Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett yesterday accused the leading Democratic critic of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation investment losses of "hypocrisy."Personally, I would have preferred the chairman hit the Ohio Democrats with the fact that the investment scandal is the bigger deal than CoinGate itself. Stressing the point that the investment firm had employed the daughter of one of the Democrats on the oversight committee. But that's me... Pay to play, this is just too rich:
Mr. Bennett cited a quote from yesterday's editions of The Blade from state Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown: "Who am I to tell the Supreme Court about legal ethics?" Mr. Dann asked.
He made the statement after fellow Democrats said several Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from a lawsuit Mr. Dann filed to gain access to weekly reports sent to Gov. Bob Taft.
"I'm glad Senator Dann admits his own hypocrisy on this issue," Mr. Bennett said.
"Here's a guy who's been running around for weeks lecturing Republicans about ethics in state government, and his own ethical misconduct is finally catching up with him."
Mr. Dann responded by acknowledging he had made a mistake and he made changes at his law firm to "ensure it would never happen again."This lumping in of Ken Blackwell with these characters is amusing. Blackwell recommended legislation that would have prevented this nonsense, but nobody bothered to listen to him. He has been aggressive about seeking a resolution and the investigation. Listing Blackwell here is nothing more than a smear job...
"The truth was far more important to me than protecting my own self-interest. I have never tried to hide the facts of this bar reprimand or that I am [a] human being and made mistakes.
"I call on Bob Bennett, Bob Taft, Jim Petro, Betty Montgomery, and Ken Blackwell to do the same thing. Admit that they made mistakes by creating a pay-to-play system with investments at the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, take aggressive steps to restore the integrity of the funds, and make meaningful changes to prevent corruption in the future," Senator Dann said in a written statement.
Mark's Remarks
That is what the Ohio Dems do. In a letter to the editor of my own local paper, the Brown County Press, a Dem operative lumped 2nd Congressional Candidate Jeanne Schmidt in with the Coingate controversy. If guilt by loose association were cause for conviction, I could just as easily say that all Dems were womanizing adulterers or all Dems pay registration workers who engage in fraud in crack cocaine. The lumping of Schmidt with Coingate is just like the lumping of Blackwell. No substance, just smear. Of coruse, the same can be said for the National Dems treatment of John Bolton, Judge Roberts, et.al.
