With Apologies to Kevin DeWine...

"Isn't it about time we had a hot CPA run for...Lieutenant Governor."

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Having had an opportunity to not think about this for a few hours, I can come back with a fresh perspective.

It's still a bad idea.

But I don't believe it was Kevin DeWine's fault.

Mary Taylor lied to all of us when she said she would be running for re-election and now the apportionment board is in peril.

If Kevin and the ORP brain trust were behind this move, they would have had a candidate ready to go. There isn't one.

So, let's take a look in to the crystal ball and see if we can conjure up a few likely suspects...

MATT DOLAN -- He could self-finance, which is a BIG plus; but he is Matt Dolan, which is a BIG minus. Plus, I still hear that he plans to resign his State Rep seat today and run for Cuyhoga County executive.

SETH MORGAN -- He is a CPA. He is a conservative. He is one of the guys I have been keeping an eye on for the future and the future may be now.


DEVELOPING...

Dolan Resigning Tomorrow

I am hearing that Matt Dolan has already sent out a press release dated and embargoed until tomorrow announcing his resignation after the vote on the Third Frontier program also scheduled for tomorrow. What's interesting is that he's resigning before the bill actually gets passed, since there is obviously going to be a discrepancy between the House and Senate bills on the amount of the reauthorization. He's just going to vote for the initial House bill and then scram.

Isn't that...interesting?

UPDATE: Just throwing this out there at 7:18PM... Dolan for Auditor???

Geauga County Update

With Matt Dolan running for county exec, his seat will open up. Bainbridge township trustee Matt Lynch is running for State Representative in the 98th district.

The website is a little light on content, but it's a start. I certainly like the look of it and the content will come.

For a safe seat, the 98th is involving a lot of drama. Tim Grendell pulled petitions to run for it (and a couple other gigs too), even though he still has two years left on his state senate seat. Now, normally a township trustee wouldn't stand a chance against an incumbent state senator. But the Grendell's have been treating Geauga county as their personal fief for many years and a lot of people are tired of it.

Also, Tim implicitly helped the Democrat running in the 62nd district in 2008 against Carol Ann Schindel, and the House caucus hasn't forgotten that he's part of the reason why the GOP lost control of the House.

In addition to that drama, Matt Dolan may actually resign from the seat rather than campaign full time while collecting a state paycheck. The latest news is that he's waiting to cost a vote in favor of the Third Frontier renewal, and will resign shortly thereafter. If Dolan steps down, then the Ohio House Republicans would appoint someone to fill out the term. If that happens, you can expect that they will remember what happened with Schindel if Grendell applies for it. Since the Third Frontier renewal vote could come as early as this week, look for that to be pretty interesting...

Ohio GOP Update: The Hug That Might Have Been

Ever since this picture hit the news, I have been hitting Jon Husted for figuratively and literally hugging the Governor and his disastrous economic policies.

But what about the Hug that could have happened just this week?

One of my many spies forwarded to me an email that our friends in the Ohio Republican Party put out that is called "ORP News Clips" and one of the articles highlighted is from the Columbus Dispatch and is titled, "2 Republicans willing to delay income-tax cut."

The article is about the two turncoat "Republicans" who sided with liberals to raise our taxes during a recession. One of those traitors is a guy named Matt Dolan. Dolan ran an unsuccessful bid to be the guy to lead the Ohio House Republicans. He wanted to be Speaker just like Jon Husted. Like Husted, the only thing that Dolan brought to the table was an ability to raise funds.

As far as I know, Dolan -- at least -- lives in his district...

I would like to enter this in to evidence that this is the sort of "leadership" that the establishment Republicans in the party would have us get behind. Fortunately, we got lucky and the caucus chose Batchelder instead.