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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > April > 20
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Editorial: Husted best GOP choice for Brunner job
2010 ELECTION
Sen. Jon Husted, of Kettering, is facing a challenge from the right in the Republican primary for secretary of state.
He has almost every political advantage: standing among Republicans, experience in state government, name recognition with the public, campaign money and very specific qualifications for the job.
But his opponent is the more conservative candidate, which is useful in a Republican primary. The people who feel most intensely are more likely to vote in a primary than those who are less committed to an ideology.
The party is wondering whether that may be truer than ever this year, when the Tea Party movement is pulling the GOP to the right.
Candidate Sandra O’Brien is a former auditor of Ashtabula County, in the northeast corner of the state. In 2006, she pulled off an upset in a primary for state treasurer over a moderate black candidate who had been appointed to the job. Ms. O’Brien is hoping to repeat the magic.
She insists that hot-button conservative causes — taxes, gun control, abortion — are legitimate campaign issues, though they have nothing to do with the work of the secretary of state.
She says voters she talks with raise those issues. The people decide the issues, she says.
In 2006, Ms. O’Brien was trounced in the general election by Democrat Richard Cordray, in part, perhaps because of her competency.
As county auditor, she was twice criticized by the Republican state auditor, Betty Montgomery, for not having good internal controls.
In an interview with the Dayton Daily News editorial board that year, she said she had safeguards on her top staffers, but they weren’t in writing because she didn’t want bright employees to know what her checks and balances were. A preposterous position.
Sen. Husted has been awkwardly trying to identify himself with “Tea Party Values” in his campaign literature. And he seems to be playing to the Republican base, for example, with his criticism of the Cleveland to Cincinnati (“3C”) passenger train project.
For several years, he’s been active on election-management issues, the main responsibility of a secretary of state (who also handles public legal paperwork for corporations).
He’s been a leading Republican monitor of incumbent Secretary Jennifer Brunner. And he has proposed, for example, legislation about corporate campaign spending in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing it. (He wants tough disclosure laws.)
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the race is that Sen. Husted has proposed eliminating the high-profile roles of the secretary of state. He says the secretary’s role in elections should be handled by a bipartisan board. That way there wouldn’t be charges of partisan manipulation every time a secretary does anything, as now.
Ms. O’Brien opposes this change, saying it would take power out of the hands of voters. But the notion is dubious that voters deeply prize their power to chose between Republican and Democratic candidates as to which can best handle a job that should be done in a nonpartisan way.
Also, Sen. Husted has long been the leading voice in the legislature for changing Ohio’s systems for drawing districts for legislators. Under the current system, all power goes to one party, at least in the case of state legislative seats.
Not shockingly, the politicians tend to take care of their party and eliminate any real political competition by concentrating voters of particular persuasions together.
Sen. Husted’s experience — including a genuine leadership role in the legislature as former speaker of the Ohio of Representatives — his competence and his relative moderation make him clearly the best choice.
(Endorsement letters submitted by the two candidates are here.
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