Jewish GOP Iraq vet announces Ohio treasurer candidacy

Capital J

By Eric Fingerhut · May 28, 2009

A Jewish Republican and Iraq War veteran is running for Ohio State Treasurer.

Josh Mandel, currently in his second term as an Ohio state representative representing a predominantly Democratic Cleveland-area district, announced his candidacy on Thursday. He returned last spring from his second tour of duty in Iraq as an U.S. Marine intelligence specialist.

In his announcement video below and in an e-mail he sent out with it, Mandel trumpets his leadership in rolling back property taxes as a Lyndhurst city councilman and in reforming the investment oversight structure for the state Bureau of Workmen's Compensation as a state rep. He also spearheaded legislation that divested the Ohio pension funds from terrorist-sponsoring countries.

Mandel was actually attacked for his war service last fall by his Democratic opponent for abandoning voters by serving in Iraq; he won re-election handily.