Ohio mayor resigns after claiming ice fishing promotes prostitution

The mayor of Hudson, Ohio, Craig Shubert, has resigned after claiming that allowing ice fishing in parks could lead to prostitution.

Mr Shubert submitted his resignation from his largely ceremonial office to the clerk of the council on Monday morning.

“When I entered the race for mayor in 2019, my objective was to bring about change. To shake up city council and our city administration, to return Hudson to its core conservative values, and to focus on the needs of our community; not the wants of a few,” he said in a statement. “Residents repeatedly said city leadership had been focusing on amenities and luxuries while our streets and infrastructure crumbled. Concerns over the Phase II development project and questionable spending of $30 million in prior years were equally shared by the voters who elected me.”

Mr Shubert also gained attention last year when he urged school board members to resign over an optional book in a course on college-level at Hudson High School that he claimed included “child pornography”, prompting strong criticism from the office of Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh.

She noted that Mr Shubert’s claims were false and fiercely criticised his comments for leading to threats against board members.

The mayor left a council meeting baffled last week after suggesting that ice fishing could lead to prostitution.

Amid a discussion about allowing ice fishing in a city park, Mr Shubert argued that allowing “ice fishing with shanties” would present police with a separate problem.

“Does someone come back next year and say I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park for X amount of time?” Mr Shubert said. “And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem. Prostitution. Now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved.”

“My comments at Tuesday’s workshop were made out of concern for our community; what could become of unintended consequences of new legislation, based on my prior television news reporting experience,” Mr Shubert wrote in his resignation statement. “My attempt to inject a bit of dry humor to make a point about this, in the midst of a cold, snowy February, was grossly misunderstood.”

“Some in our community saw this as an opportunity to engage in the politics of personal destruction by means of character assassination, blaming me for the negative international press they helped to promote,” he added.

“Since the passing of my wife, First Lady Sherri Moyer, I have given considerable thought to the next stage of my life. Retirement is on the near horizon,” he wrote. “With the recent changes on city council, where six of seven seats have turned over, City Hall is entering a new era. My role as a change agent is complete.”

Mr Shubert was elected mayor in November 2019 after losing a race for the Republican nomination for a US House seat in 2018.

“Hudson has a stronger financial and economic base than ever before, and major road improvements are being completed,” he added. “I have, therefore, decided to step down as mayor to allow for new leadership, a clean slate, and a path forward.”