Politics Extra is a weekly column looking inside local politics (Scroll to the bottom to read "Micro-scoops & more")

Phil Heimlich was the politician he's come to despise.

"I regret not showing more courage," he told Politics Extra.

It's a harsh reality Heimlich has come to grips with since he left public office 10 years ago this month.

Politics Extra's already feeling a little burned out on the Cincinnati mayor's race – just 42 more weeks until the November election, folks! – so we decided to take a break from that and catch up with the former City Councilman and Hamilton County commish.

Heimlich, 64, has never come back to politics since that bruising and brutally expensive 2006 loss to Democrat David Pepper in the commissioner's race. Heimlich has no plans to come back, but the Republican still loves to talk politics. Last fall, he resurrected his "Hard Truths" podcast on iTunes and philheimlich.com. It's where you can get your fill of Phil.

The Symmes Township resident calls his commentaries "messages from the radical middle." There's really no middle ground to his messages, which essentially focus on criticizing government officials for pandering instead of doing what they truly believe is right. Heimlich has tackled racial politics and the welfare system in his first two episodes of 2017.

Politics Extra isn't sure anyone's listening yet, but Heimlich is hoping to gain a national following. It certainly caught our attention. We called Heimlich, who in some ways seems to be talking to his old self in some of the podcasts.

"Frankly, I did the same things I'm now criticizing in others," Heimlich said.

Asked to explain, Heimlich recalls a City Council vote in 1995. Councilman Charlie Winburn had called for the city health department to stop handing out free condoms, because he said council should not be "subsidizing immorality." With a 5-4 vote, council ordered the health department to stop handing out condoms. A social conservative, Heimlich supported the ban.

"It was an incredibly intense issue," Heimlich recalled. "The pro-family people were there en masse. The Planned Parenthood people were there. All of my supporters were the pro-family folks. They always say never leave your base, particularly the pro-family evangelicals. I cast the deciding vote."

Pause.

"I should’ve shown more independence and political courage," Heimlich said. "I gave into the pressure, as so many do. I regret that, because by that policy, we would have prevented diseases and unwanted pregnancies."

Asked about his general thoughts on City Hall today, Heimlich brings up Mayor John Cranley's proposal last summer to give big raises to city union workers.

"I found Cranley’s pandering to the unions as being the worst kind of self-serving politics," said Heimlich, who was on council from 1993 to 2001. "It’s fiscally irresponsible."

Pause.

"I talk about Cranley's self-serving political actions," Heimlich said. "Well, I did the same things, and I regret it."

Finally, we ask Heimlich what he means by "radical middle."

"I heard it in a message at the Vineyard church," he said. "It was after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. The church's position is they don’t believe same-sex marriage is biblical. But at the same time, they did not engage in hateful rhetoric. They were in the 'radical middle.' "

And about being in the "radical middle," Heimlich has no regrets.

HANDOUT ACCOUNTABILITY

City Councilwoman Amy Murray last week made a smart good-government and political move by introducing a motion mandating tougher transparency rules for nonprofit organizations that receive city money.

Council passed the motion, which allows the city to take a closer look at the boards and budgets of the non-profits. It also requires nonprofits to live up to performance measurements for the taxpayer money provided.

Murray promised to call for greater transparency in October, when she was upset about several organizations seeking a handout from a $1.75 million budget surplus without providing many details about how they planned to spend the money.

Something like this was long overdue. You'd think the city would've learned from the Mahogony's fiasco years ago. (Yes, we realize that was a for-profit business, but a handout is a handout.) But no complaint here about tougher transparency rules.

MICRO-SCOOPS & MORE

• Cranley's big week of endorsements continued Friday, when the Cincinnati firefighters' union endorsed him. It's a significant endorsement because, well, everyone generally loves firefighters. Cranley has done a lot for the fire department, leading the effort last year to give the firefighters' union a big raise. Under Cranley, the city also has ended the practice of temporarily shuttering firehouses ("brownouts") across the city by hiring 130 firefighters. Additionally, Cranley spent hours with the firefighters and their families at the hospital and union hall the day Daryl Gordon died in the line of duty nearly two years ago.

• Fire union president Matt Alter slammed those who have claimed Cranley pandered to the union on the wage increases. "To say that we can be bought out is quite insulting," Alter said. "We went 6½ years without a wage increase. These were not a gift. These were earned."

• Hamilton County GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou and former Commissioner Greg Hartmann are scheduled to attend Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday in Washington.

• Don't be surprised if we see more of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and other high-ranking Ohio and national Democrats come through Hamilton County in the next year for fundraisers and press parades. Insiders say Democratic power players have taken notice of Hamilton County's shift to being blue and are looking to develop new donor relationships in an area once known as one of the most conservative urban counties in the U.S.

• Angst is setting in at the 1st District Court of Appeals over the uncertainty of when Ohio Gov. John Kasich is going to fill two open seats on the court. The list of replacement candidates' names have been sitting on Kasich's desk for days, including that of former Hamilton County Commissioner Dennis Deters. The vacancies were created when Pat DeWine and Pat Fischer were elected to the Ohio Supreme Court.

• Cincinnati's Charter Committee is looking to hire a part-time executive director as the party ramps up its efforts ahead of the November mayoral and city council election. Charter has gone through a transition since fall 2015, when its members were fractured over the Cranley-backed parks levy. Charter is expected to back Yvette Simpson in the mayor's race.

• The Hamilton County Board of Elections' new offices in Norwood at 4700 Smith Road will open Tuesday. The Downtown offices at 824 Broadway permanently closed Thursday.

Follow Enquirer local politics reporter Jason Williams on Twitter @jwilliamscincy. Send tips, questions and comments to jwilliams@enquirer.com.

Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/2ixNk45