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 ; Judiciary-Criminal Justice ; 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.
Judicial career
In September 2011 Grendell was appointed judge of the Geauga County Juvenille and Probate Court by the governor. He was elected again to the position in November 2014. During his time on the bench he has issued over 20,000 rulings with a reversal rate of less than.001 percent. In 2012 he presided over the hearing to bind over alleged Chardon school shooter T.J. Lane for trial in adult court per Ohio law. He is the creator of the award winning Good Deeds Program which is an effort to educate and assist Geauga County with probate planning for their real estate and vehicles. He has been recognized by his peers both nationally and within the state of Ohio, having been named President of the Ohio Juvenile Judges in 2017 and to the National Committee of Probate Judges.
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 " opinion of him and that of others in his own party is that he is 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.
