Greg Harris to Run for Hamilton County (OH) Commission

Contributing RP Greg Harris, a former Cincinnati City Councilman, has thrown his hat back into the ring, running for a spot on the Hamilton County Commission.

Reports The Daily Bellwether:

The era of the deal has ended.  

Democrat Greg Harris, a former Cincinnati council member who lost his seat two years ago, is running for a spot on the Hamilton County Commission.  

That means GOP Commissioner Greg Hartmann will have to campaign and actually face the voters this year — something he escaped in 2008 when the leaders of both political parties made a backroom deal to give him a free pass for his first term.  When Democrats complained about the 2008 deal, Republican Chairman Alex Triantafilou called them “radicals.”  

But democracy has bloomed in this year of the Arab Spring. Triantafilou, Hartmann and the GOP will have to work to hold the seat.  Harris, 40, holds a Ph.D. from Miami University.  He is a West Sider and used his stint on Cincinnati’s Council to push for reforms that included consolidation of city and county services to save money. Harris was interested in seeing if the city police department and county sheriff’s department could be combined to save tax dollars.   

During a chat with The Daily Bellwether today , Harris said he was pumped for the contest and would file nominating petitions tomorrow: “This is a race I really wanted. The county is in a lot of trouble and there isn’t any evidence Greg Hartmann is getting us closer to resolving the issues.”  Harris said he was particularly irked over Hartmann’s proposal to use millions of dollars from an indigent healthcare levy to pay off debts from the stadiums.

“That really put a fire in my belly,”  Harris said of Hartmann’s proposal.  “I don’t know how anybody can think that way, that it’s okay to raid healthcare for the poor to pay for Mike Brown’s stadium.”  Harris also said there are issues about Hartmann’s attendance and work habits.  “He’s originally from Texas, there’s a lot of issues about absenteeism with him,  I work very hard,  I really value constituent services.  I don’t like the term politician.  like public servant.”  You can read quite a bit about Harris’ biography on this webpage left over from his Council campaign.  There is morebackground info available here.

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