Smitherman: No rule says he can't run

Christopher Smitherman raised some questions last month by announcing that he, while president of the local NAACP, would run for Cincinnati City Council. Lifetime members of the group questioned whether it would be possible, as retired federal judge Nathaniel Jones put it, to "serve two masters."


After several calls to the national NAACP office in Baltimore since Smitherman announced more than two weeks ago, spokesman Richard McIntire responded today that the group's constitution isn't clear on the issue. It "does not speak specifically to that rule, or to that question."



But most people in Smitherman's position, he said, don't stay in the job while running for something else, McIntire said.


"Customarily what occurs is if there is a branch president that is seeking elective office in their community, once they announce as a candidate, they will step down as president," he said. "The branch's first vice president will assume the presidency."



If the NAACP president wins the elective office, then members of the local branch would determine, he said, whether there's a conflict of interest.



Smitherman's on vacation with his family.