Ohio Supreme Court justice-elect Maureen O'Connor's campaign has sent out about 1,000 letters seeking contributions to retire a $120,000 debt.

In the letter, Pamela Hashem, the campaign's fiance director, said the campaign went over budget in late October when it bought extra TV time to counteract ads aired by O'Connor's opponent, Hamilton County Municipal Judge Tim Black.

Mark Weaver, O'Connor campaign spokesman, said the letter went out to people who previously had donated to O'Connor and other Republicans. Hashem said the solicitation also might have gone to lobbyists who represent previous donors.

Judicial canons restrict judges to raising money only during their election year and up to 120 days after the election. That means O'Connor has until March 5 to raise the $120,000, or vendors who are owed money will have to wait six years when she is up for re-election and can raise more money, Weaver said.

Click here for information on donating to help Justice-elect Maureen O'Connor retire her campaign debt.

http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/local/daily/1121oconnor.html
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Buoyed by an even stronger majority for next year, Ohio House Republicans renominated Speaker Larry Householder by acclamation yesterday and established themselves as the caucus of the second chance.

The Perry County Republican, who led the GOP to three additional seats for the two-year session starting in January, received a prolonged standing ovation from the incoming caucus. Then, in an unprecedented move, he renominated the rest of this session's leadership team -- including two leaders who were punished earlier this year for politicking behind his back.

"Everybody in this room knows it hasn't been perfect the last two years,'' Householder said. "We've all made mistakes. The important thing is that we give people a second chance.''

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/news/news02/nov02/...
" target="_blank">Read the whole story in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).