Democrat John Doll Seeks Election To Ohio House From 38th District

Democrat John Doll is seeking election to the Ohio House to represent the 38th Ohio House District. Mr. Doll spoke at the South of Dayton Democratic Club on May 12, at the Wright Library, and I recorded his speech. (See below.)

Mr. Doll is an attorney and has been a member of the Centerville Board of Education for 19 years. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University and played football for the legendary Woody Hayes.

In 2008, Doll was the Democratic Candidate for the Ohio Senate for the 6th District and was defeated by Jon Husted. In that contest, Doll received 38.6% of the votes.

Mr. Doll’s opponent in this contest, Republican incumbent, Terry Blair, was first elected to the Ohio House in 2008. Blair’s Democratic opponent was Centerville Council member, Susan Lienesch. In spite of the fact that Ms Lienesh didn’t attempt a campaign, amazingly spending zero dollars, she still received 39.2% of the vote.

In the 2008 race, the DDN slammed Republican Blair, and endorsed Ms Lienesch. The newspaper wrote:

Mr. Blair has been a Washington Twp. trustee for 20 years. He ran for re-election last year, knowing full well that he didn’t intend to finish his term and that he would be running for this House seat. The local Republican Party screening committee recommended Tom Young for this seat, but Mr. Blair challenged that decision, and a bigger group of Republicans overruled the screening committee.

In short, some Republicans aren’t keen on Mr. Blair being their person in Columbus.

Mr. Blair makes no bones about the fact that his main focus is reducing taxes. But Ohio has cut income tax rates by 21 percent, and the new commercial activity tax for businesses also represents a tax cut for most companies. You get the feeling that he is a one-string violin and that his votes would be purely ideological.

Mr. Doll feels that he 38th District contest gives a realistic opportunity for a Democrat to defeat Mr. Blair. He feels Mr. Blair is vulnerable because of his radical conservative stands on many issues such as charter schools, that puts him outside of the mainstream of values held by voters in the 38th District. Doll says that Blair has an unrealistic view, not in keeping with the view of his constituents — that proposes that “no government,” not just “less government,” is the answer.