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1:42 PM Friday, June 19, 2009

Political junkies will miss out on seeing what was shaping up to be one of the best campaign slugfests in recent memory, because Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones decided last week not to challenge fellow Republican John Boehner for his seat in Congress. The decision signals that the local Republican Party has averted a possible meltdown.

The party potentially would have been split right down the middle if Jones, a popular vote-getter locally, had decided to challenge the current House Minority Leader from West Chester Twp., who has represented Ohio’s 8th Congressional District since 1991.

Even the suggestion that a fellow GOP member would challenge the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives was an insult to Boehner — and a disaster in the making for the Republican Party. Boehner should be focused on winning back the majority in the House in the mid-term elections, not defending himself against an upstart from his own local party. GOP leaders and voters are undoubtedly breathing a deep sigh of relief that they won’t have to choose sides next spring.

Had Jones decided to run in the 2010 GOP primary, he would have forced the local party to endure a painful endorsement process — the outcome of which could have been uncertain — and then commence a campaign that would have been costly for both candidates.

Who would 8th District Republicans have chosen in a primary showdown between the longtime congressman and the populist sheriff? Now we’ll never know.

Jones’ prepared statement on Thursday, June 18, offered that he “had repeatedly heard the phrase ‘we need you as sheriff’ and, during these tough times, that comment continues to ring true” — as though the economic recession played a role in his decision. Yet, just days earlier, Jones said he had been encouraged by the number of people encouraging him to run for Congress.

In our May 3 editorial, we posed the question: Can the Republican Party stop Jones from throwing his hat into the ring? It appears that they found a way — and will thus avoid a bloody primary fight next spring.

And Boehner will avoid a challenge that could only have damaged his standing in Republican circles. Only a gentle, kid-gloves campaign and a dominating victory over Jones — neither of which would have been likely — would have allowed Boehner to emerge unscathed, his reputation intact.

Aside from the entertaining campaign they would have provided for the aforementioned political junkies, it’s less clear how the 8th District would have benefited from ousting a nearly 20-year veteran congressman and replacing him with Jones, who — popular as he may be in some circles — has only held elective office since 2005.

It’s even more unclear how Jones — very popular in Butler County — would have fared in the rest of the 8th District — which also includes Preble, Darke, Mercer, Miami and Montgomery counties — where he is not as well known.

Their personalities may be like night and day, but their politics are not starkly different. So the district — in the event of a Jones victory in November 2010 — would have been trading in the House Minority Leader for a freshman congressman.

By choosing Jones in the spring primary, 8th District Republicans also would have been giving Democrats an opening they haven’t seen in decades, inviting them to find a viable challenger and to spend serious money to challenge a relatively inexperienced Republican whose strong stands on immigration would have been strong campaign fodder. Boehner will be the safer choice for the GOP, and his record of thoroughly trouncing every Democrat who challenges him is impeccable.

So it could be that the people who are most disappointed with Jones’ decision are the Democrats — especially the “new” Butler County Democrats who have formed political action committees on the county’s east side. Their chances of pulling off a big upset in November 2010 may have just evaporated — now that Boehner doesn’t have to worry about a challenge from within his own party.

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