Dem vying for Ohio lieutenant governor vows to stay on ticket

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Democrat vying to be Ohio’slieutenant governor said Wednesday he will not
allow roughly $700,000 inoutstanding state and federal tax liens owed by him, his wife and theirCincinnati
publishing business to derail his candidacy.In anearly two-hour media teleconference with reporters, state
Sen. EricKearney discussed the debts, which have complicated his party’s hopes ofunseating Republican Gov.
John Kasich next year.Kearney said hewas providing unprecedented amounts of information — including
frompersonal tax returns and the account books of KGL Media Group Inc., thecompany he owns with his wife,
Jan-Michele — to openly addressreporters’ questions."I view this as part of public life, and
I’maccepting of the questioning and of the amount of disclosure whichwe’ve done today," he said.
"No other candidate has ever had to providethis amount of information, and so I think that that says
something."Accordingto the spreadsheet Kearney released, KGL’s lien balance includingpenalties and
interest is $561,068. He and his wife owe federal liensassociated with that debt of $83,074 and as much as
$95,121 in state taxliens. The state figure is in dispute and may be lower.Revelationsabout the liens have
fueled a series of bruising news reports andeditorials around the state, some calling for Kearney to step
aside asrunning mate to Democrat Ed FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executiveand a former FBI agent. Such a
development wouldn’t be unprecedented:Republican Jim Petro selected a second running mate for his
unsuccessfulgubernatorial run in 2006 after the first dropped out.But Kearney resisted suggestions that the
debts are a sign of poor management skills and should disqualify him in any way."Ithink that a lot of
the small business owners across the state of Ohiowill understand exactly what I’m saying, and — since they
will havesomebody in the lieutenant governor’s office who intimately understandstheir concerns — that they
would be pleased with that," Kearney said.Kearneyserved as Senate minority leader beginning in January
2012 but steppeddown Wednesday because he’s running for statewide office. He blamed thedebts largely on a
downturn in the newspaper industry that has affectedKGL, which operates as Sesh Communications. The company
publishes papersand magazines aimed at black audiences, including the CincinnatiHerald, one of the nation’s
oldest black newspapers.He said heand his wife, a law school classmate of President Barack Obama,
aresteadily paying down the liens and the company has stabilized."Wehave been making payments since
2010, which has saved 10 jobs andallowed this historic community newspaper to continue publishing,"
hesaid. "This is not, nor has it ever been, a matter of my wife and myselffailing to pay our personal
income taxes."Ohio Republican Partyspokesman Chris Schrimpf said the selection of Kearney reflects
poorlyon FitzGerald, noting that picking a running mate is commonly held to bethe first real decision a
gubernatorial candidate makes."FitzGerald,a proud FBI agent, clearly ran a bad process and came to a
poor adecision," Schrimpf said. "If FitzGerald fails his only decision as acandidate, he is
clearly nowhere near ready to be a statewideofficeholder."Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All
rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.

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