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Gerberry wins 18th straight statehouse seat
By ROBERT CONNELLY
and Ed Runyan
AUSTINTOWN
Ronald V. Gerberry, of Austintown, was re-elected to his 59th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives and his 18th straight election win.
“I’m humbled,” the 61-year old said Tuesday night. “I look forward to serving my last two years in the House and I just thank the voters. It was obviously a tough night for Democrats, not just in Ohio but in the county.”
Due to term limits in the Buckeye state, this will be the last two years Gerberry can serve in the statehouse.
“Obviously we’re going to hopefully push for some type of improvement to local government funds,” he said of his final plans. “I hope we can once and for all get a school funding mechanism in place. We’ve gone four years now with nothing in place.”
Gerberry defeated Republican Paul D. Mitchell of Canfield, who had been running for office for the first time. The 59th District includes Beaver, Berlin, Boardman, Canfield, Ellsworth, Goshen, Green, Jackson, Milton, Poland, Smith and Springfield townships; the city of Canfield; and the villages of Beloit, Craig Beach, New Middletown, Poland, Sebring, and four precincts in Austintown.
In Trumbull County, veteran elected official Michael O’Brien, a Democrat, overcame what he believes was more than $200,000 worth of negative campaign ads by Ohio Republicans. O’Brien defeated Republican Randy Law in O’Brien’s firstbid to be elected state representative after 30 years of local political office.
O’Brien, 59, former Warren mayor and councilman, as well as former county commissioner, received 50 percent of the vote to win in the 64th District in unofficial results. Law received 44 percent of the vote, and Green Party candidate Elaine Mastromatteo received 6 percent. The district covers Warren, Howland and several other townships.
TV ads over the past week paid for by Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee slammed O’Brien for the $1,875 fine he paid in 2005 for $2,035 in campaign funds placed in two of his family’s personal accounts between 2000 and 2003.
O’Brien repaid the $2,035 to his campaign account and apologized, saying the transfers were “mistakes” made by his then-wife, who was his campaign treasurer, and he was unaware of the improper transfers.
“The race is a vindication against negative advertising. A quarter of a million was spent on negative advertising,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said he expects to spend a great deal of time trying to get more of the Local Government Fund money returned to the local communities instead of being stockpiled in the state treasury. It’s an issue he talked about at length during the campaign.
Meanwhile, in the 63rd District, Sean O’Brien of Bazetta easily won his third term as state representative for Niles, Girard, Hubbard, Cortland and many eastern Trumbull County townships. He and Michael O’Brien are not related.
Sean O’Brien defeated fellow attorney Devon Stanley of Girard, gathering 66 percent of the vote.