Boccieri reaches decision on next campaign

The three-term state House member will run for the state Senate.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
When U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland announced he wouldn't seek re-election to the 6th Congressional District seat, which encompasses 12 counties, the biggest concern among Mahoning County Democrats was that too many prominent Democrats from the county would get in the race.
If that occurred, Mahoning Democrats said the candidates from their county would cancel one another out and the nomination would go to state Sen. Charles A. Wilson Jr. of St. Clairsville, D-30th.
Wilson, who shared the same belief, was banking on that happening.
The possibility of that scenario playing out is unlikely. But Wilson has little to worry about.
State Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st, who considered running for the congressional post, has decided to run for the 33rd Ohio Senate District seat this year.
Decided against it
A three-term state House member and Air Force Reserve pilot, Boccieri is the last of four current or former Democratic officeholders in Mahoning County to decide not to challenge Wilson. The others were county Treasurer John Reardon of Boardman, ex-Commissioner Ed Reese of Boardman, and ex-Auditor George Tablack of Boardman, who now serves as head of the county's Office of Management and Budget.
"We initially were worried about too many Mahoning County candidates in this race," Boccieri said. "We over-analyzed it and we got none."
There is still time with a Feb. 16 filing deadline, but no prominent Mahoning Democrat has come forward to express interest in running.
Boccieri is confident Strickland will be elected governor this year. Boccieri said he could greatly assist the Mahoning Valley on the state level if elected to the Senate.
Boccieri, who can't run for re-election to the Ohio House because of the Senate bid, will face Mahoning County Recorder Ronald Gerberry of Austintown in the Democratic primary in May. Gerberry, who served 19 years in the Ohio House and doesn't have to give up his recorder post, filed his nominating petitions for the Senate seat Thursday, more than a month before the filing deadline.
The seat is being vacated by state Sen. Robert F. Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, who cannot run for re-election because of the state's term limits law.
Military prohibition
If it weren't for his military obligations, Boccieri said he probably would have run for Congress or secretary of state.
Boccieri, who had four tours of duty in Iraq during the past two years, said the Air Force prohibited him from campaigning for higher office until he was officially taken off active-duty status, which occurred Dec. 17.
Because of that, Boccieri said he couldn't campaign for Congress or secretary of state until recently, and he can't raise the cash needed to compete this late in the game.
Boccieri is a captain based out of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. He said the military told him he could ask his unit to get off active duty before Dec. 17. But that would have been political suicide, he added.
National Republicans say the 6th District is their No. 1 open seat target in the country.
"They would have attacked me for getting out of the military early to run for the job," Boccieri said.
The 33rd Senate District consists of all of Mahoning and Carroll counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Boccieri's House district covers one-third of the Senate district, and Gerberry has represented much of the district during his time as an Ohio House member and county recorder.
6th District candidates
The only Mahoning County candidate on the Democratic side for the 6th Congressional District seat is Diane DiCarlo Murphy of Beaver Township, who received only 17 percent of the vote in the party's 2004 primary against Strickland.
On the Republican side, Ohio House Speaker Pro Tempore Charles Blasdel of East Liverpool, R-1st, is running for the seat. By running for Congress, Blasdel, a three-term Ohio House member, won't seek re-election to his House seat.
Other announced candidates in the Republican primary are Tim Ginter of East Liverpool, Danny Harmon, a Noble County commissioner, and Richard Holt of Lawrence County.
This year will see the most open state Legislature races in the Mahoning Valley since 2000.
Up for grabs is the 33rd Senate seat as well as the 1st, 61st and 60th House seats. State Rep. Sylvester D. Patton Jr., D-60th, a Youngstown Democrat, cannot run for re-election because of the state term limits law.
skolnick@vindy.com