Democrat Bill O'Neill chooses Lorain principal Chantelle Lewis as his running mate

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill O'Neill on Tuesday unveiled his running mate: Chantelle E. Lewis, a Lorain County elementary school principal and former East Cleveland City Council member.

In a video posted to Facebook, O'Neill called Lewis, a black woman, "bright, articulate, and a success story right out of the American Dream." In a statement, O'Neill added: "The people of Ohio deserve diversity in their leaders. It doesn't get any better than this."

In the announcement video, O'Neill and Lewis lashed out against Ohio's controversial school-funding system, which the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2002 without offering a solution. O'Neill, who's resigning from the Supreme Court later this month to focus on his campaign, on Tuesday called the state's education funding process "a tragedy of epic proportions" and said most of his primary opponents have "done nothing" to fix the problem despite serving in the state legislature.

Lewis added, "Let's be honest here, our Ohio kids are waiting for the state of Ohio to take education seriously."

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2018/01/democrat_bill_oneill_chooses_l.html