KRUGMAN : What's the Matter With Ohio?

[dw]

Published June 17, 2005 in The New York Times

...

In April, The Blade reported that the bureau, which provides financial support for workers injured on the job, had invested $50 million in Capital Coin, a rare-coin trading operation run by Tom Noe, an influential Republican fund-raiser.

...

Meanwhile, The Blade uncovered an even bigger story: the Bureau of Workers' Compensation invested $225 million in a hedge fund managed by MDL Capital, whose chairman had strong political connections. When this investment started to go sour, the bureau's chief financial officer told another top agency official that he had been told to "give MDL a break."

By October 2004, state officials knew that MDL had lost almost the entire investment, but they kept the loss hidden until this month.

...

The message from Ohio is that long-term dominance by a political machine leads to corruption, regardless of the policies that machine follows or the ideology it claims to represent.

[The Magistrate]

1. With Any Luck, Sir

The Republican apparat in Ohio is about to implode on a level catastrophic as the implosion of the Republicans here in Illinois several years ago. The sort of thing, particularly the detain of the coins, catches the notice of even the a-political, and tars whole organizations with the taint of corruption, whatever the individual characters of particular figures. As they used to say, it does not matter if you are just the piano player if you are in the brothel when the raid comes....

[NEOBuckeye]

4. We can only hope.

The Dems dominate all of our big city governments here in Ohio (e.g. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Akron and Dayton). If they could only work together and build a statewide coalition, they would have this state under wraps for good.

With the GOP imploding, there might never be a better opportunity to take back this state.

[The Magistrate]

5. That Is Pretty Much How It Was Here, Sir

Except that the reptiles had a lock on the Governor's office. It was campaign fundraising through the motor vehicles bureau that turned the thing.

[On the Road]

2. Now THERE'S Your Whitewater Case

Initially, Bill Clinton was accused of doing something similar when the Whitewater investment began to go bad -- ie, pressuring the local FSLIC official to keep the lender from going under. In that case, it wasn't true. This case should get the same scrutiny.

[gmoney]

3. Good link for Krugman fans...

http://www.pkarchive.org/

If you don't feel like messing with the NYT pages, or paying for their archives, check out this Unofficial page...

[understandinglife]

6. "...long-term dominance by a political machine leads to corruption ..."

... regardless of the policies that machine follows or the ideology it claims to represent.

Precisely; and the consequences are numerous and devastating to humanity when that party is ruthlessly imperialistic.

b]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4173.htm


WE THE PEOPLE .... WILL NEVER FORGET

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Impeachment of Bush and Cheney; indictment and prosecution of all members of the Bush regime who participated in the deception, should be campaign promises of any candidate worthy of our vote in the 2006 Congressional elections.