Hagan warrants re-election to 33rd District Senate seat

There are two ways to be a member of the opposition in Ohio General Assembly: you can play nice with the majority, hoping that you'll be rewarded with political crumbs, or you can be a vocal critic of those in charge and, at the very least, force them to pay attention to you.
Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, a veteran Democratic state legislator, admits that he doesn't expect to receive a plum commission appointment from the Republicans when his tenure in the Senate ends, but he isn't worried. He has kept his private sector job as a railroad engineer, which means he won't be unemployed when he leaves the General Assembly.
Hagan certainly won't be following in the footsteps of former state Rep. Michael Verich of Warren, a Democrat, who parlayed his relationship with then Republican Gov. George V. Voinovich into a cushy state commission position.
The freedom to not worry about term limits has emboldened Hagan to fight for the issues he believes in, issues which directly impact his constituents in the 33rd Senate District.
And while his battling ways have not endeared him to Republican Gov. Bob Taft, or the Republican leadership in the Senate and House, they have forced the ruling party to respond.
Prescription drugs
Take, for example, the prescription drug program that Hagan and state Rep. Dale Miller, D-Cleveland, have been pushing in the legislature. The GOP leadership has refused to allow the bills in each chamber to be scheduled for committee hearings, but that does not mean they are blind to the fact that millions of Ohioans are in desperate need of help in dealing with the rising costs of live-saving or life-sustaining medicines.
Last week, the governor announced that the state has selected MemberHealth Inc. of Solon to develop a prescription drug discount program for senior citizens who carry the Golden Buckeye Card or for disabled Ohioans. But Hagan dismisses the initiative as nothing more than Republicans trying to make up ground after ignoring the issue for so long.
He argues that Taft's proposal will result in savings of no more than 10 percent in the cost of prescription drugs, whereas the plan he and Rep. Miller are proposing could reduce the cost of some drugs by as much as 40 percent.
It is this kind of legislative activism that makes Hagan so effective -- even as a member of the minority party.
Voters of the 33rd Senate District should weigh his experience in the General Assembly -- he served for many years in the House before he was appointed to the Senate in February 1997 and then won election to a full four-year term in 1998 -- against the inexperience of his Republican opponent, Holly Hanni.
Views
Hanni is the daughter of former Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Don L. Hanni Jr., but that should not be a factor in evaluating her candidacy. Rather, it is her seemingly contradictory views of the incumbent's record that gives us pause.
Hanni, a field market manager for a marketing company, contends that Hagan has been ineffective in representing the district and that sending a Republican to Senate who can work with the leadership will benefit the area.
But on the issue of the budget, she blasts the GOP-run state government and pledges to "downsize all the bureaucratic waste that plagues the taxpayers' wallets and hold the state government more accountable for wasteful spending."
She is, in effect, criticizing her own party for failing to be good stewards of the public treasury. Hanni certainly won't be greeted with open arms in Columbus if she wins next month.
Hagan has earned re-election.