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OTHER
RACES INVOLVING FAMILIAR FACES
In our special “General Election Recap” issue of The Political
Edge, we reviewed the results of the Ohio Supreme Court and General
Assembly contests. Listed below are the results of some races for county
offices involving individuals familiar to Statehouse insiders.
Ashtabula County
Commissioner: One race that’s still not over is the battle between
incumbent Ashtabula County Commissioner Bob Boggs (D) and challenger
Robert Brobst (R), a Saybrook Township Trustee. Brobst currently leads
Boggs, a former member of both the Ohio Senate and House, by just 40
votes, 21,499-21,459. However, there are at least 900 – and perhaps
as many as 1,100 – provisional ballots that have not yet been
counted. The Board of Elections is currently trying to verify the validity
of about 200 ballots, and is scheduled to count the provisional ballots
and declare an official winner on Nov. 29.
Butler County Commissioner: Embattled Butler County Commissioner Mike
Fox (R), a former state representative, won a second full term by capturing
54% in a three-way race.
Butler County Commissioner: Appointed incumbent Butler County Commissioner
and former Rep. Greg Jolivette (R), who swapped seats with appointed
Rep. and former Commissioner Courtney Combs (R) earlier this year,
won the contest to serve the remainder of the term to which Combs was
elected in 2002. Jolivette garnered 65% of the vote.
Clark County
Commissioner: Making a triumphant return to elected office was former
Rep. David Hartley (D). He captured 52% of the vote against Dan Martin
(R) to win a seat on the Clark County Board of Commissioners.
Columbiana County Commissioner: Former Rep. Sean Logan (D) was re-elected
to a second term as a Columbiana County Commissioner by taking 65%
of the vote against challenger David Vollnogle (R).
Cuyahoga County Commissioner: Former Rep. Peter Lawson Jones (D) was
elected to his first full term as Cuyahoga County Commissioner without
opposition.
Fairfield County Commissioner: Former Rep. Jon Myers (R) was re-elected
to a second term as a Fairfield County Commissioner after posting a
64%-36% win over challenger Karl Stalter (D).
Franklin County Commissioner: Sen. David Goodman (R) came up short
in his effort to unseat Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy
(D). Kilroy defeated Goodman 53%-47%.
Franklin County Treasurer: Former Rep. Richard Cordray (D) won election
to a full term as Franklin County Treasurer by earning 64% of the vote.
Franklin County Clerk of Courts: Former Rep. Amy Salerno (R) lost her
challenge to incumbent Franklin County Clerk of Courts John O’Grady
(D), 54%-46%.
Guernsey County Commissioner: Former Rep. Joe Secrest (D) won election
to a full term as Guernsey County Commissioner with a 63%-37% victory
over challenger Dale Saft (R). Secrest was appointed to fill a vacancy
in late 2002.
Hamilton County Prosecutor: State Treasurer Joe Deters (R) won his
write-in candidacy for Hamilton County Prosecutor 58%-42% over Fanon
Rucker (D). Deters will resign his post as treasurer in early January.
Huron County Commissioner: Ohio Chamber of Commerce Director Tom Secor,
president of the Durable Corp. in Norwalk, finished third in a three-way
race for an open seat on the Huron County Board of Commissioners. The
winner got 45% of the vote, while Secor, running as an independent,
captured 24%.
Lake County Commissioner: Term-limited Sen. Bob Gardner’s (R)
bid to win a seat on the Lake County Board of Commissioners by defeating
incumbent Commissioner Bob Aufuldish (D) failed narrowly. Aufuldish
won another term by defeating Gardner 51%-49%.
Lake County Commissioner: The other Lake County Commissioner race was
close, as well. Former Rep. Ray Sines (R), who was appointed to fill
a vacancy earlier this year, won a full term with a 51%-49% victory
over challenger Ryan Callender (D). Callender is the brother of Rep.
Jamie Callender (R).
Lake County Treasurer: Unlike the two campaigns for county commissioner,
the race for Lake County Treasurer wasn’t close at all. Incumbent
Treasurer John Crocker (D) scored a convincing 59%-41% win over term-limited
Rep. Ron Young (R).
Lorain County Clerk of Courts: Former Sen. and Rep. Ron Nabakowski
(D) was re-elected to a second term as Lorain County Clerk of Courts
with 62% of the vote.
Lucas County Commissioner: It wasn’t a good election year for
Lucas County Republicans, including term-limited Rep. Lynn Olman (R).
Olman lost his challenge to appointed Lucas County Commissioner Tina
Skeldon Wozniak, 59%-41%.
Mahoning County Recorder: Perhaps tuning up for a State Senate run
in ’06, former Rep. Ron Gerberry (D) was re-elected Mahoning County
Recorder. Gerberry prevailed 74%-26% over challenger Russell Gillam
(R).
Perry County Auditor: Current Speaker of the House Larry Householder
(R) lined up his first post-term limits job by winning a close contest
for Perry County Auditor. He defeated the appointed incumbent, Bill
Crane (D), by 277 votes out of 14,769 cast. Householder held an even
slimmer election night lead of just 212 votes, but the final margin
grew after roughly 400 provisional and military absentee ballots were
counted.
Portage County Commissioner: Dan Smith (R), the executive director
of the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce, lost a bid to win a seat on the
Portage County Board of Commissioners for the second election in a
row. After losing in the primary in 2002, he lost in the General Election
this year to incumbent Portage County Commissioner Chris Smeiles (D),
60%-40%.
Stark County Commissioner: Mike Stevens (D), who briefly served in
the House in 2000 after being appointed to complete the remainder of
former Rep. Johnnie Maier’s (D) term, narrowly lost a bid to force
out Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos (R). Vignos beat Stevens
by less than 1,500 votes out of more than 170,000 cast.
Summit County Council: Incumbent Pete Crossland (D), a former member
of the Ohio House, earned a fifth term as District 4 Summit County
Councilman with a solid win over challenger Randy Cole. Crossland defeated
Cole 66%-34%.
Tuscarawas County Commissioner: Turnabout is fair play in Tuscarawas
County. Four years after ousting an incumbent, Commissioner Bill Ress
(R), a former member of the Ohio Senate, was himself ousted. He lost
his re-election race 55%-45% to challenger Chris Abbuhl (D).
HOUSE
GOP ADDS DEMOCRAT DEFECTOR
After knocking off two incumbents and gaining a net three seats on Election
Day, House Democrats lost a seat last week without a ballot being cast.
Rep. Derrick Seaver of Minster, elected to a third term on Nov. 2 as
a Democrat, announced that he was switching parties to become a Republican.
His decision will result in a 60-39 GOP advantage in the House when
the 126th Ohio General Assembly convenes in January.
While Rep. Seaver’s switch changes the partisan balance, it has
little other impact on the makeup of the House. He was already the most
conservative Democrat in the House and typically voted with the GOP
majority on most issues anyway. Rep. Seaver, whose re-election bid was
endorsed by OCCPaC this year, has a cumulative pro-business score of
93% during his two terms.
Rumors about Rep. Seaver switching parties have abounded ever since
his shocking upset victory in 2000. In that race, he was an 18-year
old, recent high school graduate who scored a slim, 242-vote win in
a district with a Republican index above 60 percent. As a result, the
GOP made him their top target in 2002, but he won easily, nonetheless.
He was unopposed this year.
This speculation, along with Rep. Seaver’s public endorsement this
fall of the Republican presidential nominee, Pres. George W. Bush, meant
Democrats were not totally shocked about his departure – but they
certainly weren’t pleased. That his former colleagues would feel
somewhat betrayed is understandable, and the logical expression of that
betrayal would be to seek political retribution against him when he
runs for re-election in two years. In fact, that’s exactly what
House Minority Leader Chris Redfern (D-Port Clinton) said would be his
approach: to make certain Rep. Seaver faces stiff opposition in 2006.
Rep. Seaver has had a bullseye on his back before, however, and it’s
highly unlikely a Democrat could beat him. He was a top target of the
GOP in 2002, following his close and unlikely victory in 2000, but won
easily. He was unopposed this year.
While Rep. Seaver claimed his defection was because the Democratic Party
at the national, state, and local levels had become too liberal and
he no longer felt welcome in it, future political considerations may
also have played into his decision. He faces term limits in 2008 and,
if he has any interest in pursuing election to the Ohio Senate that
year, he stands a better chance of being successful in that pursuit
as a Republican than he would as a Democrat. Even as a Republican, though,
there’s no certainty he’d win, as at least one other formidable
Republican may also be interested in that Senate seat – Rep. Keith
Faber (R-Celina).
HOUSE
DISTRICT 41 RACE STILL NOT FINAL
One Ohio General Assembly contest still hinges on the tabulation of
provisional ballots. Unofficial results have appointed Rep. Marilyn
Slaby (R-Akron) trailing challenger Brian Williams (D-Akron) by 268
votes. However, there are approximately 850 provisional ballots yet
to be counted, according to the Summit County Board of Elections. Rep.
Slaby would need to capture about two-thirds of all the provisional
ballots in order to overcome her current deficit, and the odds are against
such a result.
Right now, the margin is close enough that an automatic recount would
be required. However, if Williams were to realize a net gain of about
55 or more votes from the provisionals, he might be able to win without
a recount.
WHAT
IF…
With the 2002 elections now over and done with (for the most part, at
least), Gov. Bob Taft is entering the final two years of his two-term
tenure as governor of Ohio. A decision that he’ll have to make
in early January may help define his legacy – and it’ll be
a political decision, not a policy one.
State Treasurer Joe Deters was elected Hamilton County prosecutor on
Nov. 2nd, and once he assumes that post the first week of January, he’ll
have to resign as state treasurer. It’ll be up to the governor
to fill that vacancy.
Since September, when Deters announced his intention to run for prosecutor,
speculation has centered almost solely on Lt. Gov. Jeannette Bradley,
a former V.P. for Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, as the likely appointee
as treasurer.
If Gov. Taft appoints Bradley, he’ll be creating another vacancy
in the lieutenant governor’s office – and therein lies the
dilemma.
Who does he pick to fill this post? Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t
be that big of a deal. But given that Gov. Taft isn’t likely to
seek any more elected offices, coupled with Ohio’s critical importance
to Pres. Bush’s successful re-election effort, it’s not all
that far-fetched to imagine the President offering the Governor a position
in his administration. In fact, rumors to that effect – that he’d
be offered an ambassadorship, or a chance to be Peace Corps director
– have been swirling for some time. And should Gov. Taft be offered
a job by the Bush administration, the lieutenant governor would ascend
to the governorship. So whomever the Governor chooses to succeed Bradley
would be in line to become the next governor, perhaps sooner rather
than later.
Gov. Taft could appoint a lieutenant governor that would, in the event
of his own departure, become a “caretaker” governor, meaning
he or she would likely have no ambition to run for a full term in 2006.
Former State Representative and current Ohio Department of Insurance
Director Ann Womer Benjamin and current Senate President Doug White,
who will leave the Senate at the end of this year, are two such names
that have been mentioned. That’s certainly an option for the Governor,
and involves little political risk.
However, a much more interesting scenario is rumored. It has the Governor
appointing U.S. Rep. Rob Portman to succeed Bradley. Rep. Portman is
extremely close with the President, and reportedly has loftier ambitions
for himself than simply serving in the House. Right now, however, he’s
blocked from running for the U.S. Senate by two fellow Republicans,
U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich. And he’s not interested
in entering a crowded GOP gubernatorial primary field that already is
expected to include Attorney General Jim Petro, Auditor Betty Montgomery,
and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell – all of whom have successfully
run three times for statewide office and have been aggressively making
plans to run for governor in ’06 since before each was elected
to their current office in ’02.
But running for governor as the incumbent? With the strong support of
the White House? That’s a different story, and Rep. Portman hasn’t
come forward to put an end to such speculation. Neither has Ohio Republican
Party Chairman Bob Bennett, who might be willing to listen to such a
plan being that it could head off what otherwise promises to be an expensive
and divisive GOP gubernatorial primary.
It would be somewhat out of character if the Governor were to make such
a bold move, given that he’d be alienating fellow officeholders
Montgomery and Petro and essentially dictating who the next GOP gubernatorial
nominee would be. But that’s exactly why the decision could define
his political legacy.
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