Saturday, March 04, 2000
Blue Ash Republicans rarin' to vote
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BLUE ASH — At the Sycamore Senior Center at Cooper and Plainfield roads, there are few things people take more seriously than their Thursday afternoon bingo game. Voting is one of them. Voting Republican, for the most part.
“My husband ran all over the South Pacific in World War II because there were aggressors in this world who wanted to take away our freedoms,” said June Hasselbring of Blue Ash, a regular at the center's weekday lunches. She sat at her usual table with friends as they had a lunch of lasagna and salad.
“That's why I vote.”
Tuesday, when it is Ohio's turn to hold a presidential primary election, each and every one of the people who sit at Mrs. Hasselbring's table at the senior center will vote. Most will take Republican ballots.
So, too, will 50-year-old Lynn Maki. She had a cup of coffee and a bagel sandwich Thursday morning at the Brueggers Bagel shop on Kenwood Road, and thought about walking down to the library to pick up a League of Women Voters election guide.
“I always vote, and I like to do some studying beforehand,” Mrs. Maki said.
Like the majority of Blue Ash voters, she says she will take a Republican ballot Tuesday and plans to punch a hole next to the name of George W. Bush. As a former teacher, she said she likes the Texas governor's emphasis on education.
“It's terrible to say I'd make a decision on something like this, but I've heard the talk about John McCain's temper and I think we need somebody level-headed in that job,” Mrs. Maki said. “But, then, I've seen Bush get a little upset when his opponents start slamming him.”
Mrs. Maki's hometown, Blue Ash, is a bedroom community of about 13,000 residents; but, every week day, it
swells to almost 70,000 with the employees of the dozens of corporate headquarters, high-tech manufacturers and warehouses that line Reed Hartman Highway and the city's industrial parks.
It is a solidly Republican place — all the city's seven council members are Republicans. In the past few municipal elections, what Democrats there are haven't even fielded a slate of candidates.
While Ohio was going for Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections, Blue Ash — along with neighboring Sycamore Township — was giving the Republican presidential candidates lopsided wins. In 1996, Bob Dole took 58 percent of the Blue Ash vote to Mr. Clinton's 37 percent. Four years earlier, Mr. Clinton could muster only 30 percent to 54 percent for George Bush.
The GOP candidates did even better in Sycamore Township as a whole — 62 percent for Mr. Dole in 1996 and 59 percent for Mr. Bush in 1992.
Now that Mr. Bush's eldest son is running for the GOP nomination, many Republicans here say he will be their choice on Tuesday, although Arizona Sen. John McCain has substantial support. Three of the city's seven Republican councilmen are backing Mr. McCain for the nomination.
At the senior center, Margaret Winchell, a Blue Ash woman who often organizes events for her fellow seniors, said she and her friends talk politics at the lunches.
Mrs. Winchell voted for Reform Party candidate Ross Perot the last time and considers herself an independent.
This time, Mrs. Winchell said, she just might take a Republican ballot and vote for Mr. McCain.
“He's a man of character and substance, and I like that,” Mrs. Winchell said. “I'd vote for Al Gore before I would vote for Bush, and that's the truth.”
Mrs. Winchell said she believes Mr. McCain “stepped in a mud pie” with his recent attacks on religious conservatives Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, “but I'm still for him.”
Mrs. Hasselbring had an entirely different perspective from her friends. Mr. Bush, she said, “is ready to lead.”
“He has a record of accomplishment, and I have always liked that family,” Mrs. Hasselbring said.
Everyone at the table listen when Hans Rosenberg speaks; and when the topic turns to politics, the 87-year-old retired mechanical engineer has a lot to say.
Ramrod-straight and lean, Mr. Rosenberg is an athlete, playing tennis and swimming every week and competing in the field events at the Senior Olympics; he has a shelf full of trophies in his Dillonvale home for the shot put, discus throw and javelin toss.
“I'm a Republican because it is the party that believes in individual freedom,” said Mr. Rosenberg, who came to this country from his native Finland 47 years ago.
Tuesday, he said, he will vote for Mr. McCain.
“He represents somebody with more solid principles, more backbone, than the other candidate,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “I would trust him with this country in his hands.”
Across the table from Mr. Rosenberg, 89-year-old Lou Voelker, a retired Deer Park fire chief, folded his arms and pronounced his sentence on all politicians.
“Politicians,” he said, “are like cockroaches. It's not the food they steal that it is the problem; it's the mess they make.”
But most people in Blue Ash have a higher opinion of their local politicians — men like Ray MacNab, a former mayor who has been on council for more than a quarter-century and remembers when Blue Ash was a sleepy town so poor it had to have a tire store donate tires for the police cars.
But now, with a solid tax base and after decades of continuous growth, the city is well-off and bustling. But, Mr. MacNab said, one thing has not changed.
“If you're a Democrat running for office around here, you don't stand much of a chance,” said Mr. MacNab, sitting in the living room of his Blue Ash ranch-style home as a cuckoo clock sounded the hour. Mr. MacNab is a McCain backer, although he says the majority of Blue Ash Republicans will probably vote for Mr. Bush on Tuesday.
“I try to change their minds,” he said, laughing. “And, of course, if Bush wins the nomination, I'll support him. After all, I'm a Republican.”
Another McCain backer on the Blue Ash City Council is Rick Bryan, a 49-year-old vice president for international marketing at the Andrew Jergens Co.
“People tend to use the word "politician' as a pejorative, and I think McCain is somebody who can change that,” said Mr. Bryan, a Vietnam-era veteran. “Character matters.”
Mr. Bryan has been active organizing McCain volunteers in Blue Ash and elsewhere around Hamilton County, knowing full well that his candidate is a long shot in a county where most of the GOP establishment is backing Mr. Bush.
But, for Mr Bryan, the contest itself is exciting.
“I'm just glad we have a choice,” Mr. Bryan said. “It's a real race, for a change.”
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