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Reading political tea leaves
On the side
Rep. O’Brien honored: Clean Fuels Ohio, an alternative transportation fuel advocacy nonprofit, named state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd, as its public official of the year.
O’Brien is the lead sponsor of legislation to create tax credits and grants for vehicles converting to alternative fuels — which passed in the House — and has worked to increase the number of vehicles using alternative fuels, particularly compressed natural gas.
“It is truly an honor to receive this award, especially because this work is simply the right thing to do,” O’Brien said. “As CNG vehicles and fueling stations become more readily available, consumers, the environment and our state and local economies will all benefit.”
This is a busy time to be covering politics with local and statewide candidates coming to The Vindicator seeking the newspaper’s endorsement.
I wrote last week about Gov. John Kasich’s appearance last week in front of the editorial board and our discussion about his potential 2016 presidential bid, which appears to be highly unlikely.
During that interview, he never once mentioned Ed FitzGerald, his Democratic opponent in the general election.
That’s probably because signs point to the Republican incumbent winning. For some, it’s just a question of how big will his margin of victory be.
FitzGerald’s campaign has experienced numerous problems such as lackluster fundraising, key staff members leaving, recent revelations that he went about a decade without a driver’s license, he lost the state troopers association endorsement, and polls showing Kasich with a comfortable lead, to name some of the significant setbacks.
During his endorsement interview, state Rep. Tom Letson, a Democrat running for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, blamed the media for writing about FitzGerald’s issues.
When he was asked about the governor’s race and FitzGerald’s challenges, Letson said the real issue is Kasich expanding and increasing the sales tax by 0.25 percent.
Letson said Kasich has “no substance,” and he “should have been murdered for raising the sales tax. He should be walking around on crutches from getting beat up for raising taxes.”
Regardless of who wins this gubernatorial election, there is already interest in the 2018 race as it will be for an open seat.
The talk is the two leading Republican candidates are Attorney General Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted. Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor is also a possibility.
DeWine was here Tuesday, and I asked him about it.
His non-answer: “I’ve always felt that you need to kind of take one campaign at a time and I have a campaign now. Voters would not appreciate it and I think they would be correct if I was talking about running for some other office. I’ve enjoyed being attorney general. I’d like to have four more years.”
Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican, who is running for re-election, hasn’t been linked to being governor, but if he beats Democrat Connie Pillich, he’ll be term-limited out as treasurer.
There is speculation that if U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, yet another Republican officeholder, runs for president in two years that Mandel would seek that seat. Mandel lost the 2012 U.S. Senate race to Sherrod Brown, the Democratic incumbent.
As for governor, Mandel said during his endorsement interview last week, “You never know what could happen down the road. It’s not something I wake up in the morning thinking about.”
He added, “There are other people interested,” and “I have no plans to run for governor in four years.”
Regarding his political future, Mandel said, “A lot of that will be determined by stuff in my personal life. We have an 18-month-old and another [child] due in [one week]. The direct answer is I don’t know. I’m 36 years old. I feel a calling to public service, but I don’t know exactly what comes next. The best recipe for what comes next is continuing to do a good job in the treasurer’s office.”