Carleton "Carty" S. Finkbeiner (born May 30, 1939) is an American
Democratic politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and former mayor of
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
. First elected in 1993, he took office on January 1, 1994. In 1997, he defeated challenger Nick Wichowski to win a second term. Term limits prevented him from running a third consecutive time. He was succeeded by former mayor
Jack Ford in 2002. Following his first administration, Finkbeiner served on the
Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board. He joined the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate in Toledo and hosted ''Carty & Company'', a Sunday morning public affairs show. He also contributed a weekly editorial segment, ''It's Just Not Right!'' Finkbeiner left
WTVG
WTVG (channel 13) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Dorr Street (Ohio State Route 246, SR 246) in Toledo, and its transmitter is loc ...
in May 2005.
On June 30, 2005, Finkbeiner announced that he would seek a third term as mayor. He won the Toledo mayoral primary, winning roughly 37% of the vote in comparison to 29% earned by incumbent Ford. On November 8, 2005, Finkbeiner was re-elected mayor. Finkbeiner was sworn in for his third term as mayor in a private ceremony on January 3, 2006. Carty announced that his third run as mayor would be his final one and he would not seek re-election. According to city finance records verified by the Toledo Blade, Finkbeiner left the city with a 48 million dollar deficit which was inherited by Ohio Fire Marshall
Michael P. Bell, an Independent, who succeeded Carty Finkbeiner in 2010.
Finkbeiner resides with his wife, Amy Finkbeiner, in South Toledo. He has three children: Ryan, Jenny, and Katie, and five grandchildren.
Finkbeiner announced plans to run for a fourth term as mayor of Toledo on August 29, 2015. The 2015 election, to fill the remainder of Michael Collins' mayoral term, was won by
Paula Hicks-Hudson
Paula S. Hicks-Hudson (born May 28, 1951) is an American politician currently serving as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. She is the former Mayor of Toledo, Ohio.
Early life and education
Hicks-Hudson was born in Hamilton, Ohio ...
.
In July 2021, Finkbeiner filed a petition to run again for mayor of Toledo, challenging incumbent
Wade Kapszukiewicz
Wade Kapszukiewicz ( ; born October 30, 1972) is an American politician serving as the 58th mayor of Toledo, Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as treasurer of Lucas County, Ohio.
Early life and education
Kapszukiewi ...
.
Background
Finkbeiner was born in 1939 and raised in Toledo. He graduated from
Maumee Valley Country Day School
Maumee Valley Country Day School (or MVCDS, Maumee Valley or MV) is an independent and non-religious private school located in Toledo, Ohio. The school was founded in 1842 as an all-girls finishing school in Western New York and was moved to Tole ...
and received a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
from
Denison University
Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...
in
Granville, Ohio
Granville is a Village (United States)#Ohio, village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is e ...
. Prior to his political career, he taught at Maumee Valley Country Day School,
St. Francis de Sales High School, and the
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...
.
During his long career in public service, Carty has been a member of multiple parties. At various times and for various offices he has run as a Republican, a Democrat and an Independent. Finkbeiner served eight years as a
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
man and two years as deputy mayor.
Controversy
Several controversies have occurred during Finkbeiner's involvement in public office:
* In November 1994, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner suggested at a staff meeting that a way to resolve complaints about airport noise would be to move deaf people into the neighborhood.
* Toledo restaurateur John Skiadas filed a lawsuit alleging that Finkbeiner physically and verbally assaulted him at the Erie Street Market in 2000. The lawsuit was dismissed by
Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Charles Wittenberg in 2004.
*In March, 1999, Finkbeiner called for a boycott of
Little Caesar's Pizza because of the franchise owners’ involvement in a proposed
Rossford
Rossford is a city in Wood County, Ohio, United States, located along the Maumee River in the Toledo metropolitan area. The population was 6,293 at the 2010 census. The town includes the intersection of Interstate 75 and the Ohio Turnpike. Ross ...
sports arena. Some Little Caesar's stores renamed their Crazy Bread "Carty Bread".
*In 1997, the Finkbeiner Administration negotiated to convert the Beacon Place Apartments, an apartment complex in the Warren-Sherman neighborhood near downtown Toledo, into condominiums. Despite assurances from Finkbeiner's housing commissioner, James Thurston, that the city would not be held financially responsible for the project, the project collapsed because the Finkbeiner Administration failed to clear the sale of the properties with the federal government, which had financed the apartments. Toledo taxpayers lost $230,000 and could have paid more than $2.3 million. Thurston and Edwin Bergsmark (CEO of Cavista Corporation, the owner of the Beacon Place Apartments) were both convicted in this scandal.
* He plagiarized a single line in his KICK-OFF speech in 1998.
* In early 2006, political adversaries scoffed over the mayor spending $9,996 of city money to complete the installation of shower facilities in his city government building office. The project was considered "controversial" in part because the shower quote was originally $10,006, six dollars over a threshold that requires approval from City Council. The contractor was able to shave $10 from the project, thus avoiding a Council vote on the proposal.
* In May 2006, he called Toledo's African American Fire Chief Michael Bell "King Kong" at a staff meeting. Finkbeiner later clarified his remarks as relating to the Chief's physical stature, and Chief Bell has acknowledged in public that he took no offense to the remarks.
* In June 2006, Jack Smith resigned from his brief tenure as Chief of Police after what he described as a near-physical confrontation with the mayor after they exchanged words.
* In February 2008, Finkbeiner refused to let a company of 200 Marine Corps Reservists engage in urban patrol exercises on the streets of downtown as well as inside the mostly vacant Madison Building, 607 Madison Ave. Toledo police knew about the event three days in advance, but it wasn't until the Marines arrived that "the mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people", said Brian Schwartz, the mayor's spokesman. Finkbeiner defended his decision to cancel the exercise, but in an e-mail to Marine Corps officials, he expressed support for the Marines and the military and invited the Marine unit to return to Toledo for training, but not downtown. In reaction to the uproar, Finkbeiner has offered conflicting explanations for his denial. During a radio interview on The Frank Beckmann Show on WJR-760 AM in Detroit on Tuesday, Feb. 12th, Finkbeiner used profanity to describe the situation he caused as a "fucking ruckus".
*In summer 2008, Finkbeiner spent nearly $80,000 of taxpayer money (without City Council approval) to renovate Bay 4 the Erie Street Market into a concert venue. According to the City Charter, the mayor may spend up to $10,000 without City Council approval. Finkbeiner broke the nearly $80,000 into 13 separate contracts under $10,000 to circumvent council's approval. Moreover, Finkbeiner tapped a local concert promoter, Rob Croak, to schedule events at the Erie Street Market. Croak was convicted on one count of forgery and has been arrested for but not convicted of underage alcohol sales, according to court records. The forgery conviction stems from a 2001 accusation that Croak falsified records to obtain a liquor permit. Also, Croak owes thousands of dollars in back state and federal taxes.
* In 2009, Take Back Toledo (a group of Toledo area businessmen whose goal is to foster a pro-business, pro-jobs and pro-economic development climate in Northwestern Ohio) led a campaign to recall Finkbeiner from office. On April 15, the Lucas County Board of Elections validated 20,400 signature, enough to recall Finkbeiner. On April 20, Clerk of Council Jerry Dendinger hand-delivered a recall notice to Finkbeiner. According to the City Charter, Finkbeiner had five days to resign or face a recall vote on the November election. Finkbeiner refused to resign and hired a law firm to contest the validity of the recall petition signatures. The
Supreme Court of Ohio
The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...
ultimately ruled that due to missing language in the recall petition, that it was invalid.
* In June 2009, Finkbeiner supported the $25 parking tickets issued by the Division of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor to residents for parking in their own driveways. He claimed the tickets were given due to a city law that prohibits parking on unpaved surfaces, which includes gravel driveways. Two major problems with the tickets were that the city law that had not been enforced for about 50 years was now suddenly being enforced without warning and that according to the Toledo City Charter only the Toledo Police Dept can issue tickets for parking, traffic, etc. and not representatives of other city agencies. Despite criticism, Finkbeiner ignored a press question asking if the fines were related to the city's financial woes.
*In June 2009, a video surfaced showing Finkbeiner breaking up a fight in Highland Park, calling one boy "fatso", "tubby", and "fat ass".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finkbeiner, Carty
1939 births
Living people
Ohio city council members
Mayors of Toledo, Ohio
Ohio Democrats
Candidates in the 2021 United States elections
Denison University alumni
Maumee Valley Country Day School alumni