Redrawn district makes for expensive state House race


Ohio House of Representatives - District 43

2 year term.

$60,584 annual pay.

Candidates:

Joyce Deitering, 53,

Political party: Republican

Residence: Clayton

Current employment: Attorney and owner of Oldham and Deitering LLC of Clayton

Political experience: Clayton Mayor, 2006-present; former Clayton Council member and former Randolph Twp. Trustee.

Education: Juris Doctor - University of Dayton School of Law; bachelor’s in political science and writing certificate-University of Cincinnati.

Roland Winburn, 65

Political party: Democrat

Current employment: Member, Ohio House of Representatives

Political Experience: Ohio House of Representatives-2009 to present; former Harrison Twp. trustee

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Central State University

State Republican and Democratic parties are both pumping money into a race for the Ohio House 43rd District, a once safe Democratic district that was redrawn by Republicans and is now more competitive.

The race, pitting Democratic incumbent Rep. Roland Winburn of Harrison Twp. and Republican Clayton Mayor Joyce Deitering, shows how redistricting can impact previously one-sided state House races.

The new district map, redrawn as part of the 2010 Census, now includes all of Preble County along with parts of Dayton, Clayton, Trotwood, New Lebanon and Brookville, and Harrison, Jefferson, Perry and Jackson townships. Faced with a more competitive map, an inexpensive race for Democrats got considerably more pricey.

Winburn, who is seeking his third term, spent $65,478 on his whole campaign in 2010. So far this year, he has received $202,632 in in-kind help for advertising, a campaign manager and polling from the Ohio Democratic Party, and another $16,000 in help from a group called Moving Ohio Forward, according to campaign finance reports for the period ending Oct. 17 filed with the Ohio Secretary of State on Thursday.

Unions were also major contributors for Winburn, who has nearly $49,000 on hand by the filing date.

“I am humbled and I am pleased and I am proud, all sorts of feelings there,” said Winburn of the outside help.

Democrats are determined to avoid a repeat of 2010, when the Ohio Republican Party spent more than $900,000 on Tipp City Republican Bill Beagle, swamping the spending by State Sen. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, who lost the 5th District seat long held by Democrats.

Republicans, hoping to make it two upsets in a row, haven’t been nearly as aggressive this time, but they haven’t ignored the race either. Deitering received $48,254 in in-kind services from the Ohio Republican Party and the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee (OHROC), for printing, postage, media buys, film shoots and political literature, campaign reports show. OHROC senior advisor Mike Dittoe said his group is also paying for Deitering’s campaign manager. Business groups were her other major contributors and she has almost $29,000 on hand.

Both campaigns have run radio ads but as of Thursday no television ads.

‘A very good hand’

Keary McCarthy, campaign spokesman for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus, said the caucus is focusing on 10 to 15 competitive races in the state.

“The Republicans dealt themselves a very good hand with the redistricting process we currently have,” McCarthy said. “This is a case where the district was drawn to include more Republicans.”

The candidates are working to reach out to Preble County’s rural voters. Deitering had print ads showing her standing in what appears to be a cornfield talking to a man in a plaid flannel shirt. In an interview with the Dayton Daily News, she didn’t offer any specific proposals for the farm community except to say she wants to cut regulations.

Winburn said he would provide the agricultural community with a voice in the legislature on how regulations affect them, crop production, trade issues and ways crops can be used in industry.

He said he would like to see the state restore funding cuts made to schools and local governments now that state revenues are recovering.

Deitering said she is mindful of the struggles by local jurisdictions and doesn’t want more cuts but wants to study the issue before deciding if funding should be restored to schools and local governments.

Both Deitering and Winburn are both Roman Catholic and have debated abortion rights at candidate nights.

“I don’t believe that government should make that choice. I don’t think it should be a legislative issue,” Winburn said. “That’s between a woman and herself and a woman and her doctor.”

Deitering is endorsed by Ohio Right to Life and supports the proposed heartbeat bill, said campaign manager Justin Barnhart. That bill would ban abortion after a heartbeat is detected.

Deitering advocates cutting regulations she said hamper businesses, reforming and cutting costs for worker compensation, reducing the statute of limitations on contracts, and reducing owners’ liability when trespassers are injured on their property.

She touts Clayton’s success in luring the Caterpillar Logistics distribution center, and says it is an example of what she plans to do in the legislature.

“I’d like to use my experience in bringing Caterpillar into Clayton to help make Ohio more jobs-friendly and to bring more jobs,” she said.

Winburn said more needs to be done to educate and train workers, make college affordable, expand the Buy Ohio laws giving preference to Ohio companies and use tax credits to lure new jobs. He said he co-sponsored a bill giving tax credits to rehabilitate buildings, co-sponsored the Land Bank bill to redevelop abandoned property, supported tax credits for the movie industry and introduced a bill expanding Buy Ohio Laws.

Having labored in the minority party for the past two years Winburn said he works cooperatively with Republican colleagues in order to get things accomplished.

“Most often you are more successful if you have a member of the opposite party co-sponsoring the bill,” Winburn said.

Nasty campaign

The race has turned negative at times, with Democrats raising questions about legal judgments brought against Deitering years ago over her law practice.

Winburn has also questioned whether Deitering has the temperament to reach the compromises that he said are critical to effective governing, pointing to her long-running disputes with Englewood and City Manager Eric Smith.

The Daily News examined the public record of both Deitering and Winburn. Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judges ordered Deitering and her former law associate, Ann Requarth, to pay nearly $16,893 for engaging in frivolous legal conduct in lawsuits they filed in 2004 and 2005. Democrats rounded that number up to $17,000 in a mailed ad, prompting Deitering to hold a news conference to call it and other claims by the Democrats “misrepresentations.”

Documents the Daily News obtained show Deitering and Requarth ultimately had to pay $29,393 to cover the city of Englewood’s legal bills in the lawsuits, one involving Walmart store that was being built in Englewood and the other a case involving a fired city employee.

Deitering’s share of the two settlements was $12,500.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the election,” she said.

Both Deitering and Winburn have had unpaid taxes, the Daily News found.

Deitering had an $8,798.32 federal lien placed on her in 2007 for unpaid payroll taxes at her law firm for three tax periods dating back to 1999, while Winburn missed by four days his July 2012 payment on a local property he owns.

Winburn paid $463.18 in past due property taxes and penalties and said he is not sure why he forgot to make the payment on time.

On Deitering’s lien, documents show she was assessed in 2002 and a lien was placed on her and law partner Richard Oldham on March 3, 2007. The lien shows release dates of March 16 and May 4, 2007.

Deitering said she was recovering from cancer surgery in 1999 and 2000 when she began using an online payroll service that made the errors.

Dittoe said Deitering “draws a very nice contrast” to Winburn.

“I think this is certainly a real challenge for him,” Dittoe said. “It’s a district that leans slightly Democratic but we are confident there will be high Republican turnout, not only in Montgomery County but in Preble County.”

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