President-elect Donald Trump has tapped a familiar figure in Ohio politics to head his domestic issues transition team.
Ken Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor, served as state treasurer from 1994 to 1999. As secretary of state from 1999 to 2007, Blackwell faced lawsuits and allegations he supported vote-suppressing policies favoring George W. Bush, whose Ohio campaign he also co-chaired. On election night 2004, Bush called Blackwell "a nut", according to the book "State of Denial" by Bob Woodward. In 2006 Blackwell became Ohio's first black nominee for governor, a race he lost to Ted Strickland. Blackwell backed Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries, but supported Trump in the general election. While he declined to discuss his role in a Trump transition, the online site Politico says it has obtained a document that says Blackwell will oversee a team examining the departments of energy, environmental protection, labor, transportation, health and human services, housing and urban development, agriculture and the interior. Blackwell is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, which engages in lobbying. Documents obtained by Politico show Trump's transition team includes several lobbyists (http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2016/11/lobbyists-abound-on-trump-transition-217349).
