By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CRESCENT SPRINGS - State Sen. Jack Westwood, the only statehouse Republican likely to face Democratic opposition in November, has formally filed to run for re-election in Kenton County's 23rd Senate District.

Westwood, a retired schoolteacher from Crescent Springs, is challenged in the election by Democrat Kathy Groob, a member of Fort Mitchell City Council and a marketing executive.

"There's still a lot of work to be done in Frankfort for Northern Kentucky," Westwood said. "As a member of the majority in the Senate, I feel I can get more done for Kenton County than my opponent can.

"Gov. Fletcher and I are working together on the early literacy program for Kentucky's children. Locally, I feel Northern Kentucky is poised to bring even more economic development into the community, and we must do all that we can in the Senate to make that happen."

Westwood, who is serving his second term in the General Assembly, is also co-sponsoring a bill that would eliminate vehicle emission testing in Northern Kentucky. He is backing the so-called fetal homicide bill, which would let anyone causing the death of a fetus to be charged with murder.

Westwood is a leading member of Northern Kentucky's anti-abortion movement.

But Groob said Westwood has been ineffective "and doesn't have the ideas we need to move this district forward."

Earlier this week Groob and Kenton County Democrats accused the Westwood campaign of lifting information off Groob's campaign Web site and placing it on Westwood's Internet site.

The Westwood campaign has denied the accusation.

Westwood, 59, was elected to the Senate in 1996 after serving briefly on the Erlanger-Elsmere Board of Education. He was re-elected in 2000.

The 23rd Senate District covers most of Kenton County's northern communities, including all the precincts in Covington, Bromley, Ludlow, Park Hills, Fort Wright, Villa Hills, Edgewood and Elsmere and some precincts in Fort Mitchell, Erlanger and Crestview Hills and Crescent Springs.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com