Political battles already lining up
Ohio Democratic chief keeps eyes on future
By Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal Columbus Bureau
Published on Thursday, May 14, 2009

COLUMBUS: Chris Redfern, the boyish-looking state chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, stood Tuesday with his back against the headquarters' wall.
Normally, the main attraction in any room he consumes, the gregarious, outspoken, funny and biting Redfern instead stood removed, attentive himself, as David Pepper, a Hamilton County commissioner, announced plans to run against Republican incumbent Mary Taylor for state auditor next year.
Pepper was surrounded by key supporters, including the man who recruited him for the race, Gov. Ted Strickland, the historical federal judge for whom he clerked, Nathanial Jones, his mother and father, and state Treasurer Kevin Boyce.
As Pepper spoke eloquently about his intentions, it was impossible not to notice the concern and strain on Redfern's face as he took serious measure of the candidate's mien.
Ohio is a blue state with a capital ''B.'' For nearly two decades, it was not so.
Much of the success of the new millennium Democrats, the end of the party's diaspora, coincides with Redfern's reign, and therefore, the chairman's impressive accomplishments must be recognized.
On his watch, Democrats reclaimed four of five statewide offices, including governor, and a U.S. Senate seat in 2006.
Last year, he helped deliver Ohio for Barack Obama, ensuring the president's glide into the White House.
Democrats, without the luxury of gerrymandering legislative districts, won enough seats to take control of the majority in the Ohio House for the first time since the elections of 1992.
While the victories mean the party's tenets translate into the day-to-day operations of government, Redfern's tangible impact has been to return jobs to large numbers of disenfranchised, scattered and even newly minted Democrats.
The election night party of 2006 was a 20-year reunion of sorts with Democrats returning triumphantly to Columbus to share in the spoils of patronage.
So why the hands in the trousers, the pained expression? Are these not the best of times?
It might be simply that Redfern is not sated, and will not be, before his chairmanship echoes Bruce Springsteen: ''Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings, and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything.''
Balance could tilt
Or it could be that Redfern understands, despite the recent show of strength, just how fragile Democrats are in Ohio.
Of the four statewide offices won by his party three years ago, only Strickland will run for a second four-year term.
Talking about the others is a Democratic version of the game ''Where Are They Now?''
Attorney General Marc Dann's rise was meteoric. So was his crash. He resigned after acknowledging an affair with a subordinate, hiring incompetents and hooligans, and tolerating a workplace that condoned sexual harassment.
Richard Cordray, elected state treasurer in 2006, won a mid-term election to replace Dann, so he, in effect, stands on the dais with Strickland as the other proven Democrat.
Boyce was appointed treasurer to fill the vacancy left by Cordray. He has never run statewide.
Running for Senate
And Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is not seeking a second term to that office, but instead has announced plans to run for the U.S. Senate, challenging Lee Fisher, Strickland's lieutenant governor, in the primary.
The Democratic picture has been dramatically altered since Election Day 2006.
Strickland, who must find a new running mate, has approval ratings around 56 percent. His most serious challenger, former U.S. Rep. John Kasich of Westerville, has yet to formally announce his candidacy. Don't be surprised if Kasich passes, as he did after flirting with the notion once before, and Republicans scramble to find someone to run.
This would be a tremendous boost to Redfern and the Democrats because a key to GOP success next year is forcing Strickland to raise and spend money and resources on his re-election.
Republicans benefited down ticket from weak Democrats Rob Burch and Tim Hagan running respectively against incumbents George Voinovich in 1994 and Bob Taft in 2002.
Redfern has other worries.
Cordray, seemingly secure, has yet to defeat an opponent with money or solid name recognition in Ohio.
Boyce must prove himself when he runs, presumably, against state Rep. Josh Mandel, R-Lyndhurst, a U.S. Marine with two Iraq war tours to his credit, who is expected to match the appointee dollar for dollar in fundraising. Both men are virtually unknown by most Ohioans.
Brunner's decision to try for the U.S. Senate means Redfern must recruit someone to run for the open race for secretary of state — a key seat on the state's gerrymandering panel known as the Apportionment Board, that former House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, will seek.
In finding Pepper to run against Taylor, Redfern went to Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The last Democrat to win statewide from the southwestern corner of the state was Gov. John Gilligan in 1970. He lost his bid for re-election four years later.
If that isn't enough to put worry lines on Redfern's face, the Democratic chairman is mindful that the majority in the Ohio House can swing in the other political direction with the loss of only four of 99 seats and that Obama will not be at the top of the ticket next year.
With all of this to protect and accomplish, even if he somehow pulls it all off, Redfern's political hegemony still won't be complete because there are three spots on the all-GOP Ohio Supreme Court with two incumbent justices running again and an overwhelming Republican majority in the Ohio Senate, where victory for Democrats must be measured by picking up rather than losing more seats.
Is it any wonder the 44-year-old Redfern looks like he has aged in recent weeks so that he appears to be 29 instead of 25?

Cincinnati Democrat to run for State Auditor
Business First of Columbus

Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper said Tuesday he will run against Republican incumbent Mary Taylor for state auditor in 2010.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told those attending the announcement that he recruited Pepper for the job. The son of former Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) CEO John Pepper, David Pepper defeated Republican incumbent Phil Heimlich in 2006 to restore a Democratic majority on the Hamilton County Commission for the first time in 40 years.
He is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian who graduated from Yale Law School and has campaigned as a fiscal conservative who is friendly to economic-development initiatives.
Pepper will face incumbent Taylor, the only Republican in elected statewide office, who recently has criticized the Strickland administration for relying on one-time infusions of federal dollars to solve the state’s budget crisis.
Taylor may throw her hat into the ring to vie for the U.S. Senate seat Republican George Voinovich will vacate next year, but hasn’t made a run official.

Jane Campbell goes to Washington

Former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell moves to D.C. to take job as aide to senator
Posted by Sabrina Eaton/Plain Dealer Bureau January 06, 2009 23:01PM

WASHINGTON -- Former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell is moving to the nation's capital after accepting a job as chief of staff to Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
Campbell, 55, starts the job Feb. 2. She is trying to rent her condo in Shaker Square and find a place to live in Washington, D.C.
"I thought it would be a really fabulous opportunity to work with a woman I have a great deal of respect for at a time when significant changes and excitement are going to happen in Washington," Campbell said.
Campbell and Landrieu have been friends for more than 30 years. They met through a state legislators group when they organized a women's caucus.
After serving as head of that group -- the National Conference of State Legislatures -- Campbell became a Cuyahoga County commissioner and served as Cleveland mayor from 2002 to 2006.
Most recently, she has worked at the Colliers Ostendorf-Morris real estate firm, where she worked on construction of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s new headquarters in Akron. She will step down from her post on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority board when she takes the job in D.C.
"As we deal with national policy, the experiences of Cleveland are going to be shared, and that has to be helpful to Cleveland," Campbell said.
Landrieu, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, is the new chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee. She also chairs the Homeland Security Committee's disaster recovery subcommittee, and is on the Appropriations Committee.
"Her national experience, as well as her time as mayor of Cleveland and in the Ohio state legislator, makes her extremely well positioned for this leadership role in my office," Landrieu said a statement.
Campbell says she's particularly eager to assist Landrieu in efforts to rebuild New Orleans after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.
"She is really in the middle of many of the key policy issues for this country," Campbell said of Landrieu.