43
Secretary candidates exchange accusations
Photo
Maryellen O'Shaughnessy
Photo
Jon Husted
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
State Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, said he is much more qualified for the job than Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, his Democratic opponent.
O’Shaughnessy, the Franklin County clerk of courts, questions Husted’s “trustworthiness” and said, “He clearly doesn’t understand what it is to be an administrator.”
The two secretary of state candidates met separately Monday with The Vindicator editorial board.
Monday also was the first day that Husted began airing television commercials statewide calling O’Shaughnessy a “professional politician,” who is “padding her pockets” at the expense of taxpayers.
“That is a lie, because I’m not padding my pockets,” O’Shaughnessy said.
At issue is O’Shaughnessy’s vote in 1998 as a Columbus city councilwoman for a pay raise. O’Shaughnessy points out that she wasn’t eligible to receive the raise until she won re-election in 2001.
“It’s very misleading,” she said.
Husted defended the line, saying regardless of when she received the extra money, O’Shaughnessy voted to give herself a pay raise.
“I’m trying to draw the contrast between the fact that when she was in public office, she looked out for herself, and when I’ve been in public office, I’ve looked out for the taxpayer,” he said.
As for calling her a “professional politician,” Husted, a state legislator since 2001, said, “Does she receive a paycheck [while] being a public official? Yes. She’s running for her fifth different office. That makes her a professional politician.”
Husted wouldn’t call himself a “professional politician” and said he’s run only for positions in the state Legislature before.
“I haven’t wanted to be a public official no matter what the elected office is,” he said.
During her interview, O’Shaughnessy, of Columbus, brought up Husted’s residency.
Husted’s address is in Kettering, though he also owns a home in Upper Arlington.
Current Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, ruled last year that Husted’s residence was in Upper Arlington, which is outside his state Senate district.
But the Ohio Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn Brunner’s decision.
O’Shaughnessy said the court, consisting of all Republicans, sided with Husted as a “political decision.” Husted disputed that, saying that it was Brunner who played political games with his residency.
O’Shaughnessy, Franklin County clerk of courts since January 2009, said she has the administrative experience to be secretary of state, and Husted doesn’t. O’Shaughnessy’s department has 235 employees compared with about 200 at the secretary of state’s office.
Husted said his four years as speaker of the Ohio House provided him with “a great deal of administrative experience. ... That experience, I think, far outweighs anything you might get as a local elected official.”
Libertarian Charles R. Earl also is running for this position.