OH HR-46: Meet Darlene Dunn (D)

A few weeks ago at RootsCamp I had the opportunity to meet attorney Darlene Dunn (D-Sylvania Twp), running in the 46th Ohio House District against recently appointed State Rep. Barbara Sears (R-Sylvania). (This is the seat vacated by State Rep. Mark Wagoner (R-Ottawa Hills) so he could be appointed to the Ohio Senate to replace Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green), who in turn replaced newly-elected Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) in the 6th Ohio House District.) Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern (D-Catawba Island) has indicated that this is a high priority race, so I was very interested to get to know the candidate.

Dunn is an engaging and energetic person with an infectious smile. She was accompanied by her husband, Cary Dunne, DDS, a Toledo dentist. The first thing I learned about her is that she ran for the Ohio House in 1978, because that is how she met her spouse -- by knocking on his door to ask for his vote.

In that race, when Dunn was in her twenties, she ran against three-term veteran State Rep. Irma Karmol (R). Karmol won the election but died the next April in a car accident in Perrysburg. Karmol was replaced by her son, David Karmol, who ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio Senate in 1982. The district was numbered 44 at that time and was differently configured. (It was redesigned to lean more strongly Republican.) "I gave her a pretty good run," Dunn said. "I'd have to look up the percentages, but they were very good." I told her that I could find those figures, but my check of Secretary of State data didn't reveal House results that far back.

When Dunn and Dunne went out on their very first date, he told her that if she married him she would not have to change her last name. (And she didn't - no "e"!) They raised two boys, who now live in Nevada and New York. "That's one of my issues, by the way," she told me, "We've got to figure out how to get our young people to be excited about staying here. We need to have good employment for them, which means we need good schools."

Dunn has practiced law for thirty years. For the first seven she was an assistant county prosecutor, concentrating on juvenile law and child support enforcement. She has also done workers compensation work for the state. She was at a law firm for 14 years and is now a general practice solo practictioner in Toledo. She has retained a strong interest in family law and domestic relations, but has done personal injury work and all manner of other legal representation.

In addition to stressing the importance of improving Ohio's schools, Dunn is very concerned about jobs and increasing employment opportunities. Young people will not want to stay in Ohio until their perception of it is changed, and that requires that Ohio be revitalized. "Where I live is on the Michigan border, close to Ann Arbor," she said, where companies have moved in and employed lots of people. "We're next door. We have a lot of the same resources," she continued. "Ohio has excellent resources and should be attracting those businesses."

Dunn describes the district as largely suburban, with some rural areas. The foreclosure crisis has reached the district, Dunn said, but more as a result of the loss of manufacturing jobs relating to the automobile industry than predatory subprime lending. The district includes Anthony Wayne Local School District, which recently failed to pass a school levy, and parents and school officials are very concerned about it. "We had the same issue thirty years ago," Dunn said. Ohio's current system, which forces school districts to continually go back to the public with levies to fund operations (sometimes as frequently as six months after the last levy), must be changed. People are very concerned about their property taxes and are hard hit by the economic decline, and it is an unfair and unworkable system that requires schools to be continually asking for tax levies.

Dunn said that she has served on a variety of boards of community organizations during the time since her last run for office, including her Parent-Teachers Organization, and was state president of the Alliance of the American Dental Association, an organization for spouses of ADA members that engages in public oral health education and legislative advocacy.

I pointed out to Dunn that Redfern has called this a targeted district and asked her if she thinks it is ripe for a change to Democratic leadership. "Oh, definitely," she replied. "The mood of the country and of the state is one for progress. We now have a progressive governor. I can join his team, and we can get a lot done."

Dunn does not have a primary, so she is now focused on fund-raising and putting together a campaign staff. Her web site will be at VoteDarleneDunn.com.

The 46th District is in Lucas County in the northwestern corner of Ohio. It includes Sylvania, Maumee, Ottawa Hills, and the townships of Monclova, Springfield, Harding, Richfield, Sylvania, Spencer, Providence, Waterville, and Swanton. It has a slight Republican lean (PVI R +2.8). In 2006, then-incumbent Mark Wagoner (R-Ottawa Hills) defeated legal assistant Mark Dansack (D-Monclova Township) by 60.49% to 39.51%. Dunn's opponent Barbara Sears (R) was Sylvania City Council President before her recent appointment to this seat.