OHIO Womer Benjamin mulls more political options

The former 17th District candidate is considering a state run.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- State Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin says she's not through with elected politics yet.
Womer Benjamin, a former Republican state representative from Aurora and former congressional candidate who's headed the state insurance department since Jan. 6, said she's mulling several potential political opportunities, including possibly running next year for the state Senate seat held by Sen. Leigh Herington, a Portage County Democrat.
Womer Benjamin said she's also considering another congressional bid or running for statewide office in 2006.
Her focus
Right now, Womer Benjamin said she's concentrating on running the state insurance department, a state agency that oversees the licensing of 166,000 insurance agents and nearly 1,800 insurers. The department has about 260 employees and an approximate $30 million budget largely generated by fees.
& quot;I do have a lot to accomplish. I certainly don't want to let the governor down in any way," Womer Benjamin said. "But I do intend to run for office again."
Republican Gov. Bob Taft tapped Womer Benjamin late last year to succeed then-Director J. Lee Covington II.
Some Senate majority Republicans have approached Womer Benjamin about possibly running next year in the 28th Senate District, which encompasses Portage County and about a third of Summit County.
Herington, whose second and final four-year term ends next year, is expected to announce Monday that he'll leave his Senate seat by the end of year to run for either a Portage County judgeship or a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court.
Herington's expected departure would give a Democratic appointee about a year in the seat before the 2004 legislative elections.
Under consideration
Womer Benjamin said she is giving the Senate and other political options some thought.
"I haven't ruled out the state Senate," Womer Benjamin said. "I haven't ruled another congressional run and I certainly would consider a statewide run in '06, particularly since that was my first pursuit as I neared term limits."
But Womer Benjamin said she's working on "organizational" issues at the insurance department and also continues work on medical malpractice insurance reform.
Term limits forced Womer Benjamin from the Ohio House last year after serving eight years. She had explored a run for secretary of state in 2001 before dropping out because incumbent Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell decided to seek another four-year term.
Womer Benjamin lost to then-Democratic state Sen. Timothy Ryan last November for Ohio's 17th Congressional District, which stretches from eastern Summit County into the Mahoning Valley.
Republicans, who hold a 22-11 advantage over Democrats in the state Senate, would welcome a candidate such as Womer Benjamin running in the 28th Senate District, according to Senate President Doug White, a Manchester Republican.
White and Womer Benjamin served in the Ohio House together in 1990s.
"I think she would make a great [state] senator," White said.