By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The average winning candidate for Cincinnati City Council raised almost seven times as much as the average losing candidate in 2001, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports released Wednesday by Ohio Citizen Action.

Lindner

The Citizen Action report, which combines contributions to all candidates into a single database, comes as Cincinnati voters are being asked to repeal campaign finance reform passed last year. Issue 8 would keep contribution limits in place, but repeal the plan to allow qualified candidates to receive as much as $114,744 (twice a councilman's salary) in taxpayer matching funds.

"What we look at with what's going on with the Cincinnati money, we need to do something to help challengers and under-funded candidates," said Catherine Turcer, Citizen Action's campaign reform director and author of the report. "You have to say, enough is enough. We need to protect candidates from the appearance of corruption."

Incumbents were able to raise an average of $159,485. Challengers raised an average of $42,858. All seven incumbents won.

Still, there were exceptions. Democrat Paul Booth, an incumbent, spent just $31,555 to get re-elected. Democratic challenger Lawra Baumann raised four times as much - $123,543 - and came in 16th out of 17.

The two winning challengers - David Pepper and David Crowley - raised more than most incumbents.

The report also found that contribution limits - in effect for the 1997 and 2003 elections but repealed for 1999 and 2001 - have had little effect on the total amount raised.

When individual contributions were capped at $1,000, for example, American Financial Corp. Chairman and Reds owner Carl Lindner curtailed his giving. But 19 other family members made up the difference.

"The Lindners are just an example, and a prominent example, of the ways people can get around limits," Ms. Turcer said.

Republican Chris Monzel, who received $25,000 from Mr. Lindner last year, said the Reds owner gets no favors for his money.

"He gets the peace of mind of knowing that he's giving to candidates who are moving the city in the right direction," Mr. Monzel said. "There's no quid pro quo. He's never asked me to vote a certain way on any particular issue."

The study found that individuals associated with American Financial, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Procter & Gamble, and the law firms Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley and Keating, Muething & Klekamp contributed the most to city campaigns in 2001.

Ten percent of all contributions came from the real estate, development and construction industries.

Mr. Pepper, for one, had problems with the report's methods.

Citizen Action classified the expenses by his parents for a fund-raiser they hosted as contributions from Procter & Gamble. Mr. Pepper's father is former P&G Chairman John Pepper. His mother is YWCA President Francie Pepper.

"This should set off alarm bells," David Pepper said. "To call it a P&G donation - he's giving to his son as a father to a son. I believe in full disclosure, but this group takes it a step too far in making assumptions."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com