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

Rocky Boiman's broadcasting career has really taken off in the past year, and the former NFL linebacker and Green Township trustee has settled in well at 700 WLW and ESPN.

But local Republicans hope Boiman will return to politics some day and he can take off in that career – possibly straight to Washington. Insiders have mentioned the former Super Bowl champion as a potential candidate to replace Congressman Steve Chabot some day, but not anytime soon.

"Rocky is exactly what the GOP needs among our ranks of candidates," said Alex Triantafilou, Hamilton County GOP chairman. "He's a common-sense conservative with the kind of mind and star power to go far in politics."

Boiman, 37, told Politics Extra he's not actively looking to get back into politics but hasn't ruled out a return. He spent 2½ years as township trustee before resigning in March 2014. The former St. Xavier High and Notre Dame star enjoyed the governing part of the job, but didn't like playing the political game.

"One of the reasons I got turned off a little bit was the incessant campaign events and fundraisers," Boiman said. "It's maddening. It’s one of the big problems with politics. It’s why a lot of good, smart people don’t get into it."

But Boiman loves talking politics on the radio, and he's good at it. In many ways, he's helping a potential political career by being on WLW weeknights from 9 to midnight. The 50,000-watt beast certainly is helping Boiman to build name ID, especially since WLW's audience is predominantly conservative.

Boiman has been an unwavering supporter of Donald Trump from the start of his presidential campaign. Trump was on the rise when Boiman started his show on WLW in November 2015. His support of the president probably doesn't hurt Boiman's political prospects, especially in Ohio where Trump allies controls the Republican party.

Sure, Trump has given Boiman plenty of fodder for his show, but there's more to it. Boiman has done a masterful job bouncing back and forth between politics, football, social issues and fun stuff. It's not easy to do that and still keep an audience engaged, but Politics Extra is drawn to Boiman's show because he's knowledgeable about a variety of topics.

In recent months, Boiman's show topics have ranged from criticizing the porn industry for its negative impact on families to asking whether regular marijuana users who have families discuss it with their children. He once asked listeners: Have you ever been in a fight? If so, what life lessons did you learn from it? The phone lines lit up. Boiman landed one of his biggest interviews on Thursday, when he talked to Vice President Mike Pence.

Boiman is on a two-year deal with WLW. He's also a college football analyst for ESPN, which promoted him last fall to do marquee Saturday games. It's cutthroat at the WLW and ESPN level of broadcasting. Boiman, who won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts during the 2006 season, views his on-air work much the same way he did his NFL career.

"In the NFL, if you’re trying to make a team, nothing matters other than your performance," said Boiman, who played eight seasons. "It doesn’t matter if you're white or black. It doesn't matter if you're hurt. There are no excuses. It’s an unforgiving business. Did you get the job done?"

DO ENDORSEMENTS MATTER?

By landing the Fraternal Order of Police's endorsement this week, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley has garnered what's considered the four most coveted union endorsements in a local race – police, fire, public works (AFSCME) and AFL-CIO. He is the first candidate in Cincinnati's strong mayor era to sweep all four endorsements.

Does it matter? PX looked at those unions' endorsements during Cincinnati's strong mayor era:

FOP: 2001 neutral; 2005 David Pepper (lost); 2009 Brad Wenstrup (lost); 2013 Cranley (won).

Fire: 2001 Charlie Luken (won); 2005 Pepper; 2009 Mark Mallory (won); 2013 Cranley.

AFCSME: 2001 Luken; 2005 Mallory; 2009 neutral; 2013 neutral.

AFL-CIO: 2001 neutral; 2005 Mallory; 2009 Mallory; 2013 neutral.

MICRO-SCOOPS & MORE

• Guess who was one of the biggest donors last year to the campaigns of Hamilton County commissioners Denise Driehaus and Todd Portune? Center for Closing the Health Gap CEO Dwight Tillery, the same person whose agency last week asked the county's tax levy review committee for $2.5 million. The nonprofit currently doesn't get any county money. Tillery, the former Cincinnati mayor, donated a total of $10,000 to Driehaus and Portune ($5,000 to each), according to campaign finance reports. Keep in mind, the newest member of the tax levy review committee is Bishop Bobby Hilton, a convenor of Black Agenda Cincinnati along with Tillery. Coincidence?

• Look for Chris Finney and other members of anti-streetcar/anti-tax group COAST to show up at the transit authority board meeting on March 21 to voice their opposition to a potential Hamilton County transit tax proposal. Transit authority officials have said a transit tax would be bus-only, but COAST is concerned the agency would look to use some of the money to cover streetcar operating deficits. Don't expect SORTA to push forward with putting a transit tax on the ballot this year.

• What was Cranley thinking when he initially turned down the NAACP mayoral debate? Maybe he was concerned the panel would lack objectivity, considering mayoral candidate Rob Richardson Jr.'s father is head of the local NAACP. Regardless, Enquirer Opinion Page Editor Kevin Aldridge summed it up nicely on Facebook after Cranley announced Thursday he will participate in the March 28 debate: "This is a wise decision to reverse course. Skipping a debate with a respected and storied organization such as the NAACP would have been an unforced error by the incumbent mayor. Why create bad optics unnecessarily? His campaign should have seen this coming."

• Republican Warren Davidson, who replaced John Boehner in Congress, had dinner Monday at Downtown's Sotto with representatives from about a dozen of Cincinnati's top companies. It was a meet-and-greet for Davidson and the companies, many of which had strong relationships with Boehner during his nearly 25 years in Washington. Davidson is from Troy, Ohio, so he's not as familiar with Cincinnati as Boehner, the Reading native and West Chester Township resident.

• Blue Ash Mayor Lee Czerwonka has endorsed Secretary of State Jon Husted in the 2018 Ohio governor's race, Enquirer Columbus Bureau Chief Chrissie Thompson reports to PX. Czerwonka says he’s spearheading Husted’s efforts in Hamilton County and will host a fundraiser for the Republican on Monday night at Cooper Creek Event Center in Blue Ash.

• Norwich, Vermont, has added Pepper. John Pepper – older brother of Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper – won his election to Norwich's city council, known as the selectboard in the town of 3,400. John used the "Just Add Pepper" campaign slogan his brother first used in his race for Cincinnati City Council in 2001.

• Associated Press reporter Jesse Holland is scheduled to speak at NKU on Thursday (March 16) from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. about his book, "The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House."  The event is open to the public and costs $6 per person and is part of the university's Center for Civic Engagement's lecture series on race in America.

• Congratulations to Cleveland.com and Plain Dealer political reporter Henry J. Gomez, who announced this week he's been hired to cover the GOP for BuzzFeed. Gomez, 35, has been Cleveland.com's lead political reporter since 2011, and established himself as an absolute must-read on Ohio politics.

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

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