Taylor and DeWine go nasty in GOP primary
Thomas Suddes
Guard your kitchen sink: That’s one thing backers of Attorney General Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor haven’t thrown at each other — yet.
Taylor of suburban Akron and DeWine of Greene County’s Cedarville are competing for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, which will be decided at May 8’s primary.
Given the intensity of the intramural accusations, one certainty and several possibilities come to mind. The certainty is that Taylor’s campaign is baiting DeWine to publicly debate Taylor. And one of the possibilities: A SuperPAC supporting Taylor is going scorched- earth against DeWine, even though he’s believed to have a solid lead, because — hey — what’s to lose?
The DeWine camp in turn has accused Taylor of being a slacker. Still, DeWine’s bombardment of Taylor, in effect, publicizes Taylor, something a candidate said to be leading wouldn’t typically do.
Now there’s a Trump angle. A PAC ballyhooing Taylor claimed in an ad that DeWine differs radically from the president on trade, immigration and guns. If you think you heard a backfire — you did.
Republican National Committee Co-chair Robert Paduchik, Ohio director of Trump’s 2016 campaign, issued a statement saying DeWine “has been a steadfast supporter of President Trump’s policy agenda … Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was missing in action during the 2016 campaign … We need Mike DeWine as Ohio’s next governor.”
Taylor campaign spokesman Michael Duchesne volleyed back: “Mike DeWine and his D.C. Swamp cronies are… trying to distract from a 40-plusyear liberal record… (DeWine’s) afraid to stand up and face Mary Taylor on a debate stage where he won’t be able to hide what’s he done.”
Actually, if Mike DeWine isn’t really a conservative, he’s earned an Oscar for the greatest impersonation in Ohio’s political history.
Meanwhile, six Democrats are vying to be their party’s nominee: former Attorney General Richard Cordray; former exotic dancer Larry Ealy of Dayton; former Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich; former Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill of Chagrin Falls; political newcomer Paul Ray of Alliance; and state Sen. Joseph Schiavoni of suburban Youngstown.
Due to term limits, Republican Gov. John Kasich can’t seek a third consecutive term. Besides, Kasich’s an all-but-announced candidate for president in 2020.
DeWine has been Greene County’s prosecuting attorney; a state senator; a U.S. House member; lieutenant governor to Republican Gov. George Voinovich; a U.S. senator (till Democrat Sherrod Brown unseated him in 2006); and, since 2010, when he unseated Cordray, attorney general.
Taylor has been a city council member in Green, the Akron suburb; an Ohio House member; state auditor — the first CPA to hold the job — and is now Kasich’s lieutenant governor. Ohio lieutenant governors typically have also served as Cabinet officers. Taylor headed the Ohio Department of Insurance. When she stepped down in March 2017, Kasich lauded her “for more than six years of exemplary service (as department head) during a time of historic change for the insurance industry.” Taylor also led the antired-tape Common Sense Initiative.
Taylor’s running for governor like there’s no tomorrow; politically speaking, there might not be much of one if she doesn’t defeat DeWine. Funny thing, though, is that the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination might be a dicey prize. Reason: DeWine and Taylor want to succeed fellow Republican Kasich. But just twice in 100 years has the same party won consecutive Ohio governorships (1934: Democrats George White-Martin Davey; 1998: Republicans George Voinovich-Bob Taft).
Still, in clout, Ohio’s governorship is one of the Union’s strongest. So, DeWine and Taylor and the Democrats will battle till May for nomination to that office, because in politics, power is life’s grandest prize.