Portune jabs DeWine

UPDATE BELOW
With tongue firmly in cheek, Todd Portune presented Pat DeWine with a gift Portune believes DeWine needs in light of recent news -- a pair of boxing gloves.

The red, white and blue boxing gloves were presented to Portune a few years ago, he said, when he believed he was "under siege" as the lone Democrat on the three-member Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.

"It's only come in handy for me symbolically," Portune, wearing a huge grin, told fellow Commissioner DeWine.

DeWine was involved in a Monday night altercation at a swanky downtown restaurant with a physician, Chris Bolling, who was seated at a table next to DeWine and was making derogatory comments DeWine's father, Republican U.S. Senator Mike DeWine.

The senator lost his re-election bid last week to Democrat Sherrod Brown, a candidate who benefitted from a fundraised Bolling helped host.

An upset Pat DeWine confronted Bolling and Bolling's glasses were knocked from his face. Tuesday, after the news of the incident was published, DeWine and Bolling apologized to each other.

"They look like they've been used," DeWine cracked about Portune's boxing gloves.

UPDATE
To see the video of the boxing glove presentation, go to http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061115/VIDEO/61115009/-1/CINCI