THANK YOU, CORE MEMBERS -- YOUR LETTERS DEFINITELY HELPED TAME THIS BILL!

From John Curry, July 20, 2007
Subject: Thank you, CORE members....your letters helped pressure Rep. Mandel to "back down" on the severity of his original bill!

"After members of his own caucus balked under pressure from the retirement systems, Mandel was forced to accept a deal allowing voluntary divestment of half of the pension funds' investments in firms doing business in Iran and Sudan." ~ Cleveland Plain Dealer

State lawmaker Josh Mandel heads back to Iraq with Marines

Friday, July 20, 2007
Aaron Marshall
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus - State Rep. Josh Mandel will trade the buttoned-down look of a state lawmaker for the desert camo gear of a Marine as the 29-year-old reservist is headed back to Iraq.

The freshman state lawmaker, considered a rising star in Ohio Republican circles, has volunteered for a second stint in Iraq as an intelligence specialist in the Marine Corps.

"I didn't join the Marine Corps to say no when the Marine Corps needed Marines in my field," Mandel said Thursday.

Mandel, who was elected to his first term as state representative in 2006 after serving on the Lyndhurst City Council, previously served a tour in Iraq in 2004 as an intelligence officer attached to a battalion in the Al Anbar region, an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq.

He will undergo about six weeks of training in the United States before returning to Iraq this fall for an approximate eight-month tour. He said he isn't sure yet exactly what unit he will be stationed with in Iraq.

Mandel said he has already pulled petitions for re-election and will keep his seat in the legislature while he serves in Iraq. He said he believes the people who voted him into office will support his decision to hold onto his seat.

"I'm fortunate to represent a district with many World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm veterans in it and my constituents are very patriotic and supportive," he said.

He declined to comment directly on the current debate over the war in Iraq, but said he was returning in part because of a sense of allegiance to his fellow Marines.

"One thing I will say is that regardless of how people feel about the war in Iraq, people here support the troops," he said.

During his first seven months as a lawmaker, Mandel stirred up controversy with a bill he sponsored that would have required Ohio retirement systems to divest themselves of roughly $1.1 billion in investments in companies doing business in Iran.

After members of his own caucus balked under pressure from the retirement systems, Mandel was forced to accept a deal allowing voluntary divestment of half of the pension funds' investments in firms doing business in Iran and Sudan.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: amarshall@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272