Blackwell made 'mistake,' Republican hopeful says

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The candidate says there is a 'lack of leadership' in state government.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Greg Hartmann, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, said it was a "mistake" for J. Kenneth Blackwell, who currently holds that post, to serve as a state co-chairman of the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign.

In a interview Wednesday with The Vindicator, Hartmann, Hamilton County clerk of courts, didn't want to discuss Blackwell, his party's gubernatorial nominee, and wanted to focus on Jennifer Brunner, his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 7 election.

Hartmann, of Cincinnati, said he would neither serve as a state co-chairman of a presidential campaign nor accept contributions from presidential candidates because the secretary of state oversees elections and shouldn't play politics.

Hartmann criticized Brunner for taking $40,000 from two would-be Democratic presidential candidates.

When initially asked about Blackwell's serving as a Bush-Cheney co-chairman in 2004, Hartmann tried to steer away from the question. (Blackwell has repeatedly said the position, given to numerous elected Republicans in Ohio in 2004, was largely ceremonial.)

When pressed further about Blackwell's co-chairman title, Hartmann said, "It was a mistake. It's easy in hindsight to look back and say things were mistakes."

Clarification

Upon additional questioning, Hartmann acknowledged it wasn't just a mistake in hindsight.

"At the time, I recall thinking it was a mistake," he said. "It's not something I would have done."

This is believed to be the first time Hartmann has publicly said he felt in 2004 that the secretary of state was making a mistake accepting the Bush campaign title.

Brunner, of Columbus, has repeatedly stated that Blackwell's role in the Bush campaign put the objectivity of that election in question, something dismissed by Blackwell.

Independents Timothy J. Kettler of Warsaw and John A. Eastman of Centerville are also running for the job.

With various corruption scandals in the Republican-controlled state government, Hartmann says he understands this election is going to be quite challenging.

"I believe voters can distinguish between those who aren't part of the Columbus culture and those who are from the outside," he said.

Hartmann said there's been a lack of leadership in the GOP-run state government.

If he were elected and couldn't make "meaningful changes" to the secretary of state's office, Hartmann said he wouldn't seek re-election in 2010.

"If I don't have the independence to stand up, I won't run again," he said. "I don't want to be one of those government guys who stays in Columbus."

Precinct numbers

Among Hartmann's proposals is significantly reducing the number of voting precincts in the state. He wants to make polling locations with numerous precincts into one large precinct in most cases. That would eliminate much confusion about where a person could vote and would significantly reduce the number of votes thrown out when a person voted in the wrong precinct, he said.

As the head of the largest county clerk of court's office in the state, with 320 employees, Hartmann says he is uniquely qualified to be the next secretary of state.

Hartmann describes Brunner as "being part of the partisan [former Secretary of State] Sherrod Brown, Columbus-culture administration." He also says Brunner "has never managed anything in her life."

Response

Patrick Gallaway, Brunner's campaign spokesman, said that is simply not true.

Brunner started a law firm in her house in 1987 and grew it to 32 employees before leaving in 2000, the year she was elected as a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge, he said. She quit that job Sept. 1, 2005, to run for secretary of state.

As a judge, Brunner handled a "docket of about 700 cases at a time. You're managing the activities of a lot of people's lives," Gallaway said.

Also, she was among six or so deputy directors in the mid-1980s at the secretary of state's office and oversaw employees there as well as assisting elections boards in Ohio's 88 counties, Gallaway said.

skolnick@vindy.com

Thursday, September 21, 2006