Taft faces a widening scandal, Multiple investigations affect more GOP off

[maddezmom]

By Jon Craig
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - After months in which a growing scandal ensnares more and more state officials - including Gov. Bob Taft - State Sen. Mark Mallory says he wonders what's next.

The answer, according to the chairman of the state Republican Party, is possible indictments.

A handful of people - mostly Democrats and liberal activists - are calling for, or predicting, Taft's resignation.

For now, the scandals involving the Bureau of Workers' Compensation fund, its unusual investments and the cozy relationship between Columbus Republicans and the people who invested money from the fund are just the subjects of investigations.

The rapidly developing case now involves the Public Integrity unit of the U.S. Justice Department, Franklin and Lucas county prosecutors, the Ohio Ethics Commission, the legislative inspector general and the state inspector general.

more:http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050627/NEWS01/506270351/1056/rss02

[movonne]

1. A handful...you mean that all good Christians are not raising HELL!!

I thought they had good morals and surly they would want their politicians to have good morals...

[Toots]

14. No they are all standing in line at the induction center

:shrug:

[reality based]

23. Right wing Bibles omit the page that says "Thou shalt not steal"

[maseman]

2. We MUST Keep this story pumping...

I live in Ohio and I can tell you even Republicans here are fit to be tied. This is one of the biggest chances we have to not only get Ohio moving back toward more blue in the state elections, but also to move more blue in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Ohio has had two terrible Republican Governors in the past 15 years (Taft and Voinovich.) Kenneth Blackwell, the architect behind much voter fraud and mystery during the 2004 presidential election, is running to replace Taft next year. This is the opportunity to keep him from getting that seat. Having a Democratic governor in Ohio is a huge part of slowing down the Diebold voting machine garbage in future elections.

Do your part in sending money to people going to run against Blackwell et. al., sending letters to ohio newspapers, calling talk shows in Ohio on radio stations like WTAM, WLW, WTVN, WNIR, WSPD, WHIO.

Drip, drip, drip.

[madmom]

10. Welcome neighbor... n/t

[maseman]

12. Thanks

Great to be here. I read this site all the time, but don't usually post. But I am sick of the knuckleheads that run Ohio and DC. I want them gone. The only way to do that is to expose them for the scum they are.

[mom cat]

3. Foxes investigate disappearance of chickens! I just hope that this

is too big to cover up.

[AutumnMist]

4. I Live In Columbus

and I have to say Taft is a joke. Our schools are in shambles and the city itself is rife with corruption on almost every level of politics here. I have been one of the voices demanding he resign. He has drug this city down to the bottom of the barrel and hasn't once made any indication that he cares or even wants to know whats going on with the real people who live here.

[maseman]

5. ...and it just isn't Columbus.

Taft and the Republicans have also turned Cincy and Cleveland into wastelands of economic disaster and joblessness. Rather than discussing how to bring jobs to Ohio, more students to our Universities, more cleanup to our environments, they choose to figure out how to keep them queers from gettin' hitched.

That is why we must take this opportunity to expose the deep corrpution in Ohio politics and make our voices heard for change.

These people make me want to hurl.

[AutumnMist]

6. I Agree!

:)

[mod mom]

24. This scandal goes back to the ELECTION! Not only was all this info

concealed even though it was know prior to the election but the NOES had a firm grip on Lucas County BOE, site of massive problems. Blackwell investigated because he knew the Noe's were in trouble:

Questions arise early

The air was thick with talk in Toledo about investigations surrounding the Noes long before last year's election. It centered on contributions to the Bush campaign at an Oct. 30, 2003, fund-raiser in Columbus, where Mr. Noe sponsored a table and invited a number of people to attend.
At issue was whether Mr. Noe gave others money in order for them to give to the Bush campaign, allowing him to skirt federal spending limits, law enforcement sources told The Blade.

www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050619/SRRARECOINS/306190017

so Blackwell investigated Lucas County to CYA:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/lucas.htm


This report includes the fact that REPUBLICAN VOLUNTEERS were allowed UNSUPERVISED ACCESS to UNSECURED BALLOTS prior to the election, as well as this list:

*failure to maintain ballot security
*Inability to implement and maintain a trackable system for voter ballot reconciliation .
*failure to prepare and develop a plan for the processing of the voluminous amount of voter registration forms received.
*issuance and acceptance of incorrect absentee ballot forms.
*manipulation of the process involving the 3% recount.
*disjointed implementation of the Directive regarding the removal of Nader and Camejo from the ballot .
*failure to properly issue hospital ballots in accordance with statutory requirements.
*failure to maintain the security of poll books during the official canvass
*failure to examine campaign finance reports in a timely manner.
*failure to guard and protect public documents.
*failure to guard and protect public documents ....etc.

Taft rewarded Tom Noe for not only his fundraising but also for his efforts at the Lucas County BOE (a county rich in dem votes due to Toledo) by appointing him (A COLLEGE DROPOUT WHO DIDN'T EVEN FINISH A YEAR OF COLLEGE) with an appointment to the Ohio Board of Regents in 1995, and later to the Ohio Turnpike Commission (an alleged site of money laundering) .

Tom Noe earned his appointments by getting Diebold in Lucas County:

It was during his tenure on the BOE that Diebold machines were brought into Lucas County.

"TOLEDO, Ohio, May 10, 2002 ¯ Just about every county in the nation is rushing to update their voting technology, but no county to date has done it faster than Lucas County."
<snip>
"Lucas County Board of Elections Acting Chairman Tom Noe, who was present to observe the May 7th election, was pleased with the outcome. "I don't think there is another county in the nation that has implemented touch screen voting as quickly as Lucas County did for this trial run in a primary election," Noe said. "The people of Lucas County and of Ohio in general can be proud of this achievement.""
http://www.sequoiavote.com/mediadetail.php?id=57

http://www.diebold.com/news/newsdisp.asp?id=2997


 

[gratuitous]

7. It's nice to see an article from other than the Toledo Blade

Although the writer seems dismissive of the repercussions, that it's "mostly Democrats and liberal activists" who think that Taft may have to resign as a result of all this malfeasance, at least it's being published somewhere else in Ohio besides Toledo.

[maseman]

11. Other newspapers

It has been nice to see the Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Columbus Dispatch and the Canton Repository reporting on this as well. People are well aware of the goings on now in Ohio. However in the hot, lazy summer people can easily forget also.

That is why we must keep these stories and findings alive. What a bunch of worthless pieces of turd. They completely abuse power and then try to play innocent and stupid.

[LightningFlash]

8. Now we all see the truth of how Ohio fraud was covered up....

Look at that, a rats nest of corrupt officials including democrats in name only for the BOE.

That's how you steal an election, by having goons who won't snitch on you. :toast:

[Eurobabe]

9. Good, let em go down!!

Crooked bastards!

[roseBudd]

13. I encourage SW OH DUers to write a Your Voices column on this...

subject. You can contact Ray Cooklis [e-mail]

Your Voices columns are 400 words and get prime placement pn the editorial page.

[mtnester]

15. As an Ohioan, I believe going after these criminals is good, however..

the scenario of Taft resigning before his term is over is this:

Taft resigns...the Ohio Repub Party and the Ohio House and Senate WILL make sure a resolution is passed, allowing them to appoint his successor for the unfinished term (bypassing the Lt. Governor)

The appointment is Ken Blackwell (which after all, he was promised something by GWB and KKKarl), thus sealing the fate of Jim Petro and Betty Montgomery in their Primary bid against him for the nomination for Republican candidate for Governor in 2006 (which should prove to be a delightfully nasty primary, with phenomenal amounts of dirt and money aired and spent). Thus, the Repubs do not have to go through that nasty primary or spend all that money which would bring to light and remind Ohioans for MONTHS of all the crap, and possibly new crap, the Repubs have shat on Ohioans for the last 12 years. Voters remain barely offended, giving Blackwell (a now "sitting/incumbent governor") an advantage going into the general election against the Dem candidate.

The Dems need Taft to stay in...really they do, so this broo hah hah can be alive and kicking for 2006. And if you do not believe the Repubs would bypass the Lt. Governor, you should understand they are attaching an amendment to the current budget that would prohibit a candidate from simultaneously running for federal and state offices (specifically aimed at Ted Strickland (D), you can read about that nasty thing here http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050621/NEWS24/506210388)

No, Taft needs to stay in and take all the shit he has been spreading over Ohio, then leave when his time is done.

[maseman]

17. You are Correct!

Taft is a cancer in the Republican party. To remove him now would basically bury the problems and scandals and Blackwell would come out on top.

I want Taft to stick around for the downfall. I want the Repuke primary to take place for the dollars to be spent and the in-fighting to take place.

[cascadiance]

18. Yup, kinda like us here in San Diego wanting Cunningham to stick around!

So that we have a better shot at getting a Dem seat if his scandals are still brewing around 2006 (whether he runs for re-election or not).

Does Ohio haved a recall process? That might be a way to get a Dem in without someone like Blackwell getting appointed as successor in the interim. That way you'd also potentially have an incumbent Dem (hopefully a good one too) come next election to run against Blackwell (who with a Dem in as governor, even on an interim basis, might have time to expose Blackwell's chicanery more officially before the election rolls around too).

[mtnester]

20. No recall process for Governor

The state reps would have to do it, and they are controlled by guess who. Even if they remove him, they are within the limits where the party can appoint rather than a new election. No, the "cancer" (as previous poster put it, and is dead on) needs to stay until it kills the party.

[stanwyck]

16. In Georgia, I'm frustrated

by the lack of outrage of conservatives over the Ralph Reed casino gambling scandal. Reed took money from Abramoff to finance his highly publicized anti-gambling campaign...with gambling money from the Choctow Indians. Reed has steadfastly claimed he didn't know the origins of the money. His emails to Abramoff say otherwise. In fact, Reed's own emails paint him as a very savvy money launderer...setting up a front (yoga instructor and lifeguard)with a high-sounding mission statement of tackling global concerns. All phony, of course.
(credit the lifeguard for smelling a rat and bailing.)
And the silence of the Christian conservatives on the former Christian Coalition leader and his clearly unethical behavior is deafening.
Crickets.
On the contrary, his adherents are adamantly saying he did nothing wrong. (!). Zell Miller is wildly stumping for Reed.
So...is the Christian in Christian conservatism just a sham?
We're not seeing any evidence to the contrary.
If the conservatives in Ohio and Georgia don't hold their own to standards they claim to steadfastly follow, what credibility do they have?
Less and less.

[MGKrebs]

19. I didn't realize that they had found the coins.

Missing due to " accounting errors". :eyes:

"COLUMBUS — Most of the 121 Ohio-owned rare coins believed to be missing from the Colorado office of Tom Noe’s $50 million coin venture were accounted for when state fraud inspectors inventoried the collection last month, an attorney for the Maumee coin dealer told The Blade."

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050625/SRRARECOINS/50625008

[LanternWaste]

21. Heh... my first reaction was about 100 years too late...

Odd. My first reaction to your headline was, "President Taft? We know he was corrupt...Tamanny Hall and the graft coming out of the NY system is nothing new..."

Yes.. I know this is a *late* breaking news forum, but my brain's been in second gear all day long.

[woosh]

22. Ohio is ripe for the taking...

[maseman]

25. The Ohio Coin Scandal

Easily contributed to the Shrub's win. I have no idea how they kept this covered up during the election. Apparently Taft's office knew about the missing coins LONG before the election. (big surprise there.)

What is nuts is that again, like the DSJ, no mainstream media. Maybe a blurb here or there, but nothing. Unless this shit starts really getting in people's faces, people won't go out of their way to learn what is going on.