Toledo City Council threw in the towel Sept. 23.

Given an opportunity to make a tough decision and explore opportunities for a vacant seat on the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Board, council instead meekly rolled over for Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner’s uninspired choice, Jerry Chabler.

I have not seen evidence that Chabler disgraced himself or his position the first time he sat on the board, filling one seat for two years and serving two more years of a reappointment term before resigning in 2003. But there’s not much dispute he is a Finkbeiner recycle, with reported strong ties to the mayor and Blade publisher John Block.

There are those who argue those ties are a good thing, and those who know those ties are a malignant thing. In a Sept. 22 letter to council, James Tuschman, who chairs the Joint Task Force on Intermodal Transportation and Logistics, endorsed Chabler, writing, “[Chabler] has an important relationship with opinion leaders … and political leaders … these are assets, not liabilities.”

If you say so, Jim.

Chabler may not be the worst choice for the board, but with names such as Fifth Third Chairman John Szuch, UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs and Executive Vice President of the Home Builders Association Tony Plath floating around with a dozen other current business leaders, he’s certainly not bringing a fresh perspective or independent voice.

External pressures

In the hours before the Chabler vote, a source told Toledo Free Press that some council people had received intimidating or threatening calls from Chabler or on his behalf.

There would be precedent for such tactics.

When Block was pushing for Finkbeiner to be on the port board in February 2003, The Blade reported then-Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber “complained of ‘external pressures exerted on this board’ to appoint him.” One of the threats, according to the story, was “speculated retribution from The Blade if Ms. Thurber did not vote for Mr. Finkbeiner.”

That is similar wording to what I was told was in a message Councilman Mike Craig received.

Craig denied that on Sept. 24, saying  that Chabler called him the morning of the vote and “told me what he brought to the table,” but said nothing inappropriate.

“This is politics, and people are going to pressure you,” Craig said. “Our job is to look past the pressure to the facts and make the right decisions.”

I was told Councilwoman Lindsay Webb had been contacted by Chabler, and had been intimidated to vote for the mayor’s choice. A council-person confirmed that to me, but Webb did not return our calls before the vote.

One story passed along to us, and confirmed by a council person, was that Finkbeiner had contacted Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken with a list of five names Block wanted on the board.

Finkbeiner reportedly said he could get two of those names, Chabler and Pete Culp, through council, but the commissioners would have to pass the other three. Gerken reportedly said he was not interested in seeing the list. When Toledo Free Press asked Gerken if that story was true, he said, “I won’t confirm that.”

When pressed to say if the story was true or false, Gerken again said, “I won’t confirm that.”

That’s obviously not a denial; wouldn’t you love to know the other three names on that list?

9 to 2

Despite Chabler’s turbulent time on the board, and the availability of many arguably more qualified people, council approved Finkbeiner’s nominee, 9 to 2. Councilmen Michael Ashford and Tom Waniewski voted against Chabler.

Waniewski said he was hoping for a younger, more active businessperson for the board.

So were the rest of us, Tom.

Chabler plays with words

I interviewed Chabler on Sept. 24. I have never met him, but he spoke to me as if we were longtime acquaintances; he joked about my boss’ golf game and then addressed my questions head-on. He said he faced opposition because, “For some reason, that group does not want someone on the board who asks tough questions and protects taxpayer dollars.”

He said some of the bad feelings come from his questioning of then Port Authority President Jim Hartung.

“I do like Jim, contrary to popular belief, but I took him on and pointed out some things I thought were not right about running the port authority,” Chabler said. “Jim and I had differences, but I had a lot of respect for him. I wasn’t privy to the unanimous decision to fire him, but I must have been prophetic; I must have known something. His firing validates my criticism.”

Chabler said as far back as his time on the board, he had been told Hartung was romantically involved with lobbyist Kathy Teigland.

“I had heard rumors, but I hear rumors like that and don’t like to dig into personal stuff, and I never brought that up in public,” Chabler said. “I had too much respect.”

I asked Chabler if he thought an intermodal transportation hub was a practical reality.

“If naysayers, specifically WSPD, would cease and desist with the negativity, they will be very happy with our report in two or three weeks,” he said. “This is the very biggest economic stimulus I have seen in 40 years. But if WSPD continues on course, they could single-handedly dismantle this program, and I hope to God they don’t.” It’s not my job to defend WSPD, but Chabler is way out of line with that. Not only was WSPD the first media source to start beating the drum for intermodal success, the station has continued to keep the concept in conversation when other media moved on.

As he did at the Sept. 23 council meeting and during a Sept. 24 Troy Neff interview, Chabler made it a point to tout the upcoming port levy. “The priority is to pass that,” Chabler said. “I’ve defeated port levies in the past and I’ve passed them in the past, and this levy is the most important ever that they had to pass. We need to bring more jobs and forget about the egos and agendas. I can help with that. I’ve been around the block.”

No pun intended, I’m sure.

Weasel spins a Webb

I asked Chabler about the reported threatening phone calls. He said he had a “good conversation” with Craig and did not threaten him. He said, “I never talked to Lindsay Webb. I had no phone conversation with her.” Technically, that’s true. But when Webb contacted me Sept. 24, she told me Chabler had left her a voice-mail message. Chabler did not lie, but his weasel-word answer will certainly inspire me to be more thorough the next time I have questions for him.

Webb told me she had described the message to a fellow council person in a way that could have been misinterpreted; she offered to meet me and let me hear the phone message. Webb said she had called Finkbeiner Chief of Staff Bob Reinbolt last week, asking if the administration could “reconsider” its Chabler nomination and offer other names.

“I wanted to weigh in and ask Reinbolt to tell Carty there were other names to consider, that I wanted to see new ideas and fresh blood, industry icons like John Szuch and Lloyd Jacobs,” she said. “I wanted the mayor to reconsider Chabler.”

Webb said she never received a call back from the mayor’s office, but she did receive a call from Chabler.

She played that message

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for me, which was dated 8:58 a.m. Sept. 23, the day of the vote: “I’ve been told by the mayor that apparently you talked to Bob Reinbolt and indicated that you’ll be voting for me, and I wanted to personally thank you very much. I will not forget it. I don’t forget these things, believe me, Lindsay,” he said on the message. “I have the votes, but I still would personally like your vote and want your vote because it means a lot for a whole lot of different reasons, Lindsay.” Webb agreed it was an interesting game of telephone. “I was surprised by the message,” Webb said. While there’s nothing literally threatening in the message, one can certainly read between the lines of Chabler’s patronizing words.

1. I know what you told the mayor.

2. Let’s pretend you are voting for me anyway.

3. I’ll remember this vote.

4. Believe me, I’ll remember this vote.

5. I don’t need your vote, but I’d like it.

6. There are a whole lot of unspoken reasons for voting for me.

That’s a lot of not threatening.

“What ultimately swung my vote is that Jerry is very well connected in Columbus,” Webb said. “Purists would like to believe that politics is not involved in decision making on Toledo City Council, and they would say that politics is the reason we find ourselves in the highest unemployment in recent times. But the reality of the situation is that politics is certainly a part of it. I am elected to represent North Toledo, and we desperately need city resources. My No. 1 job is to attract as many city resources into those neighborhoods as possible, and if that means I need to have a collaborative relationship with the administration, then that is what I am prepared to do.

“I choose my battles, and on this vote, Jerry Chabler was not the battle I wanted to take on.”

So, another towel hits the ring and as the bell echoes, Toledo lies bleeding on the mat. The referee raises Finkbeiner’s hand in the air, Block smiles from the owner’s box, and the stakeholders file for the exits, trying to absorb another loss, another squandered opportunity, another in a long line of predetermined betrayals.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. E-mail him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse.
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