By Spencer Hunt
and Debra Jasper
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Republicans who control state government want to let people carry concealed guns, put slot machines at racetracks and limit the amount of money juries can award injured people.

Sound familiar?

GOP lawmakers have pushed these causes for years. But now, after an election day clean sweep of all statewide offices, the Ohio Supreme Court and the General Assembly, Republicans appear poised to pass much of their agenda.

Republicans believe they can at last make headway on restricting lawsuits and other issues because they gained significant power Tuesday on the Ohio Supreme Court.

The election to the court of Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor and the re-election of Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton will break a 4-3 high court majority that has repeatedly knocked down business-backed workers' compensation reforms, lawsuit caps and the state's school funding system.

While Ms. O'Connor has made no promises how she'd handle such cases, her Republican supporters believe she's on the side of business. "Let's hope," said Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Andrew Doehrel, one of the court's most vocal critics.

Groups representing trial lawyers predict that more power for business is less for workers and their families. They say the new court will side with businesses at the expense of everyone else.

"Their rights may very well be in jeopardy," said Richard Mason, director of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers. "My fear is that an important check and balance in our system of state government may be lost."

House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, said he is confident the legislature will vote on medical malpractice reforms as soon as possible. "This gives us an opportunity to look at a lot of things that we had felt our hands were tied on before," he said.

The governor on Wednesday said restricting lawsuits is an urgent need. "There is a medical malpractice crisis in the state of Ohio," he said. Also on the front burner in the legislature is a bill that would allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. The Senate is expected to take up the bill, which has already passed in the House, before the end of the year.

The bill had been delayed in the Senate while the Ohio Supreme Court reviews a Cincinnati case that tests the constitutionality of the ban on concealed weapons. With the change in the Supreme Court, Senate President Richard Finan of Cincinnati now says the Senate will move forward.

The only stumbling block is Mr. Taft, a moderate Republican who has repeatedly said he will sign the measure only if it is backed by the Fraternal Order of Police. Mr. Finan said he is crafting a bill the FOP can get behind.

Mr. Taft is also balking at another Republican proposal to put a measure on the ballot asking voters to choose between raising taxes or installing slot machines at horse racetracks to help balance an ailing state budget.

Mr. Householder, who has backed a plan in the past to expand gambling, said the legislature is considering such a measure but, "I don't know that gambling is a slam dunk. We're still talking about it."

Unlike lawmakers', the governor's top priorities don't involve guns or gambling. Mr. Taft said one of the things he will focus on first is getting a bill passed that would allow the state to crack down on troubled nursing homes that care for the mentally retarded. An Enquirer investigation found that conditions were so bad at 65 facilities, state officials threatened to take away their Medicaid money.

There are 400 nursing homes and 900 group homes that care for the mentally retarded. The governor and other officials want the state to have more power to close or clean up mismanaged homes.

Mr. Taft noted the bill is pending in the House Health Committee and he wants it to move through the legislature quickly.

"That bill will strengthen our oversight of facilities and protect (people)," he said.

In the next two months, Mr. Taft and lawmakers will also focus on funding bricks and mortar projects. Mr. Hicks said the state spent $150 million on new projects last year and used bond money to pay for about $130 million in costs.

This year, he said the state will likely spend $60 million to $90 million, and all projects will have to be paid for with bond money. "There is no cash," he said.

The state's looming financial crisis is the biggest threat to party unity. A deficit as high as $4 billion will build political pressure between moderates looking to balance the budget and conservatives determined to avoid a tax increase.

The governor said it's too early to predict a deficit without knowing what the Ohio Supreme Court's decision will be on school funding. Mr. Taft said the ruling could make a huge difference in how strapped the state will be.

At Mr. Taft's request, justices have been reviewing their 2001 decision that, in effect, required the state to spend about $1.2 billion more a year on schools.

Justice Andrew Douglas, who is being succeeded on the bench by Ms. O'Connor, has said he hopes for a new ruling before the year is out.

E-mail djasper@enquirer.com and shunt@enquirer.com