Expect some election fallout in GOP’s Statehouse scandal
AThomas Suddes
sking Democrats to stifle their self-righteous twaddle over an emerging Statehouse scandal would be asking too much. That’s because, depending on who might get busted for what, the Republican mess on Capitol Square could be Democrats’ ticket to power in November.
Democrats’ yelps and growls call to mind Capt. Renault’s exclamation, in “Casablanca,” that he’s shocked to find gambling in Humphrey Bogart’s bar. Then Renault (Claude Rains) accepts his own winnings. If Democrats were really committed to cleaning up the Statehouse, they’d self-impose caps on donations they get from lobbyists — say, no more than $2,500 a year per lobbyist or PAC. Don’t hold your breath: Democrats need campaign money to maximize the possibilities of the GOP’s problem — and of the downfall of Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger of Clarksville, who resigned Thursday.
(At least two other Ohio House speakers, also Republicans, resigned mid-term: Speaker Carmi Thompson of Ironton in 1906 to become secretary of state and Speaker Roger Cloud of Bellefontaine in 1965 to become state auditor.)
This session, the 99-member House’s GOP caucus has 66 members. That’s the largest House caucus either party has elected since November 1966.
In November, it’s unlikely Democrats can overturn the state Senate’s Republican majority. And it’s probably a reach to think Democrats could capture Ohio’s House for the first time since November 2008. Still, hammering down the 66-seat GOP caucus to, say, 53 seats, would give Democrats leverage.
But that’s secondary to this: When big-league scandal dogs Statehouse Republicans, Democrats can win statewide executive offices. The 1970 Crofters scandal (when GOP contributors peddled more commercial paper to the state treasury than the law then allowed) helped elect Democrats John Gilligan (governor), William J. Brown (attorney general), Joseph Ferguson (auditor) and Gertrude Donahey (treasurer). The Republican Gilligan beat? Ex-Speaker Cloud.
Then there’s 2006’s Coingate, a scandal over rare-coin investments the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation made through Thomas Noe, once Lucas County’s Republican chair. Coingate wasn’t the only reason Democrats’ made gains in 2006 — Dubya Bush was a huge help. Still, Democrats elected Ted Strickland (governor), Marc Dann (attorney general), Jennifer Brunner (secretary of state) and Richard Cordray (treasurer). Small world: Cordray is one of six Democrats running for governor in May’s primary.
In 2006, the lone Republican elected to statewide executive office was Mary Taylor (auditor). This year, as John Kasich’s lieutenant governor, Taylor’s competing with Attorney General Mike DeWine for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination.
Predictably, Democrats — whose every move is solely for the good of the common people, never for crass political gain — have jumped on DeWine for telling Rosenberger to resign if Rosenberger had committed wrongdoing. Yet in 2008, Democrats almost gave themselves hernias trying to shove then-attorney general Dann out the Statehouse door because of sexual harassment complaints filed against subordinates. Dann resigned in May 2008. His eventual successor: Cordray.
Partisan roughhousing is newsy. But it doesn’t address Ohio’s cash-andcarry legislature. Officially, state legislators represent you. If you believe that, your anti-depressants work. If they don’t, go to the campaign finance look-up tab on the official website of Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office. Check your legislators’ campaign finance filings.
The website is fairly userfriendly. And it’s revealing: Combined with what the General Assembly actually passes, those donation lists suggest that campaign contributors are the people state legislators actually represent.