43
AG’s race worth watching
On the side
New deadline: The filing deadline for the November general election in Ohio was changed because of a new federal law regarding absentee voters in the military. The deadline to file is Aug. 4, 90 days before the Nov. 2 general election. The old deadline was Aug. 19, 75 days before the election.
National debt: U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson is sponsoring or co-sponsoring 10 bills in the House to tackle the national debt of more than $13 trillion. So far, four of them have been passed by the House and/or signed into law by the president.
Among the other six, Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, is the lead sponsor to create a box on federal income tax forms allowing people to contribute $3 toward reducing the national debt.
“Paying off that much of our debt every year would not solve the problem, but every little bit helps,” Wilson said.
That proposal doesn’t sit well with Bill Johnson of Poland, Wilson’s Republican challenger.
“To pay down the debt he helped create, Charlie Wilson wants hard working Ohioans to pay their taxes and then pay even more,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t make sense — because Charlie Wilson and Congress overspent, we have to overpay?”
The most intriguing “down-ticket” races on the statewide ballot in November pits Attorney General Richard Cordray, a Democrat, against Republican Mike DeWine.
Both expect a close race.
DeWine certainly has a wealth of political experience as a former 12-year member of the U.S. Senate who also served as lieutenant governor, a four-term U.S. House member and a one-term state senator.
Despite his solid name recognition, voters soundly rejected DeWine in 2006, a banner year for Democrats.
Rather than run for governor or a return to the Senate, DeWine decided to seek the job of attorney general.
DeWine is returning to his roots. His first elected position was Greene County prosecutor in 1976.
DeWine came to Youngstown on Monday for a small invitation-only luncheon sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s government affairs council.
DeWine’s main campaign issue is his claim that Cordray has been unable to improve the productivity of the state’s crime lab.
Nearly every law enforcement agency in the state has evidence processed at the state crime lab.
DeWine says Cordray didn’t create the problem, but has done nothing to solve the problems of delays in processing evidence, such as DNA, for criminal cases.
“He’s living in the past,” said Cordray of DeWine. “It’s been a priority of mine. The backlogs have been largely wiped out. I would agree with him that it was a problem, but it’s been largely rectified. It’s something I’ve made a personal focus.”
Substantial decrease
Since last year, there’s been a substantial decrease in the time it takes to process evidence, according to statistics provided by the attorney general’s office.
Examples include a 55 percent decrease in the number of pending DNA cases, and a 44 percent decrease in pending trace evidence cases.
DeWine is “not current in his understanding,” Cordray said. “It’s significantly improved. It seems to be an obsession with him. He doesn’t want to acknowledge progress.”
Cordray added: “That he’s stuck on an old issue is telling.”
DeWine said it takes the crime lab about six months to process DNA. Cordray said the lab is doing it in about 45 days.
Cordray was in Youngs-town on Thursday to talk about the pending agreement between Forum Health and Arden Health Services.
Political reality
Despite DeWine’s claims that he’s done well in the Democratic-dominated Mahoning Valley, that has simply not been the case.
DeWine significantly underperformed in Mahoning and Trumbull counties compared to the rest of the state in his last two elections: 2000 and 2006.
Meanwhile, Cordray has done considerably better in Mahoning and Trumbull in his two most recent statewide elections, in 2006 and 2008, compared to the rest of the state.