Book Withdraws From 2nd District Race
by Frank Lewis
8 months ago | 2119 views | 4 4 comments | 16 16 recommendations | email to a friend | print
“Timing is everything in politics,” Rep. Todd Book, D-McDermott (89th District) said as he sat behind the desk in his law office Monday afternoon. “And this is just not the right time for me.”

Book told the Portsmouth Daily Times Monday that he is withdrawing as a candidate for the 2nd District U.S. House of Representatives because of his current workload in Columbus.

“I’ve been stewing on this for a while,” Book told the Times. “Anyone who is paying attention knows that the state has a lot of issues and a lot of problems. And just recently, with the election at the beginning of November, we also had two things that developed — one thing being animal care standards, Issue Two — and also the passage of the casino legislation, which is Issue Three, and I’ve been asked to be point on both of those issues.”

Book said he has specific work on his desk dealing with both of those issues.

“When it comes to Issue Two, the bio-science portion of that. I’m going to be working on making Ohio the most attractive state we can for bio-science activities, which is one of the few growth industries that is out there right now,” Book said. “And then also on the casino issue, I’ve been asked by the Speaker (of the Ohio House of Representatives) to be one of the points on the legislation, and how we’re going to basically operate the casinos.”

Book said it is because of that workload that he had to make some decisions as to how he would prefer to manage his time.

“It came down to a decision between, do I want to spend all of my time campaigning or do I want to spend time working for the people who elected me to do a job, and I take that seriously, and that is what I decided to do,” Book said. “You have to make decisions in life, and it’s not always easy, and with a limited amount of time, if it’s between campaigning or taking care of the job that I have, I’m going to take care of the job that I have, because the people elected me to do that, and I am so very fortunate to be in a leadership position in Columbus where I can actually have some impact on how those livestock standards are going to look, how the casino is going to look, and that I am going to be involved in the public pensions in the state of Ohio, and how they are going to operate.”

Book also cited the continual saga of the state’s budget for the next two years, as a reason he needs to focus on the work at hand.

In making the announcement Book said — “I have decided I cannot commit the necessary time to run for the U.S. Congress. This was not an easy decision, but it is one that was made with the best intentions for my family, the good people of southern Ohio and the Democratic Party.”

Book went on to say — “Representing Lawrence, Scioto and Adams counties in the statehouse for the last seven years has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of southern Ohio and be a voice for common sense solutions.”

Book’s withdrawal from the race leave Cincinnatian David Krikorian as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination to take on incumbent U.S. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt in next year’s November election.

A complete exclusive interview with Book can be seen at www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com.

FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232.
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comments (4)
« ACitizen wrote on Sunday, Nov 29 at 05:44 PM »
Why do we read on Cincinnati.com that a union pulled their support from Todd, and others commented on that article that Todd knows that 2010 will not be good for Democrats (and Walton Jr. too)? Was he not forthcoming on that and just conjured up self benefitting gobbly gook? We need integrity in our public offices and interviews.

The paragraph read like this: (Union Bustin')

"Book's campaign took a major blow about a week ago when the Tristate Building and Construction Trades Council - which represents 15 labor union in southern Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia - pulled its endorsement of Book after learning that his Portsmouth law firm was representing a non-union construction firm in Georgia."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091124/NEWS0108/91124009/1180/One Schmidt opponent drops out
« ThatCatLady wrote on Tuesday, Nov 24 at 04:24 PM »
Todd, you have done a great job for us, and I was proud to campaign and vote for you. While I am sure you would have done a better job in Washington than Jean Schmidt, I believe you made the right decision to stay and do the job your constituents sent you to do. It can't have been an easy decision, but doing the right thing rarely is. Thank you and keep up the good work in Columbus. Your day will come and our area will be the better for it.
« doublemajor wrote on Tuesday, Nov 24 at 11:41 AM »
I agree that we need to get away from the tax-and-spend liberals and go back the the borrow and spend policies of the right wing. George Bush, in eight years of office, with six of those years holding a majority in congress as well, managed to double our national debt to communist China, deregulate us until we had the Bernie Madoff, and Stanford Ponzi schemes, wiped out 401k's, and sent the stock market crashing through the floor. Yes we need to return to those policies so that we can increase the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. 49 million Americans went hungry last year due to these policies, and that is one in every six Americans. By the way, if you would take the time to read the 2,000 and some odd pages of the health-care bill, you would find that illegal aliens are not, under any circumstance permitted healthcare rights or subsidies within the confines of this proposal.
« Libcrazed1 wrote on Tuesday, Nov 24 at 10:19 AM »
Good Choice Todd...Not that there was really another to be made.The Haircut the Democrats receive will be of epic proportions this election cycle.It took a war weary public and high energy prices to get a Liberal/Socialist President elected, and all of 6 months for America to realize what a Terrible mistake they made in doing so.Democratic policies of Tax and spend and health care for Everybody including Illegals, all from the Taxpayers wallet seems to have been rejected out of hand by a Too late to see what they elected American Public. Good Luck hanging on to your seat,and may the votes you have casted for this Administration's Bankrupting Policies come back to you.

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