ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE XVI • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1
THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6, 2013
CINCINNATI MOVES
FORWARD
Former city councilman John Cranley defeats Roxanne Qualls in landslide RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR
For the first time in eight years, Cincinnati will have a new face leading city hall, albeit a familiar one. Former city councilman John Cranley defeated challenger and vice mayor Roxanne Qualls in a landslide victory with 58 percent of total votes Tuesday. “We’re going to bring this city together. We’re going to work on uniting this city and moving it forward in a way that works for all people,” Cranley said. “We want this city to be the best city in America.” The two candidates spent the past six months in a hotly contested and sometimes bitter race for Cincinnati’s top public office. Cranley’s victory is the largest of the last three elections where the mayor was directly elected separate of city council, according to data from the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Although both Cranley and Qualls identify as Democrats, and largely voted the same during their shared time on council, they have spent a lot of time and money — both raised hundreds of thousands of dollars — differing from one another. At the heart of the argument were the controversial streetcar project and the proposed lease of the city’s parking assets. Cranley, who served on council for eight years from 2001 to 2009, has been an ardent opponent of the streetcar, which is seen by some as one of the crowning achievements of outgoing mayor Mark Mallory, who is leaving office due to term limits. While voters have approved the streetcar twice in previous elections, it still remains a contentious issue among residents and Cranley has vowed to end the project.Qualls spent much of her campaign touting the streetcar as a necessary project for further redeveloping the downtown and Over-theRhine areas. Cranley also vocally opposes the proposed lease of the city’s parking assets, a deal that developed in the midst of budget negotiations during the summer. Qualls supported the lease. One of the few issues the two candidates agreed on was Issue 4, the proposed amendment that would have overhauled the city’s current pension system. Cranley and Qualls joined together in rejecting the amendment that failed Tuesday.
FOR MORE ON CRANLEY’S ELECTION NIGHT VICTORY, SEE PG 2
After highly contested election, Qualls considers life after Cincinnati civil service Vice mayor loses large in race for mayor, reflects on previous years on Cincinnati City Council ALEXIS O’BRIEN NEWS EDITOR
After what her campaign manager called an intense election, former city mayor Roxanne Qualls will not return to Cincinnati’s mayoral seat in December. “The results of this election are not the results we hoped for; they’re not the results I hoped for,” Qualls said. “This became a race that focused on two wedged issues,” she said. “From my perspective, there was a lot of misinformation, but the voters have spoken.” Qualls’ campaign focused on creating partnerships and
fostering collaboration to build “a strong economy, great neighborhoods, excellent education and an inclusive community with responsible leadership,” she said. She supported the Cincinnati streetcar and the parking plan — two issues she said determined the election outcome. “It is foolish and expensive to repeal the streetcar project,” Qualls said after finding out the election results Tuesday. “Central public transportation is essential if you want to attract and keep millennials. We have to invest in things such as streetcar.” She also opposed the pension charter amendment. Qualls told The News Record in a previous interview that her initial steps as mayor would have included aligning her goals with those of the city manager and reconvening the shared services commission — a joint
city-county initiative that determines cost savings opportunities between Cincinnati and other political jurisdictions. She would have called for a leadership summit on guns and street violence, while focusing on investing in a strong economy; something she worked toward during her run as Cincinnati mayor in the ’90s. Fifty-nine-year-old Qualls joined Cincinnati City Council in 1991 and served three terms as mayor from 1993 to 1999. After leaving council because of term limitations she completed a fellowship at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where she earned a master’s degree in public administration in 2002. SEE QUALLS PG 2
Voters reject pension altering Issue 4
RESULTS: City council, levies, turnout
Potential amendment to city’s pension system overwhelmingly voted down
PG SITTENFELD 37,484
NATALIE COLEMAN STAFF REPORTER
Cincinnati voters rejected an amendment to the city’s charter that would have drastically reformed the public pension system for current retirees. Issue 4 was proposed by the Cincinnati for Pension Reform Committee to help decrease the city’s liability debt, according to the group. The amendment, which more than 78 percent of voters rejected, would have required the city to account for 100 percent of its forecasted pension obligations, which are currently about 60 percent funded, within 10 years either by generating new revenue or by reducing costs by cutting city programs or services. The current pension plan would have been scrapped and replaced with several
defined alternatives including a 401(k)type retirement plan that would cap the city’s contributions to that of the individual retiree, according to the ballot language. It may also block city employees from qualifying for Social Security benefits. The amendment also would have allowed voters to reduce the future benefits. In a rare instance of unity, all nine members of Cincinnati City Council rejected Issue 4 along with newly elected Mayor John Cranley and fellow mayoral candidate Roxanne Qualls when it first came to attention during the summer. City officials claimed the amendment would have drastically raised city costs and reduce retiree gains, but amendment supporters argued that Cincinnati’s current retirement benefit plan is contributing to city’s debt and financial problems. Supporters said the amendment was SEE PENSION PG 2
29%
CHARLIE WINBURN 27,397 DAVID MANN 26,443 YVETTE SIMPSON 25,449 CHRIS SEELBACH 23,738 CHRISTOPHER SMITHERMAN 23,604
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Of the 551,622 registered voters in Hamilton County, 162,508 ballots were cast ZOO LEVY: PASSED LIBRARY LEVY: PASSED WENDELL YOUNG 22,600
KEVIN FLYNN 22,059
AMY MURRAY 21,979