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| Mark Painter - probably not the one on the left |
Dear fellow tax hikers, after reviewing the exhaustive list of contenders we proudly name former Judge Mark Painter as our biggest loser of 2014. Currently an employee of Democratic Chairman Tim Burke, Mark had to overcome fierce competition to win this most honorable award.
Marky Mark had a year he'd like to forget. First he donated $1000 to our 2011 Tax Hiker of the Year Rick Bryan in his failed campaign for 28th District State Representative. Just two days after Ricky's shocking defeat to the evil conservative Jonathan Dever, Mark gave another $500 to Dever's next opponent Micah Kamrass.
That gave His Honor the rare distinction of losing the 28th District twice in six months.
Painter's futility didn't stop there. Marky Mark joined with those who believed that Hamilton County must raise its Sales Tax for up to 14 years to renovate BOTH Union Terminal and City Hall (each owned by City of Cincinnati), and that no other option was acceptable. After the Commissioners voted to include only Union Terminal, Mark sent a legendary temper tantrum editorial to the Enquirer bashing the plan and thrashing our terrible Commissioners.
After Mark's denunciations, that TERRIBLE plan passed with 60% of the vote and that TERRIBLE, awful Monzel was re-elected with 57% in a 3-way race. This was truly not His Honor's year to shine.
With so much great competition, we also feel compelled to give an Honorable Mention to those who earned it.
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Campaign Expert PhD Julie Matheny. C.E. Matheny's legendary losing streak makes her an annual contender for this award. She is another one who lost the 28th District twice in 6 months, AND this great "Republican" supported Connie Pillich. These three fine individuals did as well as every other candidate she has supported over the years.
Peter Stautberg. An incumbent State Representative with a significant spending advantage, who gets punked in his own primary by a guy he beat by 20 points just two years ago. Enough said.
Cincinnati Enquirer Editorial Board. They demanded higher taxes for Music Hall. They loved Charlie Winburn and Connie Pillich. They really, really wanted us to vote for Micah Kamrass. But the voters rejected their endorsements, with more than the usual enthusiasm.
Charlie Luken. Great name ID in a race where name ID is everything? Check. Access to big money? Check. A current law license? Check (just barely). With all this, he still lost, and by a surprisingly big margin, to a guy who has never run for anything except judge. Have a drink on us Charlie. Oh what the hell, we're good for a full round.
Blue Ash City Councilmen. Remember the kids from the neighborhood where you grew up who would take their ball and go home whenever things didn't go their way? Now they serve on Blue Ash City Council.
The year started so promising for them. Rick Bryan was going to save the 28th District for the Republicans, they told us. Republicans needed to be unified, they told us. Republicans needed to support the winner of the primary, they told us. Micah Kamrass was a potential future statewide candidate who needed to be stopped, they told us.
But when Tax Hikin' Rick Bryan lost his primary, all that went out the window. The voters didn't respect their greatness, so the Councilmen took their ball and defected to Team Kamrass. Dever won by 12 points anyways.
These poor Council Members lost a very winnable race. The nature of the loss demonstrated that every single Blue Ash Councilman is unelectable outside Blue Ash. They lost their respect from local GOP, and the Democrats would still throw them under the bus at the first opportunity. This was a most terrible year for these fine Members of Council.
