John William Griffin (born ca. 1927) is an Ohio farmer and a perennial candidate over the last forty years for various local, state, and federal offices in Ohio. While he has lost far more political races than he has won, he is currently a member of the Ohio State Board of Education. A resident of Miami Township in south central Montgomery County, Ohio between Miamisburg and Germantown, he has irritated party and education officials by his bids for office and has been the subject of scathing articles in the Dayton press. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links JohnWGriffin. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Buckeye State Other U.S. States Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Governor Bob Taft (R) Senators Mike DeWine (R) George Voinovich (R) Official languages None Area 116,096 km² (34th)  - Land 106,154 km²  - Water 10,044 km² (8. ... Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ... A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is either infrequent or non-existent. ... The Ohio State Board of Education, which has eleven elected members and six appointed members, oversees primary education in the State of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Education. ... Montgomery County is a county located in the state of Ohio. ... Miamisburg is a city located in Montgomery County, Ohio. ... There is also a tiny community named Germantown in Washington County. ... Downtown Dayton, Ohio, as seen from across the Great Miami River Dayton is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States. ...

Griffin is a graduate of Jefferson Township High School and attended the University of Dayton. Griffin won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Representative from Ohio's Eighth Congressional District in 1976, 1980, and 1982, each time losing to Republican incumbent Tom Kindness. In 1978, Griffin ran for Congress again, winning the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Tennyson Guyer in the Fourth District. He was again unsuccessful. University of Dayton The University of Dayton is a private Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the Senate. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Thomas Norman Kindness (August 26, 1929 – January 8, 2004) was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Ohio from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1987. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

Griffin ran again in the Eighth District in 1986 and 1988, both times losing to Kindness's successor Donald "Buz" Lukens. (Rather than seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, Kindness had sought election to the U.S. Senate in 1986.) In 1998, Griffin again won the Democratic nomination in the Eighth District, defeating the Democratic party's endorsed candidate, but lost in the general election to Lukens's successor John Boehner. He sought the Democratic nomination in 2000 to challenge Boehner again, but lost the primary to John G. Parks – 15,924 (53 percent) for Parks, 14,126 (47 percent) for Griffin. Jump to: navigation, search 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Donald Edgar Buz Lukens (born February 11, 1931) in Middletown, Ohio, was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio. ... Jump to: navigation, search Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... A general election is an election in which all members of a given political body are up for election. ... Jump to: navigation, search US Rep. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year 2000. ...

In 1976, Griffin ran as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention, pledged to U.S. Rep. Morris K. Udall (D-Arizona) for President. Griffin was an elected member of the Ohio Democratic Party's State Central Committee for two decades, losing his seat in the mid-1990s. He unsuccessfully sought re-election to the committee in 1998 and 2000. Jump to: navigation, search 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Featured at the Democratic National Convention are speeches by prominent party figures. ... Morris King Udall (June 15, 1922 - December 12, 1998), better known as Mo, was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Arizona from 1961 to 1991. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano (D) Senators John McCain (R) Jon Kyl (R) Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th)  - Land 294,312 km²  - Water 942 km... Jump to: navigation, search The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... The Ohio Democratic Party is the Ohio affiliate to the national Democratic party. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year 2000. ...

In 1990, he ran simultaneously for the Ohio House of Representatives from the 73rd district and the Ohio State Board of Education from the Eighth District, losing both races. Griffin was elected in 1992 to the Ohio State Board of Education, defeating three-term incumbent Chester A. Roush in the Third District for a two-year term. Griffin finished second to Diana M. Fessler in a six-candidate field in 1994 when he ran for a full four-year term. He moved to Minster, in northern Ohio, in 1996 to run against Virginia E. Jacobs for the First District seat on the Ohio State Board of Education and lost. In 1997 and 1999, he ran for the Board of Education of the Miamisburg City School District in Montgomery County and came in last both times. In 1998, he again ran against Fessler in the Third District and again lost. Griffin campaigned against school vouchers and for reform of school funding in Ohio. Jump to: navigation, search 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ohio has a bicameral legislature, the Ohio General Assembly, consisting a House of Representatives and Senate (the Ohio State Senate), based on its constitution of 1851. ... The Ohio State Board of Education, which has eleven elected members and six appointed members, oversees primary education in the State of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Education. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Minster is a village located in Auglaize County, Ohio. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... An education voucher, commonly called a school voucher, is a certificate by which parents are given the ability to pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned. ...

In 2002, Griffin again sought a seat on the state education board. The Dayton Daily News that year ran a series of scathing pieces about Griffin's behavior during his first term on the state board and his tax problems. Dennis Lieberman, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, stated "He has constantly been an embarrassment to our whole community." Nevertheless, Griffin unseated third district incumbent Carl Wick on November 5 to return to the State Board of Education. Griffin received 91,608 votes, Wick 70,886, and Adam Duberstein (a student at Earlham College) 35,266. Immediately after the election, party leaders in Dayton vowed they would try to remove him from office and the Daily News ran more scathing articles – one writer called Griffin a "rat" – but (as of 2005) he continues to hold his seat. "I am so disillusioned with our electorate," Lieberman said. Wick said the outcome showed why the board should be appointed as the voters had shown they could not be trusted with the decision. Jump to: navigation, search 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Dayton Daily News is a daily newspaper published at Dayton, Ohio. ... Jump to: navigation, search A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... Montgomery County is a county located in the state of Ohio. ... Jump to: navigation, search November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search Earlham College Earlham College is a highly selective Quaker liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 8th District
• Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 4th District

Voters in Ohio, as in other U.S. states elect a certain number of representatives to the United States House of Representatives. ... Voters in Ohio, as in other U.S. states elect a certain number of representatives to the United States House of Representatives. ...

External links

• Official biography, with photograph, on the Ohio Department of Education web-site
• Biography on Smart Voter web-site

References

• Leigh Allan. "Griffin conduct confounds." The Dayton Daily News. January 11, 2003.
• "Appoint the State School Board." (Editorial). The Plain Dealer. April 7, 1995.
• The Associated Press. "State Board Member Owes Taxes". The Plain Dealer. November 20, 1992.
• Jim Bebbington and Mark Fisher. "Parties aim to oust new school board member". The Dayton Daily News. November 22, 2002.
• Mark Fisher. "Critics say education board member isn't making the grade". The Dayton Daily News. August 7, 1994.
• Mark Fisher. "Three vie for education board." The Dayton Daily News. October 31, 2002
• Mark Fisher. "Griffin back in state post". The Dayton Daily News. November 6, 2002.
• Mark Fisher. "Griffin victory dismays leaders: History repeated in state school board election." The Dayton Daily News. November 13, 2002.
• Doug Page. "Politicians, useless rat very alike." The Dayton Daily News. November 21, 2002.
• Mary McCarty. "To avoid a disaster, please vote." The Dayton Daily News. November 3, 2002.
• Christine Vasconez and Benjamin Kline. "Familiar name reappears on ballot." The Dayton Daily News. October 29, 2002. 4B.