Wiseman won old-fashioned way - she worked
* Many expect new city commissioner Mary Wiseman to be a force in government.
Everything seems to have its place in Mary Wiseman's life - from the perfectly fluffed sofa pillows in her family room to the shoes lined up like soldiers in her closet to her detailed campaign schedule mapping her every move.
She is organized, focused and smart, her supporters say. And it's those qualities - along with hundreds of campaign volunteers - that launched her from political obscurity to top vote-getter in the Dayton City Commission race last week. They are the same qualities that lead some observers to expect more from Wiseman than other elected officials.
"Unfortunately the level of expectation is so high that people will expect her to create miracles right away. She's going to have to get used to the job before she can do anything," said Dennis Lieberman, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
Wiseman said the bar may be higher for her, but it ought to be for all elected officials. She said Dayton - and the region - should expect more from its leaders.
"I hope people realize that just as I was a political neophyte campaigning, I have a learning curve on the city commission. ... I'm looking forward to going there and proving everybody right," Wiseman said.
Wiseman captured 19,641 votes last Tuesday to win her first campaign for public office. State Rep. Lloyd E. Lewis Jr., a longtime Dayton political figure, came in second with 17,493 votes. The pair will take office Jan. 5.
Wiseman, 35, will approach her new job with her wry wit, exceptional organizational skills and fresh-faced optimism. She promises she will keep personalities and politics out of policy discussions in City Hall.
"The beauty of the scenario is each of us brings a different perspective and leadership style to the table," she said. "I view that as an opportunity for greatness."
Wiseman used to be Mayor Mike Turner's neighbor when they both lived in the Huffman Historic District. She said they got along until she supported incumbent Richard Clay Dixon for mayor instead of Turner in 1993. But she insists she can work with Turner on the commission.
Turner did not return telephone messages regarding Wiseman.
Wiseman, who is openly gay, received organizational support from Dayton's gay community and neighborhood activists, financial support from the business and labor communities and was endorsed by labor unions and the Democratic Party. She impressed those groups as someone who could focus on big-picture issues and could bring the commission together.
"She is a very, very bright person and someone who is very dedicated," said Bill Schneider, a senior partner with the Miller-Valentine Group who contributed $1,000 to Wiseman's campaign. "I think she has the ability to really hone in on the issues and put them in the broader picture."
"She seems like a person who can build a consensus," said Tom Ritchie, regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8, which endorsed Wiseman. "I think she will be able to bring some real solidarity to the commission. ... And she isn't scared to tell you like it is."
Wiseman grew up in a working-class family outside Indianapolis. She is the youngest of four children and has three brothers.
She was the first one in her family to attend college. She started out in ROTC and engineering but switched to political science and philosophy. She graduated from Ball State University with a 3.87 grade-point average in 1984 and went to law school at the University of Arkansas, finishing sixth in her class in 1988.
She moved to Dayton in 1990 to be closer to her family members in Indiana and Ohio. She's a partner in the downtown law firm Faruki Gilliam and Ireland.
Wiseman said she rarely takes vacations. Instead, she works on houses and does pro bono legal work for victims of domestic violence. She serves on the city's Board of Zoning Appeals and spent three years on the Environmental Advisory Board.
In their free time, she and her longtime partner, Martha J. Harrison, have renovated two historic houses - one in Huffman Historic District and their current home in Grafton Hill behind the Dayton Art Institute.
On the campaign trail, Wiseman promised to work to clean up abandoned factories, bring jobs to Daytonians and expand recreation options for kids.
She also promised to be a mediator and arbitrator on the commission. "I think that the lack of unity on the city commission is driven by, really, two things. One could be Mayor Turner and the other being that the commission doesn't have someone who is dedicated to unifying the commission," she said last spring when embarking upon the campaign season.
In April, just before the commission primary election, someone mailed anonymous postcards to Dayton neighborhood leaders announcing that Wiseman is a lesbian. The postcard accused her of having a "radical gay agenda." Turner criticized the anonymous postcards but said her sexual orientation was an issue that needed to be addressed because it could affect public policy.
However, Wiseman ran on mainstream issues such as quality city services and economic development - issues that appeal to the entire community, not just one segment, she said.
Wiseman said she has personal views about issues such as employment benefits for domestic partners, but that doesn't mean she will advocate for public policy changes. It would depend upon the issue, the dynamics of the situation and what sort of backlash it would likely bring to the gay community, she said.
Wiseman and Toledo council member-elect Louis Escobar last week became the two first openly gay candidates in state history to be elected, according to the Gay People's Chronicle , a statewide gay newspaper.
"It makes me really proud to be in Dayton. It makes me think very highly of this city and the people that live in this city," Wiseman said.
As a political newcomer, Wiseman and her campaign volunteers learned the ropes as they went. Holding meetings in her 4,500-square-foot Grafton Hill Historic District house, they crafted a message that appealed to the general public and learned important campaigning tidbits such as the county board of elections provides mailing lists of registered voters.
She used TV, radio and newspaper ads along with targeted direct mailings to get her word out. She also walked neighborhoods and spoke at candidate forums.
"I knew that to be successful, we'd have to be creative and innovative and work harder than anybody else," Wiseman said.
Although an inexperienced candidate, Wiseman said she had learned lessons from working on Democrat Dixon's mayoral campaign and Republican Pam Miller Howard's commission campaign.
She said she operated her campaign on a cash basis - spending only what came in because she wanted to avoid a debt. It worked. She raised more than $37,000 and says she ended with a surplus.
She also said she knew not to let herself believe she was going to win. "You have got to be prepared on Election Day to have your worst fears realized. ... Having been involved in a lot of campaigns where they didn't win, I knew not to go there."
But Wiseman said after her victory that winning made all the hard work seem worthwhile.
* CONTACT Laura Bischoff at 225-2446 or e-mail her at laura_bischoff@coxohio.com. Staff writer David Mendell contributed to this report.
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