Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter and writes from Ohio University.
This, in brief, seems to be Vivek Ramaswamy’s argument for why voters should choose him to be Ohio’s next governor, instead of Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee.
Democrats have made a mess of the Statehouse, and only Ramaswamy and his GOP clean-up crew can straighten out Ohio – before, that is, Ramaswamy, of Upper Arlington, runs for president.
But ... fact: Since 1990, a Republican has been governor of Ohio except for Democrat Ted Strickland’s single 2007-2010 term.
So many undercover Dems?
Republicans have run the state Senate continuously since 1985. Except for two years, Republicans have run the Ohio House of Representatives continuously since January 1995. And since 1987, the Ohio Supreme
Court has had a Republican majority.
And though history will shame Ohio for it, the state cast its electoral votes for Donald Trump every chance it’s had.
So George Voinovich, Bob Taft, John Kasich and Mike DeWine must have been secret members of the Democratic Party, as were such Ohio House speakers as Jo Ann Davidson and William G. Batchelder, such Senate presidents as Keith Faber and Matt Huffman, and a slew of Supreme Court justices.
Their sly work as crypto-Democrats calls to mind what Wisconsin red-baiter Joe McCarthy said about the secret Communist plot to hijack America – “a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man.”
So that's why Ohio’s bond rating – the equivalent of a consumer’s credit rating – has notched upward under Mike DeWine.
Being as intelligent as he is (and Ramaswamy is nothing if not brilliant – he was valedictorian of his class at Cincinnati’s Jesuit high school, St. Xavier’s), he can’t actually think Voinovich and Davidson and, say, Kasich and Bill Batchelder ran Ohio into the ground.
Also at issue: Why it’ll be 30 years this winter since Ohio’s Supreme Court ruled 4-3, with two Republicans among the four-justice majority, that the way Ohio “funds” public schools was – is – unconstitutional and must be reformed, top to bottom.
It hasn’t been.
And adding insult to injury, the state treasury is now sluicing hundreds of millions of tax dollars a year (more like $1 billion-plus) to private, frequently religious, schools, a clear violation of the Ohio Constitution, which every Ohio officeholder swears to uphold. The GOP owns the school funding mess lock, stock and barrel.
From Ohio to the White House?
Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t so much obliged to campaign as he is required to explain why Ohio is (supposedly) adrift without sails or paddles thanks to 30- to 35-years of GOP rule at the Statehouse, with state senators and representatives elected from GOP-rigged districts.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy has signaled his confidence in Ohio by moving his main enterprise, Strive Inc., a big player in Bitcoin markets, out of Ohio and into Texas.
For all that, polling – at this writing – seemingly suggests that Republican Ramaswamy and his Democratic competitor, Acton, of Bexley, a Youngstown native who served as state health director in Republican DeWine’s Cabinet, would be virtually tied if the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election were held today.
Looming over the calendar is the undisputed fact that Ramaswamy would like to move into (what’s left of) the White House after Donald Trump finishes wrecking the place.
Do the math: The Ohio governor’s inauguration will be on Jan. 11, 2027.
His or her first state operating budget must be passed within six months, by July 1. Then, six months after that, on Jan. 3, 2028, Iowa will stage its presidential caucuses, and on Jan. 11, 2028 – exactly one year after Ohio’s gubernatorial inauguration – New Hampshire will hold its presidential primary election.
Meanwhile, Republican Vice President J.D. (James David) Vance, of Cincinnati, also wants to succeed Trump, which could split Ohio Republicans right down the middle. (Advantage: Vance.)
If Ramaswamy becomes governor, then seeks the presidency less than a year after gaining Ohio’s “supreme executive power,” who’ll be minding the Statehouse store while Ramaswamy trudges through New Hampshire’s snow? Faceless aides and grasping lobbies.
That is, the question becomes who’d really run Ohio come January: A Ramaswamy-for-president campaign doing business as the state of Ohio, or an Amy Acton administration anchored not to her future but to Ohio’s?
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter and writes from Ohio University.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Vivek Ramaswamy doesn't really want to be Ohio governor. I know what he wants | Opinion
