OHIO STATEWIDE RACES Democrats plug away despite poll results

The two Democratic candidates say their opponents have failed the state.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- They don't have the name recognition or financial resources of their opponents, who lead them by 20 percentage points or better in the polls.
But state Rep. Bryan Flannery of Lakewood and state Sen. Leigh Herington of Ravenna, the Democratic candidates for secretary of state and attorney general, respectively, say they have fighting chances to defeat their Republican opponents in the Nov. 5 general election.
Flannery says Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is unwilling to handle the simple tasks of his position, which has led to voting and election problems. Herington says state Auditor Jim Petro, his opponent for attorney general, has failed to be the state's watchdog, which has cost Ohio millions of dollars.
Also, the Democrats question how much interest Blackwell, of Cincinnati, and Petro, of Columbus, have in the jobs they are seeking. Petro says he will run for only one term and then seek the gubernatorial seat in the 2006 election. Blackwell planned earlier this year to run for state treasurer, a position he once held, but changed his mind when the incumbent opted to seek re-election. Blackwell is also considering a gubernatorial run in four years.
One-party dominance
Herington and Flannery, who spoke this week with Vindicator writers, say the iron grip the Republican Party has over state politics is largely responsible for Ohio's economic woes, including the awarding of multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts, waste uncovered at state agencies, and a state budget deficit that could reach as high as $4.5 billion.
There is no system of checks and balances, they say. To resolve that, the two say voters should elect Democrats to office this year.
"Jim Petro is a good public servant, but with this one-party rule, the Republicans are not being as aggressive as they should be," Herington said. "There's a disadvantage to one-party rule. Democrats holding all the offices is as bad as Republicans holding all the offices. If everything else is equal, the state would be better off having someone to bring some balance."
Herington has accused Petro of "violating the spirit" of state campaign finance laws by accepting contributions from county Republican parties, which received the money from law firms as a way to circumvent restrictions on the amount of money that can be contributed to a political campaign. Petro has insisted that he has operated within state law.
If elected, Herington said he will work to stop the "rampant waste in Ohio and the continuing corruption and mismanagement that plague state government."
Flannery said Blackwell has spent too much time away from Ohio -- charging that the Republican has traveled out of state four times as much as Gov. Bob Taft this year -- while ignoring his duties as secretary of state, which include overseeing elections and county boards of elections.
"The basic functions of the office have been neglected," Flannery said. "The current secretary of state hasn't been focusing on anything."
skolnick@vindy.com