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Eve Bolton used equipment at a public school for her campaign.

We wanted some information from Eve Bolton, candidate for the Cincinnati Board of Education, but we didn't want her to break the law to send it. Bolton sent a six-page fax Oct. 8, background information for an upcoming article about the various candidates running for school board. The fax arrived with a cover page saying "Wyoming High School," where Bolton is a teacher. The fax stamp was the fax machine in the counselor's office, according to Principal Anne Wade. State law prohibits the use of public funds to communicate information that "supports or opposes the nomination or election of a candidate for public office."

Asked if she authorized the sending of the fax from the school fax machine, Wade said, "No, I did not." Told of the contents of the fax -- a bio and campaign literature -- Wade said, "Oh, my goodness. ... It is not something that's supposed to be done. That's the long and short of it."

The disciplinary consequences for Bolton aren't something Wade was prepared to discuss.

"It is against the policy and the revised code, so something will have to happen," Wade said.

In the pages faxed to CityBeat, Bolton touted her past record of public service.

"As Hamilton County Recorder, I reinvigorated that office by reorganizing the workforce, flattening bureaucracy, increasing communication and collaboration, all of which CPS needs now," the literature said.

This begs the question, given her inability to remember such a simple rule of campaign law, how is it that she'll be able to execute her plans for reform in a manner consistent with the existing law and school-district policies?

Trying to Get a Message to You
Public TV station WCET (Channel 48) is doing part of a public service by broadcasting a two-way debate on Hamilton County's proposed jail tax. Problem is there are more than two points of view on the issue, and organizers won't give a third view equal access to the airwaves. County commissioners Todd Portune, supporting the jail tax, and Pat DeWine, opposing it, will answer questions from the public in a live forum Oct. 17. But the League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area, the Woman's City Club and Cincinnatus, the sponsoring organizations, turned down a request to include a speaker from the NoJailTax PAC -- one of the key organizations opposing construction of a new jail.

DeWine doesn't oppose the jail; he opposes only the plan advanced by Portune and County Commissioner David Pepper. In a letter to forum moderator Dan Hurley, Linda Newman, spokeswoman for NoJailTax PAC, asked his support for inclusion of a third point of view.

"Having a debate or answers to questions with only commissioners Portune (or Pepper) and DeWine is like having a debate between those who want to get out of Iraq in 2009 and those who want out in 2010 -- and not including those who want to get out of Iraq now," Newman writes.

Shareholders at Procter & Gamble's annual meeting Oct. 9 were treated to the spectacle of animal-rights activists wearing dog masks and crouching in cages. Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were protesting what they say are cruel laboratory tests on animals by Iams, a pet food manufacturer and subsidiary of P&G. During the meeting, a representative of PETA -- which owns 70 shares of P&G stock -- planned to present a shareholder resolution calling on the company to produce a feasibility report about ending all of Iams' laboratory tests on animals within a five-year period.

Photo By Joe Lamb

Caged meat: Animal-rights protesters target Procter and Gamble.

For more on campaign blunders, check out CityBeat's Porkopolis blog at blogs.citybeat.com/porkopolis.

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