Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles.
Richard Michael "Mike" DeWine (born January 5, 1947) is an American
politician from Ohio. He currently represents Ohio in the U.S.
Senate.
Born in Springfield, Ohio, DeWine earned a bachelor's
degree from Miami University in Ohio in 1969 and a Juris Doctor
degree from Ohio Northern University. He was a lawyer before
entering politics, serving a term in the Ohio State Senate before
being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican
in 1982. He was re-elected three times, serving for a total of
eight years.
In 1990 he left the House and was elected
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and served in that position from 1991
to 1995. After a failed bid to unseat Senator John Glenn in 1992,
he was later elected to the U.S. Senate in the election of 1994,
defeating prominent attorney Joel Hyatt (the son-in-law of the
then-incumbent U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum), and was reelected in
2000, defeating former U.S. Rep. Frank Cremeans in the primary and
Ted Celeste (brother of former Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste) in the
general election.
Hamilton County, Ohio, Commissioner R. Patrick
DeWine is DeWine's son. Ohio state Rep. Kevin DeWine (R-Fairborn)
is DeWine's second cousin.
In 2004 controversy arose when DeWine
fired Jessica Cutler, a female entry-level staff assistant who
published a blog detailing numerous sexual exploits. According to
the Washingtonienne blog, the staff assistant was supplementing her
income by accepting monetary gifts from several older men with whom
she was engaged in sexual relationships. The blog, which identified
the men only by their initials, stated that one of those men was a
chief of staff appointed directly by President George W.
Bush.
On May 23, 2005, DeWine was one of 14 senators (see Gang
of 14) to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial
filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to
implement the so-called "nuclear option." Under the agreement, the
Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial
nominee only in "extraordinary circumstances", and the three of
Bush's appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla
Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full
Senate.
Some members of the right have expressed the intent to
seek revenge against DeWine for his involvement with the filibuster
compromise by interfering with the plans of his son Pat to run for
a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Other speculation
centered on DeWine's 2006 primary and the possibility of former
U.S. Rep. John Kasich's running against him. On October 4, 2005,
Democrat Paul Hackett announced he would challenge DeWine for the
seat in the general election