Meeting killed, elections more important?

Today's Hamilton County Commission staff meeting -- a usual Monday meeting -- was cancelled by County Administrator Patrick Thompson who said the two Republican commissioners asked it be cancelled.

Both of those commissioners -- Phil Heimlich and Pat DeWine -- have major interests in tomorrow's election:

* Heimlich is in a heated race with David Pepper, a Democrat, for his seat, and;
* DeWine's father, incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, is in danger of losing his seat to U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown.

The Monday staff meetings usually are used to address items before they are scheduled for action at a regular commission meeting.

Wednesday's commission meeting also has been cancelled.

Heimlich said he agreed today's meeting could be cancelled after Thompson told him "there was nothing of significance" on the agenda.

But the third commissioner, Todd Portune, sent an angry e-mail over the weekend insisting there was and questioned why the meeting was cancelled.

"Last I saw we had a lot of business to do. In particular, I just received notice about appointments that must be made to the Facilities Governing Board that oversees operations of the River City Correctional Facility. There are 9 Board Members altogether and we appoint three. By operation of law we must appoint our members no later than November 11, 2001. Inasmuch as we do not meet on Wednesday we will not be able to comply with this requirement," Portune wrote.