Down the ticket a couple notches, the Democrats have better prospects. Attorney general candidate David Pepper has the professional and political experience for the job — he’s a practicing lawyer and law professor and has served as a Cincinnati City Councilman and a Hamilton County Commissioner. Republican incumbent Mike DeWine says Pepper is somehow not qualified for the office because of a lack of experience prosecuting criminals, but the last time DeWine served as a prosecutor was the 1970s.
While Pepper promises to fight for marriage equality, DeWine spends tax dollars fighting to defend Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban in federal courts as other states around the country see similar bans overturned. There are also questions about DeWine’s integrity, specifically the millions of dollars in state contracts awarded by his office to law firms that have donated money to his campaign.
DeWine has made some moves on Ohio’s heroin epidemic, establishing a $1 million task force to address the state’s opiate addiction crisis. He’s also made some positive progress on the state’s rape kit backlog. But Pepper is tuned in on these issues as well and has some fresh ideas to address them. And he won’t waste tax dollars trying to keep folks from getting married to boot.
