Gerald Owens challenging Donnie Jones for Auditor

The latest issue of “The Norwood Times” published a list of City and NCS school board candidates for the November election. As soon as we saw Gerald Owens listed as the challenger to incumbent Donnie Jones for City Auditor, we immediately checked the Unofficial Candidates List online at the Hamilton County Board of Elections site to see if there was any more detail. There was. On the line with Gerald Owens’ name and address are the words “Write-In,” meaning, of course, that Mr. Owens’ name will not appear on the November ballot and, instead, must written in by voters who choose to vote for him.

Yesterday, we called the Board of Elections for more information. Mr. Owens, we were told, filed as a write-in candidate either on August 23, the deadline for certain candidates to file, or the day before. Like all other candidates, he must abide by all campaign finance laws and submit the same financial reports to the Board of Elections. The person we talked to speculated his campaign would probably be purchasing lots of pencils to distribute to voters.

Many Norwoodians know Gerald Owens as “Jerry” and are familiar with his many years of involvement with the Victory Park Veterans Association and the Norwood American Legion Post 123. We can’t help but wonder if Channel 12’s 8/22/07 report on Auditor Jones’ delinquent payroll deductions, most notably child support payments, from city employees’ checks influenced Jerry Owens’ decision to file as a write-in by the 8/23 deadline.