Coffee with the Candidate

Published October 26, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — There are three candidates for Loveland City Council who chose not participate in the Coffee with the Candidate podcast, so we decided to invite a local political watcher to help analyze what's going on with their campaigns. Incumbents Neal Oury and Ted Phelps never responded to multiple requests to be on the podcast. Newcomer John Hart, a Loveland Intermediate School vice principal and longtime math teacher and coach in the Loveland City School District, declined. He said Loveland Local News asking for his employee file from the school district - a very common tactic for any public official - was uncalled for and refused to participate. So, Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels brought on Ryan Kulik, a political consultant on local campaigns around the country who has a Master's in political science and lives in Loveland, to talk about what he sees. And he sees a lot. He often talks about it on his own local podcast, and, well, what he sees he often does not like. Wessels and Kulik go deep into these three men, issues in Loveland, and discuss where things stand just days before Election Day (that's Tuesday, November 2, 2021, by the way). Listen and let us know what you think.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Elizabeth Mason wants to be on the school board to get things back on track. Mason met with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels at the Loveland branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County to discuss why she is running, why she chose to run with Al Juram and Colette Boyko on a slate, and how she hopes to bring back some old-fashioned values to Loveland schools - including getting student and teachers away from depending on laptops for so much of their learning. The married mother of two talks about why her age - she's 38, though we really do hate to have to ask that as is mentioned - has become a bit of a talking point as she's campaigned - and a whole lot more. Duration: 40:17 Recorded on 10/5/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Kim Lukens would make a few changes if she were elected to the Loveland City Council. The first-time candidate and counselor told Loveland Local News she sees problems in the city and wants to be on City Council to make things right. One of her big issues? Development in the city, a topic many on social media in and around Loveland are talking about. She sat down with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels in the amphitheater at Nisbet Park on a gorgeous fall Sunday morning to talk about the city, what she sees as wrong, and her approach to fixing things. Duration: 47:20 Recorded on 10/3/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Eileen Washburn has education in her blood. The incumbent Loveland City School Board member, vying for her second term, is also a teacher in the Lakota school system. Loveland Local News publisher, Joe Wessels, talks to Washburn about her passion for making the Loveland schools the best schools around and how things have gone in recent years - in the wake of two recent school levy failures and a global pandemic - and where she'd like to take the school system next. Visit her website at VoteWashburng.org. Duration: 28:23 Recorded on 9/27/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Kip Ping is making his first attempt at becoming a Loveland City Council member. Ping says being on City Council is about being responsive to the citizens and he sits down with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels to discuss how he'd do that. The structural engineer has done his homework and believes he is ready to take on this role. He will get into exactly how he will do that, including topics about the planned parking garage and the paid parking (parking meters and pay-to-park public lots) in downtown Loveland, development in Loveland and if he will attend the private after-meeting Council meetings that happen weekly. Duration: 40:16 Recorded on 10/4/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Elliot Grossman touts his communications and community engagement work with local school districts when he talks about why he should be elected to the Loveland school board. The former newspaperman who came to Cincinnati to work at The Enquirer as an assistant local news editor has found work in his post-media life sending schools better talk to their constituents. He believes working with schools has given him a unique perspective that will help him serve as an effective Loveland City School District school board member. Grossman sits down with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels over chips and salsa at El Picante in Miami Township to discuss his various plans for helping the school district move forward, especially as the district tackles mistrust in the community and impending financial issues that will require voters to approve more funding. Duration: 30:37 Recorded on 10/4/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Al Juram has touched countless lives in and around Loveland as an active coach and board member of various sports leagues. Now the business leader wants to take his know-how and apply it and his love for working with area children to being a school board member. Juram sat down with Loveland Local News publisher, Joe Wessels, to discuss what his vision is for the Loveland City School District is going forward, especially in light of recent district financial difficulties and the world children have experienced during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. He also shares his views on critical race theory and why he wants to keep that out of schools - even though the Loveland schools do not currently teach that curriculum. Running on a slate with Elizabeth Mason and Colette Boyko, Juram discusses how that happened and what he hopes to gain from running together. Duration: 33:16 Recorded on 10/1/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Jonathan Eilert is a pastor with a passion - and he wants to take that to the Loveland school board. Eilert leads the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at the corner of West Loveland Avenue and South Lebanon Road which has about 1,200 members. Even with that big responsibility, Eilert said he has considered running for the school board for at least a decade. He sits down in his church offices with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels to discuss why now, why him and what he thinks he could do to better the Loveland City School District. Duration: 41:19 Recorded on 9/29/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Colette Boyko says the best part of running for the school board has been getting to know so many people in the community. The candidate for the Loveland City School District school board thinks her listening skills will be her key to success as a school board member - something she feels has been lacking in recent years as it relates to school board members. Watching two school levies fail in recent years prompted her desire to be on the board and she launched her campaign. Boyko sat down with Joe Wessels, the publisher of Loveland Local News, on a beautiful fall day on the rooftop of Ramsey's Trailside in downtown Loveland, to discuss school funding, what comes next for the soon-to-be finally strapped Loveland school system. Boyko also talks about her decision to run on a slate with fellow first-time candidates Elizabeth Mason and Al Juram. Duration: 30:41 Recorded on 9/28/2021.

Published October 24, 2021. LOVELAND, Ohio — Tim Butler is wrapping up his first term on Loveland City Council in a very different place from where he started. Having run with three other Council members last time, one, Vice Mayor Rob Weisgerber, isn't running after nearly 30 years on Council, and two other incumbents decided they'd rather run without him and picked two new people to form a slate. The issue? It appears disagreeing with his fellow Council members - who tended to vote in lockstep with one another and Mayor Kathy Bailey (who appears to dictate much of city policy with Weisgerber) - is a good way to get kicked to the curb. So, Butler is going it alone. In his candidate interview with Loveland Local News Publisher Joe Wessels, Butler talks about these issues, how things changed for him and why, despite being at odds with nearly all the other Council members, he wants to keep going. Duration: 38:42 Recorded on 9/24/2021.