Bob Taft hits one into the Rough
Governor Bob Taft (R-OH) plead "no contest" this morning to four criminal misdemeanor charges after a two month long investigation into free golf outings and other gifts he accepted from Ohio GOP activist and coin dealer Tom Noe, among others. The charges suggested that annual ethics statements filed by the governor, which are supposed to detail all the gifts he has received in a given year, were incomplete. Taft was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and apologize to the state.
The investigation is a direct result of a probe into investments by the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation (BWC), which has been under scrutiny since admitting to a questionable investment in Noe’s rare coin fund. Noe, whose golf games with Taft were among those the governor failed to disclose, is unable to account for up to $13 million dollars in BWC funds.
The spin from Ohio Republicans is that the failure to report the gifts was an oversight and that the Governor corrected the mistake himself. There are a few problems with these arguments.
1. The indictment suggests otherwise. The official criminal misdemeanor charges indicate that Taft knowingly falsified the statements, meaning that this was not an oversight so much as it was willful deception.
2. The Governor had no interest in correcting his ethics statements until Tom Noe became Ohio's most notorious hot potato. And even then, he waited until Inspector General Thomas P. Charles started inquiring into the governor's office about gifts received by his staffers before amending the statements.
3. Two high ranking members of Taft's administration, Randy Fischer and Gino Zomparelli, were forced out of office or resigned in the wake of unrelated allegations that also involved receiving free golf outings. The governor would've been acutely aware of the ethical implications of such trips and, one would suspect, very unlikely to simply forget to report them.
Further, there is reason to believe that playing golf with Governor Taft or donating to his political campaigns is a prerequisite to doing business with the state. Five days after an unreported golf outing paid for by Noe, the state of Ohio gave Noe's coin fund a second $25 million in investment capital.
But Noe wasn't the only political contributor to score an investment contract with BWC. Indeed, two-thirds of the 212 firms hired to manage the BWC's investments were GOP donors. Their combined contributions to the Ohio Republican Party total nearly $5 million since 1997. That fact, taken in the context of BWC's significant financial losses, has to raise the question of whether the state ought to focus more on the merit of their potential investors than on their political connections.
But Noe wasn't the only political contributor to score an investment contract with BWC. Indeed, two-thirds of the 212 firms hired to manage the BWC's investments were GOP donors. Their combined contributions to the Ohio Republican Party total nearly $5 million since 1997. That fact, taken in the context of BWC's significant financial losses, has to raise the question of whether the state ought to focus more on the merit of their potential investors than on their political connections.
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I was driving home listening to NPR this afternoon, and they played part of Taft's statement. The line that stuck in my mind...spoken in exactly the tone one might use to a bad 7-year old, was:
"I'm very disappointed with myself."
And somehow, the only thought that came to my mind was the obvious continuation....
"...and I've decided to lock myself in my bedroom with no dinner and TV, young man!"
Truly weird. Then again, I come from a state where they recalled their governor to elect a body-builder, so who am I to complain...
August 18, 2005 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
The oversight spin just doesn't wash. Taft should resign.
August 18, 2005 7:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who else, other than a governor, gets off for a crime with an apology and minimal fine? Will Ohio courts now sentence drug dealers to public apologies and fines that amount to less than 1% of the money they made dealing? Heck, do people audited by the IRS, who are charged with no crime at all, get off with a minimal fine if they agree to apologize?
Seems that the governor should not only thank his lucky stars but should assemble his staff and advisors for an all night session of putting out a record number of pardons and commutations tomorrow. Just to be fair.
August 18, 2005 11:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
1. A full accounting should be made of the cost of the investigation into Taft's ethics violations, and there should be broad campaign in Ohio to make him pay for the cost of the investigation. Since he say's "I am very disappointed in myself," this is the least he can do to make it up to the people of Ohio if he plans to stay in office.
2. It should be consistently stressed by opponents of the Ohio corruption machine that the governor knowingly falsified ethics statements, because:
3. There is a massive, corrupt, illegal patronage network for Republicans in Ohio that is emblematic of the national one, and:
4. Given the overlap between the corrupt patronage network, GOP donors, election officials, and providers of election technology, international, professional, election monitors should be mandatory and given full access to monitor statewide elections in Ohio and national elections in the U.S.
August 19, 2005 7:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
It sounds like his punishment is a slap on the wrist. I was hoping for jail time and all he has to do is pay a fine that doesn't add up to the value of the golf outings and issue an apology? Can we impeach this guy, or is there no hope for that because it's Ohio?
At the very least, whether he remains in his job or not, this should ensure that we sweep the Ohio elections in 2006.
August 19, 2005 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink