By Rick Rouan
The Columbus Dispatch
Posted Mar 4, 2019 at 4:45 AM
Rob Dorans was born into organized labor.
Dorans’ father went on strike days after his son was born in 1986. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was seeking better health-care benefits from Toledo Edison at the same time Dorans’ mother was recovering from the delivery.
Today, Dorans, 32, of Italian Village, also is an IBEW member and serves as lead attorney for Affiliated Construction Trades of Ohio. A week ago, he was unanimously appointed as the seventh member of the Columbus City Council.
Union membership has been in his family for decades. Dorans said his grandfather was a business agent for plumbers and pipe fitters in the 1960s. His family made it clear that organized labor was a big reason they were able to make a living, he said.
“What my parents provided us came from somewhere.
It came from a job that really only provided those benefits because
there was an organization that made sure people were treated fairly,
that they were paid a fair wage and provided health care,” Dorans said.
Dorans, 32, didn’t always envision his career guiding him into politics. He started out in the communication college at Ohio University, where he met his wife, Lauren, in 2004 before changing his major to political science.
The 2004 presidential election cycle gave Dorans the itch to get involved in politics. Dorans describes himself as “one of the low-level folks” who handed out bottled water at former Sen. John Edwards’ campaign rally on campus that year, and in 2006 he became president of the Ohio University College Democrats, helping to register thousands of students to vote in the midterm elections.
“At that time, I felt like my path was to be engaged with people and get them involved with the political process,” he said. “I was really focused on being helpful to folks who were running for office. Myself, as a candidate, wasn’t really something I saw in front of me.”
After working on Debbie Phillips’ unsuccessful bid for state representative in 2006, Dorans took over as her campaign manager in 2008. Phillips won in 2008, bringing Dorans with her to the Statehouse as a legislative aide.
Phillips said Dorans tackled everything from complicated policy on education funding to helping constituents from her rural district in southeastern Ohio navigate state bureaucracy.
“He’s the kind of person that does like to jump in and get involved and solve some problems,” she said.
Working on public policy drew Dorans to law school, he said. He graduated from the University of Toledo’s law school in 2012. He parlayed a law clerk’s job with ACT Ohio into his role as the construction trades organization’s lead attorney in 2013.
All seven of the Columbus City Council members are Democrats, and the council is deeply entrenched with unions. But Dorans is the only council member who currently works directly for union interests.
“I think it’s helpful to have someone that clearly understands their issues here on council and be able to advocate for them. Folks on council I know are supporters of organized labor, but to figure out how best to partner with one another,” he said.
Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council, said organized labor was pushing for Dorans to get the council appointment this year after losing out on the seat that went to Emmanuel Remy in 2018. Dorans’ legal experience and work in the community, though, were larger factors than labor’s support, he said.
Dorans volunteers with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Central Ohio and the Columbus Legal Aid Society, where he has provided free legal advice monthly for people who can’t afford it. Working with the Legal Aid Society has helped Dorans better understand problems with evictions in Columbus, he said.
“He brought a lot of those great qualities to the table,” Hager said.
“Was labor there cheering and rooting him on? Absolutely.
But this was all Rob Dorans.”
