Tuesday night, Cincinnati smokers spoke with a resounding voice.  Across the board they voted for the ABA ticket (Anybody But Alicia).  Pepper, Mallory, Winburn, Jeffre, Grisco, Noble - it did not matter who, as long as it wasn’t Alicia Reece.

During her current council term, Alicia has aggressively campaigned to sign into city law a smoking ban in restaurants, bars, sidewalks & parks.  What Alicia didn’t count on was the 25% of the city population this really pissed off.

We all have to admit that Alicia Reece was able to reach across cultural divides and really bring this community together in a way we never thought possible.  Black and white, young and old, rich and poor, union and non-union, Christian, Muslim, Atheist and Jews, Republican, Democrat or Independent, business owners & employees, smokers of all sizes and stripes worked together on a common goal, to ban Reece from office.
 
“If the smoking ban was imposed, I would gladly drive the extra few minutes across the river to Kentucky,” said Tina Lemures, a restaurant worker at Ruby Tuesday.  “You know it really really breaks my heart to think of poor Alicia Reece getting booted out...really.  Poor Reece… standing there, outside of city hall, in the cold and rain, day after day, night after night.”

Most smokers didn’t have time to comment like Brad McConnel.  “Sorry.  No time,” said McConnel.  “Now that I know that Reece won’t be around to screw things up for me I can actually start looking to buy a house here in the city.  It’s kind of a relief.  For a while there I thought I might actually have to move.”

Going from second place in council votes in 2003 down to last place amongst all the four major candidates raking in a mere 15% appears to be a fairly sound message.  But Alicia is not deterred.  She reiterated to her constituents "this is just a beginning."  She blames the loss on her lack of campaign funds.  We sympathize with her.  Nights out in the bitter icy cold rain is bound to tighten up just about anybody’s wallet.

For now, she plans to move down to Cuba with comrade Castro where a nation wide smoking ban is already in place and oppressive governments cannot be voted out.