Business First by Jeff Bell, Staff reporter
Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 12:27pm EDTRetired newspaperman Mike Curtin used to cover the state’s politicos for the Columbus Dispatch. Now he wants to become one of them.
Curtin confirmed in an e-mail to me that he is circulating petitions to be a candidate next year for the new 17th District seat in Ohio House of Representatives.
The seat is open because a new legislative map recently drawn by Republicans puts veteran state Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, in the new 18th District with Rep. Michael Stinziano, a Democratic up-and-comer.
A primary face-off between Celeste and Stinziano is expected to be averted because Celeste reportedly is planning to run for the new Democrat-leaning Franklin County congressional seat created by the state’s Apportionment Board.
Curtin, who lives in Marble Cliff, will run for the Ohio House as a Democrat. It will be his first time on the ballot, but few people in Columbus know more about the inner workings at the Statehouse than he does.
He began covering the state legislature as a reporter in 1982 and was named the Dispatch’s public affairs editor three years later. He supervised the paper’s state government and politics team until he was promoted to managing editor in 1993.
Curtin, who later moved into an executive role at the Dispatch, said he continued to follow Statehouse affairs closely. He retired from the paper in 2007 with the title of associate publisher emeritus.
Since then, he has kept his hand in civic affairs, including leading the Dispatch and business community’s controversial – and ultimately successful – effort to get Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) to move its casino site from the Arena District to the Westland Mall area.
So why does Curtin want to wade into what he calls the highly partisan politics that infest the Statehouse?
“I believe I will find others who share the goal of a less shrill, less combative, more thoughtful approach to governing the state,” he said. “God knows there’s a need.”
Jeff Bell covers public policy, utilities, energy and the business of sports for Business First.
No comments:
Post a Comment