Cincinnati Council Candidate Charlie Winburn: Wants Those Missouri Voters

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Republican Charlie Winburn's campaign workers have leafletted a big commuter student parking lot at Xavier University, but they didn't check to see if all the cars had Ohio license tags. Which means that Winburn's campaign literature was wasted on out of state residents. Much of it wound up as litter or in trash cans.

Winburn is a former council member seeking a return to office this November. He served on the Ohio Civil Rights Commission under Gov. Bob Taft, and ran unsuccessfully for mayor. He held political appointments under former Democratic Gov. Dick Celeste, but switched parties after the Republicans took control of state government in 1990.

Darren LaCour, opinion and editorial editor for the student-run Xavier Newswire, found a circular tucked under his car's his windshield wiper blade, and he was none too happy to be solicited in that particular fashion. He also says his car has Missouri license plates -- a tip off he's ineligible to vote in Cincinnati. He says the Winburn camp lacked common sense.

"While Winburn might have 'leadership that gets things done for the people of Cincinnati,' he also leaves nice white messes on your car. I am prone to irrational anger over petty things, this was certainly one of them. But while it was bad enough this flyer has left a blemish on my vehicle's pristine, not washed-in-two or three months appearance, I was also irked because the people distributing these flyers did not use common sense.

'My car proudly displays Missouri license plates. And guess what? Missouri is a state, and that state in not Ohio! I live in Missouri and my car says so. Thus, the likelihood of me being registered to vote in an Ohio election, much less a Cincinnati local election, is laughable."