The FBI and IRS raided the offices and homes of a Cuyahoga (home county of Cleveland, OH) County Commissioner and Auditor on Monday. It is a sad comment on how low Bush and Rove and Cheney and the Bushites have degraded the Dept of Justice that it's just as likely that this raid on Democratic office holders is following the standard Rove script as it is that the FBI and IRS really have reason to do the raids in the first place
A supposed expose of political patronage in city and county government by the right wing newspaper of Cleveland, The Plain Dealer, which included people working for for an agency headed by a relative was published a few weeks back. Of course they "forgot" to mention that the person was working there for years before her relative was elected to run that government body. Now two prominent Democrats, Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo, had their offices and homes raided and the standard boxes of files and computers were removed.
And by mysterious happenstance the very next day President Bush comes to town for a fundraiser with a "jobs concern visit" to businesses to cover his use of our money to pay for the trip to raise more money for republicans.
There is more at stake here than the fate of a couple of Democrats. County government may soon be radically overhauled because the shrinking population and tax base requires a new approach. The republicans are running scared because the most economical plans call for area government with city and county functions merged like Jacksonville, FL or LA. This would surely diminish the influence of the rich republican enclaves like the one Bush visited for his fund raiser.
It is a classic Rovian machination to create the appearance of dirty deeds on the part of Democrats so that during the run up to elections, Democrats are tarred with false shit that may be quitely dropped after the republican challengers win. It has happned before and it may be happening again.