Probably all Kossacks have heard by now that scandal-tainted six-term incumbent
Rep. Bob Ney (R-Heath) has dropped out of the race for the 18th Ohio Congressional District seat and will be replaced by
State Sen. Joy Padgett (R-Coshocton), recruited over the weekend by Ney and another big-time recipient of lobbyist largesse, House Majority Leader
John Boehner (R-West Chester). Padgett will oppose Law Director
Zack Space (D-Dover), whose campaign to date has focused largely on Ney's corruption. The gerrymandered 18th District snakes through 16 counties in east central Ohio and includes Padgett's base in Coschocton County.
Background information on Padgett after the flip. For more on Ohio politics generally, visit Ohio2006.
Padgett was briefly a candidate for Lieutenant Governor in this year's Republican primary, signing on as running mate to Jim Petro (R-Rocky River) after Phil Heimlich (R-Cincinnati) dropped out to run for County Commissioner. Padgett has extremely close ties to Ney, whom she says she has known for at least 20 years. Earlier this year, as reported in the
Coshocton Tribune, Padgett said she had no doubts about Ney's innocence: "I looked him in the eye," she said. "We've talked. If he says to me that he is going to be cleared of all of this, then I believe him." She also said that she had no intention of giving back the $5,000 she received from Ney in 2004. "I think that was a good-faith donation," Padgett said. "I don't think it's an Abramoff donation."
Padgett, who is extremely conservative, is also remembered for running perhaps the ugliest campaign in Ohio history in 2004. Seeking a second term against Terry Anderson (D-Athens), who from 1985 to 1991 had been held hostage by Islamic radicals in Lebanon, Padgett accused Anderson of being a member of the "Blame America crowd" and distributed a campaign flier with a photograph of Anderson meeting with a Hezbollah leader. Anderson famously walked out of a debate with Padgett, citing his anger over the photograph's misleading implication that Anderson was soft on terrorism, when in fact the picture was taken when he returned to Lebanon to confront the terrorists who held him captive. Padgett defended her use of the photograph and won re-election with 54 percent of the vote.
The mostly rural 18th District is heavily Republican, and ordinarily no Democratic candidate would have much of a chance there. However, Space had surpassed Ney in fundraising and was thought to have at least a 50-50 shot at unseating the tainted incumbent. When I spoke to Space at a fundraiser last week, he admitted he was hoping that Ney would not drop out. Padgett can certainly serve as a substitute target for charges of Republican corruption, given her close ties to Ney (including accepting campaign cash from him) and to our convicted and extremely unpopular governor, Bob Taft (R). However, she is not under threat of imminent indictment, and her candidacy will be greeted with relief and enthusiasm by Ney-weary Republican stalwarts in the district. It remains to be seen whether Space's energetic campaigning will keep him in the race. One thing to remember is that Space was regarded as the underdog in the Democratic primary, but defeated favorite Joe Sulzer (D-Chillicothe) handily. Don't count him out too quickly.