Rooster in Review: Look what running for Congress does to your brain!

A special interview with Derek Merrin, who wanted no part of discussing George Santos calling him a closeted gay man.

Derek Merrin on how he’ll run on his anti-worker record in a pro-union Congressional District

The upshot to State Rep. Derek Merrin winning the Republican primary in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District would be seeing him in a competitive General Election for the first time in his political career.

Merrin’s dad swaddled him across the line for the mayorship of Watersville at age 19. He’s only ever had to campaign as the biggest right-wing freak on the stage. His natural lack of charisma is assuaged by his late father’s wealth.

But running for Congress is a different game. And talking with Merrin on Wednesday, he seemed to be under the impression he’d be running against Joe Biden in the General Election and not a longtime Congresswoman who has delivered results for a broad coalition of voters in her district over decades.

It’s also notable that Merrin clearly has access to national Republican polling in the district despite not yet airing a single TV ad!

While Merrin is a known entity in the pages of The Rooster, he’ll be battling for second place with Craig Riedel and J.R. Majewski if he can’t up his name-ID with weeks left before the primary.

Merrin also wanted no part of talking about disgraced former Republican Congressman George Santos, an openly gay man, labeling Merrin as a potential new member of the closeted gay Republican legislator caucus. But the longtime whispers of Merrin’s sexuality won’t be going away anytime soon as fellow Republican candidate J.R. Majewski is repeatedly calling Merrin an adulterous, closeted gay man who will soon be engulfed in a scandal about the matter.

Oh well! Not my problem. If I were Merrin, I simply wouldn’t have built my career around anti-LGBTQ beliefs and made myself susceptible to such rumors of blatant hypocrisy.

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This week in Ohio Man…

There are some weeks where I struggle to find a story worthy of the weekly accolades of “This Week in Ohio Man.” This wasn’t one of those weeks.

From Shahid Meighan of dispatch.com:

A professional bowler from Chillicothe arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service last week while he was competing in the 2024 U.S. Open Bowling Tournament still scored high enough to finish in the money, winning $1,500.

Brandon Novak, 36, of Chillicothe, was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Feb. 1 in the middle of the tournament at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis.

Charles Sanso, deputy U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio and a member of the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST), said that Novak had an active arrest warrant out of Ross County, Ohio.

Cindy Schumaker, assistant prosecuting attorney for Ross County, said Monday that Novak is charged under a secret indictment, and that any information about what he is charged with will not be released until he is extradited to Chillicothe. The prosecutor's office could not say when that will happen.

Gotta say if you read this story blind and asked me from which Ohio city this fugitive hailed… Chillicothe would probably be near the top of the list. And I mean that in the most respectful way toward Chillicothe, Ohio’s first capital!

This week in The Rooster…

Another week of respectable work, if I do say so myself!

• A time to kill. Attorney General Dave Yost’s blood lust to reinstate the death penalty via nitrogen gas served as a morbid backdrop to the trial of one of the losers who murdered my friend.

• Another day in the mud. Recapping a wild Tuesday at the Statehouse, which featured an unlikely cameo from Mayor Suburbs!

• The circus will continue until morale improves. Warring House Republican factions make their final moves before a break for primary season, while State Rep. Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) puts on a clinic of how not to handle simple questions about campaign finances.

THOSE WMDs. How Nikola Jokić became the world’s best basketball player… How one great sweater can last a lifetime… Australia introduces workers’ ‘right to disconnect’… The most scenic train rides across America… How a VA Clinic’s inability to help veterans in crisis destroyed two families.