The news that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is leaving his post spurred Washington’s favorite parlor game: Who will be his replacement?

We’ll add to that an extra question: Will that person be an Ohioan?

Among the names being bandied about by the Great Mentioner – that invisible Washington, D.C., force that speculates on cabinet selections and the like – are former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and former U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.

The former, who was mentioned in CNN and by the Chicago Tribune, helped deliver Ohio for President Obama in last fall’s election. The latter, a Republican from northern Ohio, spent years on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before moving to the House Appropriations Committee. LaTourette retired from Congress at the end of this year. Governing Magazine listed him among the possibilities.

Strickland did not return a call seeking comment, but LaTourette, who recently joined McDonalds Hopkins LLC, a Cleveland-based advocacy firm, said it would be a “huge honor” to be picked but that the White House has not contacted him about the possibility.

He said because he just started his new job, if he were picked, he’d have to have a “very, very long conversation” with his new employer, which recently opened up a D.C. office, where LaTourette and his wife, Jennifer are based.

The White House says it doesn’t comment on timing for new appointments, nor does it speculate on who might be picked. The only other Ohioan currently serving in a high post in the Obama administration is Richard Cordray, who was recently re-nominated to his post as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Brown wants stiffer penalties for big banks

Sen. Sherrod Brown wants to know: Does “too big to fail” mean “too big to jail?”

Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder questioning the federal government can effectively prosecute banks that have been deemed “too big to fail.”

Specifically, they want to know if the federal government can prosecute those banks and impose penalties on them. They also want Justice Department to disclose the identities of parties that prosecutors consult with about the appropriate level of penalties for financial institutions.

“Already, the nation’s six largest megabanks enjoy what amounts to taxpayer-funded guarantee by virtue of their size, making it harder for regional and community banks to compete,” Brown, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement. “Now, these megabanks may also enjoy some impunity when they violate the law by laundering money or illegally foreclosing on homeowners. Wall Street should pay the full price of its wrongdoing, not pass the costs along to taxpayers.”

“The large number of private and government lawsuits since the global financial crisis continues to undermine public confidence in our financial markets,” the two senators wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder. “This confidence can only be restored by demonstrating that there are consistent rules in place that provide accountability for wrongdoing and deter financial predators…. Our markets will only function efficiently if participants believe that all laws will be enforced consistently, and that violators will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. There should not be one set of rules that apply to Wall Street and another set for the rest of us.