Cordray and DeWine differ most on guns, abortion, LGBT issues

Perhaps it makes sense that the issues dividing Americans the most are the ones that also generate the starkest divides between Ohio’s candidates for governor.

Abortion. Right to work. Guns. LGBT rights. Legalizing marijuana.

Today’s story concludes a series of four outlining the major-party candidates’ stances on key issues.

For Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Rich Cordray, there is little middle ground on these hot-button topics.

That gulf was demonstrated in last week’s final debate between the duo at Cleveland State when they were asked about abortion. To cut to the chase, DeWine says abortions should be illegal in Ohio, unless the woman’s life is in danger, once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Cordray says abortion should be legal in virtually all circumstances.

But when his campaign is asked whether Cordray is for abortion without any restrictions, the answer is this general statement: “Rich is pro-choice, and as governor he will support a women’s right to choose and make deeply personal decisions about her own health.”

At the same time, Cordray says DeWine’s support for an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest is “too extreme for Ohio.”

DeWine’s explanation of his stance is simple: “I believe that the essential function of government is to protect the most vulnerable members of society. That includes the unborn.”

And that belief has led the attorney general to join anti-abortion rights lawsuits from other states as well as aggressively defending legal challenges of many of the 21 abortion restrictions approved in recent years by Gov. John Kasich and the GOP-dominated legislature. Cordray said he would veto such bills.

Earlier this year, DeWine was asked if the decision to join out-of-state lawsuits rests on his personal opinion, or what’s best for the state.

“It’s both, really. Do my principles, do my beliefs in what is right impact it? Well, sure.”

In the high-profile Hobby Lobby case, DeWine wrote a brief joined by Republican attorneys general from 18 other states arguing the owners of the closely held corporation should not have to forfeit their religious beliefs by being forced to provide birth control coverage for employees under Obamacare. His side won 5-4 in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Even though Kasich and Ohio Right to Life do not support the so-called Heartbeat Bill — which would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected — at least in part because of a possible negative court ruling, DeWine says new justices on the U.S. Supreme Court might agree the measure is constitutional.

DeWine also favors defunding Planned Parenthood, which Cordray opposes as part of the GOP push to restrict abortion. “They’re letting that obsession get in the way of women’s health,” the Democrat said.

DeWine went a step further in late 2015, alleging fetal remains from Planned Parenthood abortions were illegally “steam-cooked and taken to a Kentucky landfill.” He backed down a month later, eventually having to pay the group $45,000 in legal expenses for its court challenge.

Cordray and DeWine also are at polar opposites on gay rights. Bottom line: Cordray favors same-sex marriage, banning discrimination in Ohio based on sexual orientation, and allowing transgender or gender fluid persons to use the restroom of their choice. DeWine opposes them all.

In July 2016, DeWine joined lawyers for nine other states in a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s interpretation of federal rules that ordered schools to allow transgender students to use the school bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities they want. President Donald Trump reversed the interpretation after he took office last year.

“The federal and Ohio anti-discrimination provisions on the books today are sufficient,” DeWine said. He said he joined the lawsuit because the federal government “tried to tell every school district in the country who could use what bathroom.”

Cordray noted his backing of a LGBT anti-discrimination law is mirrored by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

If Ohio is going to retain young people and recruit businesses, “we are going to have to be a tolerant and inclusive community,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the right way to treat people.”

On Second Amendment issues, support from most gun rights groups has switched to DeWine from Cordray since their 2010 matchup for attorney general.

Cordray says it’s because DeWine has “doubled down on doing nothing about gun violence.”

DeWine now says Ohioans should not have to get a permit or license to carry a concealed firearm, and backs a “stand your ground” law for the state. He says local school boards should decide whether to arm teachers, but wants at least one school employee “who is properly trained who can provide protection until law enforcement arrives.” And since bump stocks effectively transform a gun into an automatic weapon, the attorney general wants federal regulators to treat them as such.

Cordray wants background checks on all gun sales, an increase in the age to purchase a gun to 21, and a ban on bump stocks and high-capacity magazine clips. “Stand your ground” proposals “need to be looked at with more detail.”

Neither man calls for a ban on so-called “assault weapons.”

DeWine says he would veto any right-to-work proposal from the legislature, and would not support it during the inevitable referendum vote, because he has other priorities. When asked whether he inherently opposes right-to-work, he replied, “I don’t think this is the time to do it. I think we’ve got other things that need to be done.”

Like his labor union allies, Cordray strongly opposes right-to work.

DeWine opposes any attempt to legalize recreational marijuana, while Cordray would let Ohioans vote on the issue.

Also on the official ballot for governor are Travis Irvine of the Libertarian Party and Constance Gadwell-Newton of the Green Party.

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CREDIT: DARREL ROWLAND