DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1994, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994              TAG: 9412180109EDITION: CITY           SECTION: NEWS        PAGE: 1B TYPE: PROFILE SOURCE: By Sandy Theis and Tim Miller COLUMBUS BUREAU                 POST-ELECTION GOVERNOR 'WHOLE NEW CHARACTER' COLUMBUS    On Nov. 8, voters gave Gov. George Voinovich a record-breaking 72 percent of the vote and assured Republican control of all three branches of state government.   Since then, Voinovich - who governed with caution and compromise during hisfirst term - has:   * Fired Ohio Inspector General David Sturtz, the well-regarded watchdog charged with investigating alleged government corruption.   * Announced plans to abolish the Department of Industrial Relations, an agency created primarily to protect workers while on the job.   * Sought to take over the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, an independent panel that oversees benefits to injured workers; and the State Board of Education, an elected panel charged with setting policy for primary and secondary schools.   * Vowed to seek retribution against soft drink companies that successfully overturned a Voinovich-initiated pop tax. The tax generated $65 million annually in state revenue.   * Written a letter critical of Ohio Republican Party Chairman Robert Bennett - and assured its publication by mailing copies to dozens of top GOP officials.   Voinovich's new-found intensity has some Republicans scratching their headsand some Democrats hoping that Ohio's popular governor will become his own most formidible enemy.   "I don't know what they injected the governor with after the election, but it's turned him into a whole new character," said Greg Haas, the new executivedirector of the Ohio Democratic Party. "This is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in itstruest form."   Voinovich spokesman Mike Dawson said the governor is getting unfair - and inconsistent - treatment. "I don't understand the press," Dawson said. "On onehand, he gets accused of not doing enough. Then he gets criticized for trying to do too much."   Of all Voinovich's post-election actions, his firing of Sturtz has caused the greatest uproar.   When word of Sturtz's possible ouster leaked out, both the public and the press rallied to his support and questioned Voinovich's motives.   One columnist talked of Voinovich's "ego-boosting 72 percent share of the vote." Editorials urged keeping Sturtz, calling it a "blunder" to do otherwise.   Voinovich ignored the advice, insisting that the inspector general's officeneeds "new perspective."   One top Republican, when asked to explain the firing, said simply, "I can't. There is no explanation."   Janet Lewis, executive director of the government-watchdog group Common Cause, said she was outraged by the firing.   "We don't have enough people in public life who we can point to and feel confident they have done and will do a good job," she said. "I would think thegovernor would want to hang onto people like Mr. Sturtz who do their jobs."   Both Lewis and Haas speculated that Voinovich's aggressive style is linked,in part, to the election that will give Republicans control of both houses of the General Assembly and all the statewide offices.   Haas called one-party control "unhealthy" in a Democracy.   "It hands you a situation in which you've got to focus on and appease your own folks, and you don't think you have to think much about any kind of balance," Haas said. "When you're not forced to talk to the other side, you lose your bearings real quick."   In 1983, Democrats controlled all branches of state government, and then-Democratic Gov. Richard F. Celeste soon found himself saddled with the "arrogant" label.   Celeste took control of government with a vengeance. He fired members of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, purged Republicans from state jobs and urged lawmakers to pass a tax increase and collective-bargaining for public employees.   "In some respects, the worst thing that happened to the Democrats was to win the state Senate in 1983," Haas said.   Voinovich was unavailable for comment.   Lt. Gov.-elect Nancy Hollister, however, said she believes Voinovich's second term will mirror his first.   "He's a man of intensity. He's a man of integrity," she said.   "I don't see a different George Voinovich. I see a strong leader."LENGTH: Medium:   86 LINESILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTO: Voinovich: Caution is no longer the ruleSUBJ: GOVERNOR NA: GEORGE VOINOVICH GEOG: OHIO AT: POST-ELECTION ENHANCER: REF1