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Ohio House set to confirm Boccieri as state rep
COLUMBUS
The Ohio House is to confirm today the appointment of John Boccieri as the 59th House District representative, returning him to the General Assembly where he got his political start nearly 15 years ago.
Boccieri of Poland, a former congressman and state legislator, received the recommendation of a five-member Ohio House Democratic Caucus screening committee and the House Democratic leadership.
The full 33-member Democratic caucus will meet early today for a formal vote on selecting Boccieri followed by a confirmation vote by the House in the afternoon, said Jordan Plottner, the caucus’ spokesman. The 59th District includes about half of Mahoning County and a small section of Stark County.
“I’ll be a good fit for the community and the district,” Boccieri said. “I’ll be a strong voice for working people. I’m excited to get started.”
The seat was vacated when Ronald V. Gerberry, an Austintown Democrat, resigned Aug. 21, the same day he was convicted of unlawful compensation of a public official.
Boccieri emerged as the frontrunner for the seat almost immediately after The Vindicator exclusively reported Aug. 11 that Gerberry, the most-senior member of the House, was going to plead guilty to the misdemeanor and resign. Gerberry was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence, placed on unsupervised probation for three years and ordered to do 500 hours of community service.
The two other candidates who sought to replace Gerberry were ex-Boardman Trustee Robyn Gallitto and John Landers, a Boardman school board member. They and Boccieri interviewed Sept. 23 with the screening committee.
At a Sept. 9 meeting of the Mahoning County Democratic Party to recommend candidates for the vacant seat, Boccieri received 42 of the 53 votes cast. Gallitto got six votes, and Landers received four.
“All three candidates impressed the screening committee with their commitment to public service and dedication to fighting for middle-class values,” said state Rep. Jack Cera of Bellaire, D-96th, who led the committee. “Ultimately, Rep. Boccieri’s extensive public-service experience and the recommendation by local Mahoning County leaders contributed to our decision. I am confident we made the right choice and look forward to working with Rep. Boccieri.”
Once confirmed, Boccieri, an Air Force Reserve pilot who also flies for United Airlines, will serve the remainder of Gerberry’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2016.
He also has to file by Dec. 16 to run in the March 2016 primary for a full two-year term, and said he’ll do so.
Mahoning Democratic Chairman David Betras said Boccieri “is an excellent choice to replace Ron Gerberry. I’m confident John will be able to hold the seat. No one can claim John doesn’t have integrity and honor.”
In the Nov. 7, 2000, election, Boccieri defeated three-term Rep. Ron Hood, a Republican, by 3.8 percentage points in one of the most-expensive state House races that year.
Boccieri will serve with Hood, who lives in Ashville, and is serving his third term representing the 78th District.
Boccieri was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2002 and 2004. He won a state Senate race in 2006 with no opponent in either the Democratic primary or the general election. Two years after that, Boccieri was elected to the 16th Congressional District, just west of the Mahoning Valley and based in Stark County. In 2010, he was defeated.
At a July 6, 2012, campaign stop in Poland, President Barack Obama praised Boccieri, and said the congressman “may have lost” his 2010 re-election bid because of his vote in support of Obamacare during a bad year nationally for Democrats.
“I’d take that vote again, no question,” Boccieri said at the time. “My mom told me sometimes that the right thing to do isn’t always the most popular.”