From the Rust Belt endorses former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General.
My objections to DeWine’s candidacy are many and are now well-known. I believe that Mike DeWine is a huge player in our insufficiently conservative Republican establishment here in Ohio. I believe that Kevin DeWine, Mike DeWine’s second cousin and chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, tried to clear a path for his cousin’s uncontested nomination for Attorney General. Mike DeWine has serious Second Amendment issues. And to top it all off, former Sen. DeWine hasn’t practiced law in any form since before I was born.
Dave Yost, a well-regarded conservative county prosecutor, would have been a better Attorney General than Mike DeWine, but Yost has bowed to the establishment and entered the primary race for Auditor of State instead. From the Rust Belt continues to endorse State Rep. Seth Morgan (R-Huber Heights) in that race because Morgan is both the authentic Tea Party candidate in that race and is, as a CPA, more qualified for the job than Yost.
Yesterday we learned that the Republican primary race for Attorney General is once again contested. According to the Dayton Daily News, Hardin County attorney Steve Christopher has entered the race saying that “the moderates and conservatives need to have a candidate for attorney general who’s not a professional politician and a liberal, which DeWine and Cordray both are.” The article even points out that Christopher is “part of the Tea Party movement.” Perfect, right?
Well, there’s a problem, as Right Ohio points out. Turns out Steve Christopher has donated thousands of dollars to DeWine’s past campaigns, including primary campaigns, as recently as DeWine’s last failed run for reelection in 2004. Christopher needs to explain to us why DeWine was conservative enough for Christopher to spend thousands keeping him in office before, but magically isn’t conservative enough for Steve Christopher today. Putting it another way, I would rather have the devil I know for Attorney General than the devil I don’t. Why launch the career of another RINO politician? We’ve already got one.
When we put Steve Christopher’s non-starter candidacy aside, this leaves us with only one alternative to Mike DeWine: his Democrat opponent, Richard Cordray. This is true whether we’re talking about actually voting for Cordray, voting for a third party candidate, or just not voting in the Attorney General race at all. Any vote that is not for Mike DeWine or any vote not cast is a vote for Rich Cordray. Bottom line.
It has been noted here and elsewhere that Cordray is better on the Second Amendment than DeWine, and that’s certainly true. But the Attorney General’s office is important for reasons beyond the Second Amendment.
Should ObamaCare pass, we will need an Attorney General who’s going to fight its unconstitutional mandate and other elements of the bill that may be constitutionally questionable. We all know Rich Cordray has his eyes on the governor’s office. Do you think he’s going to inflame his party’s liberal establishment by putting up a fight against ObamaCare? We are living in a time when the Constitution is ignored and states’ rights are the laughing stock of Washington. Maybe we can’t fully trust Mike DeWine, but we certainly can’t trust Rich Cordray — looking to work his way up in his party, the very party that is ripping our Constitution to pieces.
I wish we had a more conservative candidate than Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General. I hate the way that the party machine worked to clear the primary of serious candidates so he could win the nomination, now pitting two conservatives against each other for Auditor and jeopardizing that important Apportionment Board seat.
But at the end of the day, I am a Republican. As a Republican, I believe that Mike DeWine with all of his flaws is still going to be better for this state. At least he is committed to some of our values. And Rich Cordray? Well, he’s okay on the Second Amendment. But just wait and watch that go up in smoke the minute he thinks it hurts his “inevitability” for governor in 2014. Rich Cordray is a Democrat and, at the end of the day, will demonstrate the same disregard for the rule of law that his party has again and again demonstrated.
That’s why, for the sake of Ohio and its commitment to the rule of law, From the Rust Belt endorses former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General.
UPDATE: By the way, this endorsement has nothing to do with the recent poll that shows DeWine ahead of Cordray. I decided to make this endorsement after a lot of thought, and the more immediate catalyst was Steve Christopher jumping into the race.
From the Rust Belt 
Comments
Mike’s stand on the gun control makes him unworthy to hold elected office.
I.WILL.NEVER.VOTE.FOR.DEWINE!
Do you think he’s [DeWine] going to inflame HIS party’s liberal establishment by putting up a fight against ObamaCare?
Hasn’t he done enough damage to our country?
Isn’t he making enough from his lucrative ex-congressional benefit package.
Let him get a real job.
We HAVE a more conservative candidate Attorney General — Steve Christopher. Disqualifying him simply because he donated to DeWine in the past is just plain silly!
To run DeWine as the GOP candidate for Attorney General is insane. I have never pulled the lever for anyone with a D after his name. I will now; Corday has my vote! At least he’s not a RINO.
ok, would have to say NO to Corday, anyone better then him,
he is trying to go after people for polical gain.
Waste of tax payers dollars,
Doesnt matter which party it is the Issues that one votes for.
Will have to vote for anyone other then Corday
Dear ATT. Gen. Mike DeWine, My wife and I are missionaries to Haiti and we were surfing the web and say your article on the U.S. opening more trade for Haiti. This is just what I have been saying for years. I recently put out a newsletter to our contact list and it says much of the same ideas on trade with Haiti, giving them assistance that lasts and empowering them so they don’t have to depend on charity. Please let me know how I can get you this letter. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. Blessings, Richard and Beverly
My friends son is a registered sex offender from Florida. Let me begin by saying exactly what he did to be labeled a sex offender. He has the court documents to prove that he was lied to by a girl who told him she was 18. She even had a fake drivers license. He was arrested and put in jail for a year, couldn’t afford an attorney and ended up with 10 years probation. He complied with everything including classes once a week and reporting to his probation officer once a month and curfew. He was subjected to approximately a year PAST the date when he should have been finished with his classes because someone “fogot” to terminate his classes (All of which are costly) He has had problems finding a job due to the sex offender status and the economy isn’t helping matters. He relocated up to New Jersey for work, couldn’t survive on his own so he was living with his father. Now his father is moving out of the country and my friends son can not go with him. My friends son was treated with a little more respect in New Jersey than in Florida where you are either a Sex Offender or a Sexual Predator….there is no in between for people like her son who was in a “boyfriend/girlfriend” relationship. He did not rape her and in my eyes is not an animal. As a mother if he would have raped the girl I would not be speaking to him. I don’t look at him that way. In Jersey where Megans Law originated he was a “Level 1 (harmless) Sex Offender. But still the only job that he could get was a pizza delivery driver. He just arrived in Ohio and moved in with his grandmother (who he could help out since she just lost her husband) and got a job….went to the local Law Enforcement Agency to register and was told that since it was Florida where he was charged and Florida says he has to register for life they have to bump his status up to Sexual Predator in order to have him register for life in Ohio. He is NOT a Sexual Predator !!! He was also informed that he now can not live with his grandmother because she lives within 1000 ft of a playground/ school and was also informed that flyers would be sent throughout the neighborhood for everyone to be aware of a Sexual Predator moving in to their area. What are people going to think ???? And it IS NOT TRUE ! How can he be wronged this way ? I am in fear of my friends son becoming so discouraged and depressed that he may do something to himself . How is he supposed to survive ? or make a living ?? There are no jobs here in Florida – he has already tried everywhere. They won’t hire him either due to the sex offender status or the felony that goes along with it. Family paid several thousand dollars to have his probation terminated. He is off probation now 5 years ahead of time and we thought that would make things better for him but the only thing it did was totally eliminate probation visit once a month and the awful classes he had to go to once a week. He was also told that the media would be notified of his living at his grandmothers house. If he was still classified as Sex Offender he could live there. Now all of a sudden things are worse than they were before. My other fear is that a parent might take matters into their own hands and just walk up to him and shoot him which wouldn’t surprise me since that is the way people handle things these days. My friends son is a good person inside and out. He wouldn’t intentionally harm ANYONE and he didn’t harm this girl who has gone on with her life like nothing ever happened. I don’t know what he is supposed to do. At this point he will have to see his probation officer every 90 days because of the Sexual Predator status and he is totally OFF probation. My friend loves her son very much and if you are a parent please think about this letter. Is there ANYTHING that can be done ?? He is so frustated and things just look hopeless at this point. Please please let me know if there is anything that can be done. His name is Donald C Landes III DOB 05/21/1980. My friend works for the Sheriffs Office in Punta Gorda Florida and sees some real “animals” and knows how people feel about them. She is proud of her son and would walk down the street not ashamed to be seen beside him. Her friends know what happened to him and her neighbors knew what happened to him and they treated him like any other person which is what he deserves.