Richard Cordray might be saying that restoring confidence in the Attorney General's office is a priority, but it isn't likely to happen under his watch. You see, Cordray has a history and a record...
Okay, we all know about the pay-to-play with Monty Will (which we covered here and here; DDN covered here and here), but there are some other interesting connections between Cordray and donors, as well as, Cordray and people doing business with the state.
I have heard rumor that Cordray’s fundraiser is strong-arming people who have special counsel contracts. There are maximums that lawyers can give if they want to keep the contracts, so the Cordray team is “making” those folks go out and “bundle” certain amounts of money to keep the work. What have we learned about bundling previously? Well, Norman Hsu was a Clinton bundler who got in trouble, and Tony Rezko was another bundler… Not exactly a good way of doing business besides the basic fact that -- particularly in this case -- it’s pure, unadulterated pay-to-play (something else that Ohio Democrats are all to familiar with...).
However, here is another interesting connection... Cordray’s campaign consultant was named Don Spicer. Spicer hasn't been a registered lobbyist since 2004 and suddenly saw where his bread was buttered after ’06 and got back into lobbying. That isn’t necessarily a problem as lot’s of people are in the business. But, when you sign up to be a lobbyist, the form you fill out asks what departments you will lobby. Anyone with scruples and/or a sense of ethics would probably say they won’t lobby people they helped win office –- that’s a conflict of interest -- and it’s probably best to be avoided. Let me be clear –- it is allowed under the law -- but it doesn’t pass the smell test. Spicer marked every single department, including Treasurer and Secretary of State after he had just consulted on Brunner’s and Cordray’s campaigns.
Visit: http://www.jlec-olig.state.oh.us/
You can search by clicking “lobbyist forms” on the bottom right and search for the last name Spicer and then Don Spicer.
All the forms are there… and note a couple things:
He’s got a couple clients that could directly impact the Treasurer's office: one that does information technology (Maximus) and one that does collections and other financial services (United Collection Bureau). (Side note for the locals: He also had the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati as a client...)
It would be interesting to see what, if any, work those firms have gotten with the Treasurer's office since Spicer started lobbying. It would also be interesting to know what, if any, meetings Cordray has taken with Spicer since they were campaign buddies. If there are any enterprising intrepid reporters out there in the 527 Media in this state who run in to Cordray, you might be inclined to ask him a few question on the subject...
I think there might be a pattern emerging about how Cordray does business. We've already covered one angle (Will), and now this Spicer connection very well could lead to another that exposes the way Cordray operates. Basically: I smell a rat.
