December 12, 2010
By Joe Hallett

Mayor Michael B. Coleman, at 56 still among the city's most eligible bachelors, invited me to his spiffy new Downtown pad last week for coffee, bagels and a sampling of the common sense and courage that has made him one of Columbus' most successful mayors.

Coleman will run for an unprecedented fourth four-year term next year and, at this juncture, he appears to be a shoo-in. A Republican challenger has yet to be identified.

Coleman has his personal foibles - his divorce from longtime wife Frankie, a genuinely sweet woman, exposed some of them - but his efficacy as the city's only 21 {+s}{+t}-century mayor is evident practically everywhere the nation's 15 {+t}{+h} largest city stretches. Simply put, Columbus works, and it is the only major city in Ohio that continues to grow and produce more jobs.

Coleman certainly is blessed with advantages other big-city mayors envy, namely recession-resistant employers such as the nation's largest university, state government, insurance giants and regional banks. Both he, politically, and the city, economically, have benefited from his close association with business leaders.

In the coming year, Coleman will make his case for a new term while GOP detractors will point to problems, including a homicide rate that once again has spiked. I'll leave that debate for another day and instead use this space for a pair of observations about the mayor's uniqueness in today's run-of-the-mill political class. First, he has guts.

Perhaps the easiest and least courageous thing a politician can advocate is to cut taxes - a perennial election crowd-pleaser. It is a testament to his leadership that Coleman persuaded voters to raise taxes during a recession.

The half-percent increase in the city income tax passed 16 months ago came after Coleman, buffeted by two recessions, cut services and programs to the bone. Another round of cuts would have meant laying off cops and firefighters, jeopardizing the city's safety.

"There was an early belief by some businesses that if you raise the income tax you're going to drive out business, particularly during a recession," Coleman said. "I thought about it long and hard and I said, 'You know what, in my experience as mayor over the past decade the reason why businesses moved to Columbus is because of the quality of life.'

"We have all these things that make our city good. You start chipping away the quality of life, you will not see business expansion, you will not see business relocation. The tax rate is part of the formula, but it is not the formula."

Since voters approved the tax increase, Columbus has added 8,500 jobs, and the city has maintained the highest credit rating achievable. Coleman said that if he had considered re-election in his tax-increase deliberations, "I probably would have said, 'Let's not do it.'"

The second point to be made here is that Coleman grounds his gutsy calls in common sense. Last week, as lawmakers lost their collective mind trying to shove through a bill that would permit people to take hidden guns into bars and extend gun-toting rights to drug misdemeanants, Coleman injected sanity into the discussion.

"That law is like saying we might as well make drinking and driving legal," said Coleman, one of the few politicians left around Capitol Square with the courage to stand up to the National Rifle Association.

"Members of my own party and other elected officials have said stay away from that issue. How can I do that as mayor of the largest city in Ohio when there are these homicides and the state laws are getting guns into the hands of the people I'm trying to arrest? I want common-sense gun laws."

If Coleman wins a fourth term, he will be on every Democrat's short list to challenge Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich in 2014.

"The truth is, why would I want to be the governor of the state of Ohio when I can be the mayor of the city of Columbus?" Coleman said. "Explain that to me. I have no interest in being the governor of the state of Ohio."

At least that's good news for Columbus.