GOP candidate named for Ohio attorney general race

The Ohio Republican Party on Wednesday found its state attorney general candidate in lawyer D. Michael Crites, who will run in a special election this November.

Crites, a managing member at Columbus-based Rich Crites and Dittmer LLC, will vie for the spot vacated by Democrat Marc Dann, who resigned in May in the middle of his first term following a sexual harassment scandal in the department.

Nancy Rogers, the law dean at Ohio State University, stepped into the job temporarily but won't run to fill out the remaining two years of Dann's term.

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Treasurer Richard Cordray, a Democrat, and independent candidate Robert M. Owens will join Crites on the ballot for election as attorney general.

At a press conference Wednesday, Crites referenced his 21 years as a prosecutor at the federal, state and local levels, totaling more prosecution experience than the last seven Ohio attorney generals combined, he said.

In 1986, former President Ronald Reagan appointed Crites as U.S. attorney for Ohio's seventh district, a position he served in until 2003. During his tenure, Crites and his staff prosecuted local and international drug organizations, seizing more than $17 million in illegal drug money and assets and collecting more than $125 million owed to the United States, party officials at the conference said.

Crites also noted his experience in prosecuting white-collar criminals, including the conviction of baseball legend Pete Rose for tax evasion in 1990. He recognized his lack of election experience - he served one term on the Olentangy Local School District board - but stressed he is a career prosecutor, not a career politician.

The Republican Party spent the past month in talks with Crites, who said his campaign hopes to raise at least $2.5 million for the election.