And so it begins

Even though it’s seven months from the November election, the Democrats have begun the public assault against Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, hoping to take the Republican’s seat.

Last week, Heimlich and fellow Republican Commissioner Pat DeWine held a press conference to officially announce the plan to rent Butler County jail beds.

Today, Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman Tim Burke issued a press release accusing Heimlich of a “flip-flop” by supporting Sheriff Simon Leis Jr.’s decision to have deputies patrol Over-the-Rhine.

Burke attacked Heimlich in the press release for taking no action to improve safety in Over-the-Rhine, an area where many Hamilton County employees work and park. Burke also noted the incident last year where a Hamilton County employee was kidnapped, raped and robbed as she walked from an Over-the-Rhine parking lot to her job.

“Watching politicians take credit for reviving something that they themselves eliminated is why people are losing trust in County government,” Burke wrote in the press release today.

Heimlich insists that Burke is mixing up – perhaps not accidentally – two separate issues of safety in Over-the-Rhine.

Leis, in a Monday meeting with commissioners, said he wanted to begin regularly partrolling all of Over-the-Rhine, the neighborhood immediately north of downtown Cincinnati.

Burke’s press release notes the “walking patrols” Heimlich helped kill as a commissioner.

The “walking patrols” actually were a specialized program designed to protect county workers at the “county campus” in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. In that program, deputies walked patrols during the morning and evening rush hours around county buildings to better protect those workers.

Heimlich did vote against continuing that county campus program in his first month as a commissioner, January 2003.

Leis’ proposal Monday was to have deputies patrol all of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood from 2 p.m.-4 a.m. every day.

Heimlich said he always has supported Leis’ attempt to have deputies patrol all of Over-the-Rhine. But that plan was delayed by Leis who filed a suit to determine if his deputies would be subject to the same guidelines as Cincinnati police under the so-called Collaborartive agreement that was part of a lawsuit settlement.

“Those allegations (by Burke) are totally made up,” Heimlich said.

The May 2 primary will determine who Heimlich’s Democratic opponent – former Cincinnati Council Member David Pepper or former Forest Park mayor Stephanie Summerow Dumas.

After Heimlich and Commissioner Pat DeWine held the Wednesday press conference, Pepper called the Enquirer four times that day asking to comment on what he believed was Heimlich’s failure over the last four years to solve the jail overcrowding dilemma.

The Enquirer declined, noting the Democratic candidate to square off against Heimlich won’t be known until after the May 2 primary.