“He was the preferred candidate among the names we were provided,” Kasich’s press secretary, Robert Nichols, said by email when asked why Gilb was picked.
Gilb, a lawyer with the Cincinnati-based Mathews & Mathews law firm, is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He served the 76th District and the Findlay area from 2001 to 2007.
Gilb fills a seat open since Judge Robert Peeler shifted to Judge James Flannery’s seat on the local bench on Feb. 1.
Flannery retired in October and Peeler was elected to Flannery’s seat.
Flannery and retired Judge Neal Bronson have been filling in while awaiting the election and appointment.
In December, the local GOP submitted Gilb, Tepe and Sievers as prospects to Kasich's office, but there was a mix-up involving submission of a letter triggering the process.
Sievers, a magistrate and former prosecutor, won more than 47 percent of the vote, but lost the seat now filled by Peeler, in a May 2014 election.
Tepe is a prosecutor in Springboro and a lawyer in private practice.
Neither Gilb or Tepe ran in the May 2014 judicial election.
Gilb was twice appointed to the Mason council, but finished fourth in a race for three seats in 2011. He was the subject of a Ohio Supreme Court ruling allowing him to run, despite a claim that he should be barred due to term limits.
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