Cordray adds some zest to governor’s race
Politics is partly show biz, as some recent turns in Ohio demonstrate. Last week, for instance, the Buckeye State’s long-waiting Democrats finally met up with their Godot: Suburban Columbus Democrat Richard Cordray announced he’s running for governor.
Cordray, once Ohio’s treasurer and attorney general, earlier an Ohio House member, was most recently director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Democrats who are also seeking their party’s nomination for governor are former state Rep. Connie Pillich, of Cincinnati; former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, of suburban Akron; state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, near Youngstown; and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. It’s fair to wonder if Cordray will ask one of them to run for lieutenant governor on Cordray’s ticket, as Republican Attorney General Mike Wine asked Secretary of State Jon Husted to run for lieutenant governor on DeWine’s gubernatorial ticket.
(At this writing, it’s unclear whether state Supreme Justice William O’Neill, a Chagrin Falls Democrat, best known recently because of his frank statements about his romantic life, will charge full-tilt onto the already crowded field of Democratic gubernatorial candidates.)
In one of the Statehouse’s ever-looping ironies – a Columbus version of “Groundhog Day” – Cordray was unseated as Ohio’s AG in 2010 by suburban Dayton Republican DeWine, who almost certainly will be 2018’s GOP’s nominee for governor.
Meanwhile, former Ashtabula County Auditor Sandra (Sandy) O’Brien announced she’s seeking the GOP nomination for state treasurer, joining state Rep. Robert Sprague, a Findlay Republican, who announced ear- lier. Democrats’ nominee for treasurer is expected to be Cincinnati lawyer Rob Richardson, a former chair of the University of Cincinnati’s board.
O’Brien’s not to be underestimated. In 2006, she won the GOP nomination for treasurer from the party backed incumbent Treasurer Jennette Bradley, of Columbus.; Bradley earlier had been Bob Taft’s lieutenant governor. That November, Cordray beat O’Brien for treasurer. In 2010, O’Brien challenged Jon Husted for the GOP nomination for secretary of state. Husted (as noted, now running for lieutenant governor with gubernatorial candidate DeWine, of Cedarville) handily bested O’Brien. Still, Husted’s clout (former House speaker, state senator) didn’t deter O’Brien from a vigorous challenge.
When talk starts up about who’s running for what, veteran Ohio pols are kind of like Dalmatians when the alarm goes off at a fire station. They react. So, no surprise, former Ohio treasure and secretary of state J. Kenneth Blackwell, the always amiable conservative Cincinnati Republican, lobbed a brickbat at Cordray. In fairness, at least Blackwell wasn’t offering his fellow Republicans strategic advice. When Democrat Ted Strickland beat Blackwell for governor in 2006, Blackwell carried just one county east of I-71 (Holmes). And of 1,434 precincts in Cuyahoga County, Blackwell carried three.
What 2018 debate there will be likely will come down to James A. Rhodes’s “jobs and progress” formula, and taxes. As part of a long-running con, Republicans claim tax cuts will make Ohio a Garden of Eden. The evidence says otherwise.
In 1984, Republicans regained a state Senate majority, vowing to cut Ohio’s income tax. In 1985, they did. And Republicans further “reformed” state taxes last decade.
In 1985, per-capita personal income in Ohio was $14,097. That was 95.77 percent of the comparable national figure ($14,719). By 2016, Ohio’s per capita was $44,593 – 90.55 percent of the national figure ($49,246). If tax cuts, federal or state, were the key to prosperity for ordinary Ohioans, most of the state’s men and women would be sitting pretty.
But they’re not. So, from now till next November, those Ohio pols who frankly address that disconnect can be considered candidates. But the pols who duck that issue? They’re ham actors, auditioning for a show.
As part of a long-running con, Republicans claim tax cuts will make Ohio a Garden of Eden. The evidence says otherwise.