CINCINNATI -- A Cincinnati City Councilmember says he's losing his party's endorsement because he refused to layoff police officers.
Jeff Berding (D) tells 9News the local Democratic Party will officially pull the endorsement for the November election on Saturday at a meeting of the Cincinnati Democratic Committee and Hamilton County Democratic Party.
In a memo obtained by 9News, the meeting was called to discuss, among other things, party loyalty. The memo bears the names of the other Democrats on city council who voted opposite of Berding, including Mayor Mark Mallory and council members Laketa Cole, Cecil Thomas, Greg Harris and Todd Crowley.
Berding says Mayor Mallory and other Democrats are mad at him because he refused to layoff Cincinnati officers. And even though he says they may use other excuses for calling this meeting, it's clear to him what this is all about.
“Well, let's be frank, they're punishing me because of my efforts to stop police officers being laid off in Cincinnati. They're punishing me because I'm an independent voice for Cincinnati – that I'm going to put the city first always ahead of the party – and they're going to punish me for that," said Berding.
On Thursday the jobs were saved when members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) voted on concessions that will keep the 135 officers on the street until the end of the year. Mallory's campaign manager said that the mayor had no comment, when contacted by 9News.
Officially, the local Democratic party could take away Berding's endorsement on its slate. Berding is running for a third term on council and says he'll run as an independent if need be, although he still considers himself a Democrat.
It's not clear who the party will replace Berding with on its slate, but the AFL-CIO has already put new stickers on their most recent brochures – covering Berding's name with that of former WCPO reporter Laure Quinlivan.
