BILLIONAIRE CLUB--U.S. Senator George Voinovich, second from left, R-Ohio, shares a laugh with, from left: Gov. Bob Taft, Attorney General Betty Montgomery, House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, and Senate President Richard Finan prior to Voinovich presenting a symbolic check for $9.8 billion to the quartet, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, June 4, 1999. The check represents the money that Ohio is slated to receive in the tobacco settlement case. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

OFF TO NEW HAMPSHIRE--U.S. Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, heads for his campaign plane, following a rally, in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, Feb. 15, 1999. Kasich, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is filing papers with the Federal Election Commission to formally establish a presidential exploratory committee. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

ESPY SUPPORTS BRADLEY--Ohio Senate Minority Leader Ben Espy, D-Columbus, introduces Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley during an event at the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, at Grant/Riverside Hospitals, in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999. Bradley spoke about his health-care plan. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

WANTS TO ANSWER THE CALL--Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Richard Cordray holds 11 month-old twin daughter Holly, and takes a phone call while wife Peggy holds Danny boy, during a photo session at their Grove City, Ohio home, on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999. Cordray will have even more on his hands if selected as the man to take on incumbant U.S. Senator Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

DEMS WIN ONE--House Minority Leader Jack Ford, D-Toledo, smiles as he is congratulated by Rep. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, following the passage of House Bill 416, which was sponsored by Ford, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1999. HB 416 repeals a provision of the Ohio Revised Code that allows for PERS-eligible elected officials to use their salaries earned while employed by a private non-profit organization to draw retirement benefits based on that outside salary. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

HAPPY VICTORS--Senate President Richard Finan, right, R-Cincinnati, gives Finance Committee Chairman Roy Ray, R-Akron, a pat on the back during debate over the state's $22.57 billion two-year general appropriations bill, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, June 10, 1999. The bill cleared the Senate 33-0. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

DEROLPH V. OHIO--Jeff Sutton represents the state of Ohio as he defends the school-funding remedies enacted by the General Assembly before the Supreme Court, at the Rhodes Tower, in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1999. Members of the court are- from left, Deborah L. Cook, Francis E. Sweeney, Andrew Douglas, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, Alice Robie Resnick, Paul E. Pfeifer and Evelyn L. Stratton. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)