Isn't it telling, however, that Mike's big consultant was DC based, and not Ohio based? I wonder if Seaton ever came to Ohio? I wonder if he ever made any trips through Ohio? Mikey sure doesn't seem to be campaigning too much. He just wants everyone to come to him and suck up some free ice cream and somehow that is supposed to make his miserable failure of a tenure in the Senate go away. He has not been asking for votes. In fact, he hasn't even asked people to be on his mailing lists. No, instead he just took his old McCain mailing lists and automatically ASSumed they would be followers of him. Same old arrogance. Same old Mike DeWine.
Stepping into the breach as Mike the Fink's chief political consultant will be the all seeing all knowing campaign sign hating Mark Weaver. I know, I know, this is amazing. This is the same guy who lifted slightly less liberal Betty Montgomery on his spindly shoulders and engineered her victory....FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. Woohoo! Way to be on the cutting edge Mikey boy! Weaver has some great people working for him, even if he is an arrogant, self serving egomaniac, though he is talented.
Look, it doesn't matter who Mike the Fink gets. He doesn't think he should campaign. He thinks he should be coronated. How much real travelling and shoe leather has he worn out? Not as much as Dave Yost.
Dave has also worked very hard at winning the hearts and minds of Ohioans. He has attended 46 Lincoln Day Dinners, visited over 60 counties and is endorsed by more than 70 percent of Ohio’s GOP county prosecutors. Dave also writes frequently on his blog, letting his views be known. Mike DeWine has mostly just talked to special interest groups and party insiders. Dave Yost has been pounding the pavement.
Let's review a little bit about Mike DeWine, shall we:
_Part of the Old Guys Club and Bob Bennett Cabal
Failed to support drilling in Alaska (ANWR). Domestic energy exploration is critical to national security and the economy.
· Failed to support 2nd Amendment rights (Endorsed by the Brady Campaign.) And named to the top 10 list of anti-gun senators by Human Events.
o Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. (Jul 2005)
o Voted NO on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence. (Mar 2004)
o Voted YES on background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
o Voted NO on more penalties for gun & drug violations. (May 1999)
o Voted NO on loosening license & background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
o Voted NO on maintaining current law: guns sold without trigger locks. (Jul 1998)
· Failed to support conservative judges by joining the gang of 14 who supported the Democrat filibusters. Several conservative appellate court nominees “got thrown under the bus” (Miguel Estrada, Charles Pickering, Carolyn Kuhl, and Fourth Circuit Court nominee Terrence Boyle).
· Failed to support the 2004 Ohio Marriage Amendment.
· Failed to recognize that his support for the McCain–Feingold Act would lead to the creation of left-wing monsters such as Moveon.org.
· Failed to recognize that his support for Hate Crime legislation makes “wrong thinking” and real criminal acts, crimes.
· Failed to recognize that his support for a federal minimum wage hike would lead to higher unemployment.
· Failed to support repealing the federal 55 MPH speed limit.
· Failed to retain his US Senate seat.
· Failed to keep up in the fund raising race with Dave Yost. (DeWine $39,500; Yost $42,727)
(information from several sources including the Becker Report)
And let's not forget his campaign already has shown a disdain for the law:
_He failed to list his campaign treasurer on his original website when he announced for the campaign (from RightOhio)
_According to Mike DeWine’s campaign report, DeWine gladly accepted a $1000 donation from Michael R Heaphy MD, a Medicaid provider from Lima. Ohio Revised Code prohibits campaign contributions from Medicaid Providers to candidates for Attorney General:
3599.45 Candidates prohibited from accepting contributions from Medicaid providers.
(A) No candidate for the office of attorney general or county prosecutor or such a candidate’s campaign committee shall knowingly accept any contribution from a provider of services or goods under contract with the department of job and family services pursuant to the medicaid program of Title XIX of the “Social Security Act,” 49 Stat. 620 (1935), 42 U.S.C. 301, as amended, or from any person having an ownership interest in the provider.
As used in this section “candidate,” “campaign committee,” and “contribution” have the same meaning as in section 3517.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Effective Date: 07-01-2000
And then there is the quickness with which they respond to issues, like say the sitting attorney general DICK Cordray deciding to defend the hacks who used their government jobs and access to dig up dirt on Joe the Plumber, not to mention their web presence. For this analysis, I go to Tom Blumer at Bizzyblog:
Yost, at his web site (excerpted; read the whole thing; bold after title is mine):
Lowering the Price of Perfidy
The taxpayer-funded defense of three rogue state workers who invaded Joe the Plumber’s privacy sends the wrong message to other state workers: don’t worry, we’ll take care of you if you get caught. It’s more than just an individual wrong: it degrades our government and encourages bad behavior.
…. The attorney general has a duty to defend state workers who are sued.
…. But the law lets the attorney general off the hook when state workers go rogue. When the worker is doing stuff that’s not part of the job – say, searching for politically embarrassing material in confidential government databases – the attorney general “shall not” represent them. The same rule applies for workers who act with malice, or recklessly. No free legal defense.
“Shall not” is not my phrase – it’s what the law says.
When a state worker makes a mistake, the government should defend them. Mistakes happen — but what happened to Joe the Plumber wasn’t a mistake. It was a deliberate act, with an attempted cover-up.
…. The threat of big trouble and legal bills is a deterrent to such bad behavior, and it should be. A free, taxpayer-funded defense lowers the price of perfidy for others who would loyally do the dirty work of their political masters. That price doesn’t need to be lowered — it’s low enough already.
DeWine, at his web site:
….. ….. ….. …..
The story’s three days old. Where’s Mike?
Yeah, he commented on Cordray’s move in the DDN article:
“These people violated the privacy of an Ohio citizen and they did it, it would appear, to advance a partisan political campaign, and I think taxpayers will be shocked to find that their tax dollars are going to defend them,” said Mike DeWine of Cedarville, the former U.S. senator and Greene County prosecutor.
But so did Yost:
“It’s an outrageous use of taxpayer money to defend the invasion of a citizen’s privacy.”
Yost even does the sound-bite thing better than DeWine, who supposedly has had years of practice.
DeWine has begun the process of receiving what from all appearances will be serial spankings at county endorsement meetings; the first of what I expect will be many was administered by Butler County last week (BizzyBlog coverage and commentary is here). Yost got the county’s endorsement by a 68%-32% margin.
DeWine’s virtual non-presence on the web (a home page, a bio, and a PDF of his candidacy announcement) contrasts sharply with Yost’s frequently-updated, well-presented effort.
Yost has been following the state employee-orchestrated Joe the Plumber perfidy almost since it began and campaigning aggressively while carrying out his prosecutorial duties in Delaware County. DeWine has been virtually silent and schmoozing big-bucks people (not very successfully, as I understand it) while teaching a college course or two. I think that’s a precursive indicator of who will work harder as a sensible, principled conservative representing the interests of the Buckeye State’s citizens.
Well, Mark, good luck with salvaging the coronation gone awry.
