UPDATED: Grendell Selected to Fill 76th District House Seat

May 29, 2019

This story has been updated with comments from Geauga County GOP Chairman Nancy McArthur as well as comments from Geauga GOP committee members.

Former state representative and 11th District Court of Appeals Judge Diane Grendell has been selected to represent the 76th House District, which includes most of Geauga and northern Portage counties.

Speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder (R-Glenford) made the announcement in a press release his office issued Wednesday afternoon.

Grendell (R-Chester Township) will replace Sarah LaTourette, who Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed to serve as executive director of Ohio Family and Children First.

“Representative Grendell is a tenured and experienced leader that I am happy to welcome back to the Ohio House,” Householder said. “She has a wealth of knowledge to share with our caucus and will be a great addition. She will serve the 76th House District well.”

Grendell, 74, previously served as a state representative in the Ohio House from 1992-2000. Following this service, she was elected as judge of the 11th District Court of Appeals, where she served for eight years.

“It is wonderful to be back at the House serving the great people of the state of Ohio and the 76th district,” Grendell said. “As representatives, we serve as the voice and advocate of our districts and I’m ready to step into this role to create policy that will benefit and better serve our people.”

Grendell was unanimously selected by a panel of Ohio House members, which included Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville), Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Hillsboro), Rep. Laura Lanese (R-Grove City), Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster).

Her appointment paid immediate dividends for Householder, as Grendell voted for House Bill 6 — the nuclear bailout bill — a priority bill of Householder’s that would abolish Ohio’s green-energy standards in favor of customer-funded subsidies to nuclear and coal power plants.

The Ohio House passed HB6 with a 53-43 vote even though only 43 of 61 House Republicans voted for it.

In appointing Grendell, Householder ignored the recommendation of the Geauga County Republican Party central and executive committee, which met May 23 and recommended that South Russell Village Councilman Dennis Galicki be appointed to fill the vacant house seat.

“It is very unfortunate that the House Republicans have disregarded our county party’s recommendation of Dennis Galicki,” GOP Chairman Nancy McArthur said Wednesday. “He is a fine candidate with many great leadership qualities that would have benefitted our county. I encourage you to contact him and express your support, as he deserves better, as we in Geauga County do, too.”

McArthur said she learned Tuesday night the House Republican screening panel Householder appointed would be appointing Grendell to the vacant seat.

“A press release from Speaker Householder indicated that interested candidates were to be interviewed beginning next week, yet they were contacted over Memorial Day weekend and informed they needed to be in Columbus on Tuesday, May 28, for interviews,” she said.

McArthur explained the party’s bylaws require it to make recommendations for vacancies in the General Assembly, even though Ohio law gives that replacement power to lawmakers of the same party as the departing member.

“Prior to our (May 23) meeting, all interested candidates sent me a letter of interest, their resume, and completed a detailed questionnaire, and all of those documents were shared with our members as well a member of the House screening panel in Columbus,” she said.

Former Geauga County Commissioner Walter “Skip” Claypool, county Recorder Sharon Gingerich, former Russell Township Trustee Kristina Port and Galicki all submitted the requested information a week prior to the meeting for the committee’s consideration.

“Grendell was personally invited to our meeting by me the week before when I called her home and left a message on her answering machine,” McArthur said. “I spoke with her early Tuesday (May 21) morning prior to our meeting, asked her to email me her resume and to complete our candidate questionnaire. She led me to believe that she would be in attendance, never mentioning a conflict in attending or that she would not be there.”

On May 22, McArthur said Grendell emailed her letter of interest and resume, but did not submit a completed questionnaire.

“Grendell never called to say she might be late or wasn’t attending; she just didn’t show up,” added McArthur.

Grendell told Cleveland.com she could not attend the May 23 meeting because she was being honored by the Geauga County Bar Association at the same time.

However, McArthur said Grendell easily could have attended the meeting.

“We had a member who was also in attendance at the bar association event and made it to our meeting in time to vote,” she noted. “I was informed that Ms. Grendell told guests at the bar association event that I never invited her to our meeting.”

During the May 23 meeting, the four candidates were each given several minutes to speak and a question and answer session was held prior to the paper ballot vote, McArthur said, explaining only those committee members living in the 76th House District were permitted to vote.

After one round of 54 committee members voting, Galicki earned a majority vote of 29, she said, adding the GOP’s recommendation of Galicki was shared with the Ohio House Republican caucus and Householder.

Geauga GOP Executive Committee member Shanley Davis shared on the Geauga County Maple Leaf’s Facebook page why Galicki was recommended.

“He quickly won our support and admiration because of his intelligence, eloquence, composure, impressive military background and genuine passion for the communities in the 76th district,” she said. “He is the embodiment of a citizen legislator. He was such a compelling candidate that he secured a majority out of four possible choices in a single round of voting. This is a travesty. We have all lost out as a result of his being passed over.”

Galicki, 67, was elected to South Russell Village Council in 2017. According to his biography on the South Russell Village website, he is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I..

During his 28 years of commissioned naval service, he was designated a Surface Warfare Officer and served 18 years at sea in destroyers, service force ships, aircraft carriers and sea-going strike/battle group staffs. He has held command ashore and served on the faculty of the Naval War College.

Galicki retired from the Navy in 2003, returned to Ohio and has been employed in management and executive positions in manufacturing and facilities management. Most recently he was executive director of the United Services Organization (USO) of Northern Ohio.

News of Grendell’s pending appointment was not well received on the Maple Leaf’s Facebook page, with virtually all of the comments being against the appointment.

“It is sad to think that the person selected was intended to represent the desires of the people whom they are to represent,” said Kevin O’Reilly, a central committee member and treasurer of the Geauga GOP. “Diane Grendell was not selected by the constituents of Geauga.”

“You don’t want Grendell is any position,” another person wrote. “Grendells are not for the people!”

“Figures . . . politicians are thick as thieves,” said another.

“This type of thing is why people hate crony politics and get discouraged from participating in the political process and from running for public office,” McArthur said. “I encourage you to reach out to Speaker Householder and other elected representatives in Columbus to express your discontent and to let them know that we are tired of career politicians and ‘business as usual.’ We expect and deserve so much more.”