Sabrena Smedley
County Commission Chairman Sabrena Smedley said Wednesday she believes "shameful" attack ads against County Commissioner David Sharpe were from the same individuals who ran a hit campaign against her and Matt Hullander in the county mayor race.
Weston Wamp narrowly won the county mayor race, which was highlighted by a flurry of late attacks on Ms. Smedley and Mr. Hullander.
He denied that he nor his campaign had anything to do with the ads, though they came from a group closely tied with his campaign.
The series of attack mailers against Commissioner Sharpe included one showing a young boy about to enter a school. The mailer says, "School Shooters Are Lurking. And Commissioner David Sharpe Would Open The Door For Them."
Another says he would get rid of officers at the schools. Commissioner Sharpe said he was part of an effort that recently assured for the first time that there will be an officer at every Hamilton County public school.
Chairman Smedley said, "I have sat silent for a long time. The same kind of tactics were used against me and Mr. Matt Hullander."
She said, "If somebody had put a blindfold on me and laid that (anti-Sharpe) mailer in front of me and let me look at it, I would have sworn that it came from the same individuals that put out mailers on me and Matt."
She stated, "It's despicable to put a child on a mailer and say that anybody up here would let a gunman into a school. Frankly, I'm ashamed of whatever Republican is responsible."
Ms. Smedley said in her election, "I took the high road. I let it go. But you've hit a nerve with me today.
"In my case, they had a beautiful child who was masked with a red X and said, 'Sabrena Smedley is in bed with the liberal teachers union' and said I wanted their child masked." She said that was far from the truth.
She stated, "I can't believe anybody would use a child in that manner. Shame on them."
Ms. Smedley said that Commissioner Sharpe's Republican opponent, Ruth Jeno, had condemned the ad. Ms. Smedley said, "That didn't happen in my case."
Commissioner Randy Fairbanks said, "In nine out of 10 cases where this happens, we know who's behind it. We know this is the crap they do.
"We know who does it. We know the experts, but they aren't called out."
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said in all his campaigns he never used a negative mailer.
He said, "People don't like it, and you don't have to do that to win."