Third-term state Rep. Connie Pillich, of suburban Cincinnati, said Monday she’ll focus her campaign on fighting for working families, fellow small business owners and senior citizens.

Pillich has been a lawyer, businesswoman and captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Without using his name, she criticized Mandel for absenteeism from his state position during a failed run for the U.S. Senate last year and for not wanting the job.

Ohio Republican Chairman-elect Matthew Borges (BOHR’-jihs) said Mandel, a U.S. Marine veteran, has been a responsible watchdog of state tax dollars.

Borges cited Mandel’s record of cutting his own budget, modernizing the office and maintaining the high credit rating of Ohio’s investment fund.

Treasurer Josh Mandel was clear in his short speech to the Ohio Oil and Natural Gas Association on Thursday.

I oppose increasing the severance tax here in the state of Ohio.

Mandel says special interest groups on the federal and state level see the boom in oil and gas drilling as a way to bring in money for more government spending – but he says he sees it as an opportunity for small businesses and landowners.

“It is wrong to increase taxes so the government can redistribute wealth,” Mandel said.

“If the state of Ohio is interested in having government share in the wealth, rather than increasing taxes and regulatory burdens lawmakers should look to lease as much state land as possible for oil and gas exploration.”

Last month Mandel asked lawmakers to block Gov. Kasich’s proposed Medicaid expansion, another key provision in his budget. But there’s no indication that Mandel will try to take on Kasich in a primary.

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel tells a meeting of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association he believes the governor’s proposal to increase the severance tax stands to scare away Ohio oil and gas investment at a critical time.

Mandel’s remarks Thursday mark the second time in under a month he has bucked the governor on a major policy issue.

In February, Mandel sent a letter to state legislators urging them to reject Kasich’s proposal to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law. He argued the plan’s long-term harm outweighed its short-term benefits.

Both the tax increase and the Medicaid expansion are part of Kasich’s two-year state budget.

In a letter sent Monday, Treasurer Josh Mandel urged legislative leaders to oppose Kasich’s plan. The GOP governor has framed the move as recapturing Ohioans’ tax dollars from the federal government.

Washington will pay the entire cost of the expansion for the first three years, gradually phasing down to 90 percent – still well above the state’s current level of 64 percent.

Mandel warned state leaders that “there is no free money,” and Ohio would be stuck with its long-term effects.

Kasich incorporated Medicaid expansion into his two-year state budget proposal.

Many Republicans are averse to President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and resistant to expanding government programs.

Mandel, the state treasurer and an unsuccessful fall candidate for U.S. Senate, made the announcement Friday. He said the biennial payroll budget at the Treasurer’s Office has fallen from $12 million under predecessor Kevin Boyce to $10.4 million, part of $2.6 million saved in his first two years.

Mandel’s new, smaller leadership line-up also excludes several former political operatives whose lack of training, youth or high salaries attracted criticism during his run against Democrat Sherrod Brown. His Senate campaign political director was rehired to the state payroll.

Brown beat Mandel in one of the nation’s most expensive Senate races.

This race that would make history started quietly. Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, long known as a veteran liberal lawmaker, started his campaign for a second term with almost no fanfare. State treasurer and conservative Republican Josh Mandel made his announcement at the Akron Press Club in March with some lines that became standard fare for his stump speeches.

Right now these partisan politicians in Washington are driving our country off a cliff. Sherrod Brown is behind the steering wheel. We cannot wait another six years to turn this country in a different direction.

Just five days later, Mandel bested five other GOP contenders and won the nomination handily.

But for months, both had been raising big money. Mandel stepped up the visibility of his campaign by bringing in Republican rock stars such as former presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, rumored to be on Mitt Romney’s short list for vice president.

“We need to change the majority leader – we need to change who’s in charge in the Senate. It does us no good to win the White House if Harry Reid is still in charge in the Senate,” Rubio said.

Mandel also appeared with Romney several times.

But some criticized Mandel for running a campaign with lots of high-profile help, but few ideas.

Meanwhile, Brown took some hits for not stumping enough with the candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket. Brown often said – as he did in January – that his schedule kept him from appearing with President Obama.

I’m glad to appear with him; it’s nothing like that. It’s just – they’ll make politics out of anything. And I support what he’s trying to do on job creation and will continue to.

All along, the money was piling up – both the dollars raised by the candidates, and those spent by outside groups and so-called Super PACs.

The race was one of those targeted as a potential win for Republicans. The issues in the campaign – the economy, trade, the auto bailout – were briefly touched on in commercials that started out nasty and in some case arguably false, and only got worse.

“Josh Mandel – he’s become the candidate of the big lie,” one ad claimed.

“Sherrod Brown – living by different rules than us” declared another.

Those angry ads set a tone that carried over into the three debates in October between Mandel and Brown. The first was at the City Club of Cleveland, the second a few days later in Columbus.

Mandel: “The folks we’ve hired into our office are qualified professionals, and I believe their record speaks for themselves. (boos) Let’s talk about the record.”

Brown: “He has the nerve and encouraging his friends to ask questions about term limits when he clearly has no regard for any of that. (boos, cheers and applause)”

Mandel: “Senator, you are a liar.”

Brown: “Josh Mandel, as we know, has trouble telling the truth.”

Brown ended up getting endorsed by nearly every newspaper in Ohio – some of which declined to back him when he ran in 2006, in what had been the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Ohio history.

Though Mandel had been the number-two statewide vote getter for the Republicans in 2010, Brown beat him by 326,000 votes. But Brown had just 50% of the vote – Mandel had 45%, and third-party candidate Scott Rupert brought in 5%. On election night, Brown sounded physically spent.

This race was never about me or my opponent. It was about the veteran in Columbus. It was about the waitress in Waverly. It was about the steelworker in Yorkville, the auto parts worker in Lima, the small businessman in Marietta, the farmer in Waldo.

The Brown-Mandel contest was the third most expensive Senate race in the country in 2012 – not far behind those in Massachusetts and Virginia, with the candidates and the outside groups spending $76.2 million.

At the downtown Columbus Hilton Sherrod Brown struggled for his voice after turning back challenger Mandel.

“Today in Ohio, in the middle of America the middle class won.” Says Brown.

Brown parlayed his support for the bail-out of GM and Chrysler and some anti China campaign rhetoric into a five point victory. He withstood 50-thousand attack ads from what he called “secretive, out of state forces” to gain victory.

Republican Mandel sought to turn Brown’s three decades in public office against the incumbent. The Iraq War veteran told supporters “This was a David and Goliath type fight.” But,Mandel delivered a short, low-key concession about mid-evening.

“I’m proud of the effort we put forth. And I think we put forth everything we could in sweat, honor and integrity.” Said Mandel.

With Brown’s win Ohio keeps the status quo in its congressional delegation. A democratic senator, a republican senator and a republican majority house delegation.

Take this exchange on passing a balanced budget starting with Brown:

“The talking points that Josh has are ‘didn’t pass a budget, didn’t pass a budget.’ But the facts are we passed a budget control act, which has the force of law, which cut $2 trillion in spending and is making a difference in getting our budget under control.”

“Do you have a budget control act around your kitchen table, or a budget control act in your small business?” Mandel responded. “No, that’s ridiculous. It’s Washington speak. We have budgets, we manage our households with a budget, we manage our small businesses with a budget. But unfortunately in Washington, these politicians think they can live by a different set of rules than us.”

The two also debated Social Security, Medicare, the auto and bank bailouts, the federal tax code and abortion. On that issue Mandel said he’s against all abortions except if the mother’s life is at risk.

He also accused Brown of having extremist views on the issue and supporting abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy. Brown responded with incredulity on that point then said he trusts Ohio women to make their own health decisions.

With just two weeks until Election Day Mandel unveiled his plan at an orthopedic private practice in Westlake. Point one of the plan is to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has been a centerpiece of his campaign.

“Some people call it Obamacare, some people call it the Affordable health care act. I call it what I believe it is: the federal government takeover of healthcare,” Mandel said.

Several of the rest of Mandel’s ten points are principles that Republicans in general have applied to health care, such as tort reform, allowing patients cross state lines to buy insurance, encouraging medical savings accounts, and giving Medicaid block grants to states. Others you don’t hear so often, such as giving a tax deduction for health insurance to those who must buy it on their own. Mandel says that would help people get coverage for pre-existing conditions – although he doesn’t say how.

“The way to provide coverage for pre-existing is not to have the federal government take over the health care system. It’s to change the tax code to make it more friendly to small businesses and to people who are self employed, and more friendly to workers who may want to move from job to job.”

Democratic incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown’s campaign calls the plan “slogans over substance.”

Spokesperson Sadie Weiner said it would do little to expand access to health care, and repealing the Affordable Care Act would have immediate repercussions.

“Big insurance companies can kick you off your plan if you get sick. Those same big insurance companies can refuse to cover you if you have a pre-existing consition, and millions of young adults would be kicked off their parents plans when they graduate and begin looking for a job if Josh Mandel has his way on this.”

The two candidates will have their final debate of the campaign Thursday night in Cincinnati.

Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh Mandel debated Monday at an event in Cleveland.

Early in the debate, Brown took Mandel to task for signing an anti-tax pledge that could prevent him from striking deals in Washington necessary to close business tax loopholes.

Mandel called Brown a “bailout senator” and said the economy is worse off in many areas than when Brown took office six years ago.

Click here for extended debate coverage by WKSU’s Kevin Niedermier.

The candidates will meet in two more debates – in Columbus on Thursday, and in Cincinnati on Oct. 25.