Licking County Pro-Active Citizens

Ney Turning Blue??

The shocker of the day, at least in central Ohio, is not La Affaire Spitzer, but a report out of Washington that former Republican Congressman Bob Ney is moving from jail to a perch in progressive talk radio.

"Liberal talk radio hires ex-con Ney," reads the headline in yesterday's edition of The Hill, the Capitol Hill newspaper.

"Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) has landed his first job since being released from prison last month," says the newspaper. "Ney is working in Columbus, Ohio, for the Talk Radio News Service (TRNS), thanks to his longtime friend Ellen Ratner."

Read the story at: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/liberal-talk-radio-hires-ex-con-ney-2008-03-12.html

Read about Ratner, who does a net column called "Liberal and Proud," at the TRNS site: http://talkradionews.com/about/

Talk about prison rehabilitation!

Ney, once a member of Tom DeLay's corrupt rat pack in Washington, used to think "progressive" was an indictment, not a compliment.  Before the feds closed in on him for trading favors with superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, Ney ran for re-election in 2006 by claiming to be the victim of a vast Left-wing conspiracy headed up by George Soros and Nancy Pelosi.

And it was this same Bob Ney who accused his soon-to-be successor, Democrat Zack Space, of moral corruption after Zack sat for an interview with Air America talk-show host Rachel Maddow during the 2006 campaign.  Maddow, explained Ney in a robo-call smear, was known to be a "cross-dressing lesbian."

I can't say whether Ney, in his new job as a TRNS researcher, will be chatting up Maddow as part of his new duties.  Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!

(Gray Hunter)

 

SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS

In 1939, Hollywood produced a classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the story of a small-town congressional appointee (Jimmy Stewart) whose straight-arrow ethics ultimately prevail over the pervasive corruption of the Capitol.

Now it's 2007, and we have Mr. Space Goes to Washington, as related to the Licking County Democratic Club Friday night by freshman House member Zack Space, D-Dover.

"I'm not a career politician," said Space, whose only previous elected position was as law director of Dover. "So Washington D.C., to me, is like going to another planet. The people and culture are different. When you pass somebody on the street in Ohio, for example, you nod and smile. In Washington, if you do that too often, something bad is going to happen to you!"

The occasion was the club's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, a casual affair featuring pulled pork and potato salad and beans on paper plates with plastic cutlery, indeed another planet from the rich lobbyist-paid lifestyle that Space's predecessor, Republican Bob Ney, became accustomed to before being hauled off to prison.

Space was elected on an ethics plank, but admitted he has enjoyed the fraternity of the rich and famous, including meetings with President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove (hereafter, always referred to by Space as "Bush's Brain.")

Here are Space's impressions of the White House triumvirate:

BUSH: "I've met the President on two or three occasions. During orientation, I had a chance to speak to the President. I don't agree with anything the man has done, and in some cases (his performance) arises to catastrophic levels of incompetence. But I found him endearing, good-naturedly goofy, but warm nevertheless. I've got to admit, I like the guy."

CHENEY: "He was everything I thought he'd be. I didn't have real warm fuzzy feelings about Dick Cheney."

ROVE: Karl Rove knew who I was and when I was at the White House, he shook my hand. But when the White House photographer tried to take our picture, both of us shoved the photographer away. Neither one of us wanted to be seen in a photograph together."

(Space later noted that Republicans rank him as the third most targeted Congressional Democrat to defeat in 2008. "I'm on a very short list Bush's Brain prepared earlier this year. But those (Republicans) who have signed up so far don't cause me to lose any sleep at night.")

Although Space came to a Congress held to be one of the most partisan in history, he said he has been impressed by most of his colleagues "on both sides of the aisle."

"Most of them seem to be very interested in doing the right thing," he said. "One of the most pleasant surprises I've had is the character of those with whom I'm serving."

The system, however, has been totally corrupted under years of Republican rule, he said.

"I have long held the belief that we have institutionalized bribery embedded in our system."

He advocates an independent oversight board to judge infractions of legislative ethics, since Congress itself can't be trusted to deal with this "cancer."

"But ethics reform is only the beginning," he continued. "We need comprehensive campaign finance reform. We need to drain the swamp.

"This has been the most active and vigorous Congress since Watergate and we're just getting started. But, of course, we need somebody who gets it in the White House as well."

In Mr. Smith..., Jimmy Stewart prevailed because his basic honesty and goodness put his political opponents to shame. One can only hope Mr. Space does as well.

(Gray Hunter)

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Ohio Democrats naturally are looking forward to 2008 but there's plenty of reason to keep looking back as well.  We're just now learning, for example, what was going on beneath the radar during the Taft administration.

The Toledo Blade says it well in an editorial this week:

"In our view, if there is one thing that is clear two years after The Blade blew the whistle on the BWC mess, it's that (Tom) Noe, a political appointee of and generous campaign contributor to both GOP governors, didn't just stumble onto his highly unusual investment windfall.

Someone arranged it, and it's that connection state officials must continue to pursue, regardless of the consequences. If bigger political fish are still swimming out there, they should not be let off the hook."

To read the whole editorial, go to: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705140313

Just in recent days, for example, it's been revealed that the Taft administration passed around $75,000 in taxpayer money for its high-level operatives to sharpen up their resumes last fall before hitting the bricks.

Even more outrageous, the Dispatch reported Monday that Taft's Department of Commerce cast a blind eye on the ethics of investment brokers licensed in the state:

"Ohio securities regulators overlooked thousands of red flags involving investment brokers licensed in the state from 2000 to 2006, putting investors at risk of being swindled by unscrupulous operators, state officials now admit," led the story by James Nash.

"The oversight, which one investors' attorney called an 'outrageous blunder,' allowed brokers to continue operating in Ohio even after other states had suspended or revoked their licenses and they had racked up dozens of complaints from disgruntled clients."

This, and other Taft and Voinovich-era corruptions, merit continuing investigation.  This isn't just politics, it's accountability.  Ohioans turned up their nose at the odor coming out of the Taft administration, even though they didn't know exactly where it was coming from in many cases.  That's why Taft left office with record-low approval ratings in the polls.

Now it's being reported that Governor Ted Strickland's is being accorded the highest initial job-approval rating (68 percent) in the last quarter-century.  So things smell better now around Capitol Square.  But voters still expect Strickland and the other new statewide Democratic officeholders to get to the bottom of what went wrong during the GOP years.

The Democratic Congress certainly isn't being bashful about bringing accountability back to Washington.  Ohio Democrats should be equally aggressive in digging into the roots of corruption here without getting distracted by the 2008 Presidential sweepstakes (or foolish crusades, such as regulating strippers).

Oversight and investigation are not only good politics, they're good government.

Gray Hunter

NOE IN THE HOLE

According to Bernadette Noe, her husband (Coingate felon Tom Noe) has been put in solitary confinement at the minimum-security Edgefield, S.C., work camp where he's serving out his 27-month federal sentence for "illegally funneling $45,000 into President Bush's re-election campaign."

Needless to say, Bernadette is upset.  This isn't the way white collar crooks like her husband are supposed to be treated.  After all, this is a guy who hobnobbed with governors and presidents.

And she's upset that she has to go all the way from Toledo to South Carolina to see her Tom-cat.

But that problem should take care of itself.  After he serves his federal time, Noe faces an 18-year state sentence for stealing millions from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.  And maybe that could be at the maximum security Lucasville Penitentiary near Piketon.

Hard time, sure, but certainly closer to home.

Thanks to the Toledo Blade for this story:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS08/705010391/-1/NEWS

..and to Grace for bringing it to our attention, with this footnote:

..so sorry that Mr. Noe is not having a good time in Jail!!! and his poor family...well he should have concerned about them when he started breaking the law!!!

Fool Me Once....

During last year's unsuccessful initiative campaign for the "Reform Ohio Now" electoral amendments, LICOPAC often used the slogan, "Had Enough Yet?"

Well, based on the defeat of Issues 2-5 last November, it appears Ohioans hadn't had near enough, despite all the grumbling about government corruption.  Or they couldn't see through the Republican-led opposition campaign of confusion, which argued that reform would be advanced by voting "No."

Now, national Democrats are toying with the slogan, "Had Enough?," and pundits and pollsters are again wondering how the voters will respond to the continuing revelations of corruption in GOP land, from Congress in Washington to the Taft Administration in Ohio.  Is it time to dig those "Had Enough Yet?" signs out of the garage?

The Associated Press this week reported on a new poll of Ohioans on the corruption issue. (www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14305808.htm)

"The University of Akron poll released last week found that 89 percent of Ohio adults surveyed believe corruption is a problem in government and that 59 percent think Democrats should be in control after more than a decade of Republican rule in Columbus. Democrats say the poll results are evidence that Ohio voters are fed up with a decade-plus of Republican governance. The GOP interprets the survey as a call for a change in leadership, not necessarily a change in party control."

You read that right.  The Republican spinmasters are turning lemons into lemonade by brewing up the theory that the answer to GOP corruption is......better Republicans!

"The voters of Ohio view corruption as a government problem, not necessarily a Democratic or Republican problem, and it's up to both parties to make sure that they are ensuring (voters) they have a clean house," Ohio GOP spokesman John McClelland said. "There are frustrations with Taft's situation. There are frustrations with Tom Noe, who hurt a lot of Republicans."

And more.....

"Republicans are saying that while Ohioans seem hungry for new leadership, it still can be found within the GOP tent.  "I don't think it means people want Republicans to be gone, it just means people are looking for a fresh start," he said. "We have candidates with the experience to lead Ohioans through the years ahead."

Alice in Wonderland thinking, indeed, but no more so than the Republican arguments against the Reform Ohio Now amendments last fall.  Will Ohioans be suckered again?

(Gray Hunter)

Home Base!

President Bush talks about working folk but his base remains the silk-stocking crowd.

An Associated Press article this week, for example, describes the Cincinnati abode of the CEO hosting the President's fund raiser for Mike DeWine this Thursday.

The "six-bedroom home features a sports court and swimming pool in the back and two wine cellars that hold 4,000 bottles," says the AP.  The only "working Americans" around, it seems, were the remodeling crew that had to put in overtime to get the house and grounds ready for the President, DeWine and 150 expected guests (a.k.a. contributors).

Love & Justice

Valentine's Day, 2006, is being marked by a rash of painful political divorces but in the spirit of the holiday, let's send hearts and flowers to Ohio Supreme Court candidate William "No Money From Nobody" O'Neill.

So if you want to read about unrequited love, go to the link list at right and get your fill of angst about Hackett and Fingerhut (or your fill of delight at watching GOP Chief Bob Bennett trying to get Petro or Blackwell to break their clinch!).  I want to give O'Neill his due.

At the fringes, there's more and more talk about public financing of elections being the only real cure for the corruption of the pay-to-play political rewards system.  But it's mostly talk, except for O'Neill.

O'Neill, from Russell, Ohio, has been a judge on the 11th District Court of Appeals since 1997.  He won that seat on the slogan, “Money and Judges Don’t Mix,” translated into a pledge not to accept campaign contributions over $10. (In that race, his GOP opponent raised over $100,000, outspending O’Neill 10 to 1 but lost anyway).

He won re-election easily in 2002 on the same platform, and garnered 40 percent of the vote in an unsuccessful race for the Ohio Supreme Court in 2004.

Two weeks ago, in Columbus, O'Neill said his promise in this year's race for the high court would be to take "no money from nobody" and, in essence, finance his campaign out of his own funds.

The Judge, according to a Democracy for America profile, "promises to produce 1-Million pieces of literature with the use of a printing press…exactly like he did in 1996.   The Judge expects to be dramatically outspent once again, but remains optimistic.  “Why would I change a winning formula?”  he asks.  “Everyone knows money and Judges don’t mix.  I’m just the only one saying it in public.”

O'Neill's proposal to cure campaign finance abuse, at least in the judiciary, is to tack a $10 fee on every lawsuit filed, creating a fund which could raise about $30 million to finance judicial elections without shaking down attorneys, clients and litigants for contributions.

With Tom Noe now indicted on 53 counts of theft and corruption, it's interesting also to note that O'Neill has filed disciplinary complaints with the Ohio Supreme Court, aimed at those Republican Supreme Court judges who received Noe campaign contributions (illegally laundered through third parties). 

“We must stop selling seats on the Ohio Supreme Court like you sell a seat on the New York Stock Exchange,” said O'Neill in the DFA profile. "The Judge expects to be dramatically outspent once again, but remains optimistic.  “Why would I change a winning formula?”  he asks.  “Everyone knows money and Judges don’t mix.  I’m just the only one saying it in public.”

So a big Progressive Valentine to Judge O'Neill, one judicial candidate you really should be paying attention to.

(Gray Hunter)

HOWARD DEAN IN COLUMBUS

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean will join Ohio House and Senate Democrats in launching a national campaign to demonstrate Democrats’ commitment to honest leadership on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. at the Ohio Statehouse.

The event will coincide with the unveiling of a package of reforms being introduced in Washington by the Democratic leadership in Congress. Democrats across America will stand united on Wednesday in shining a spotlight on the Republican culture of corruption and in highlighting efforts to restore honest leadership at all levels of government.

Dean, who is chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will be joined for a news conference outside Governor Bob Taft’s ceremonial Statehouse office by dozens of legislators and activists, including Ohio House Democratic Leader Chris Redfern, who is also chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, House Democratic Leader-elect Joyce Beatty of Columbus and Senate Democratic Leader C.J. Prentiss of Cleveland.

Profiling the Perp

A Congressman is in big trouble when a profile in his largest home-state newspaper starts off like this:

Ohio Congressman Bob Ney is either a poster boy for Capitol Hill corruption or a hapless legislator who regrets innocently helping former chums who now face criminal charges. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sunday, Dec. 11)

Read it at:

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1134293452264570.xml?nnusa&coll=2

Burned Out in Winter?

Have recent elections left Ohio progressives energized or burned out?

John Kerry's razor-thin loss in Ohio – and thus the nation – was frustrating and disappointing, especially in light of the dramatic erosion of President Bush's support among voters since last November.

But many of those Kerry supporters have stayed active, strengthening local Democratic organizations and helping achieve many local election victories (including a gain of two Council seats in Newark!) on Nov. 8.

Likewise, although the RON election reform package, State Issues 2-5, was clobbered on Nov. 8, some leaders of that initiative campaign think it will still pay dividends in 2006 because of the many volunteers who got involved, circulating petitions and working for the slate.

In Licking County, however, neither local Democratic Party candidates nor our group, Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (which focused on Reform Ohio Now) enjoyed the kind of enthusiastic grassroots support given the Kerry campaign here last year. Sure, a presidential campaign always generates excitement. But given the stink of Ohio politics these days, wouldn't you expect those who fought to put a Bostonian in the White House to be just as involved in cleaning up the mess in their own back yard?

So is it burnout?

David Brooks, who writes from the Right for the New York Times, concluded in his column Thursday (Friday, in the Dispatch) that activists on both sides – numbed by the disarray in Washington and the endless carnage in Iraq – have retreated from the fray.

"A brackish tide of pessimism has descended upon the country," Brooks writes. "Roughly two-thirds of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction."

He goes on to quote Harvard University economist Benjamin Friedman as observing, "Americans begin social reforms when they are feeling confident, not when they are weary and insecure."

So are progressives in Ohio and Licking County energized and ready to take on the likes of Blackwell and Ney and the Lunatic Right, or "weary and insecure" and too tired to get off the couch.

Let's hope it's not the latter, since the tide, however slowly, is now just turning in our favor.

This winter is no time for progressives to hibernate.

-- Gray Hunter