A current Cincinnati Public Schools board member took to Twitter Sunday to say a candidate for the board is “is a White guy pretending to be Black to get votes” in ads, reports Cincinnati.com. School board member Mike Moroski was referring to an ad for candidate Steven J. Megerle. The ad says “Elect Megerle, Protecting Taxpayers,” and shows a Black couple with three children.
“This is wrong,” Moroski wrote. “Megerle is a White guy pretending to be Black to get votes.” Megerle told the Enquirer in an interview Sunday that the accusation he was trying to mislead voters is “nonsense. It’s a partisan attack,” Megerle said. “They have no plan to solve our failing schools.”
The school board race is nonpartisan, meaning the candidates’ parties are not listed on the ballot. Megerle’s opponent, Pamela Bowers, and Moroski have previously been endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party. He verified the specific ad Moroski mentioned was paid for by his campaign. Megerle is a former Covington Commissioner and more recently served as the chief of staff for City Councilman Jeff Pastor.
In 2009 charges were filed against Megerle in Kentucky for violating campaign finance restrictions and failure to identify campaign contributions and advertisers, He pleaded guilty to the charges which stemmed from a series of political ads. Those ads were called anti-gay by critics. A Kenton County judge said those ads were meant to “stoke the fires of bigotry.” Moroski also pointed out these convictions in his tweet.
Those misdemeanors have been expunged from Megerle’s record, and he said his opponents are focused on the past. ‘It’s sad that partisan city councilmembers and a school board member are obsessed with tales of the past because I am focused on taking our schools from failing to first,’” he said. “My priorities will always be fighting for students, parents, and taxpayers.” Cincinnati City Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard retweeted Moroski’s comments with the comment: “All facts. Say NO to this pretender.”
