BY RANDY McNUTT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Two Warren County conservatives will face each other in the May 5 Republican primary for the right to be on the November ballot for the 2nd District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The district covers all of Warren County.
Incumbent George Terwilleger, of Hamilton Township, touts his "pretty good voting record. It's basically pro-life. I'm not radical on anything. I vote based on the contents of the legislation -- if it's right and moral."
Opponent William Koch, of Lebanon, father of the late Tory Koch, said he is running not so much to defeat Mr. Terwilleger as to prepare for a future election.
"The reason I'm running is that in Warren County we have developed a coalition of conservatives within the precincts," he said. "They asked me to run because this is George's last term because of term limits. He is a real incumbent with a power base that won't quit. Nobody is going to jump up out of the blue and beat him. But I have been well-received."
The winner will face Democrat Bob Turner of Mason in November. Mr. Terwilleger, 57, spent 10 years in township government as a Hamilton Township trustee and clerk, 12 years as a Warren County commissioner and two years as chairman of the solid-waste district for Clinton and Warren counties. He has served three two-year terms as 2nd District representative.
Mr. Koch, 44, works for the family's water purification business. His daughter, Tory, died in 1995 after years of pain from cystic fibrosis. She received much public attention and a double-lung transplant in February 1993.
"Our leaders can't make the decisions they need to make to get people off welfare," Mr. Koch said. "The system is supporting people who can work."
Mr. Terwilleger now serves on the House health and retirement, economic development, and energy committees.
"I'm moving eight to nine bills out of the House to the Senate, and recently another three or four have been signed into law." Mr. Terwilleger said he expects Mr. Koch to receive some support from Christian conservatives, but not all of it.
"It's difficult to run against him," Mr. Terwilleger said. "I won't attack him. That's not my style."
Mr. Koch said his No. 1 issue is protecting religious freedom. "I think it's threatened every day. Most politics is governed by people with their own ideas and agendas. That's why it's so inconsistent." One of Mr. Terwilleger's agendas is preparing a bill to govern some aspects of the Internet.
"I don't advocate taxing the Internet," he said. "We should let that alone."
But he is concerned about pornography on it.
