Pop quiz:Question: What do you get when you mix alcohol, a moving vehicle and the Chairman of the Butler County Democratic Party?
Your choices:
A: A story by an intrepid reporter who is not Josh Sweigart
B: Another Democrat resigning in disgrace
C: Dancing Snoopy
D: All of the above
If you answered "D: All of the above" you are correct.
And what did you win? Well, for guessing the correct answer, you get to read what I think about all of this... :)
Let's start with the story NOT by intrepid reporter Josh Sweigart that appears at Journal-News.com:
The head of the Butler County Democratic Party has resigned after being arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated.Say what you want about the Butler County Republican Party, but they aren't being run by a drunkard so stupid to get behind the wheel of a car and risk peoples lives.
The party announced Tuesday, April 29, that Ron Wardrup had resigned as head of the party, effective immediately.
Wardrup, 48, of Taylor Trace Lane in Hamilton, was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated shortly after midnight Sunday, April 27, according to court records.
Police said Wardrup ran the red light at Third Street while traveling east on High Street in a 2006 Chevy Impala. When they pulled him over, police said, Wardrup smelled of alcohol and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot.
Wardrup admitted to drinking three beers but refused a test for blood alcohol content, police records show. Police said Wardrup was cooperative, but failed one or more sections of the field sobriety test.
Wardrup has led the party since February 2007, when he was voted in unanimously after Dan Gattermeyer stepped down to run for judge.
"This year's elections are going to be exciting for the Democratic Party both nationally and locally. I do not want my personal actions and these pending charges to detract from the party's positive movement," Wardrup said in a statement.
And if Wardrup thinks that running away is going to prevent me from bringing his name up like Josh does Kay Rogers, he's in for a treat... Get a load of this:
Holcomb said he doesn't see Wardrup's arrest and resignation hurting the party. While the allegations against Wardrup are serious, Holcomb said they don't involve any malfeasance or "discharge of the public trust."Say what??? No discharge of public trust? Mr. Holcomb, your chairman put peoples lives at risk. I'd say there is a degree of public trust involved in that decision. Once again, we see Democrats behaving badly and the immediate response is to sweep it all under the rug as quickly as possible.
If this were a Republican, we'd see multiple stories from Josh on how the entire Republican Party got sloshed and elected a Party chairman who got blitzed and drove home. It would be a five-part front pager for sure. Must I ask the question? Okay, I will: Does this not indicate the type of leadership the citizens of Butler County could expect from the Democrats? You know this would be the banner headline if Wardup was a Republican, so why isn't that question being asked? Why isn't any answer from Holcomb being portrayed as spin?
The best part, from my perspective, is that I can now paint the Butler County Democratic Party as the Culture of Carousing. If that isn't worth at least one Dancing Snoopy, I don't know what is...
Exit Question: Will intrepid reporter Josh get around to writing ANYTHING on this story? Stay tuned...
UPDATE 1: Intrepid reporter Josh managed to scare up a paragraph on this story over at his blog...
UPDATE 2: Another entry in the media bias file: What does the "Putter's Incident" have to do with this Democrat scandal? Answer: It doesn't, but the 527 media CAN NOT write a negative story about a Democrat without finding some REpublican to lay some blame on too. WCPO, you should be ashamed of yourselves...
