Final Countdown: Elections!

November 7, 2007
The Day After

Well I went to bed about 12:30 am. Votes still were not coming in. But they finally finished counting votes around 1:40 am this morning. So what happened? Well, Council will look the same . . .

Cincinnati City Council:
1. John Cranley – 32,663 votes
2. Roxanne Qualls – 32,648
3. David Crowley – 30,112
4. Cecil Thomas – 26,206
5. Chris Bortz – 25,677
6. Leslie Ghiz – 24,163
7. Laketa Cole – 23,853
8. Jeff Berding – 22,906
9. Chris Monzel – 22,712

The personal highlight for me: Winburn came in tenth with 21,267 votes! While I would have liked to see a few new faces on Council, Winburn losing is the highlight for me. Compared to 2005, Cecil Thomas, Chris Bortz, and John Crowley all improved on their standings. Thomas, for instance, finished ninth that year. All other fell in varying degrees. Cole taking the biggest tumble from third to seventh. Interestingly Tarbell, the Charter Candidate, finished second in 2005. Qualls who replaced him, finished second as well.

Issues went as I might have expected. Issue 22 (CPS) and Issue 27 (Safety Plan) were defeated. Issue 28 (Mental Health) and Issue 29 (Elderly) passed. Vote totals for Issue 27 were a little more one-sided than I would have thought:

Issue 27 - Safety Plan:
No – 107,276
Yes – 84,115

Well, I read a comment on a blog somewhere that members of the Hamilton County Commission did an "end-around" on residents by increasing the sales tax in the first place. I tend to disagree. I thought it showded tremendous political courage and I truly think they did was they thought was right. (And I suspect they probably still do.) Something has to be done. I'll be interested to see what is next for the jail.