Governor candidate says his term would be about service, not paycheck

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci said what separates him from the three other Republicans seeking the party’s 2018 nomination for governor is they’re career politicians and for him the job would be all about public service.

“A career politician is a person who lives off their paycheck as a politician,” Renacci of Wadsworth, R-16th, told The Vindicator during a Friday interview. “I’ve never had to. I’m a career businessman.”

Renacci started his business career from 1981 to 1983 as a certified public accountant for the former Alexander Grant CPA firm in downtown Youngstown, and has owned a number of businesses in Wadsworth. He is one of the richest members of Congress.

“I’m at a stage in my life where this is about service,” he said. “I’m about giving back. I’ve never had to make my living from politics.”

Renacci, who’s served in the U.S. House since January 2011, said he is frustrated with how government operates.

“Clearly Washington is broken; I see that now,” he said.

Renacci is considered a close ally of President Donald Trump and has several of the president’s former Ohio campaign staff members working on his gubernatorial campaign.

Read more about him in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.