The Stark County Political Report (The Report) camped out at the Stark County Fair yesterday afternoon to talk to a number of area politicians running for office this year.The Report will be running a series of "political tidbits" picked up in conversations with the politicos.
First up is Ohio House member Republican Scott Oelslager revealing to The Report that immediate future political plans are set.
Oelslager will be term-limited out for the third time once he is elected (he's running opposed - thanks to Stark County Democratic chair Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.) as representative from the 51st district.
He and congressional candidate Kirk Schuring have been playing "musical chairs" with the voters ever since Ohioans approved the term-limits a number of years ago.
Schuring is term-limited in his Ohio Senate seat already and if he loses to Boccieri will have to make a decision on whether or not he tries to trade places with Oelslager once again and runs for the 51st slot.
A couple of other notes from the Oelslager exchange. He thinks that whether or not Ohio House flips from the GOP to the Dems will be a matter of a few seats. Moreover, even if the House stays with the Republicans, Oelslager is optimistic that gubernatorial politics (Ohio elects a new governor in 2010) will not interfere with Strickland's promise to solve the public education funding problem during his first term.
The Report does not share Oelslager's optimism.
Two questions for discussion here.
First, should Stark Countians put a stop to Schuring and Oelslager playing musical chairs and thereby frustrating the intention of the framers of the term-limit constitutional addition?
Second, if the Ohio Republican Party continues to control the Ohio Senate/House after the November, 2008 election; will Republicans (in the context of a gubernatorial campaign) work with Democrat Governor Strickland to keep his first term promise to solve the public education funding problem?
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