The loyalty of politicians

From Michael Meckler's Red-State.com     

 

January 25, 2006

Franklin County prosecutor and GOP attorney general candidate Ron O'Brien is learning the hard way about the loyalty of politicians. O'Brien had been one of the leading supporters of the gubernatorial campaign of fellow Republican and current attorney general Jim Petro. And Petro in return promoted O'Brien's campaign to replace him as attorney general, assisting O'Brien in organizing fundraising events. O'Brien was even one of the speakers who introduced Petro two weeks ago at the Franklin County Republican Party endorsement meeting, where Petro won the endorsement in a tougher than expected vote.

And what happened yesterday as soon as state auditor Betty Montgomery dropped out of the race for governor (where she was in competition with Petro) and dropped into the race for her old job of attorney general (where she immediately came into competition with O'Brien)? This statement posted on Petro's website:

I am very pleased that [Betty Montgomery] will be the Republican candidate for Attorney General, and I wholeheartedly endorse her candidacy and her election.

Ouch! Most observers believe Petro's stab in the back is probably fatal to O'Brien's candidacy. The other GOP candidate for attorney general, state senator Tim Grendell, issued a press release calling on O'Brien to remain in the race. Of course, having the moderate vote split between Montgomery and O'Brien would help Grendell's candidacy immensely and may, in fact, be the only way the conservative Grendell could defeat the better-known and better-funded Montgomery. But state GOP leaders would clearly prefer for both O'Brien and Grendell to quit the race, allowing a prominent and highly electable candidate like Montgomery an easy path to the November ballot.

This sort of behavior is not limited to Republicans. Mahoning County treasurer and Democratic candidate for state auditor John Reardon is probably feeling a bit betrayed this morning as well. State representative Barbara Sykes told reporters yesterday that she is running for auditor after being wooed by state Democratic bigwigs. Sykes is the only African American to be running among Democrats seeking statewide office. Black political leaders had been extremely critical of the Ohio Democratic Party over the lack of diversity on the statewide ticket, especially since Republicans have two African Americans (secretary of state Ken Blackwell, running for governor; and treasurer Jennette Bradley, running to keep her job) currently holding statewide office, both of whom will be appearing on the May primary ballot.

Reardon, who is not seen as a heavyweight candidate by leading Ohio Democrats, was clearly the "odd-white man-out" when Democratic leaders set about searching for a slot on the statewide ticket in which to put an African-American candidate. And they had to find a candidate. Sykes has strong name recognition in the Akron area, and she ran statewide once before, losing to Blackwell in the race for state treasurer back in 1994. Two months ago, Sykes had announced that she wanted to retire from politics. Her statements to the media yesterday made it clear that her decision to run for office this year came only after being recruited for the Democratic ticket.

Republicans are feeling quite confident about retaining the auditor's office. They have coalesced around the campaign of state representative Mary Taylor, who is both personable and, as a certified public accountant, highly qualified for the job. Taylor is a fresh face unconnected to the corruption scandals of the Taft administration.

Most Democratic and Republican observers would agree that Sykes makes a stronger candidate against Taylor than does Reardon. Yet Sykes, along with the other down-ticket Democratic candidates, may not get all the resources she will need to win her race. Democrats will likely put most of their energy and money into the governor's race, where they believe they have the strongest chance of victory and can gain the largest control over the executive branch of state government. Furthermore, it is easier to win other statewide races for the party if a Democrat resides in the governor's mansion than if the state's top Democrat is only, say, attorney general. (Remember 1994?)

But decisions on the allocation of campaign resources will wait until the fall. In the meantime, no matter whether and for how long Ron O'Brien continues his run in the GOP primary for attorney general, and John Reardon his run in the Democratic primary for auditor, both candidates cannot be happy campers about the way prominent party leaders are manipulating their races.