Jim Renacci

James B. "Jim" Renacci /rᵻˈneɪsi/ (born December 3, 1958) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 16th congressional district since January, 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is an Ohio entrepreneur and served for a time as Mayor of Wadsworth, Ohio.

On November 6, 2012, Renacci defeated Betty Sutton, as redistricting forced the two incumbents to run against each other. Sutton was defeated by a vote of 181,137 to 165,636 in the new, Republican-leaning district.

Jim Renacci was born December 3, 1958, in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Renacci’s father was a railroad worker and his mother was a nurse. Renacci earned a degree in business administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and became a Certified Public Accountant and financial advisor.

In 2012, The Christian Science Monitor included Renacci in its list of the 10 richest members of Congress. As of 2010, it was estimated that Renacci was worth between $35 and $100 million and made salary, interest and other income of between $500,000 and $4.3 million in 2008 and 2009. In June 2006, the Ohio Department of Taxation assessed Renacci $1.4 million in back taxes, interest and penalties for disclosed but unreported year 2000 income. Renacci stated that the dispute stemmed from a change in Ohio tax policy which he disputed. He and his wife paid the State of Ohio more than $1.3 million, along with approximately another 1000 Ohio citizens who also fought the dispute. In June, 2016, the Renacci's won their case against the State of Ohio (represented by Attorney General Mike DeWine) after appealing it to the Ohio Surpreme Court. The court's unanimous decision affirmed they had properly appealed the tax assessment in June 2006.

Renacci started his first business at the age of 24. In 2003, Renacci formed the LTC Companies group, a financial consulting service which included a partial ownership of three Harley-Davidson dealerships in Columbus, the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion in Columbus, and Renacci-Doraty Chevrolet in Wadsworth.

Renacci and LTC owned, operated and managed over 60 businesses, employed approximately 3000 people and created over 1500 jobs. Over his 30 years in business, his companies have been a party in multiple legal cases, including two wrongful death suits related to Renacci's nursing home business, and a complaint filed by more than a half-dozen temporary employees alleging they were not paid for work they did for Renacci's medical billing firm. In all cases, Renacci either settled out of court or the case was dismissed.

Renacci became a partner and managing board member of the former Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers. The team finished the 2007 season as the AFL Eastern Conference Champions with Renacci as President and General Manager. Renacci also served as AFL Executive Committee Vice Chairman and is a partial owner of the Lancaster JetHawks, a minor league baseball team.

Elections

Renacci announced on August 24, 2009 that he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio's 16th district, officially filing on January 11, 2010. Renacci ran as a "Contender" of the National Republican Congressional Committee in its "Young Guns" program. Renacci defeated Democratic incumbent John Boccieri by 52% to 41% with 7% of the vote going to Libertarian candidate Jeffrey Blevins.

In a town hall meeting in Canton, in September, 2010, Renacci was accused of stating that civil rights issues should be addressed by local governments, stating that the solution is "to get our federal government out of the way" because "it's not the federal government's job". But a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor who was at the event noted Renacci's words were twisted by a reference to the blight in local communities.

The Plain Dealer reported in September 2011 that the new district map of Ohio would place Congressman Betty Sutton in “a Republican leaning district that's being constructed to favor Renacci.” In December, Sutton filed to run against Renacci. Later that month, Roll Call reported that a poll taken at least two months earlier showed the two congress members “neck and neck at 45 percent.” On the Washington Post's list of top 10 House races in 2012, Sutton's was at #8. Renacci defeated Sutton by a 52% to 48% margin on Election Day.

Tenure

In May 2012, a Renacci campaign contributor was the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into $100,000 of campaign contributions made by employees of an Ohio-based direct marketing corporation, Suarez Corporation Industries, to Renacci's campaign. Many of the non-executive employees had never donated to a campaign before and owned modest homes, yet were reported as donating the maximum legal amount of $5,000 to Renacci. The investigation was sparked by prior Toledo Blade reports of the alleged violations of federal campaign finance law prohibiting a donor from contributing in another's name and prohibiting a corporation from using bonuses or other methods of reimbursing employees for their contributions. Renacci’s campaign returned all of the donations, and it was later determined in a Cleveland court that the contributors did not violate federal law.

As of January 2017, several news sources had reported that Renacci was considering running for governor of Ohio in 2018. Politico reported that "as a wealthy auto dealer prior to being elected to Congress, Renacci would potentially be able to self-fund a statewide bid.". On March 21, 2017, Renacci announced his attentions to run for the Republican nomination to be Governor of the State if Ohio in 2018.

Committee assignments

• House Ways and Means Committee
  • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures
  • Subcommittee on Social Security
• United States House Budget Committee

In the 112th congress, Renacci served on the Committee on Financial Services, as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, and a member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Caucus memberships

Rep. Renacci has been a member of the following caucuses in the 112th and 113th Congresses

• Republican Study Committee
• Congressional Coal Caucus
• Congressional Steel Caucus
• Congressional CPA Caucus
• NorthEast-MidWest Coalition
• General Aviation Caucus
• Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Caucus
• Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus (113th only)