Criminally convicted Republican Ohio gov Bob Taft
disclosed yesterday that he
forgot to disclose
8 more new gifts to the Ohio ethics committee. Taft was convicted just last week for failing to report numerous golf outings for years from 2001 to 2004. Does the corrupt republican governor have no shame? How can he forget to report gifts after whats going on? The criminally convicted Taft is not only unethical, corrupt but also very incompetent. The latest admissions from Taft trigger an automatic investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission. The newly discovered gifts were received in 1999 and 2000 which would mean Taft
will face two new charges very soon. The eight additional gifts, valued at $921.50, include box of steaks, a book, autographed football, pottery, artwork, etc.
more below the fold..
One more
news story has come out today which shows that the corrupt Republican regime in Ohio was warned about the investments by Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation well in advance. When these warnings were ignored by the corrupt administration SEC notified rethug Attorney General (and GOP candidate for gov) Jim Petro of its concerns last year. So what does Tom Noe's buddy
incompetent Petro do? Petro rejected action saying SEC's concerns were
unwarranted. Can you imagine this same Petro now wants to become governor of Ohio!
Do all the statewide officeholders of Greedy Old Pay-to-Play-Party in Ohio have no shame? This culture of Republican corruption is everywhere from Ohio, to gov Fletcher in Kentucky, gov Blunt in Missouri, gov Ahnold in California, Delay in Texas, and all the necocons in the world of Halliburton.
On a good note the Democrats are doing their best to bring reforms to Ohio which has been going down the drains under the corrupt dictatorial culture of pay-to-play Republican Party.
In a related matter, Democratic Sen. Marc Dann of Youngstown and Rep. Jennifer Garrison of Marietta said they would introduce legislation today to modify Ohio's racketeering statute, allowing the state to recover more money in several continuing criminal investigations. Dann's proposal, which has Sen. Kirk Schuring of Canton as the only Republican co-sponsor, is modeled after the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.
After establishing a pattern of continuing conduct, the new law would allow authorities to seize assets as of the time the last crime was committed instead of being forced to wait for an indictment, as current Ohio law requires.
Dann and other Democrats accused Republican Attorney General Jim Petro of waiting nearly two months before taking legal action against Noe. The delay, they said, allowed Noe to sell homes, cars and other assets that will be difficult to recover under Ohio's RICO law.
Its looking like the ticket of Ted Strickland for Governor and Paul Hackett for Senate will bring Ohio back to good governance in 2006.
