By Debra Jasper
Columbus Enquirer Bureau

COLUMBUS - When long-winded politicians blather on in the Ohio Senate, President Richard Finan places a set of windup teeth on his podium, signaling them to sit down and shut up.

They do.

Retiring Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, shown here in the Senate Chamber, was a driving force in the restoration of the statehouse. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM | Finan (right) and Lynn Wachtmann (R-Defiance) talk while Finan presides over a Senate session. | ZOOM | Finan, who often eats lunch at his desk, carries his brown paper lunch bag from a refrigerator near his Senate office. | ZOOM | Finan greets students on a tour of the Ohio Statehouse. | ZOOM |

Few lawmakers dare to mess with Mr. Finan, who is such an authoritarian leader that he has been compared to a pompous and arrogant "King Richard."

But 10 days from now, when the Evendale Republican slams the gavel to adjourn the Senate for the last time this year, his iron-fisted reign will come to an end. And so will the era when legislative leaders can build up enough clout over decades to rule so absolutely.

After nearly 30 years in the Legislature, eight-year term limits are forcing Mr. Finan - who is now the longest active lawmaker - to give up a political career that has consumed much of his life.

He doesn't want to go. He doesn't want to walk away from the power to carve up a $45 billion budget and decide who gets millions in government cash. He doesn't want leave a job that, along with the governor and House speaker, made him one of the most influential men in Ohio government.

But in typically blunt Finan fashion, he says he will deal with it just fine. "When it's done," he says, "it's done."

Mr. Finan, 67, whose heavily Republican district includes Cincinnati's Hamilton County suburbs and Warren County, isn't the only one unhappy about his departure.

His replacement as Senate president in January by Manchester Republican Doug White will mark the first time since 1989 that someone other than a Cincinnatian will control the Ohio Senate.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle say Cincinnati will feel the loss.

"I don't think people realize just how much Dick Finan did for the Cincinnati area," said Ohio Sen. Mark Mallory, D-Cincinnati.

FINAN FILE

• Age: 67 • Hometown: Evendale • Party: Republican • First elected to General Assembly: 1973 • Position: Senate President; state senator, 7th District. • Memberships: Cincinnati Bar Association, National Conference of State Legislatures (past president). • Education: B.S., University of Dayton; L.L.B., University of Cincinnati. • Awards: University of Dayton Distinguished Alumnus; Miami University President's Medal; Anti-Defamation League William Howard Taft Award; Ohio Historical Society Outstanding Merit Award • Upcoming honor: Admirers are hosting a tribute to Mr. Finan at 6 p.m. today in the Statehouse Atrium. Organizers, including Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and legislative colleagues, plan to honor Mr. Finan and unveil his official portrait.

"He brought in state money for more than just the stadiums. I'm talking about things like the renovation of Fountain Square," Mr. Mallory said. "Nobody asked him for that money but he saw a need for it and put in it in the budget. When he was asked why, he said, `It's the symbol of Cincinnati, for God's sake.' "

Cincinnati native Stanley Aronoff, who served as Senate president from 1989 to 1996, said having a Cincinnati leader in the Senate makes all the difference when it comes to doling out state cash for major construction projects.

"You can count at least 100 capital bill projects that changed the face of Greater Cincinnati that occurred under our watch," he said.

He cites, among other things, improvements to Fort Washington Way and the construction of the Aronoff Center, which cost about $82 million - including $40 million in state funds that he engineered. "I still keep a black book (listing projects) so when people say we don't get our fair share, I just say, `Are you crazy?' "

Mr. Aronoff notes that Mr. Finan has wielded tremendous influence over how the state spends $45 billion in the general fund and hundreds of millions of dollars on research and business.

"The stamp of the Senate president on the budget is immeasurable," he said. "When Dick leaves, it will be a great loss for the state, for the southwest Ohio region and even on the national scene."

He said Mr. Finan "will go down as one of the truly important legislators in Ohio's history."

Passionate and tough

Perhaps no one knows how formidable Mr. Finan can be better than Republican Gov. Bob Taft.

Finan explains his position to fellow Senator Jay Hottinger (Newark) following a rules committee meeting. | ZOOM | Finan meets with a statehouse group that will honor Finan for his contributions to the restoration of the Ohio Statehouse. | ZOOM | Finan greets long-time acquaintance Bill Morgan, a representative of Ohio bankers, as he heads to a statehouse meeting. | ZOOM | Finan walks to his Ohio Statehouse office following a rules committee meeting. | ZOOM |

In the last two years, the two Cincinnatians have repeatedly tangled over how to plug a massive hole in Ohio's state budget.

During one nasty fight last year, Mr. Taft said the Senate budget-balancing plan was fiscally irresponsible and would jeopardize Ohioans' health and safety.

Mr. Finan, the last holdout against using the state's $1 billion rainy day fund to help cover a $1.5 billion deficit, fired back that he was the only one with the "guts to stand up for taxpayers."

The governor says Mr. Finan can be fierce. "He's someone you want on your side in a struggle," he said. "If you don't agree with him, he's a formidable adversary. He's a skilled and tough negotiator who is very passionate about doing what he believes he has to do."

Still, Mr. Taft only has high praise for his sometime rival. "To me, he's really been one of the most outstanding legislators to ever serve our state. He represents the values of Cincinnati, honest, conservative and ethical."

Republican House Speaker Larry Householder agrees that Mr. Finan is an intimidating opponent.

"He's bullheaded. There is no doubt about that," he said. "But Dick is very fortunate in that along with his stubborn disposition he has a tremendous mind. It's not a bad thing to be stubborn when you are right. And most of the time he is right."

If Mr. Finan takes a hard line with Republican colleagues, he is even harsher with Democratic opponents.

Two years ago, Sen. Robert Hagan was so frustrated with Mr. Finan that he resigned from a joint legislative committee reviewing school funding with a letter calling Mr. Finan "King Richard" and accusing him of being "pompous and arrogant."

Mr. Hagan, a liberal Democrat from Youngstown, later apologized. But he still bristles at Mr. Finan's heavy-handed, partisan approach.

Mr. Finan, who has ruled with a 21-12 majority, is open about his belief that it's more important to unify Republicans than work with Democrats. The ruling party, he says, should rule.

"Finan has a way of smiling while making sure you don't get anything you want, or anything that will make you look better than a member of his party," Mr. Hagan said. "The kindest words I could use for my dealings with him would be tumultuous."

Mr. Hagan bemoans that nothing ever happened in the Senate unless Mr. Finan was on board. "With his approval, you could get anything and everything passed. Without it, you'd get a wink and a nod. Getting a bill through was impossible."

Despite his complaints, however, Mr. Hagan also said he has a great deal of respect for Mr. Finan. He notes the Senate president demands it.

"He once hammered the Senate chamber to order so hard that the gavel splintered into a few hundred pieces," Mr. Hagan recalled. "He was angry because union members were in the chamber, and he thought they'd be loud, boisterous and disrespectful."

As for the King Richard incident, Mr. Hagan said Mr. Finan may be tough - but he is also forgiving. "After I apologized to him, I became the only Democrat to get a bill passed in the Senate in two years," he said.

Then he added with a laugh, "I guess he's a kinder and gentler King Richard."

A `true believer'

Mr. Finan set his leadership course at a very early age. Though both of his parents only had eighth-grade educations, Mr. Finan decided in the sixth grade that he would some day become a lawyer.

After taking accelerated courses, he graduated high school at 15 and became the only one in his family to go to college. He earned a degree in business administration, with a minor in political science, from the University of Dayton and a law degree from the University of Cincinnati.

He married his wife, Joan, 46 years ago, and they moved to Evendale, a Cincinnati suburb with a sprawling General Electric jet-engine plant. He served as mayor there before his election to the Ohio House in 1973.

Mr. Finan took office determined to get his way. That strong will quickly earned him criticism by colleagues who said he was obstinate, inflexible and, in the words of former State Rep. Mike Fox, a "cement head."

By 1978, Mr. Finan had won so few legislative battles that a newspaper reporter referred to him as Joe Btfsplk, the character in the Lil' Abner cartoon strip who travels with a dark cloud over his head.

That image, and his appointment that year to fill a vacancy in the Senate, prompted him to try a new approach.

"I came into the Legislature a conservative, a true believer. But I eventually realized that I'd have to be more moderate to get things done," Mr. Finan said. "I decided that I wouldn't give up my ideas, but I'd be flexible enough to move more to the center because, without compromise, nothing happens."

In the Senate, Mr. Finan built a reputation for being a rock-solid leader who did his homework and wasn't afraid to take on - and solve - difficult issues. He was given key committee chairmanships and began to use his skills to broker deals.

In 1981, Mr. Finan battled the toughest budget crisis he ever faced, when schools, state departments and businesses cried for more money during a recession.

A politician who fought against tax increases his entire career, Mr. Finan found himself reluctantly recommending them. "I have no alternative," he said at the time, but was quick to note he would make sure he didn't hurt interests in southwestern Ohio, such as Cincinnati's small breweries and The Procter & Gamble Co.

In the mid-1980s, Mr. Finan was also a key figure in crafting laws to protect depositors in privately insured Ohio S&Ls whose savings were at risk when the Home State Savings Bank collapsed.

At the end of the decade, he made a short-lived attempt to run for governor but backed off for two reasons. "Bob Taft and George Voinovich. They had the money and the name recognition," Mr. Finan said.

He doesn't plan to ever hold office again. "My time for political office has passed," he said. Then he smiled and added, "then again, never say never."

Mr. Finan has also been a force nationally. In July, Mr. Finan, a past president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, was featured in the organization's national magazine as a prominent leader who "sticks to his guns" and gets things done.

That determination helped him push 81 bills through the General Assembly during his tenure - including Ohio's 1981 death-penalty law. He also played a major role in writing an ethics law that limited the amount lobbyists could spend on gifts, meals and drinks for legislators.

But of all his accomplishments, Mr. Finan is most proud of his leadership in restoring Ohio's 141-year-old Greek Revival Statehouse and its annex. Before the renovation, the Statehouse was a maze of shoebox-sized offices, haphazard phone and electrical systems, fire code violations and other building nightmares. In their place today are polished marble hallways, new skylights, historically correct colors and intricately carved woodwork.

Other legislators feared voter wrath over cost overruns and complaints the remodeling created luxurious offices for lawmakers and their cronies. But not Mr. Finan.

Sitting in the huge office reserved for the Ohio Senate president, he points out the rich carpeting, stylish furniture and several old paintings that cost $25,000 each to restore. The $121 million remodeling project - which was more than $40 million over budget - was worth every penny, he said.

"The first time I came here in '73 the fire chief from Evendale stopped by and said he'd counted 69 fire violations walking from the garage to my office," Mr. Finan recalled. "It was a real fire trap."

Now, he said, Ohioans are proud of their state capitol. "We did lavish things, and this office proves it," Mr. Finan said. "But this is the Statehouse. And it should be lavish. I tell school children when they visit, `I hope you like it enough to come back and work here someday.' "

The deal-maker

With just two weeks to go before he packs up his books, awards and accolades and heads back to Cincinnati, Mr. Finan still wields considerable power.

Recently, legislator Lynn Wachtmann, R-Defiance, stopped by Mr. Finan's office to ask if a bill to limit medical malpractice suits could be expanded to also limit awards in product liability cases.

Mr. Finan called House Speaker Larry Householder. He told both men why it would be a terrible idea to expand the bill. Mr. Householder quickly agreed.

"We would love to open it up but I have to wonder, politically, if that doesn't look like we're going over the top," Mr. Householder said by speakerphone. "We win the Supreme Court and 30 days later we're putting everything in this bill. I don't think that's a good thing to do."

Mr. Wachtmann immediately backed off the plan and left.

Such meetings continue throughout the last session, which ends this month, as lobbyists hustle to win Mr. Finan's support for various construction projects and lawmakers seek advice.

Mr. Taft was among those hoping to curry favor. He called Mr. Finan in a last-ditch attempt to persuade him to stop a bill to allow up to 2,000 electronic slot machines at each of Ohio's seven racetracks.

Mr. Finan refused. Ohio candidates and political parties have received nearly $500,000 since 1999 from the gambling industry, campaign finance reports show. House Speaker Householder's Republican caucus has reaped big benefits from those donations.

Mr. Finan said it was time to step up to the plate.

"I'm tired of Larry going out and raising money off this thing and then he can't pass the bill," Mr. Finan told the governor. "I'm calling his bluff."

Mr. Householder said he wasn't bothered by Mr. Finan's decision. "That's just how he works. There are times we call his bluff, too, and that's the way it is."

Jeff Jacobson, a Republican legislator from suburban Dayton, said the deal-making in the last few weeks of Mr. Finan's term "is a sign of how respected he is that he retained as much clout at the end of his term as he did in the beginning."

Brian Perera, finance director in the Senate, agrees. "Even now that he's near the end of his term, I still see him in his office at 10:30 at night working. He's the best example I can think of for why term limits are a mistake," he said. Not even the mild stroke Mr. Finan suffered in August has slowed the lawmaker. At first, Mr. Finan couldn't write and struggled to read. But just a few weeks after he was released from Bethesda North Hospital, he traveled to Munich for a legislative seminar.

"I'm back to business," he said. He acknowledges that it is sometimes difficult to recall dates or names but insists the stroke was just "a blip on the radar screen."

It's over

Mr. Finan will miss the power that comes with his office, said former Senate President Aronoff. He recalled how hard it was when he stepped down in 1996.

"You're used to somebody putting a schedule in front of you that says, `You've got seven minutes for this appointment and 13 minutes for that one. You've got 50-plus appointments a day, from the early breakfasts to the 10 p.m. dinners," Mr. Aronoff explained. "Then one day, you go to the Senate floor and they give you a rocking chair and a blanket."

"That," he said, "is when it hits you."

Unlike Mr. Aronoff, who waited the year required by law after his exit and then registered as a lobbyist for Ameritech, British Petroleum and other high-profile companies, Mr. Finan said he won't take a job as a lobbyist after he retires.

"In my view, the president of the Senate has a higher calling. I think it would be unseemly," he said.

Mr. Finan, who serves on the board of Cincinnati's Franklin Savings and Loan Co., and other boards, said he is prosperous enough already. "I've made a lot of money in my lifetime. I've owned $60 million to $70 million in real estate," he said. "I want to have meaningful work. Money doesn't drive me."

The senator said he's also tried to avoid getting caught up in the power lunches, lavish dinners and celebrity that can come with his job. Most days, he eats a brown-bag lunch at his desk. He limits dinners with lobbyists and others to two a week. And, unlike Mr. Aronoff, he says he has no interest in getting a building named after him or taking part in other publicity-seeking ventures.

"I've had offers like that but I'm not big on it," he said.

Mr. Finan said he is more interested in finding a way to continue to make a difference. He may teach at a university, help preserve other historic buildings or educate other legislators who want to learn the ropes.

Until he decides, Mr. Finan said plans to work in his garden and spend more time with his wife, four children and 10 grandchildren.

"I've come to grips with leaving," he said, looking around the office and shrugging matter-of-factly.

"It's over."

E-mail djasper@enquirer.com

Term limits create large turnover