Carty Finkbeiner

Carleton "Carty" S. Finkbeiner (born May 30, 1939) is an American Democratic politician and former mayor of Toledo, Ohio.

In all, Finkbeiner has run for Toledo mayor seven times, spanning a period of 40 years.

Finkbeiner was born in 1939 and raised in Toledo.

His father was an engineer who specialized in building municipal water and sewage systems; he was a one-time president of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers.

Finkbeiner graduated from Maumee Valley Country Day School, where he was an all-state high school quarterback.

He attended Trinity College in Connecticut, where he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball until a head injury ended his athletic career; he transferred to Denison University in Granville, Ohio and received a bachelor's degree in 1962.

After graduation, he returned to Toledo to teach and coach football at Maumee Valley.

In 1963, he was hired as an assistant football coach at the University of Toledo, where he also taught physical education classes.

Over the next decade, he held a variety of jobs, including as an insurance salesman, encyclopedia salesman, social worker, census taker, and TV sportscaster.

Between 1967 and 1969, he was associate director of the Toledo Office of Economic Opportunity, administering War on Poverty programs.

Finkbeiner had, in effect, been running for the seat since 1968, when — while debating whether to enter the Virginia Theological Seminary — he decided to seek the office.

He was then a registered Democrat.

But thinking he couldn't beat the powerful Ashley in a Democratic primary, he switched parties to the Republicans.

In the early 1970s, he worked for Youth For Understanding, an international student exchange program.

Ohio state law at the time prevented a candidate from running as a Republican until five years after his last vote in a Democratic primary, meaning his run couldn't begin until 1973.

In 1974, Finkbeiner ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a moderate Republican, facing a 22-year incumbent Democrat, Rep. Lud Ashley.

Despite the terrible political environment for Republicans amid the Watergate scandal, he outperformed expectations, winning 47% of the vote.

He ran against Ashley again in 1976, but the incumbent hit back by criticizing Finkbeiner's unsteady work history and won by 10 percentage points.

He was elected to Toledo City Council in 1979 as a Republican, and in 1981 he challenged incumbent Democratic mayor Douglas DeGood.

DeGood prevailed narrowly, beating Finkbeiner by a margin of 50.2% to 49.8%, despite outspending him 3-1.

Finkbeiner was elected again to city council in 1983 and 1985, both times as an independent, though he then rejoined the Democratic Party.

He was elected to four-year terms in 1993, 1997, and 2005; he lost in 1981 (to Douglas DeGood), 1987 (to Donna Owens), 2015 (to Paula Hicks-Hudson), and 2021 (to Wade Kapszukiewicz).

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 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 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.

In July 2021, Finkbeiner filed a petition to run again for mayor of Toledo, challenging incumbent Wade Kapszukiewicz.