Cafaro leaves Dem leadership post

January 25, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

The minority leader of the Ohio Senate is stepping down from the post.

Sen. Capri Cafaro, a Democrat from Liberty, will remain in the chamber and seek re-election, but she will no longer hold a leadership position in the caucus.

She told reporters Tuesday that she made the decision to focus more of her time and efforts on issues of importance to her district rather than the political responsibilities that come with heading the minority caucus.

“This has been, frankly, a long time coming from a personal perspective,” Cafaro said. “There’s so much that has been on my plate within the district. I’m also running for re-election, which complicates matters even further, because certainly I can’t reschedule, for example, candidate nights just because I have an erratic schedule as minority leader.”

She added, “I want to be clear: Over the last three years of being minority leader, I have never stopped being accessible in my district. I’ve always gone to every fish fry, I’ve always called every constituent — much to the chagrin of a lot of people in my caucus — but I’ve always done those things, and I’m not about to stop now.”

Sen. Eric Kearney, from Cincinnati, will assume the leadership post, likely next week. Sen. Joe Schiavoni, from Canfield, will serve as assistant minority leader. Sens. Nina Turner and Edna Brown will serve as minority whip and assistant whip, respectively.

And Sen. Tom Sawyer, a Democrat from the Akron area, will serve as ranking minority leader on the Senate’s Finance Committee.

Senate Democrats did not indicate that Cafaro was being forced out, as was the case in 2008 with former Minority Leader Teresa Fedor. Cafaro became assistant minority whip as part of that coup; later that year, she was named to the top leadership spot.

Cafaro said the decision to step down was hers, and the new leadership slate was determined with unanimous support among the minority ranks.

She also said she “woefully underestimated” the time and responsibilities of the Senate minority leader during a presidential-election year.

Cafaro will assume seats on several legislative committees, including agriculture, health and insurance.

“She’s going to be very active,” Kearney said. “She [had] a tremendous amount of influence before she became leader. She’ll continue to have the same influence.”