State of the Union

When it rains, it pours

From The Plain Dealer:

A Lorain city councilman who promised to make neighborhoods safer was arrested Friday during a prostitution sting in that city.  Dennis Flores, 54, faces charges of solicitation and operating a vehicle while impaired, police said.

The PD goes on to note, "On the city's Web site, Flores said he looked 'forward to improving the safety in our neighborhoods' and 'cleaning up Lorain's image.'" 

Mr. Flores, of course, is only the latest member of the Ohio Democratic Party's growing culture of corruption club:

• Democrat State Rep. Matthew Barrett resigned last month after months of lying to investigators about an incident in which he showed pornographic images to school children and then blamed it on his teenage son. (Lorain Morning Journal)
  
  
• Democrat Attorney General Marc Dann resigned in disgrace this month after an internal investigation found evidence of mismanagement, cronyism, corruption, harassment and numerous personnel problems in the attorney general's office.  (The Columbus Dispatch)
  
  
• Democrat Patrick O'Malley resigned in disgrace last week after pleading guilty to federal obscenity charges. (The Plain Dealer)

The Democrats promised a higher standard.  Too bad they couldn't deliver.

Party's over

Where are they now?

From The Columbus Dispatch:

Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann spent his first day after resigning helping his wife with her business selling dishes online.

Dann's attorney Mike Harshman says Dann helped his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff Dann, with her side job selling Fiestaware on the Internet.

The article adds, "Harshman says Dann is weighing career options that could include the law, teaching or another run for political office."

Uh, NO on the last one.  How 'bout a new law firm: 

Spitzer, Dann, O'Malley & Barrett, L.P.A.   
Specializing in sex crimes and sexual harassment cases

Dann's already got the number lined up.

The laughs continue even though he's gone

Three in a row

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett issued the following statement today regarding the resignation of Cuyahoga County Recorder Patrick O'Malley, the secretary of the Ohio Democratic Party:

"This is yet another sad case of a Democratic Party in Ohio that is falling dramatically short of the higher standard they promised.  In a matter of days, we've seen a county elected official, a state legislator and an attorney general resign in disgrace, and they're all Democrats.  The Democrats like to brag about cleaning their own house, but they seem to live in a pigsty lately.  You know it's bad when the corruption even reaches the leadership of the Ohio Democratic Party."

Patrick O'Malley ran a Dann-like operation of cronyism, incompetence and corruption for years, but Democrats never said a word:

• Cronyism: A Plain Dealer review of the recorder's 2007 payroll found that O'Malley has given nearly three dozen jobs, with combined salaries of $1.4 million, to politicos and their kin - former mayors, the son and daughter of a judge, the wife of a councilman.   A review of applications also found people whose previous job skills don't match the work they do for O'Malley.  (The Plain Dealer, 4/27/08)

• Corruption: Shortly after filing in January to run for Cuyahoga County recorder, Cathy Luks said incumbent Patrick O'Malley offered her a $50,000-a-year job in his office if she dropped out of the race.  Under Ohio law, offering something of value to affect an election is a felony. A conviction could result in a candidate being forced off the ballot or being barred from taking office.  Henry Eckhart, spokesman for the government watchdog group Common Cause-Ohio, said an incumbent offering a job to get rid of a challenger would be a "dumb thing to do."  (The Plain Dealer, 4/27/08)

• Negligence:  Cuyahoga County has foreclosed on a property owned by one of its elected officials.  Recorder Patrick O'Malley failed to pay three years' worth of property taxes, from 2005 to 2007, on a commercial property he bought in 2001. He owes more than $18,000 in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest on the property - the former Aragon Ballroom on Cleveland's West Side.   "I've got financial problems like anybody else," he said. "You want to condemn me for that, I don't care."   (The Plain Dealer, 1/26/08)

Kudos to Ohio Republican leadership

The Plain Dealer writes in an editorial today that the scandal bringing down disgraced former Attorney General Marc Dann covered everything from sexual harassment to extramarital affairs:

But those revelations didn't drive Dann from office. Neither did all the Democratic posturing about impeachment. Were they not so offensive to the Ohio Constitution, the articles of impeachment against Dann introduced by Gov. Ted Strickland's disciples on Tuesday would have been laughable.

No, what apparently scared Dann right out of office was the Republican-initiated investigation of Dann's office by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles - an investigation authorized by the legislature and signed off by the governor. Only after the legislature mandated the inspector general probe did Dann begin trying to cut a deal to drop the investigation in return for his resignation.

To their credit, Strickland, House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris all refused.

That's all, folks

Brunner admits to engaging in partisan politics

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner admitted to engaging in partisan politics this week, declaring the letter sent to Marc Dann by Ohio Democratic Party leaders (and signed by her) "a political statement."

Brunner said the letter sent a political statement from Democratic leaders, “and I do feel that overall what’s occurred makes it difficult for him to be effective as attorney general and to be effective politically.”  (Youngstown Vindicator)

A political statement?  We thought Jennifer Brunner vowed to avoid partisanship and political statements as Ohio's chief elections officer.  At least that's what she promised:

"If you're going to umpire the game, you can't wear a jersey of one of the teams." (Salon.com)

It's certainly not the first time Jennifer Brunner has been caught wearing her blue Democrat jersey.

The ever-changing positions of Ted Strickland

Ted Strickland on Sunday threatening impeachment:

We also want to make you aware that if you do not choose to resign, Democratic members of the Ohio House of Representatives will immediately introduce a resolution seeking your impeachment.  (Strickland letter to Marc Dann)

Ted Strickland on Monday encouraging impeachment:

"I am calling for his resignation and I am saying that I will encourage impeachment if he refuses to step down. And I think that's a pretty clear message to the people of this state that inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated." (Strickland News Conference)

Ted Strickland on Tuesday moving forward with impeachment:

"I believe that given the totality of the information that is known that there (are) justifiable reasons for continuing to move forward with an impeachment process," Mr. Strickland said.  (Gongwer News Service)

Ted Strickland on Thursday not supporting impeachment:

Gov. Ted Strickland said there are grounds for impeachment, but he also kept the door open for not going through the removal process if the evidence doesn't warrant it. 

"I've expressed my opinion, but there's a lot of research going on, and if there isn't very credible evidence that something of a serious nature that can be established occurred, then I certainly would not support impeachment," Strickland said.  (Columbus Dispatch)

UPDATE: Brunner flip-flops on impeachment

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner favors the impeachment of Marc Dann.   At least that's what she said in a letter to Dann last week threatening that the Ohio House would "immediately introduce a resolution seeking your impeachment" if he didn't resign.

But now she's getting soft. The Dispatch reports...

Meanwhile, not all Democrats who signed Sunday's letter calling for Dann to resign or face impeachment are saying they are fully behind impeachment proceedings.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she was willing to call for Dann to resign on grounds that he no longer can be effective as attorney general, but the question of impeachment is beyond her purview.

"I have no real role in the impeachment process, and I think the letter indicated that Democrats would file an impeachment resolution," Brunner said. "I think that statement was really more on behalf of the legislative folks."

So you really didn't mean what you wrote in the letter?  Or you didn't actually read the letter you signed?  Do you give this much thought to all your directives, Madam Secretary?

Update: Now Brunner has done a complete 180 on the issue.  She started the week joining other Democrats in a threat of impeachment and ended it in complete hypocrisy:

But, she said during an interview Thursday afternoon, “There’s nothing in there that says I think he should be impeached. ... I think it’s up to the House. .... Clearly the things that occurred were serious, but do we get to the level of it being an impeachable offense when that process hasn’t been used since the 1800s? I’m just not sure.” (Youngstown Vindicator)