GOP will fight Strickland veto

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Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)

COLUMBUS, Ohio _ The Republican-dominated Legislature intends to go to court over Gov. Ted Strickland's veto of a bill that the GOP contends was finalized before Strickland took office, House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday.

''We're going to seek a remedy through the courts clarifying the process whereby an issue becomes law in this state, because we feel this act was in violation of the (Ohio) Constitution,'' Husted told The Associated Press.

The lawsuit, once filed, stands to engage Ohio's three branches of government in a constitutional faceoff over a veto scenario lawyers in the state have never seen before.

It was less than 15 hours after Strickland, a Democrat, took office on Jan. 8 that he vetoed the bill, which placed a $5,000 limit on certain court damages and created new protections for companies that once sold lead-based paint.

New Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, also a Democrat, allowed the veto by returning the bill to the new governor after outgoing Gov. Bob Taft had decided to let it become law without his signature. Brunner argued that a 10-day window before the bill was to become law had not yet expired, giving Strickland the right to the veto.

Husted said Brunner had no right to return the bill at that point, because her predecessor, Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, had already certified it.