In Ohio's 60th District race, experience counts in 2006

If Democrats do not make some gains in the Ohio General Assembly, as well as elect a Democratic governor, it will not matter much whom the 60th House District sends to Columbus.
Six candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination to replace state Rep. Sylvester D. Patton Jr. of Youngstown, who can't run again because of term limits. No Republican has filed in the district, which includes Youngstown, Campbell, Struthers, Lowellville, Coitsville and nine eastern Austintown precincts.
The candidates are:
Richard A. Gozur, 53, of Campbell, holds masters and bachelor degrees from Youngstown State University and is principal of Campbell Memorial High School and a former vice president of Campbell City Council.
Robert F. Hagan, 57, of Youngstown, a former state representative and present state senator and CSX Railroad engineer.
Rufus G. Hudson, 50, of Youngstown, a graduate of YSU and coordinator of YSU's Metro Marketing program and a Youngstown city councilman
Michael J. Latessa, 26, of Youngstown, a graduate of YSU who gave up a job in accounting to devote more time to the race.
Ian Stublarec, 24, of Youngstown, a graduate of Otterbein College and a permanent substitute teacher for the Youngstown school system.
Daniel R. Yemma, 48, of Struthers, has bachelor's and master's degrees from YSU, owns Capital Financial Solutions Inc. and is a Struthers city councilman.
Education is a killer
In their interviews with Vindicator editors, every candidate talked about the need for the legislature to address problems of education and school funding in the state. That's a subject that any serious candidate should be able to discuss with some degree of specificity, yet only three of the candidates did: Gozur, Hagan and Hudson. The other three were eliminated from consideration of endorsement based on their poor grasp of a central issue.
Based on their ability to discuss the issues that are important to the 60th district -- education, job creation, revitalization -- Gozur, Hagan or Hudson would be an able representative.
We gave the edge, and we're giving our endorsement, to Hagan.
There are times when a relative newcomer might fit the political bill, and times when it is best to go with experience.
We have had our differences with Hagan in the past -- and probably will in the future -- but in this case, Hagan's ability to hit the ground running in Columbus was a deciding factor.
There is a good chance that Democrats, who have been marginalized in Columbus for more than a decade, will gain some strength coming out of the November elections. With the scandals that have plagued Republicans, Ohio's status as one of the highest-taxed, lowest-growth states in the union, and an increasingly heated gubernatorial primary race, if the Democrats can't gain ground in 2006, they ought to fold up their tent.
Given that, voters in the Democratic primary should want to send the candidate who best knows the players in Columbus, who knows what initiatives have been blocked in the past and by whom -- in other words, one who has an institutional memory.
In this race, that candidate is Hagan. At a time when some of the power in Columbus might shift back to Democrats, the 60th District should want to have Hagan's insight and experience on its side.