Cedarville’s Mike DeWine Runs for Governor

by Madeleine Mosher

Cedarville resident Mike DeWine is running for Ohio governor in the upcoming election on Nov. 6. The 70 year-old Republican is currently Ohio’s Attorney General and has strong connections to the Yellow Jackets.

DeWine has participated in Cedarville University’s Faith conference, taught at the university, and employed students as interns.

If elected, DeWine’s main focuses will be education, drugs, and jobs. According to his website, www.meetmikedewine.com, he wants to create jobs and keep them in Ohio. To do this, he promises to decrease taxes and regulations on businesses. In the 2016 Faith Conference, DeWine welcomed churches to a conference where they could learn how to battle drugs in their communities. He also participated in a 2015 community forum on marijuana legalization sponsored in part by Cedarville.

DeWine said that he and Cedarville students hold similar values, specifically those concerning abortion. He emphasized his work in the pro-life movement, citing the DeWine Amendment and an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s disposal of aborted fetuses as examples. The proposed amendment would have barred federal taxes from being used to pay for insurance covering abortions.

DeWine grew up and attended elementary school in Yellow Springs. In the first grade he met Fran Struewing, whom he later married while the two were studying at Miami University. Together they have eight children and 22 grandchildren. According to his website, DeWine’s family is central to everything he does, and he believes that “when families are strong, our communities are stronger and our future is brighter.”

DeWine says that his career in politics really began in law school. He worked as a clerk for a lawyer in Xenia, and when this lawyer became a prosecuting attorney, DeWine became his assistant. DeWine later served as Greene County’s prosecuting attorney, then a representative in the U.S. House, then a U.S. Senator, and is now Ohio’s Attorney General.

Concerning the election, DeWine said, “I think we’re gonna win.”

Currently, DeWine is ahead of the three other Republicans and four Democrats running with him. Once elected, he says that he wants to address issues in both the workforce and education. He says that the work ethic in Ohio is solid, but that many employees “can’t pass a drug test.” For DeWine, the answer to this epidemic is found in “more focus on prevention and education” on drugs.

DeWine did not state that increased taxes would be necessary to fund this educational endeavor but instead said that Ohio would need to “prioritize” financing the materials needed.

Dr. David Rich, professor of public administration and political science at Cedarville, interned in the late 1970s for DeWine in the House of Representatives.

According to Rich, it would not be expensive to put a “police officer in schools once a month” to provide the education DeWine wants to implement. He specified, however, that it is important to use a program that will be successful. He used DARE as an example of a failed program and said it would require educating students about the dangers of addiction and the drug culture, not just drugs themselves in order to avoid repeating DARE’s mistakes. Rich said drugs in Ohio are an epidemic, but one that he believes DeWine will tackle.

DeWine said he would also like to place a “real emphasis on education” in other areas, encouraging and replicating schools that are propelling underprivileged children toward “their version of the American dream.” If they’re not serving that goal, DeWine says they should be closed down.

Despite the issues that he sees with the state, DeWine says, “Ohio has a lot good going for it.”

DeWine is positive about high-school level career schools and two-year colleges that prepare students for trades. He emphasized the importance of their work with local businesses, stating that the two needed to have a close partnership.

Rich spoke to DeWine’s character and beliefs, calling him conservative in character as well as in business. Rich says DeWine was involved in the community before he was invested in politics, holds a perfect pro-life voting record and was pro-life before he felt any pressure from constituents.

“Mike’s interested in people,” Rich said.

DeWine’s concern applies to many groups, including laborers, underprivileged kids, and Cedarville University Yellow Jackets.

Madeleine Mosher is a freshman journalism major and an off-campus news writer for Cedars. When she’s not complaining about homework or making coffee, she enjoys sarcasm, cupcakes, and rock ‘n’ roll.