Joe Sulzer

Joseph P. Sulzer is an American politician of the Democratic party. He currently holds the office of mayor of Chillicothe, Ohio.

Sulzer served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio University and was awarded a law degree by Capital University.

Returning to Chillicothe, Sulzer was elected to the city council, where he served for six years. In 1987, Sulzer became mayor of Chillicothe.

In 1992, Sulzer entered the Democratic primary contest for the United States House of Representatives in Ohio's sixth congressional district. He lost that primary race to Ted Strickland.

Sulzer served as Chillicothe mayor until 1996. In 1997, Sulzer was appointed to fill out the term of a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives that had become vacant. While serving in the legislature, Chillicothe city council member Margaret Planton was appointed his successor as mayor. Sulzer won re-election to his Ohio House of Representatives seat in 1998 and 2000. However, in 2002, Sulzer was unseated by Republican John M. Schlichter.

In 2003, Sulzer again ran for the office of Chillicothe mayor. He defeat Planton in the Democratic primary, winning 73 percent of the vote. In the general election, he defeated city council member Diane Carnes, getting 55 percent of the vote.

In August 2005, Sulzer announced that he would run for the US House seat (OH-18) held by Republican Bob Ney. In March 2006, Sulzer called for Ney to step down if explicitly named by Jack Abramoff as someone guilty of corruption.

Ney's spokesman replied that "Joe Sulzer has a history of siding with and taking money from trial lawyers so it's not a surprise that he would base his latest negative attacks solely on the tainted words of a slick trial lawyer and a convicted felon like Jack Abramoff" ([1]).

On May 2, 2006, Sulzer lost the primary election for the Democratic nomination in the Ohio 18th to attorney Zack Space. Space got 39% of the vote, Jennifer Stewart 25%, and Sulzer 24%.

In November 2007 Sulzer was re-elected to the office of Mayor in Chillicothe. He defeated former City Council-At-Large Diane Carnes in a crushing victory that helped win the local Democratic Party majority control of City Council with the election of new Council members Dustin Proehl Council-At-Large & Napoleon Cross Council-At-Large.

On December 10, 2007, ordinance 151-07 was signed authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with the Redflex Traffic Systems to install red light cameras in Chillicothe, Ohio. City vehicles were made exempt from receiving Redflex tickets.

By October 1, 2008, the red light cameras were falsely ticketing "right turn on red" vehicles, which were later refunded. Still not refunded, however, are fines collected from those ticketed for running red lights at intersections where drivers were trapped by yellow lights that had been shortened to times generally recognized as unsafe, or ticketed for speed at those same intersections in which required speed limit signs were missing. Unrefunded ticket revenue amounts exceeded $250,000 as of October 20, 2009.

For more information on Redflex's red light cameras in Chillicothe, Ohio go to myrosscounty.com or www.shortyellowlights.com/ChillicotheRLCStudy.pdf

On October 21, 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down an effort by the City of Chillicothe to remove an initiative banning red-light enforcement cameras from the Nov. 3 ballot.

"I'm pretty pleased. Now it goes to the voters, which is what we've said all along should happen," said Ross County Prosecutor Mike Ater, who represents the Ross County Board of Elections.

In a complaint filed Sept. 28 by the city of Chillicothe, attorney Jim Mann asked the court to either remove the initiative from the ballot or compel the Ross County Board of Elections to conduct a quasi-judicial hearing.

Ater said his office was served with the city's brief and evidence on Oct. 8 and had only four days -- including two on the weekend and the Columbus Day holiday -- to file a response for the Board of Elections.

"I give a lot of credit to my staff. They worked through the weekend on this and (Assistant Prosecutor) Richard Clagg drove up to Columbus on the holiday, which was Monday, so this would be filed in time," he said.

Ater's defense claimed the city had an inexcusable delay in making its claim, or what is known in legal terms as laches.

For more details, please see www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20091022/NEWS03/910220303/1002/rss01

On October 25, 2009, Chillicothe Police Chief Roger Moore worries the initiative that would ban the cameras also could ban local law enforcement from doing their jobs. Moore said he doesn't take a stance on the issue of red-light cameras, but said the initiative on the November ballot would make it difficult for his officers to do their jobs.

In a Chillicothe Gazette article dated 11/4/2009; Red-light cameras overwhelmingly rejected. "By the time polls closed, 72 percent of voters cast ballots against the photo enforcement cameras, and most elected officials agreed the red-light issue worked against them." Council members Cindy Henderson, R-At Large, and Bill Bonner, D-5th Ward, along with Council President Bob Shoultz and City Auditor Bill Morrissey all lost re-election after opposition to red-light cameras brought high turnout at the polls.