Commentary: Governor candidates step up to podium, pulpit

By William Hershey

Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS Hallelujah sisters and brothers.

Welcome to the First Church of Ohio Politics.

Clap your hands. Say amen.

And, of course, get ready for the usher to pass the collection plate.

Today let's hear from Brother Jim and Sister C.J.

Brother Ken probably has something to say but surely he'll give up the pulpit for a morning.

Brother Jim — that's Attorney General Jim Petro — is up first.

"What does God expect of us? To do justice, to love kindness."

That's from Brother Jim's recent 30-second TV spot, part of his campaign for the 2006 Republican nomination for governor.

He doesn't provide attribution — you can say only so much in 30 seconds — but the passage appears to come from the book of Micah in the Old Testament of the Bible.

There apparently wasn't time, either, for Micah's last line in response to what God expects — "and to walk humbly with your God," according to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

There was time, of course, for Brother Jim to say that he and his wife, Nancy, had been married for nearly 33 years, are "pro-life" and believe that "marriage is a sacred bond between man and a woman."

It sounded like Brother Jim was preaching to Brother Ken's flock. Brother Ken, that's Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, is also a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. He has become a favorite of conservative church-going Republicans who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage and also are a very important constituency in a Republican primary.

Sister Betty — that's Auditor Betty Montgomery — also is seeking the Republican nomination for governor but she's not doing much preaching.

"I prefer to do my politicking from a podium rather than a pulpit," Montgomery said during a recent stop in Centerville.

Oh, well, let's hear from Sister C.J.

That's Sen. C.J. Prentiss, D-Cleveland, Ohio Senate Minority Leader. She cast the only vote last week against a resolution urging Congress to give states more flexibility in how they run Medicaid, the government-sponsored health insurance for the poor.

The states — including Ohio — need more than flexibility, said Sister C.J. They need more money to take care of more poor people and provide them with more health benefits, she said.

Unlike Brother Jim, she attributed her biblical reference, from chapter 25 in the book of Matthew in the New Testament.

It's the part about the King who has separated the sheep from the goats — the righteous who will inherit the kingdom from those who will be banished to eternal punishment.

In the story, the righteous are those who fed the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked and visited the sick and those in prison.

When did we do these things, the righteous asked.

"If you did it for the least of you, you have done it for me," Sister C.J. said, quoting the King.

In recent years, she and other Democrats have been slower and less successful than Republicans in mixing politics and religion, all in search of votes.

Last year Brother George — that's President Bush, a Republican — did a much more successful job of it than Brother John — that's U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Bush's Democratic opponent.

Now there might be some in the Ohio congregation who are uncomfortable with the increase in this public mixture of religion and politics.

They, too, might find comfort in the Bible, although it's unlikely this passage from chapter 6 in Matthew will make it into a 30-second TV spot or even a Senate floor speech:

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men.

"Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."