Gina-Marie Kaczala, widow of former Lucas County Auditor Larry Kaczala, said Thursday that she intends to run in the November election for the job her late husband held for 13 years.
A veteran employee of the auditor's office, Mrs. Kaczala said in an interview she will file her candidacy as a Republican on Monday - the filing deadline - and face off against Democratic Auditor Anita Lopez, the woman who unseated her husband in the 2006 auditor's race.
The deadline falls nearly two months to the June 8 day that Mr. Kaczala jumped from the top of a Toledo Hospital parking garage in a suicide.
"Even though his death was something that will stay with me always, I think that he would be absolutely excited to know that I'm moving on with my life and I'm moving on with a purpose," Mrs. Kaczala, 49, who lives in Ottawa Hills, said in a brief phone interview.
Mrs. Kaczala will fill a vacancy on the Republican ticket that opened Thursday when Norm Witzler, a former Waterville councilman, formally withdrew to make way for Mrs. Kaczala's higher-profile candidacy.
"For the sake of the party, to get this office, I think she would be a much better candidate," Mr. Witzler said. "She's a knowledgeable candidate, she's knowledgeable about the office, and she's just a great person."
Mrs. Kaczala started in the auditor's office in 1985, several years before Mr. Kaczala was tapped in 1993 to fill a vacancy at the auditor post, though he had headed the office's property tax division from 1982 to 1989. A former Toledo city councilman, Mr. Kaczala went on to win three consecutive auditor elections before his defeat by Ms. Lopez. For years, he was the lone Republican county officeholder.
The Kaczalas regularly rode in together to work from their home, and she assisted in the office's successful efforts at winning multiple service awards, friends recalled.
March, 2007, was Mrs. Kaczala's last month in the office, departing the job of "internal auditor."
A county auditor acts as a chief fiscal officer of government and is responsible for assessing the taxable property of real estate. Auditors are charged with ensuring accurate readouts at gas pumps and overseeing the issue of dog, kennel, cigarette, and vendor licenses.
The Lucas County auditor position pays an annual $91,247 salary.
Mrs. Kaczala, who is unemployed, said she is running for the top post because she's disappointed with Ms. Lopez's performance.
"I've been keeping an eye on how the auditor's office is run, and I feel that with my 21 years of experience working in the [office], that I can bring it back to the standard that it was," she said.
Mr. Kaczala was credited with making Lucas County one of the first counties to make real estate records available online, and he pioneered several data-processing and imaging innovations.
Ms. Lopez did not respond Thursday to repeated messages seeking comment.
As election season heats up, Mrs. Kaczala may find herself on the defensive regarding her personal finances.
Property records show nearly $13,000 of property tax arrearage on the Brookside Road house in both her name and Mr. Kaczala's. In addition, a case filed Wednesday by Citibank against her in Lucas County Common Pleas Court claims that Mrs. Kaczala owes $6,563.
Details of a separate claim filed in July by Discover Bank were unavailable.
Thursday, she declined to answer additional questions pending her campaign filing on Monday.
Jon Stainbrook, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party and himself an auditor's office employee in the 1990s, said he believes Mrs. Kaczala has a solid chance against Ms. Lopez on Nov. 2.
"She is thoroughly qualified and very electable," Mr. Stainbrook said. "She worked in the office for 21 years, was responsible for all the awards that were won when [Mr. Kaczala] was auditor, and she has the name recognition."
Mrs. Kaczala went from her auditor's office job to a $24,065 yearly, nonunion position as a imaging operations clerk for Lucas County Clerk of Courts Bernie Quilter. She was fired from that job in March for missing too many days of work, Mr. Quilter said.
Mr. Stainbrook accompanied Mr. Witzler Thursday as he visited Government Center to withdraw from the race.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Witzler recalled how Mr. Kaczala mentioned early this year that his wife was thinking of running for auditor, though beyond 2010.
Formerly Gina Michalski, she and Mr. Kaczala married in 1989. It was a second marriage for Mr. Kaczala, and the couple have no children.
Friends and associates were shocked at the news of Mr. Kaczala's suicide in June. He had been neither a patient nor visitor to the hospital, authorities have said.
Some close friends believed that he never fully recovered from his loss of the auditor's job.
"This is something I truly believe Larry would want for me," Mrs. Kaczala said Thursday of her campaign.
Contact JC Reindl at:
jreindl@theblade.com
or 419-724-6065.
First Published August 6, 2010, 11:37 a.m.