COLUMBUS - "I'm ready to get to work,'' former Huron County Judge Thomas Heydinger told his new colleagues yesterday shortly after taking the oath as the newest member of the Ohio House.
With his wife, Peggy, and four of his granddaughters from Waterville by his side, the Norwalk Democrat now represents the 58th District.
The district includes eastern Seneca County, all of Huron, and southwestern Lorain.
Mr. Heydinger, a Plymouth, Ohio, native, replaced Matt Barrett of Amherst, who resigned last month after admitting he misled his colleagues over how photos of nude women ended up in a computer presentation that he flashed before a government class at Norwalk High School last fall.
Mr. Barrett initially had blamed his son, but as an investigation continued, it was discovered that Mr. Barrett knew the women in the photographs.
"Tom Heydinger is a man of unquestionable ethics and amazing accomplishment,'' House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty (D., Columbus) said.A 1967 Ohio Northern University law school graduate, Mr. Heydinger served as a helicopter pilot and military lawyer during the Vietnam War.
He worked as a Crawford County judge, assistant attorney general, and Huron County assistant prosecutor before then-Gov. John Gilligan appointed him in the 1970s to the Huron bench. He remained judge for the next 28 years.
Democrats hope Mr. Heydinger will help them keep the GOP-leaning 58th District in their column as they attempt to wrest control of the chamber from Republicans in the fall election.
Mr. Barrett had been one of the success stories of 2006 in the Democratic Party in capturing the seat before becoming one of the Democratic embarrassments of 2008.
Mr. Heydinger is scheduled to face Republican Terry Boose, a former Huron County commissioner, in the Nov. 4 general election.
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