Candidate for
County Commissioner; County of Hamilton

I am a passionate and experienced leader in southwest Ohio and Hamilton County. I have served Hamilton County in numerous capacities, including as a board member on the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission and the City of Cincinnati Planning Commission for seven years, a founding member of the Hamilton County Planning Partnership, the executive committee of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) planning committee, currently a board member of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, and as a councilmember and vice mayor in the city of Cincinnati, nine years and two years respectively.

As a councilmember and vice mayor, I was the founding chairperson of the city's Arts and Culture Committee and played a vital role in the creation and/or revitalization of numerous arts and culture centers throughout Cincinnati. I am also a leading advocate for combating neighborhood blight and a strong supporter of initiatives to rid neighborhoods of crime, restore neighborhood watches, and bring pride back to the neighborhoods.

I've owned and operated several small businesses, including Arnold's Bar and Grill, Hamilton County's oldest tavern (est. 1861), and Grammer's German restaurant (est. 1872). I am passionate about neighborhood business districts and recognize their importance in job development and neighborhood pride. In 1985, this passion for improving civic involvement and rebuilding the inner city drove me to found the Over the Rhine Chamber of Commerce, which since its inception has grown to 400 members, making it the largest neighborhood Chamber of Commerce in the tri-state. My past board memberships include the Taft Museum, the Cincinnati Music Festival (May Festival), Cincinnati Preservation Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Downtown Cincinnati Inc., and the Downtown Progress Group.

I am honored to have received recognition for my hard work. In 1994, I received the Charter Committee's Charles P. Taft Civic Gumption Award that honors persons of independent thought, ingenuity, and perspicacity. I was honored in 1997 as the Over the Rhine Chamber's Man of the Year, and was voted CityBeat's Best City Council Member multiple times. My businesses won many and various honors and I supervised seventy employees for many years. From my teens and twenties I spent ten years in medical care employment, owned and managed the Ludlow Garage Night Club, and worked as a commercial fisherman on the North Atlantic.

I was born in Hamilton County and attended St. Mary's grade school and St. Xavier and Withrow high schools and The Lowell Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My wife, Brenda, is a ceramic artist, and we raised our family in Cincinnati and currently reside in Pendleton.