VikingSpirit fanned some flames this week by blogging on the rumors that are out there saying that Joe Deters might be running for Congress against Jean Schmidt in the primary. Now, what everybody in Columbus and Cleveland want to know is how can this possibly be considering that Deters left Columbus in some sort of disgrace...Even though no criminal charges were filed against him, he left the Treasurer's office in disgrace after Matthew Borges, Deters' chief of staff and Eric Sagun, his former fundraiser, plead guilty to giving preferential treatment to certain brokers who contributed to Deters' campaign via a $50,000 donation to the Hamilton County Republican Party- Even though I don't believe coordination between county parties and candidates should be illegal, it is.Let's start with the facts as presented above: Deters was not charged, so the rest of that sentence doesn't mean anything. And even if Deters were charged, he'd have to have been convicted of a crime before it would matter. Guilt by association is the other party's schtick...unless, of course, you're Jean Schmidt...
But let's get to the heart of Deters popularity down here... He's a hard working prosecuter in a town riddled with crime. People like Deters because he gets results. Is that enough to build a case for running for Congress? I don't think so, but that won't stop some from tilting at windmills. A small but vocal minority of Republicans in southwestern Ohio absolutely can not get over the fact that there is a woman representing them in Congress. Is Deters one of them? Who knows! (Joe, email me and we'll talk...) But the buzz will continue to be there until there is a plethora of "conservative" alternatives to the most conservative member of Ohio's delegation in Congress. Names dropped: Tom Brinkman, Joe Deters, Phil Heimlich, Deb Kraus, and others...
Do I want him running for Congress? The answer is no. I want him to carry on doing the work of protecting the city from the vile and filth that is the criminal element in the Queen City.
