Maryellen O'Shaughnessy

Maryellen O'Shaughnessy is a Democratic politician from Columbus, Ohio, and current Franklin County Clerk of Courts, now serving in her third consecutive term.

Maryellen O'Shaughnessy
O'Shaughnessy files to run for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010
Franklin County, Ohio Clerk of Courts
Assumed office
January 2, 2009
Preceded byJohn O'Grady
Member of Columbus City Council
In office
January 2, 1998 – January 1, 2009
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceColumbus, Ohio
Alma materOhio State University

Background

O'Shaughnessy is a fifth-generation Central Ohioan.[1][2] She graduated from Bishop Watterson High School and received a B.A. from The Ohio State University in Journalism.[2]

O'Shaughnessy is a fourth-generation funeral director and owner of the O'Shaughnessy Company Funeral Directors, established in 1889.[2] She lost to Pat Tiberi in 2000 for Ohio's 12th congressional district.[3] She was elected to three terms on the Columbus City Council before being elected to Franklin County Clerk of Courts in 2008.[1]

In 2010, O'Shaughnessy was the Democratic Party nominee for Ohio Secretary of State. She was opposed by Republican Jon A. Husted, then a member of the Ohio State Senate, and previously Speaker of the Ohio House, and Libertarian Charles Earl. Husted won election with 53.7% to O'Shaughnessy's 41.5% and Earl's 4.8%.[4]

O'Shaughnessy ran unopposed for a second four-year term as Clerk of Courts in 2012. In 2016, O'Shaughnessy was again victorious in her third election earning more than 67% of votes over her opponent. The current term ends January 2021.[2]

During her tenure as clerk of courts, her leadership has led to the office processing more than half-a-million vehicle titles a year – the most in Ohio – and has sent more than $7 million in auto-title funds to the county’s general fund.[5] In the course of the 2020 budget process, O'Shaughnessy was able to return an additional $3 million in surplus funds to the county's general fund, bringing her office's total to more than $10 million during her tenure as Franklin County Clerk of Courts. The $3 million returned from 2019 will drive the modernization of the county court's computer systems. [6]


Personal
O'Shaughnessy in March 2016

O'Shaughnessy lives in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the Roman Catholic Church, she has received the Diocesan Service Award. She has served or currently is on the boards of the Columbus Historical Society and the Greenways Working Group of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, the metropolitan planning organization for central Ohio.[2]


Notes
  1. Clerk of Courts.
  2. Franklin County Democratic Party.
  3. Vote2000.
  4. Vote2010.
  5. "Editorial: Retain O'Shaughnessy as court clerk". The Columbus Dispatch. September 28, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  6. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191217/franklin-county-commissioners-approve-2020-budget

References
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