Mallory vs. Bolton Debate

Transcript of Channel 12 Newsmakers Debate: Dale Mallory vs. Eve Bolton
Dan Hurley, Reporter, Interviewer & Moderator
Easter Sunday; April 16th, 2006

Dan Hurley: Good Morning and welcome to local 12 Newsmakers. On Tuesday May the second Ohio voters have the opportunity in a primary election. Over the next three weeks, Newsmakers will be totally devoted to those elections.

We begin with the Democratic Party primary for State Representative in the 32nd district. The Ohio 32nd district is anchored in the south in the West End and Over the Rhine; it moves north through Clifton Heights and Clifton to Avondale and College Hill in the north. Over the last 40 years, the district has been represented by 3 people: William Mallory Sr. represented the district for 28 years. His son Mark Mallory represented the district for 4 years before being elected to the Ohio Senate and now the mayorship. And for the last 8 years Catherine Barrett has represented the district. She is term limited out and cannot run this year.

I am joined this morning by two principled candidates. Dale Mallory is the son of William Mallory and the brother of the Mayor. He is retired from GE, a long time activist in the West End as the former president of the West End Community Council. He also works as a consultant to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation.

Eve Bolton is a resident of College Hill. She served as a council member in Mt. Healthy, a single term from 1993-1997 as Hamilton County Recorder, and she has taught at Wyoming High School for over 30 years. As a history teacher, right?

Eve Bolton: Yes I am.

Dan Hurley: There you go. Welcome to Newsmakers both of you. I want to point out there are two other candidates: Eric Wilson and also Yvette Barbara Baldwin, but to be perfectly honest I think that everybody recognizes that you two are the principle candidates.

Eve, what is at stake in this race?

Eve Bolton: What is at stake for the whole state of Ohio is a new governing council and group in Columbus to save our state and in an effort to get our state moving again we need at least 2 party control of the dialogue and the debate, and we haven’t had that. So in our representative race, we are seeking to go to the State Capital and make a big difference on schools, on housing, on urban development, on landfill and also on maintaining green-space. Everything is at stake.

Dan Hurley: Dale, what would you say is at stake?

Dale Mallory: I would say the whole direction of the state is at stake. Some of the things that Eve mentioned. I know that this is an opportunity to move this district, this state into better healthcare, and I guess we need to be more supportive of our schools, it is so vital. Dan there are so many things at stake, I don’t know where to start.

Dan Hurley: Ok, let me ask you a couple of specific questions. One of the proposals in Columbus at the moment is to change school funding, and that is of course the second half of this [Newsmakers program]. I am going to be focus on school funding. Schools have to repeatedly go back to the voters, because every time property values are reassessed, the rates roll down and schools can’t account for inflation, they get trapped. So schools become the focus of everybody’s concern about taxes. Would you support a change in the law so that that levies could increase with property values and therefore deal with inflation more easily, and therefore not have to go back to the voters so often? Would you support that law?

Dale Mallory: Well I would support anything that would create the atmosphere of not having to initiate another, or any more school taxes, but the schools, and especially CPS, they were selling some of the school buildings I guess in order to generate money, we have built new schools, there are rumors of schools closing, those are the more direct issues. All politics is local Dan, and right now we are facing Heberle being closed, Bloom being closed…

Dan Hurley: These are West End Schools

Dale Mallory: These are West End Schools, then you have schools around the city and in this district that are being sold, so what we have to do is let that dust to settle, we have to see what we have before we can determine our next move.

Dan Hurley: Are you saying the next Ohio Representative ought to be involved in those sorts of details on the school issue?

Dale Mallory: Well part of the problem is the state legislators have not connected with the city leaders the way that they should have in the past, so once everybody comes together in the room I am sure that we can resolve some of these issues.

Dan Hurley: Eve, how do you feel about this question of changing the way schools are funded?

Eve Bolton: We must change the way schools are funded. It is too much of a burden on the property owners, and more importantly four years ago the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the way we are currently funding schools is unconstitutional, and the executive branch and the legislative branch have ignored that ruling.

I would also suggest though, that it is not just a way of dealing with inflation with perhaps fewer levies, but I think it is also that the state should stop passing unfunded mandates that put a tremendous burden on the local systems. That is a draw on those dollars, whether it is CPS or whether it is Finneytown schools that we are also representing in Springfield Township. That’s one area, and another area that the state could significantly increase funding in is regarding technology. I think that whoever is the new Governor needs to make several phone calls and make sure that the corporate structure in this state and our wonderful college and university organizations come together to make this a global center of education.

Dan Hurley: Lets move on to another area of State concern and that is healthcare. We all know that Massachusetts has changed the state law to try to move to universal health care. Where do you stand, what are the priorities for you in the health care area? Eve?

Eve Bolton: Priorities for me right now are that the people who actually have a job and are working, some would describe them as the working poor, are the least able to get health care. Those folks need to be focused on, and I think you do that by making major kinds of tax effects for those people who employ them, to encourage health coverage.

Dan Hurley: So encourage employers, find a way for employers to more easily buy health care.

Eve Bolton: And I think another way to focus, and I think what the people of Massachusetts are doing is great leadership, but I think another way to focus would be prenatal care through the age of 12, I think our state could come together and find a program to at least on the front side of life begin to invest in young people’s health.

Dan Hurley: Dale what about Health Care?

Dale Mallory: There are so many people without healthcare now Dan. Several months ago there was this co-pay system initiated at the hospitals, in which a lot of people who cannot afford the co-pay are turned away. We have to reverse that trend. I think that at the state level we should push for better health care. I know that some company’s benefits have been reduced, that needs to be revisited. I think there should be incentives for companies to provide healthcare for their employees. We really need to get a handle on the healthcare situation.

Dan Hurley: Dale, you have over the past few months been involved in a very controversial situation, I want to get some things clarified. First off, the subject matter of this has been around CityLink, an organization, a proposal to bring a lot of social services together in one spot on Bank Street, in the northern part of the West End close to the Clifton Heights area. I want you to clarify, because I am not clear in my own mind, where do you stand as an individual on CityLink? So do you support it, do you oppose it, where do you stand on CityLink?

Dale Mallory: You know CityLink is just a word Dan, the poor and homeless is the actual issue. Years ago my father fought beside Reverend McCracken, and they fought for the homeless and the poor. And when that CityLink issue came forward I saw that the community was divided. There were those that wanted to increase their property values in the community, but those who live there and do not attend public meetings wanted to know what was involved in CityLink, they wanted to know what CityLink had to offer. All I said all along is, let’s invite them in; these are 10 organizations, 10 different ministries, 10 different boards...

Dan Hurley: So you favor inviting them in and having them develop this?

Dale Mallory: No, in any situation you must educate the public, you must allow a community, like the one that we are in to be enlightened on what you are about to present to them, and that is all I said, lets hear what they have to say, and the opposition didn’t want to hear it at all. There are people in the community that still don’t understand what CityLink was.

Dan Hurley: Eve, where do you stand and how do you perceive the process that has gone on with this CityLink controversy?

Eve Bolton: Well where I stand on CityLink is that I oppose it, and I oppose it I think for the reason that Dale should oppose it. And that is generally that his community, of which he was president opposed it, and that a number of times, four different months a vote was denied for the people to take a stand on CityLink. I oppose it because first of all it is too big, second there is three schools within a stones throw of where they want to place it. It is three times the size of the one that is in Los Angeles. And the reality is I know from my College Hill redevelopment experience is that all of our neighborhoods are at a tipping place, and it is a real balance to seek economic development and yet make sure that that economic development allows for a sustainable neighborhood. I don’t believe that there is where we need to put CityLink.

Dan Hurley: I want to ask one more time Dale, because I am still not clear. Do you personally support or oppose CityLink?

Dale Mallory: I support helping the poor and homeless, and Eve opposes the poor and homeless, which happen to be predominately African American.

Dan Hurley: Your saying by her opposition to CityLink she is opposing…

Dale Mallory: No, she just said that the people of my community, which, Eve probably hasn’t really visited our community since the arts festival last year, but there are poor and homeless people out there. Our community has plenty of people who need services period, it is not about CityLink, it is about helping people. And two, my opponent gets here and acted like she attended meetings, she believes here-say and she has taken a one-sided, I guess…

Dan Hurley: Well the other side of this is a controversy inside the West End Community Council, and as I understand it on January 23rd you were impeached or expelled as the President. You are now in court, suing some of the members of the West End Community Council. As somebody, a sort of grass roots politician, that is what community councils are all about. What does that say as you run for state office?

Dale Mallory: What that says is that the opposition and the so called impeachment, which didn’t happen Dan, is bogus. There was no executive committee meeting to form a hearing committee for an impeachment. There was money that was taken by the Vice President, and the president. And the President and the vice President still have that money this day. The Vice President…

Dan Hurley: You are talking about Shirley Colbert?

Dale Mallory: Well you said it I didn’t.

Dan Hurley: Yeah well, you are suing her.

Dale Mallory: Yes, and the only reason that I brought them to court Dan is to bring them into a courtroom so that somebody can tell the truth. There is a lot of money being spent behind Shirley Colbert and somebody is bankrolling her.

Dan Hurley: I want to point out that as we speak here, as we tape this morning, there are picketers outside this station.

Dale Mallory: Yeah right, that’s Eve’s entourage, who passes out literature without disclaimers on it which is illegal.

Dan Hurley: Eve, is that your entourage?

Eve Bolton: No.

Dale Mallory: They have done it at several Democratic meetings, they are associated with Eve.

Dan Hurley: Eve, you have been involved in a lot of grassroots politics as well over the years. What do you think this says about, and how does this relate to the question of running for state office?

Eve Bolton: Dale was impeached and it remains a fact. He is fighting that in court, as is his right. The reality though is that he has sued not only his neighbors and prominent ministers within his neighborhood, but he has also sued the County Sheriff and members of the [Cincinnati] Police Division. So the reality is that he was impeached and he has taken it to court. What this tells me is that the people who know Dale best, the people who trusted him when he was elected to try to help in the West End in 2001, have said “No, you are not a help”. And I don’t know how you, if your name isn’t Mallory, you can’t possibly think that you could go out as anybody else and ask other folks that don’t know you to trust you.

Dale Mallory: You know what Dan, all that is very untrue, it is speculation, Eve really hasn’t been around enough to know about the issue period, and she knows very little about our community. And Eve, I have never seen you at a West End Community Council meeting. It is not about me Dan, it is about the community, it is about helping the people. Our family has a long tradition of public service, and that is what we do.

Dan Hurley: And that is true, rooted in the West End.

Dale Mallory: And we help the poor and homeless, we help the well-to-do, we help everyone that we possibly can, but from what I understand from Eve…

Dan Hurley: But on the other side of that Dale there is a concrete issue here right now, about, not your family but about you.

Dale Mallory: Yes, and that issue is that I have led my community for 4 years. I have fought crime, I went to the streets and I proposed private security, I worked with the arts group. I have done so many good things that they cannot be overshadowed by one issue, and this is a one hit, one issue situation. And Eve is clinging to it, this is political posturing.

Dan Hurley: I am basically out of time. Eve, I wanted to ask you a couple of things real quick. Again, the picketers that showed up here this mourning, surprised all of us, are they related to you in any way?

Dale Mallory: Yes they are. Yes they are.

Eve Bolton: The CityLink people that are against CityLink have said that they want to make sure that Dale is not elected to be State Representative, to do to other neighborhoods what he has proposed to do to his own. So those people that are out there are not part of my campaign, and the literature that they pass out is not associated with my campaign. But they have been a truth squad every place that Dale has tried to go to campaign, because they want the message to be very clear that he was impeached.

Dan Hurley: And very quickly, Dale has said you have not been in the West End, which is a major part of this district on any sort of regular basis; do you want to say anything about that?

Eve Bolton: That is an outrage; he also said that I don’t care about the homeless or the poor; that is an outrage. I was in the West End any number of times that I have campaigned. I was in the West End the number of times I have supported the arts in the West End. And just last week I went through many of the facilities that are part of CMHA, and found no security to help those people, no security to protect them from the drug dealers that are on those streets.

Dan Hurley: I am way overtime, so Thank you both for being here. The night of May 2nd...

Dale Mallory: May 2nd, need to vote on May 2nd. Don’t vote for Eve.