President Donald Trump will make a trip to Trumbull County on Thursday. U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci is considering running for governor. Who could replace him in the U.S. House of Representatives? And demonstrators stood outside the Cleveland Clinic to protest a planned Clinic fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Read more in today’s Ohio Politics Roundup.
Trump returns: President Donald Trump is expected to return to Ohio on Thursday, according to a report by The Vindicator of Youngtown.
The newspaper “reported that Trump will visit Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Trumbull County’s Vienna to sign a bill that reversed an Obama Administration ‘Stream Protection Rule’ intended to keep coal mines from dumping waste into streams,” cleveland.com reporter Sabrina Eaton writes. “Trump visited Ohio more than a dozen times during his presidential campaign. The state’s voters backed him by a 51.7 percent margin, compared with a 43.6 percent tally for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump’s first stop on a December ‘Thank You tour’ to thank his campaign supporters was in Ohio.”
Replacing Renacci? U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci is interested in running for Ohio governor. If he wins, that would leave his House seat open. Who could replace the Wadsworth Republican?
“Renacci’s oddly shaped 16th District takes in turf from Wooster up to the Cleveland suburbs,” cleveland.com reporter Henry J. Gomez writes.
Among the possible Republican contenders?
Mary Taylor.
“Yes, the lieutenant governor also is exploring a run for governor. But some Republicans might drop hints that she should run for the Renacci seat instead,” Gomez offers.
Tom Patton.
“A base in the Cleveland suburbs gives the former state senator — now in the Ohio House after being term-limited — some crossover appeal with Democrats,” Gomez writes.
Possible Democratic candidates include Parma Mayor Dean DePiero.
“He said he has been encouraged to look at the race and ‘will be weighing my options’ if Renacci, whom he thinks is strong in the district, doesn’t seek re-election,” Gomez writes.
Cleveland Clinic protest: About 30 people stood outside the Cleveland Clinic on Saturday and protested the Clinic’s planned fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Plain Dealer reporter James Ewinger writes. The protesters also demonstrated against Trump’s policies.
“Toward the end of the 30-minute demonstration, Gloria Tavera, a medical student who was one of the protesters, brandished a thick sheaf of paper that she said included an open letter to (Clinic CEO) Dr. (Toby) Cosgrove, 1,800 signatures objecting to the fundraiser and a letter from Susan Crile, granddaughter of George Washington Crile, a founder of the Clinic,” Ewinger writes.
Trouble in Trump’s cabinet: Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Puzder, failed to pay payroll taxes on a maid he hired. That goes against federal law, cleveland.com reporter Stephen Koff writes.
“She happened to be an undocumented immigrant. Puzder has said that when he learned about her immigration status, he went back and paid the taxes,” Koff writes.
Yet, Pudzer was always obligated to pay payroll taxes for the maid, regardless of her immigration status, Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, told Koff.
“Puzder isn’t the only Trump Cabinet pick facing such a question,” Koff writes. “Trump’s nominee for budget director, U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a Republican from South Carolina, has acknowledged failure to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter. Mulvaney says he has since made good.”
It remains unclear whether these mistakes will harm the nominees’ chances of approval.
Where are the Buckeyes? Ohioans did not get tapped to join Trump’s cabinet.
“Every four years presidential candidates descend on Ohio, which has correctly picked the winner in 14 consecutive elections. But since 1962, only six officials who have made their name in Ohio have served either in a presidential cabinet or in a cabinet-level post,” reporter Jack Torry writes for the Dayton Daily News.
“Some have suggested that Gov. John Kasich’s refusal to endorse Trump last year led the new president to bypass Ohio officials for top administration jobs,” Torry writes. “Trump may have revealed his displeasure with some of the state’s top Republicans by helping Jane Timken unseat Matt Borges last month as head of the Ohio Republican Party. Borges had been hand-picked by Kasich.”
But Borges doesn’t believe there’s any bad blood between Trump and Ohioans.
“I don’t think there is any kind of blacklist for Ohio people,” said Borges. Trump’s “first stop on the thank you tour was in Ohio. His spat with the governor is obvious, but that didn’t impact his relationship with others.”
Alternative Path: Advisers to Ohio Gov. John Kasich formed a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the ideals of Kasich’s failed presidential bid, cleveland.com’s Gomez writes.
“Two Paths America is ‘inspired by the imagery and rhetoric of … Kasich’s description of the public policy choices facing us and the need to take the higher path,’ according to a news release sent late Friday afternoon. Two Paths America will take the same approach in supporting the best and highest policy ideas,” Gomez writes. “The move will fuel speculation that Kasich is keeping his options open for the 2020 election — perhaps as a GOP alternative to Trump. ‘Two Paths’ was the title of a major speech Kasich gave at a time when he was eager to draw distinctions between his mild message of inclusion and Trump’s divisive policy proposals.”
Ohio executions delayed: The executions of eight Ohio inmates were rescheduled after a federal court decision barred the state’s lethal injection protocol, cleveland.com reporter Jackie Borchardt writes. The decision also stayed three executions.
“The revised schedule released Friday by Gov. John Kasich sets the next execution for May 10 instead of Wednesday. The delays are needed, according to a Kasich administration press release, to allow the judicial process to come to a full resolution,” Borchardt writes. “On Jan. 26, a federal magistrate judge found the state’s three-drug injection cocktail to be unconstitutional and stayed the next three executions. The state appealed the decision.”
Kasich and clemency: Kasich gives out pardons sparingly, Columbus Dispatch reporter Alan Johnson writes.
Kasich “used his executive clemency power a little more in 2016 than in previous years, but remains the most conservative governor in 30 years in granting commutations,” Johnson writes. “Kasich, a Republican now in his seventh year as governor, approved 18 of 526 requests for clemency last year, slightly more than 3 percent. He approved just two of 244 requests in 2014.”
Ohio House: “One of House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s former top aides obtained a mortgage from the same GOP donor who rents out her luxury condo to Rosenberger, Franklin County records show,” Dayton Daily News reporter Laura Bischoff writes.
“Northbank 503 LLC, which is owned by top Republican contributor Ginni Ragan, gave a $209,354 mortgage to Hunter Wright II in April 2016, according to the Franklin County Recorder’s office. Wright purchased a 1,000-square-foot condo unit in downtown Columbus for $210,000, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s office,” Bischoff writes.
“I purchased my condo in April 2016, months and a long time after I left state government. It’s no secret Ginni and I are great friends. Our families have a long tie back in Delaware County. My grandfather knew her dad very well,” said Wright, 27. “I’ve known Ginni for a while now. I couldn’t tell you the timeline of how long I’ve known Ginni.”
The move does not break ethics laws, but could be seen as “a little bit too cozy,” Common Cause Ohio’s Catherine Turcer told Bischoff.
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