Here is a subject that I've been meaning to write more about, but there are only so many hours in the day... Fortunately, Phil Heimlich is going to do some of the lifting, so I don't have to...Public officials from across Ohio are so far refusing to appear this Saturday on Phil Heimlich’s radio talk show, “Hard Truths,” to discuss questions involving access to Ohio State University football tickets.Phil will be talking about this subject on his radio show tomorrow. Hard Truths can be heard at 2 p.m. Saturdays on the Salem Radio Network, including WHKW 1220 AM in Cleveland, WRFD 880 AM in Columbus, and WTOD 1560 AM in Toledo. It is also available via streaming audio at www.heimlichhardtruths.com.
Among those who have declined invitations are the three officials responsible for investigating various aspects of the case, including Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe, and state Inspector General Tom Charles. All three benefited from the OSU ticket policy by purchasing the tickets offered to them at face value.
Also invited to appear were members of Ohio’s legislative leadership from both parties, as well as every member of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. Eleven of the 12 members of the ethics committee took advantage of the OSU ticket offer. Only Sen. Bill Seitz and Rep. Matt Huffman agreed to appear on the program. Ohio State representatives also declined to be interviewed.
The Akron Beacon Journal reported earlier this month that “Ohio State's lobbying efforts to make friends and influence important people are raising questions about potential conflicts of interests.” The newspaper reported that OSU has “a special list of people in high places who each year are entitled to a privilege denied thousands of OSU alumni and Ohio families — seats in the Shoe. Four 2007 season tickets, which were typically offered for sale to lawmakers, have a face value of $1,680 and are considered worth much more on the open market.” In fact, while the tickets have a face value of $60, they can be scalped for as much as $1,000 each, or up to even $3,000 for the Michigan game.
"The hard truth is that Ohio State takes taxpayer money and uses it to influence the very lawmakers who provided it in the first place. What's worse is the investigators and reporters charged with looking into this get the same deal. Bottom line is, regardless of the legalities, this doesn't pass the smell test," said Heimlich. Reporters who are members of the Ohio Legislative Correspondence Association receive the same ticket offer, according to the Beacon Journal story
This started out as a real sexy "Culture of Corruption" story because it involved a Republican lawmaker, but it has ballooned into a massive scandal that has shaken the very foundations of Columbus and now the 527 media in this state doesn't want to cover it because bi-partisan scandals such as this one usually involve more Democrats than Republicans and they don't want to do anything that might hurt their liberal friends as an election looms on the horizon.
