Interesting that on the same day The Columbus Dispatch writes, "Republican attempts to tie Cordray to [Marc] Dann don't hold water," The Dayton Daily News breaks this story:
Less than two weeks after Democrat Richard Cordray was sworn in as
Ohio treasurer, the stepdaughter of the Columbus-based salesman for
Wachovia Securities donated $10,000 — the maximum allowed by law — to
Cordray's campaign.
Wachovia soon grabbed 37.5 percent of the state's bond trading
business, a big leap for the St. Louis-based company, which had done a
little less than 1 percent of the bond trading for the treasurer's
office in the prior six years under Republicans Joe Deters and Jeanette
Bradley.
Even the highly-partisan Secretary of State's office can't cover for Cordray on this one:
The Ohio Secretary of State's Office said the scenario may be a problem
on two fronts. First, it's illegal to make campaign contributions in
someone else's name. Second, state contractors face stringent limits on
how much they can give: the maximum had been $1,000 but a law change in
April 2007 set the bar at $2,000 from a vendor or their spouse within a
24-month period.
No comparison to Marc Dann? Dann's downward spiral started out with accusations of pay-to-play and cronyism.
Clever moves like taking campaign contributions from the gambling industry in exchange for dropping lawsuits against them. Or handing out lucrative state contracts to attorneys who bankrolled his campaign. It's the kind of fundraising that prompted the Bedford Times-Register to write...
"If he doesn't start paying more attention to ethical concerns, though, he's on his way to being a one-termer."
... and Joe Hallett at The Columbus Dispatch to write:
"As Democrats gain more power, it may be only a matter of time before they corrupt themselves out of office."
No comparison between Cordray and Dann? Wishful thinking.
