Local News

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.

FitzGerald invades GOP stronghold to raise money

91.7 WVXU | By Howard Wilkinson

Published January 31, 2014 at 8:24 AM EST

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald will come to Butler County's heavily-Republican Liberty Township tonight for a fundraising event.

FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County Executive who has been endorsed for governor by the Ohio Democratic Party, will be at a reception and fundraiser at 5 p.m. at the home of Kathy Wyenandt, the chair of the Butler County Democratic Party executive committee.

The incumbent Republican governor, John Kasich, defeated then-Democratic governor Ted Strickland in 2010 by a large margin - 74,972 votes to Strickland's 40,153.

FitzGerald is waiting to see if he will have a May primary opponent. Hamilton County commissioner Todd Portune began testing the waters in December for a possible challenge to FitzGerald, but has yet to find a running mate and hasn't made his candidacy official. The filing deadline for candidates is Wednesday.

Reservations for tonight's fundraising event can be made at kdwyenandt@gmail.com.