Ford doesn't speak in ads for campaign's final push

A new television ad by the Finkbeiner campaign focuses on the former mayor's accomplishments during his two terms in office. The ad will run through the end of Tuesday's election.

Mayor Jack Ford's final television advertisements court women and union workers, question his opponent's honesty and money management - and barely show the mayor at all.

In the final days before Tuesday's mayoral election, challenger Carty Finkbeiner, the mayor from 1994 to 2002, will air ads touting his accomplishments in office and questioning whether Mr. Ford has accomplished anything.

Viewers can expect to see the last-ditch pitches throughout the weekend and up to Election Day.

Mr. Ford's campaign is running two spots, and the political arm of the United Auto Workers is sponsoring a third on the mayor's behalf.

The UAW ad features Local 12 President Bruce Baumhower praising Mr. Ford for creating more than 700 "good-paying factory jobs."

"When it comes to creating jobs," Mr. Baumhower says, echoing a Ford campaign theme from the primary election, "the only thing Jack Ford hasn't done is blow his own horn."

Mr. Ford's other ads slam Mr. Finkbeiner. One claims the former mayor left Toledo with a $16 million budget deficit and millions of dollars in bad development deals. It ends: "The real Carty - Toledo can't afford him again."

Another accuses Mr. Finkbeiner of lying - in three different ways - about a 1998 incident in which he allegedly hit the manager of the Erie Street Market with a coffee cup.

The ad specifically mentions the manager was a woman.

None of the pro-Ford ads shows the mayor speaking; the two from the Ford campaign each include Mr. Ford's picture, tucked in a corner of the screen, for about a second.

Mr. Finkbeiner shows plenty of Mr. Ford in one of his final ads.

As calliope music plays in the background, the spot shows Mr. Ford frowning, standing around, and looking grumpy in general. A narrator says Toledo has lost 16,000 jobs under Mr. Ford's watch, its unemployment has hit 10 percent, and asks "was it the mayor's inaction that lost [Owens-Illinois] for the city?"

It ends with a cutout of Mr. Ford flopping forward, as the narrator says "It looks like the Ford administration falls flat."

"The Ford campaign has been very blatant about their attacks," said Mike Hart, president and CEO of Hart Associates, which produced the ad.

"We decided to be a little more lighthearted."

That ad will run through Sunday, until an ad featuring Mr. Finkbeiner and his wife talking about their fondness for Toledo replaces it.

Another ad, scheduled to run through the election, features pictures of Fifth Third Field, the Jeep Plant, and a smiling Mr. Finkbeiner, ending with his campaign tagline: "Vote Carty and get results."

Contact Jim Tankersley at:

jtankersley@theblade.com

or 419-724-6134.