By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Charter Committee, Cincinnati's 79-year-old third political party, hasn't been part of the ruling coalition of City Council in 17 years. Michael Goldman wants to change that.

"I'll borrow a question from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton," the new Charter Committee president said. "Are we better off now than we were 10 years ago? And my answer is no. Would anybody's answer be yes?"

On Friday, three days into his tenure, Mr. Goldman sent a letter to Charterites to introduce himself. The letter had two purposes:

GOLDMAN FILE

• Personal: 48 years old, lives in Hyde Park. • Employment: Managing partner of a family-owned investment company. • In his youth: Was a playwright and apprentice screenwriter in Hollywood and New York. His early plays were produced in Cincinnati and Boston, and he was a writing assistant on the sitcom Alice. • Political resume: A veteran campaign manager, he's worked on campaigns for Bobbie Sterne and Dawn Denno for City Council and, most recently, Bruce Whitman for Common Pleas Judge

• Raise money for the 2003 city council campaign.

• Sound the alarm over what he sees as severe changes in city government, including the elimination of the Planning Department and the Office of Environmental Management - two agencies that have been dear to the Charterite tradition of professional, progressive government.

Those changes, in Mayor Charlie Luken's 2003-04 budget, will likely be the single biggest issue for Charter candidates, he said.

"Politics to me is not just the nuts and bolts and the money," he said. "A lot of it is image. What does it say about our image that we eliminate the Planning Department at the very time that we need a positive, sound vision for the city?"

When Mr. Goldman presides over his first Charter board meeting today, taking the gavel from Gerald Newfarmer, he will lead an organization desperately trying to recapture some of its proud history.

At first glance, it's an organization whose time has come and gone. For the past 10 years, the Charter Party has held only one seat on the nine-member council, now occupied by James Tarbell.

Cincinnati's venerable third party began as a Republican reform movement in the 1920s, became the city's ruling political party through the 1950s, held power with Democrats in a coalition government in the 1970s and '80s, and almost disappeared in the 1990s.

But Mr. Goldman doesn't dwell on history. People forget that Charter spent a decade in the wilderness before, when Charles P. Taft was often the party's "lone wolf" in the 1960s, he said.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not pleased that we have only one council member. But I won't lose sleep over it," Mr. Goldman said.

In recent years, the Charter Committee has taken tentative steps toward becoming a regional player, even endorsing a candidate for Covington City Commission last year.

The last time Charter elected more than one council member, in 1991, Tyrone Yates bolted for the Democratic party in the next election. Like former Gov. John Gilligan and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell before him, Mr. Yates - now a state representative - found greater value in aligning himself with a national party.

Charter also needs to appeal to a younger and less aristocratic constituency than its base, widely perceived to be the octogenarian Clifton and North Avondale crowd.

It's a perception based on truth, Mr. Goldman acknowledges.

The Hyde Park resident said he can be just the man to do that. At 48, he wants more baby boomers as members. As a businessman, he wants to get Charter's own financial house in order. Mr. Goldman is the managing partner of a family-owned investment company.

As an artist, he wants to continue Mr. Tarbell's leadership on arts and cultural issues.

Mr. Goldman said electing more Charterites to City Council is his main - and perhaps only - priority.

"You can't just be a think tank and expect to influence anyone. You have to get people elected," he said.

"I'm probably a little different kind of a president than the Charter Committee has had in recent years," he said. "I believe in running professional campaigns. I can raise money. And I intend to be more vocal."

Mr. Goldman said he wants to get a few board meetings under his belt before he comes out swinging, but here's a taste of what we'll be hearing from the Charter Committee and its candidates in this election year:

On development: "Charlie Luken thinks we're going to have a more `developer-friendly' city. Is that going to be at the expense of the residents? The city needs to be friendly to everyone."

On the environment: "If you look at progressive cities that are successful, you don't see them turning back the clock on environmental issues."

On regionalism: "Nobody wants to talk about this, but let's look at the cities around us: Indianapolis. Columbus. Even Louisville. They all have some form of metropolitan government. All those cities have moved in that direction, and they're seen as successes. This is a conversation for another day, and maybe I'll leave it at that. I have no illusions about how to do it or how long it would take."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com