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The Republican National Convention deputy press secretary says growing up in Youngstown shaped his work ethic
YOUNGSTOWN
Dave O’Neil, deputy press secretary for the Republican National Convention, says, “It’s unusual to grow up as a Republican in Youngstown.”
But the influence of his father, whom O’Neil described as a conservative, and growing up with political corruption in the Democratic-controlled Mahoning Valley led him to be a Republican.
“I saw Youngstown in disrepair in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and witnessed the perils of longtime one-party rule,” he said. “There has been and is a continued history of political corruption” and “I did not want to be a part of that.”
Despite that, O’Neil, 36, said the experiences and values he learned living in Youngstown and later Poland stay with him.
“I think so highly of the people of Youngstown,” he said. “They’re friendly. They’re intelligent, and most important, they are the hardest-working people in the state of Ohio and probably the country. Whatever strong work ethic I have is the result of my family and the people of Youngstown.”
With plenty of family still in Mahoning County, O’Neil said he frequently returns to the area for holidays and other special occasions.
“I see a change in the area,” he said. “When I was in high school, no one went to downtown Youngstown. The revitalization of downtown Youngstown is significant.”
O’Neil was born in Youngstown and grew up on the South Side with his family before moving to Baltimore when he was in the fourth grade. The family moved to Poland when he was in the eighth grade, and he graduated in 1997 from Poland Seminary High School.
“I grew up reading Bertram” de Souza, The Vindicator’s editorial-page editor and a longtime columnist for the newspaper, O’Neil said. “My dad still sends me links. ‘Did you read Bertram on Sunday?’”
O’Neil earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University and worked as a newspaper reporter from 2002 to 2008. After leaving journalism for a job with a nonprofit organization in Columbus, O’Neil was approached in 2009 by Matt Borges, now Ohio Republican Party chairman and a longtime friend, about being communications director for Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo.
“I can’t be more happy with the decision,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil has worked for Mingo for the past seven years, taking a leave of absence in March after being hired by the RNC – Borges urged him to seek the position – to be the contact person for Ohio media.
“It sounds too good to be true,” O’Neil said. “I came [to Cleveland] and interviewed and got a call a few weeks later saying, ‘We’d love to have you here.’ It’s fascinating, and I can’t believe the opportunities I’ve had to do TV stuff, radio stuff and print stuff.”
O’Neil will return to Columbus a few days after the Republican National Convention, in Cleveland from July 18 to 21, concludes.
Borges said O’Neil “is a conservative and a friend. I’ve always known he is smart and is an exceptional writer and communicator. He’s honed his skills as a communication professional, and from all that I’ve seen doing work with the convention, he’s handling it all very well.”
Though O’Neil fields questions on anything and everything about the convention, he said he “can’t go 15 seconds without being asked about Donald Trump.”
In March and April, O’Neil said, “I couldn’t go 15 seconds without being asked about a contested convention.”
Since Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee when the last of his challengers suspended his campaign in early May, O’Neil said most of the questions are about Trump’s involvement in planning the convention.
“The nominee always plays a large role in the convention,” O’Neil said. “In 2008 and 2012, I doubt if convention staff were asked about the involvement of John McCain and Mitt Romney.”
O’Neil said he’s been working 14-hour days since the middle of March, and when the convention is occurring, he expects to work 18 to 20 hours a day for those four days.
“There’s going to be thousands of media members in Cleveland along with surrogates, elected Republican officials and prominent Republicans,” he said. “My job is to connect reporters to those people and to keep them updated on other events and news as it arrives.”