denied a request by the Hamilton County Republican to immediately shut down a web site squatting on an related domain name.

Reporter Sharon Coolidge reports in Thursday's Enquirer:

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ralph "Ted" Winkler Wednesday denied a request by the Hamilton County Republican Party to shut down a Web site the party claimed violated its trademark rights.

The Web site, hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.com, is the creation of Michael Dalton, 51, a Forest Park Democrat who also registered several other variations of the name just before the Nov. 8 election. The official Republican Party Web site is at hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.org.

The party requested a temporary restraining order arguing there is "a likelihood of confusion" between the sites. Dalton's site is critical of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

Winkler said political speech is protected by the constitution and that he looked at the Web site and didn't think somebody would get confused. Clearly it is not a site sponsored by the Hamilton County Republican Party, Winkler said.

"This is a great victory for free speech, any reasonable person reading the site cannot be confused," said Dalton's lawyer, Gregory Beck, of Public Citizen, a consumer rights group that tackles issues about free speech on the Internet.

The Republican Party has the option of continuing to fight to get the Web site shut down or dropping the lawsuit.

"We'll discuss it with our attorney and consider our options," said Brad Greenberg, executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

Under fire, Schmidt will swear in Ghiz

Councilwoman-elect Leslie Ghiz (left) and Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. (Photos by Tara Bricking Carvalho and Michael E. Keating/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt has been trying to keep a somewhat low profile after her remarks on the floor of the house caused a national uproar last week.

But next Thursday, she'll make an appearance in Cincinnati City Council chambers, where they have a word for the kind of ruckus that happened in Congress last week. They call it "Wednesday."

Schmidt will swear in Councilwoman-elect Leslie Ghiz, a Hyde Park Republican who said she considers Schmidt a political mentor.

"I'm sure I'’m going to catch 10 kinds of hell, but since when have I started worrying about that?" Ghiz said. "She's a good person. She's a female Republican. We have to support each other."

Schmidt might need that support if there's a Republican primary for her congressional seat next year. The night of her election victory, former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen-- one of Schmidt's opponents in a special primary in June -- showed up uninvited at Ghiz's victory party at Andy's Mediterranean Grille in Walnut Hills.

That's a move that can only be interpreted as laying the groundwork for another 2nd district congressional run, said former GOP Vice Chairman Charles H. "Chip" Gerhardt III.

Luken's farewell at the Queen City Club

Departing Mayor Charlie Luken speaks to Councilman Jim Tarbell at a send-off given for him by the Cincinnati business community at the Queen City Club Monday. Son Sam Luken is in the far background. (Photo by Meggan Booker/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Several hundred political, business and civic leaders gathered at the Queen City Club Monday night for a reception to honor departing Mayor Charlie Luken.

Western & Southern Chairman John F. Barrett hosted the reception, and Eric H. Kearney -- the "pre-senator" selected last week to replace Mayor-elect Mark Mallory in the Ohio Senate -- was master of ceremonies. Also feting Luken were Mallory, former interim City Manager Timothy H. Riordan and Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Keith Fangman.

Luken's own speech, characteristically, was short -- just two and a half minutes. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to get choked up at the end.

A transcript:

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. It's an honor for me that you've come out. I want to thank you and all of the sponsors. Mayor, it's nice to have you come out and say hello to me, and all the City Council members -- past, present and future -- thank you. I appreciate you all being here.

I want to also mention that my father is here. As Mayor Mallory mentioned, I come from a political family. My dad is in the back there. He is still the sharpest political mind in the city of Cincinnati. And my mother is here. She is still the most long-suffering woman in the City of Cincinnati.

And my son Sam, and my one daughter Molly, there's Molly. My other daughter is under the weather today. Some of you remember them when they were below my knees as they knocked around City Hall when I first was elected. It takes me back. I have many pleasant memories.

Today is not a day to recount accomplishments nor to measure the failings. There have been plenty of both, I guess, over the years. Let them just say about all of us here that we stood for our city at a time when our city needed it. And if that's what they say about the fast few years, I will be very happy. My hope is that together we have put together a foundation in this city that Mayor Mallory and the new council can build on, and take us to new places -- new and better places in the city.

You find out a lot about yourself when times are tough. My first six years were kind of a cake walk, and my last six years have been something very different than that. But I am grateful -- and this is the big point I want to make -- I am grateful to all of you. For every time that there was someone who wanted to place blame or point a finger, there were 10 people who gave me a pat on the back, or a hug, or who said, "I'm praying for you." And I am grateful to the people of Cincinnati for the kindness that they have shown to me in what have been some very trying times for the city.

I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves. I am going to say now something that you will never hear again, probably for the rest of your lives. And that is, drinks are on Barrett.

Official results catapult Cole to third

The results are never official until they count every ballot, and the final count certified today shook up the order of finish in the third- through fifth-place finishes on Cincinnati City Council.

It's a mostly academic point -- unless you're Laketa Cole, whose 815 additional votes brought her up to third place, from fifth.

"It was important to me that I finish where I did last time," said Cole, a Democrat who came in third in 2003. "The one through four spots are all incumbents. I had a feeling I would move up in provisional ballots. They tend to favor African-American candidates and incumbents."

Republican Leslie Ghiz dropped from third to fifth, while Democrat David Crowley hung on to fourth place. Ghiz, a 35-year-old Hyde Park lawyer, is unlikely to complain, though -- she said after the election that City Council races, like the bar exam, are graded on a pass-fail basis.

The official results include overseas absentee, provisional and walk-in ballots not counted on election night. Here are the final vote totals, as certified by the Hamilton County Board of Elections:

	New rank		Old rank		Candidate	Votes
	1		1		John Cranley	35,603
	2		2		Jim Tarbell	32,392
	3		5		Laketa Cole	29,966
	4		4		David C Crowley	29,856
	5		3		Leslie Ghiz	29,758
	6		6		Jeff Berding	28,344
	7		7		Chris Monzel	27,931
	8		8		Chris Bortz	27,304
	9		9		Cecil Thomas	27,091
	10		10		Sam Malone	25,838
	11		11		Christopher Smitherman	24,642
	12		12		Damon Lynch III	22,556
	13		13		Wendell Young	21,505
	14		14		Eve Bolton	19,729
	15		15		John Eby	16,271
	16		16		Samantha Herd	14,306
	17		17		Nick Spencer	9,462
	18		18		Paul McGhee	5,407
	19		19		Gerry Kraus	4,719
	20		20		William S. Matthews II	3,915
	21		21		Robert J. Wilking	3,762
	22		22		Ishaq Nadir	3,208
	23		23		Eric Wilson	3,082
	24		24		Michael Earl Patton	2,770
	25		25		Curtis Wells	2,482
	26		26		Robert Wilson	2,319
	27		27		Ronnie Stallworth	2,271
	28		28		Bill Barron	1,849
	29		29		Bennie Green	1,800
	30		30		Victor Phillips	1,695
	31		31		Antonio Hodge	1,276