Video: Residents Argue Against 'Running From Cover' During Council Meeting

While most of the discussion at Mentor City Council's meeting Tuesday night pertained to either Senate Bill 5 or the recently passed state budget, two Mentor residents revisited the issue of Council candidates running from cover.

"Running from cover" is when a politician runs for an office when he or she still has time left to serve at his or her current position.

In the last few years, it has become common for Mentor City Council members to run for a different seat while they still have two or three years remaining on their present seat. For example, an at-large councilman might run for a ward seat or vice versa.

In the last five years, Council members Carolyn Bucey, Scott Marn and Ronald Micchia have all done it – Micchia twice.

Previously, Councilman Ray Kirchner  that would put a city charter amendment banning the practice on the ballot.

However, after an informal vote, Council President Robert Shiner said the .

Council members Janet Dowling, Marn and Kirchner said the matter should still be put up for a vote.

Shiner, who said he would never run from cover, replied that residents could put the matter on the ballot via referendum. Furthermore, he said discussion of the issue at Council meetings amounted to "grandstanding."

Two Mentor residents, Emily Koenig and Erik Clarke, spoke during the meeting to show their support for a running-from-cover ban.

Koenig specifically replied to Micchia's earlier assertion that a ban would . Koenig said that other communities have already voted for similar bans and that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it in the 1982 case of Clements v. Fashing.

"Anyone who felt their constitutional rights had been violated would have every right to file a lawsuit and pursue it in court," Koenig said. "However, based on the previous court decisions, I expect they would be unsuccessful."

Clarke, an erstwhile , asked why Ohio Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Township, could discuss Senate Bill 5 at Council meetings but the running-from-cover debate was considered grandstanding.

"If (Senate Bill 5) is allowed to be discussed on the Council floor, so should this important issue facing the people of Mentor," Clarke said.

Shiner said that – due to some confusion between Council, Young and City Manager Ken Filipiak – he thought Young was only going to speak about the recently passed state budget and not Senate Bill 5.

Both Koenig and Clark finished their comments by asking Council to put a potential running-from-cover ban on the ballot or, in lieu of that, at least vote on the ordinance in a public meeting.