Politics

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.

Two Republicans Win Election To Fill Out Two Municipal Court Terms

91.7 WVXU | By Howard Wilkinson

Published November 3, 2015 at 9:31 PM EST

Two Republicans who were appointed to vacant Hamilton County Municipal Court judgeships were elected to fill out the terms Tuesday.

With 100 percent of the vote counted in the 4^th Municipal Court district, Judge Curt Kissinger rolled over Democrat Shane Herzner. Kissinger took 72 percent of the unofficial vote, while Herzner had 28 percent.

In the other 4^th District race, Judge Josh Berkowitz defeated a fellow former Norwood law director in Democrat Bob Kelly. Berkowitz had 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent for Kelly.

The vacancies came about because last fall, Municipal Court Judge Russell Mock, a Republican, was elected to the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals over another municipal court judge, Democrat Fanon Rucker.

Also last fall, Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph E. Winkler, a Republican, was elected to Hamilton County’s probate court judgeship over Charlie Luken, a Democrat.

That left two vacancies for Ohio Gov. John Kasich to fill by appointment, using a list of possible candidates submitted by the Hamilton County Republican Party.

In February, Kasich appointed Kissinger to the judgeship left open by Mock’s election to the appeals court. Then, in April, the governor appointed Josh Berkowitz, an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor, to Shanahan’s former seat on the municipal court.

Both races were in District 4 which includes Anderson Township, Newtown, Mt. Washington, Mt. Lookout, Columbia-Tusculum, Hyde Park, Oakley, Fairfax, Mariemont, Norwood, Mt. Adams, and the southeast portion of downtown Cincinnati.