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Howard Wilkinson: Politics and More

0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Mann to Dems: Reconsider me for endorsement

91.7 WVXU | By Howard Wilkinson

Published April 26, 2013 at 3:43 PM EDT

Former Cincinnati mayor and congressman David Mann was snubbed by the Cincinnati Democratic Committee's nominating committee for an endorsement of his city council campaign, but he is not taking it lying down.

Mann sent a letter Friday to the full membership of the Cincinnati Democratic Committee (CDC), which will meet Saturday, May 4th at the Letter Carriers Hall in Northside to vote on the nominating committee's recommendations.

In the letter, Mann - who was a mayor in the 1980s and early 1990s and served one term in Congress - urged the CDC to ignore the recommendation of the nominating committee and give him an endorsement. He is running again this year for council, 20 years after he left that body to go to Congress.

"I am a proud, progressive Democrat who is very worried about the financial well-being of our city,'' Mann said.

"I ask to be endorsed as a Democrat as I have been throughout my career of 15 previous elections,'' Mann wrote.

Earlier this month, the 19-member nominating committee met after interviewing all the candidates and ended up endorsing the six incumbent Democrats on council and three first-time candidates - Greg Landsman, Michelle Dillingham and Shawn Butler, who is an aide to Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory.

Only nine are endorsed because there are only nine seats on city council.

Mann, in his letter, questioned the process used by the nominating committee.

He said that after the incumbents were approved, there was a "straw vote" show of hands by the committee with only four candidates "having significant support" - Landsman, Dillingham, Butler and Mann.

Then, he said, signed ballots were distributed and he finished second among the non-incumbents.

"Incredibly, because some were not happy with the results and insisted on changes, the committee conducted yet another vote,'' Mann wrote. "This time, by a one vote margin, I dropped to fourth."

Mann told WVXU Friday that he will run for council with or without the party endorsement. He said he will attend the May 4th meeting and attempt to make his case.

The CDC is made up of about 185 elected precinct executives from around the city. Those who show up for the meeting will decide whether or not to accept the nominating committee's recommendations.