Tim Grendell

Education and career

Grendell received his JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and his LLM from the University of Virginia Law School. He was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in History from John Carroll University and graduated from St. Ignatius High School. Grendell served in the United States Army from 1978 to 1983, and was assigned to the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Office for the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

With his wife, Diane Grendell, term limited from the House in 2000, he sought her position to replace her. He won a first term with 58.3% of the electorate. In 2002, Grendell won reelection with 69.7% of the vote against Democrat Meg Cacciacarro.

Ohio Senate

After serving two terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, Grendell ran for the Ohio Senate in 2004, and won with 59.6% of the vote over Democrat John Hawkins. He won reelection in 2008 unopposed. In the 128th General Assembly, Grendell was Chairman of the Ohio State Senate Judiciary and Criminal Justice Committee, Vice-Chairman of the State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, and a member of the Agriculture Committee, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, and Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review.

In the 129th General Assembly, Grendell was a member of the committees on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources; Government Oversight and Reform (as vice chairman); Judiciary-Criminal Justice (as chairman); and State and Local Government and Veteran's Affairs. He served on the Ohio Attorney General's Human Trafficking Commission.

In September 2011, Grendell resigned from the Senate to become a judge of the Geauga County probate court.

Controversies

During his time as state senator, Grendell worked to oppose the Great Lakes Compact, water conservation standards intended to ensure a level economic playing field for water use throughout the eight Great Lakes states. With support from Republican and Democratically-led states, the Compact garnered support from business and environmental interests alike. Yet Grendell made the puzzling argument that the Compact interfered with private property rights. The argument had little legal legitimacy, and instead worked to slow if not scuttle the policy.

With two years left in his Senate term, Grendell waived them and ran for his former House of Representatives seat in order to avoid term limits. On November 2, 2010, he won back his former House seat, the 98th district, decisively. With the Senate then having to appoint someone to the remainder of Grendell's unexpired Senate term, it was rumored that Grendell's wife, Diane Grendell, was a possibility for appointment. Upon learning that she would not be appointed, Grendell decided to remain in the Senate. Soon after, The Plain Dealer and other state newspapers began questioning Grendell's motives and true agenda as a state legislator.

In January 2015, Judge Grendell attempted to hold Geauga County Republican Party Chairwoman Nancy McArthur in contempt for expressing negative opinions about him, including private corospondence sharing " (her) opinion of him and that of others in his own party is that he is [sic] narcissist and mentally ill", with a third party involved in a juvenile court case before the judge, but the Appellate Court intervened to stop his contempt of court proceedings.