MICHAEL DEWINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00337R000200320010-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 10
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/08/27: CIA-RDP86B00337R000200320010-7
7Mchael DeWine (R)
Of Cedarville - Elected 1982
Born: Jan. 5, 1947, Springfield, Ohio.
Education: Miami U. (Ohio), B.S. 1968; Ohio Northern
U., LL.B. 1972.
Occupation: Lawyer.
Family: Wife, Frances Struewing; five children.
Religion: Roman Catholic.
Political Career. Greene County prosecuting attorney,
1977-81; Ohio Senate, 1981-83.
Capitol Office: 1407 Longworth Bldg. 20515; 225-4324.
The Path to Washington: DeWine, a
rising star in the Ohio GOP firmament, took
control of a seat that had been held for 44 years
by the Clarence Brown family, father and son.
The 7th's Republican complexion - Ronald
Reagan won 55 percent of the vote there in
1980 - should ensure that DeWine can retain
the seat for as long as he wants. In light of his
political history, however, he may not be con-
tent to sit tight if an opportunity for higher
office arises.
A native of Xenia, DeWine was named a
Greene County assistant prosecuting attorney
in 1973 and immediately began exhibiting the
traits that have marked his political career.
Energetic, hard working and ambitious, he also
had the good fortune to be an injured party in a
political scandal growing out of revelations that
his employer, the incumbent Democratic pros-
ecuting attorney, had placed listening devices
in the offices of his assistants. DeWine effec-
tively exploited the controversy, challenging his
boss in 1976 and defeating him for county
prosecuting attorney. In 1980 he moved on. He
ran against an incumbent Democratic state
senator and handily won election to the Ohio
Senate.
Although he spent just two years in the
state Senate, DeWine won the attention of his
colleagues and his constituents. A member of
the Judiciary Committee, he emphasized law-
and-order issues, sponsoring a mandatory sen-
tencing measure and a bill to increase penalties
for drunken driving. More important to his
future, he influenced the state's plan for new
congressional district boundaries.
When Rep. Clarence Brown Jr. announced
in November of 1981 that he would surrender
the 7th District to seek the GOP gubernatorial
nomination, state legislators considered break-
ing the 7th apart and using it to fill out
population deficits in surrounding areas. But
DeWine prevailed upon his Senate colleagues
to tamper with the district boundaries as little
as possible. In the end, the 7th was not only
maintained but additional GOP territory was
placed inside it.
DeWine began to mount his congressional
campaign shortly after Brown announced his
statehouse ambitions. He had little trouble
gaining the Republican nomination in the re-
drawn 7th, almost half of which he represented
in the Ohio Senate. Against a field of five
opponents, two of them people of some local
reputation, he won more than two-thirds of the
vote. He ran on his law-and-order record,
stressing his accomplishments as a county pros.
ecutor and state senator, and benefited from a
meticulously organized and carefully executed
campaign.
In the general election, Democrat Roger 1).
Tackett emphasized the state of the economy,
potentially a winning issue in a district when
troubled International Harvester is a major
employer. Tackett, confined to a wheelchair as
a result of injuries suffered as a Marine during
the the Vietnam War, waged an active cam
paign. But his organization was no match for
DeWine's and could not close the wide gap in
name recognition.
Tackett hoped to run up a large margin in
Clark County (Springfield), where he serves a,
a county commissioner. But he carried Clark,
the district's most populous county, by only
about 2,200 votes out of 45,000 cast there.
DeWine, who ran with the strong endorsement
of Rep. Brown, won all of the eight remaining
counties, garnering 56 percent districtwide
Only Tackett's war record and local economic
conditions prevented DeWine from winning a
more impressive victory.
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 Approved For Release 2008/08/27: CIA-RDP86B00337R000200320010-7
Ohio 7
Situated between Columbus and Day-
ton, the new 7th is bisected by U.S. Route
40. North of that highway are four solidly
Republican counties that cast one-third of
the district vote. Combining agriculture and
small industry, they have been GOP strong-
holds for generations. Champaign, Logan
and Union counties backed Alfred M. Lan-
don for president in 1936. Marion County,
at the district's far northern end, was the
home of President Warren G, Harding.
Ronald Reagan won 62 percent in these four
counties in 1980.
Marion claims to be the birthplace of
the steam shovel, and the local Marion
Power Shovel Company is still a major
employer. But Marion has been hard hit by
the recession. The demand for large power
shovels has decreased since the strip mining
boom of the 1970s, and a local steel plant
has had major layoffs. In 1982 the unem-
ployment rate in Marion County hovered
around 17 percent, a problem that helped
Democratic Gov. Richard Celeste come
within 300 votes of carrying the county even
though the Republican gubernatorial nomi-
nee, Clarence J. Brown, was the area's in-
cumbent congressman.
The economic picture is rosier in neigh-
boring Union County. Its population grew
by 24 percent in the last decade, a far
greater rate than that of any other county in
West Central -
Springfield; Marion
the district. Just northwest of Columbus, it
is an attractive site for industries seeking
open land and low taxes. Honda has already
built a motorcycle plant in the western part
of the county, and the Japanese firm's first
American automobile plant is being con-
structed nearby.
The population south of Route 40 is
concentrated in Clark County (Springfield)
and Greene County, which extends into the
eastern suburbs of Dayton. Greene has a
working-class mixture of blacks and south-
ern whites. Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base is responsible for a substantial amount
of military-related employment. In 1982
Clark gave an almost 2,000-vote margin to
Celeste, while Greene County stayed with
Clarence Brown.
Springfield's site along Route 40, the
old National Road, enabled it to develop
into the leading population center in the
area, but it has been in an economic slump
in recent years. The city has already lost a
major publishing company, and Interna-
tional Harvester, the district's largest em-
ployer, has made significant layoffs.
Population: 512,706. White 481,017
(94%), Black 27.502 (5%). Spanish origin
3,086 (1%). 18 and over 361,062 (70%), 65
and over 51,059 (10%). Median age: 30.
Committees
Judiciary (11th of 11 Republicans)
Civil and Constitutional Rights; Courts, Civil Liberties and Ad-
ministration of Justice; Criminal Justice.
1982 General
Michael DeWine (R) 87,842 (56%)
Roger Tackett (D) 65,543 (42%)
1982 Primary
Michael DeWine (R) 32,615 (69%)
Peter Knowlton (R) 6,534 (14%)
John Evans (R) 4,223 ( 9%)
District Vote For President'
1980 1976
D 65,353 (380/a) D 75,186 (45%)
R 94,970 (55%) R 88,833 (53%)
I 9.759 ( 6%)
Campaign Finance
Receipts Expend-
Receipts from PACs itures
1982
DeWine(A) $220,489 $102,695 (47%) $203,854
Tackett (D) $85,400 $10,575 (12%) $85,398
Key Vote
Adopt nuclear freeze (1983)
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