The fact that Chad Monnin is chatting in his second-story campaign office in Gahanna is a sign that the 19th Ohio House District race will be anything but typical this year.

The fact that Chad Monnin is chatting in his second-story campaign office in Gahanna is a sign that the 19th Ohio House District race will be anything but typical this year.

For most legislative candidates, including incumbents, a campaign office is often little more than a cluttered dining room or basement. For Monnin, his multiroom suite on Granville Street is just his Gahanna office. He has another one in Westerville. He also has five paid staffers � four or five more than most legislative campaigns.

�I�m in it to win it,� said Monnin, a businessman from New Albany who has already put more than $100,000 of his own money into his campaign and plans to spend $250,000 before it�s over.

�I believe anything worth doing is worth overdoing.�

Perhaps never before has an Ohio legislative incumbent faced such a well-funded challenge from a Libertarian. Monnin said he has resisted pressure from GOP leaders to drop out of the race, including, he said, an offer of close access to the man who could be Ohio�s next House speaker.

The race for the 19th District, which covers Westerville, New Albany and Gahanna, includes Monnin, a former Republican running as a Libertarian, and Michael Johnston, a former Libertarian running as a Democrat. Both are challenging two-term Rep. Anne Gonzales, a Republican from Westerville.

Monnin, a member of the U.S. Special Forces in the Army until he was injured during a 2002 parachute jump, is a first-time candidate but has plenty of political experience. He was the Ohio Republican Party�s deputy finance director through the 2004 campaign, and he joined Newt Gingrich�s run for president in 2012.

�On 95 percent of Republican issues, I line up fairly well,� he said. But he doesn�t think Republicans are living up to their promises.

�The Republican Party left me. I wish I didn�t have to do this. I don�t need this job,� Monnin said. �I really do not believe the Republican Party represents Republican values any longer, and I don�t feel represented by Anne Gonzales.�

On paper, Republicans should have little to worry about in the 19th District. Gonzales, an energetic campaigner, won re-election in 2012 by nearly 13 points. House Democrats don�t have the money to make an unexpected push.

But a well-financed Libertarian clearly has the GOP worried. The prevailing wisdom is that a Libertarian candidate has a more negative impact on a Republican in the race than a Democrat.

The House GOP caucus has given Gonzales a campaign manager for the first time, and she�s expected to be on television this fall.

�Under this legislature, we have done a tremendous amount of work bringing Ohio back around,� Gonzales said, noting the 10 percent income-tax cut, additional business tax cuts and a replenished $1.5 billion rainy-day fund.

Monnin said he started out just hoping to raise some issues. But his attitude turned toward winning, he said, after Republicans pushed to get him out of the race.

First, Republicans unsuccessfully challenged Monnin�s petition signatures in an effort to disqualify him from the ballot.

Not long after, Monnin said he met with Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party and a key backer of Rep. Cliff Rosenberger�s effort to be the next House speaker.

Monnin described the meeting: �(Preisse) says: �Hey, maybe there are other ways you could be more beneficial and serve your interests. Maybe you could be a part of the kitchen cabinet to the new speaker of the House. Can I arrange that for you? Why don�t you talk to him?�??�

Kitchen cabinet is political parlance for an elected leader�s unofficial group of advisers.

Monnin then played a voice mail he got a few days later from Rosenberger, who asked if they could get together to talk. He said they have not met face to face.

�So now I think maybe there�s more to this,� Monnin said. �Why do they want me out so bad?�

Preisse called Monnin�s description a mischaracterization of the conversation. As the party chairman, he said, his job is to meet with candidates.

�My job is not to promise him anything, and I didn�t,� he said. �There are lots of ways to become involved politically in addition to running for office, and we did talk about some of those. He was not invited to be a senior adviser to anybody.�

Monnin said he�s also been pressured by �prominent people� who tell him he�s going to spend a lot of money only to lose and burn bridges. Or, he�s been told he might win and hate the job because no one will talk to him.

�The 19th District is a big ATM machine for the Republican Party,� he said, referring to donations, in particular, that come from New Albany.

Two weeks ago, Monnin said he met Gonzales for the first time at a New Albany Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

�She says to me she really wants the job and likes the job and wants to continue, but if I�m in the race, that could be problematic,� Monnin said. �Then she goes on to say: �What is important to you? You know, I�ve passed the most bills of any representative out there. Let�s link up and meet, and whatever you�re passionate about, let�s see if I can do something about it.�??�

Gonzales said she often meets with constituents and looks for ways to help.

�It is absurd if he thinks I gave the impression that I was trying to talk him out of the race,� she said.

Monnin isn�t dropping out.

Yesterday, he sponsored the New Albany Independence Day 5K run.

�There should be a party out there that represents individual liberty, lower taxes and smaller government,� he said.

In 2004, Monnin co-founded Mission Essential, which became the U.S. government�s leading provider of translators and interpreters. It got a five-year, $2.7 billion Department of Defense contract in 2007 and, in 2010, won a five-year Intelligence Support Services contract worth up to $492 mil-

lion. Monnin remains a part-owner but stepped aside as CEO in 2010.

Preisse called it �remarkably insincere and hypocritical� for Monnin to use money earned through government contracts to run as a Libertarian.

Traditionally running as a Libertarian hasn�t been easy. In 2010 and 2012, 28 Libertarians ran for legislative seats, and 25 did not surpass 7 percent of the vote. One got 10 percent and two others, with 20 percent and 30 percent, featured a Libertarian versus a Republican with no Democratic opponent.

Johnston ran for the 19th District seat in 2010 as a Libertarian, getting 5 percent in a race Gonzales won by 10 points.

�I�m under no illusion. It�s going to be extremely difficult,� Monnin said. �They�ll have money coming in from everywhere. I just think people should have another option.�

jsiegel@dispatch.com

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