OH House-58: Heydinger (D) To Be Sworn In Today

Thomas E. Heydinger (D-Norwalk), a former Huron County Common Pleas Court judge in the Juvenile and Probate divisions, will be sworn in today as the replacement for Matt Barrett (D-Amherst) who resigned in the wake of a scandal involving projecting a topless photograph to a high school class and then lying about the source.

UPDATE: Heydinger, 67, was a Huron County juvenile and probate judge from 1975 to 2003. Since his retirement he has been filling in for various judges around the state. He was chosen by the House Democratic Caucus this morning over three other candidates, according to Brad Dicken in the Chronicle Telegram. The others were former Huron County Democratic Party Chairman Patrick Saunders, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Frank Janik, and senior caretaker (?) Mary Fleure from Seneca County.

2nd UPDATE: I'm not finding a lot of information online about Heydinger. ODP Chair Chris Redfern had said that it was important to find an officeholder and someone well known in Huron County. The appointee is a former officeholder who ran in county-wide judicial races. Heydinger told the Lorain Morning Journal a month ago that he had become "accustomed to retirement" and had to weigh the considerations involved, including the impact on his family.

3rd UPDATE: For what it is worth, Blogger Buckeye RINO wrote recently that he thought Heydinger made the most sense of the available candidates, as having good name recognition and not being tied to a legislative voting record.

It appears that Thomas Heydinger has donated moderate amounts to John Edwards and John Kerry in recent presidential contests, and that he started the volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program in the Huron County Juvenile Court in 1989.