If you live in OH-16, what I am about to tell you may be news to you. John Boccieri (D-Not from OH-16), the Democratic candidate for Congress, was the only state senator to pass on voting to authorize the Inspector General of the Great State of Ohio to investigate Ohio's Eliot Spitzer, also known as Marc Dann. Boccieri was in Columbus the day before and he is on the record as having voted the day after, so the only conclusion that we can come to is that John Boccieri didn't want to vote against a fellow Youngstown crony.Heck, even little Capri Cafaro, Marc Dann's hand-picked Youngstown crony replacement in the state senate, voted to allow the investigation. If there was a single real objective reporter amongst the 527 media in this state, one would have to ask, "Why did Boccieri duck this important vote?"
Here is something to think about... On May 3rd, Dann admitted having an affair and putting the Attorney General's office in the position of being in jeopardy of being sued for sexual harassment, Boccieri had this to say (Canton Repository):
"It's a personal matter as long as there were no criminal or ethical standards crossed," he said. "Clearly with the others, there were ethical and criminal issues that are pretty serious."He also acknowledged that there wre some serious reservations about the situation:
"At the end of the day, all of us as elected officials are held to a higher standard of accountability for our conduct in and out of office. These jobs take a lot out of the families; that's for sure."Two question: (1) Was Boccieri the only Buckeye to think that Marc Dann had NOT committed serious ethical violations? (2) Just what standards of conduct in and out of office are acceptable to John Boccieri if he's willing to let this sort of thing continue?
Two days later it became politically expedient to throw his buddy Dann under the bus because he flip-flopped on the issue and jumped on the governor and the Ohio Democratic Party's bandwagon and called for Dann to resign.
Two other connections worth noting is that John Boccieri was one of Marc Dann's biggest campaign contributors. And if that wasn't enough, guess who used to work for Boccieri's statehouse campaign? If you guessed Jessica Utovich, Dann's former mistress and employee, you are a winner!
John Boccieri is willing to accept typical Youngstown style corruption and had to be convinced to do the right thing. The only reason why John Boccieri came out against Marc Dann was to save face. Clearly principles had nothing to do with it at all. Is this the kind of guy that you want representing you in the United States House of Representatives? For the sake of the Republic, I hope not...
