Two firsts for Valley

Strickland and Dann plan to use resources to help the area.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
The Mahoning Valley was at the center of this year's statewide election that saw Democrats win races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer.
Gov.-elect Ted Strickland, a Lisbon Democrat, easily defeated Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell of Cincinnati.
Attorney General-elect Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat, beat Republican Betty Montgomery of Perrysburg, a former attorney general and one of the state's most popular vote-getters.
The four Democratic statewide winners got at least 70 percent of the vote in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The election of two politicians who call the Mahoning Valley home is historical. When they are sworn in to their new posts Jan. 8, it will mark the first time two Valley residents held statewide executive offices at the same time since 1864.
Strickland is the first person from Columbiana County elected governor and Dann is the first Trumbull County resident elected attorney general.
Vowed to help
Strickland has vowed to do what he can to have the state help stimulate economic development in the Valley.
He also appointed four Valley residents to his transition team, including two to key spots on the team. Strickland has already hired Anthony Trevena of Guilford Lake, who's worked for the governor-elect on his congressional and campaign staffs since 2002, to serve in an undetermined position in his administration.
Dann, who spent less than four years as a state senator before his election as attorney general, also said he would do whatever he can to assist the Valley in his new job.
Dann plans to relocate the attorney general's regional office in Boardman to the downtown of either Youngstown or Warren by June. The office has about 20 employees and Dann wants to expand that number by 10 to 20 people over the next two years.
Dann played a role in filling his seat in the Ohio Senate, a move that drew criticism from some.
Dann endorsed Capri Cafaro of Liberty, who's never won an election, over state Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood, a Niles Democrat elected last month to her third House term, and Anthony A. Latell Jr. of Girard, a former longtime Trumbull County commissioner who served eight years in the state Senate.