By Spencer Hunt
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Ohio's secretary of state has grabbed a share of the political spotlight as the governor prepares for his State of the State address Wednesday.

Ken Blackwell, the 55-year-old former Cincinnati mayor and state treasurer who is in his final term as Republican secretary of state, has seized the attention with a campaign to repeal a sales tax increase.

The repeal effort has given Blackwell a stage on which to introduce his conservative political ideas to voters and shape a campaign to succeed Bob Taft as governor in 2006.

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His effort to repeal the tax, approved last year by the Republican-led legislature and enacted by Taft as a way to help erase a $4 billion deficit, also has burnished Blackwell's image as a GOP maverick.

"I am the resident outsider," he said. "I am the tree-shaker."

While Taft is expected to focus on creating high-paying jobs in his sixth State of the State address, Blackwell has established a political agenda that leaders of the General Assembly will find hard to ignore.

Using the state's referendum process, Blackwell has enlisted more than 157,000 Ohioans to sign petitions telling lawmakers to take back the penny-on-the-dollar increase. If lawmakers ignore the petitions, Blackwell promises to go directly to voters in November.

"He's no slouch when it comes to political strategy and communications," said Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, one of several labor and social service groups trying to block the repeal.

"He has concluded he's not going to get the blessings of the political establishment for governor. He is going to try to galvanize the right wing of the party and ride into the governor's office on a white horse."

Other hopefuls

J. KENNETH BLACKWELL

Born: Feb. 28, 1948 Home: Cincinnati Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees from Xavier University Career: 1977-1989: Cincinnati City Council 1980: Cincinnati mayor 1981: Vice president, Xavier University 1989-1990: Deputy undersecretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1991-1993: Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. 1994-1998: Ohio treasurer 1999-present: Ohio Secretary of State. Family: Wife Rosa, three children.

Blackwell is competing with Republican Attorney General Jim Petro and Auditor Betty Montgomery as all three jockey to succeed Taft, who cannot seek a third term.

Montgomery opposes a repeal. Petro favors a broader state budget review.

Blackwell says he's following through on a philosophy of lower taxes and smaller government. It's a doctrine he says Taft and many of his Republican colleagues in the legislature have forgotten.

"We've erased the line of distinction between Democrats and Republicans on tax-and-spending issues," says Blackwell, noting that state spending has increased 70 percent during the past 10 years of GOP rule.

Blackwell advocates a flat income tax rate for all Ohioans; the current tax system, he argues, is crushing the state's economic future, and chasing young professionals and businesses to lower-tax states.

Those left behind are caught in what Blackwell describes as an economic death spiral.

"We're leading the nation in mortgage foreclosures," he says. "We're No. 3 in personal bankruptcies."

Blackwell has found an audience.

"I'm so mad at my party right now, I'm just looking for somebody I can vote for," said William Miller, 70, a Groesbeck retiree and repeal supporter.

Budget impact

The sales tax increase was part of a two-year, $49 billion budget that passed last year and increased government spending by about 9 percent. Taft originally wanted to reform the tax code and apply the sales tax to more goods and services. He compromised on a temporary increase in the state sales tax from 5 cents to 6 cents. The tax is set to expire on June 30, 2005.

Democrats, labor unions and social services groups say Blackwell's attempt to repeal the tax about six months ahead of schedule would punch an $800 million hole in the budget, forcing devastating funding cuts , to schools, universities, police and fire departments.

It's an argument echoed by Taft, who calls the repeal "irresponsible" and "reckless."

House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, blasted Blackwell as a grandstander who can't fulfill his duties as Ohio's top elections official, such as replacing punch-card voting machines.

"He doesn't have a history of being successful when he's delved into policy matters that involve the secretary of state's office," said Householder. "Now he's talking about Ohio's largest policy item - the state budget. I think we will have to wait and see if he's successful in getting it to the legislature."

Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Blackwell, says Householder has refused to put up the money needed to buy new voting machines, and blames him for throwing stumbling blocks in front of a committee studying election reforms.

Blackwell shrugs off the complaints. He says Republican lawmakers can do without the sales tax hike if they're willing to cut spending on Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor.

He said legislative leaders are too dependent on campaign donations from special interest groups that have big stakes in government spending.

"The governor is in cahoots with big public employee unions who don't want to change the spending side of the equation," Blackwell said. "I think Bob's actions describe himself. He is a self-described advocate and defender of the status quo."

Conservative credentials

Blackwell holds a prominent spot in a national network of conservatives. He is on the board of the National Taxpayers Union and was an analyst at the conservative American Heritage Foundation.

The first President Bush appointed him the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Blackwell was national chairman of the Steve Forbes campaign for president in 2000. When Forbes dropped out, Blackwell stumped for the Bush-Cheney ticket. Blackwell subsequently rejected a top-level job with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A friend and supporter is Jack Kemp, who was Bob Dole's vice presidential running mate in 1996. Kemp was Blackwell's boss in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two have worked together on tax reform policy issues.

"I think on this issue Ken is right. Ken is on the side of most of the people in Ohio," said Kemp, who has helped Blackwell raise money for the repeal. "I think this is a populist issue."

While Kemp said he didn't want to talk about party politics, he said raising taxes goes against the GOP philosophy.

"We should be a populist, aggressive, reform-minded party and, in my opinion, we should not be raising taxes," he said.

Blackwell has been a thorn in the side of the state party leadership before. In 1997 he mounted a run for governor against then-Secretary of State Taft. The party favored Taft to succeed outgoing Gov. George Voinovich. Party leaders eventually persuaded Blackwell to run for secretary of state.

Ohio GOP Party Chairman Bob Bennett said he's focused on helping Bush carry Ohio and win a second term.

He does want to avoid a situation in which Republican candidates spend time, money and resources fighting each other instead of Democrats.

"There has been more than one fortune eliminated by a family feud," Bennett said.

Blackwell says a tax repeal ballot issue would get more Republicans to the polls - and help reelect Bush.

"When Democrats zig-zag across the state calling us tax-and-spend Republicans, with some legitimacy, we run the risk of disaffecting our base," Blackwell said. "This is about demonstrating that there still is a distinction between us and the other party."

And that brings him back to his place on Ohio's political stage. Says Blackwell, "This is a spotlight year."

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