Thursday, March 30, 2006

OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY CIRCLES THE DRAIN-- WILL IT TAKE THE WHOLE GOP ALONG FOR THE RIDE?

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I've been writing about the banana republic of Ohio since I started DWT last year. My first two "beats" were Randy "Duke" Cunningham and the colossal scam and rip-off known as Coingate. The latter featured virtually the entire state GOP-- governor, couple of U.S. senators, half a dozen congressmen, Secretary of State, judges, Attorney General, State Auditor, the entire Republican Party hierarchy, state legislators... hmmm... did I leave anyone out?-- conspiring to steal millions of dollars from the state workmen's compensation fund to line their own and their supporters' pockets, fund Republican dirty tricks (like rigging the 2004 presidential election) and perpetuate a virtual one-party government devoid of democracy in the middle of our nation.

I'm not one to bother with reading the proto-fascist propaganda on the editorial page of the WALL STREET JOURNAL but today former Republican congressman John Kasich has a story called "Buckeye GOP Circles The Drain-- A Complacent Party Descends Into Corruption" that I think ever American should read.

Kasich, with extensive experience both in Ohio politics and in the federal government has made a powerful case for why anyone who cares about America should vote for Democrats in November, even for Rahm Emanuel shill candidates. "The biggest scam in town-- but by no means the only-- is the 'pay for play' practices of office-holders at every level. Of course, not all public servants are guilty-- most are not. However, Ohio Republicans have held every statewide office since 1994, and the governorship and secretary of state since 1990. They currently have long-standing, lopsided majorities in both houses of the general assembly. The endemic culture of money-for-influence is a testament to the corrupting consequences that inevitably follow when one party holds power for too long."

Kasich goes on to lay out a convincing case against the Republican Party. "Exhibit A in this mire is Toledo coin dealer and Republican fundraiser Tom Noe. His 'coingate' scandal, as it has been inelegantly termed, demonstrated a total breakdown in ethics and was a direct result of one-party domination of the political process. Mr. Noe obtained several contracts totaling some $50 million to pursue investment opportunities for the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, in this case rare coin speculation. With limited oversight of his operation, Mr. Noe allegedly began laundering campaign contributions to state and federal candidates (including President Bush). In February Mr. Noe was indicted on 53 felony counts and faces a mandatory 10-year prison term if convicted of corruption. At this point $10 million to $12 million remains unaccounted for. Unfortunately, coingate isn't the only prominent Republican scandal."

And unfortunately Ohio, though perhaps the most egregious, is certainly not the only example of a Republican Party out of control and undermining the very democratic nature of our country. And, of course, the most dangerous example is in Washington, DC itself, where Republican pols seem to have made a deal with the Bush Regime-- they rubber-stamp all of his decisions and he more or less allows them to run wild lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests. Here in California we need look no further than our own GOP congressional delegation to find even more corrupt politicians than anything back in Ohio-- well, not counting Bob Ney and Ken Blackwell. Still unindicted master criminals like Jerry Lewis, John Doolittle, Duncan Hunter and Richard Pombo need take no lessons from anyone in the Buckeye State when it comes to scamming the taxpayers and cheating Uncle Sam. Only one is currently in prison, a poor, dumb slob named Randy "Duke" Cunningham, but with on-going investigations chugging forward and with Republican lobbyists/bribers like Jack Abramoff, Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade all cooperating with federal investigators against these outrageous salons, voters all across America are going to wake up very soon to exactly what their complacency has wrought.

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3 Comments:

At 6:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

2006 may well turn out to be a bumper crop year for indictments.

Question: Will one of the crooks from Ohio work for a reduced sentence by divulging 2004 election fraud info?

 
At 8:06 PM, Blogger KenInNY said...

Good thought. I'm not optimistic, though, since after all, all the investigators, at both the federal and state levels, will be Republicans. In the end I think they're going to do their job, more or less. It's not going to be the judicial bloodbath that would almost certainly result if the prosecutors were truly independent or nonpartisan, but I don't think out-and-out crooks--people who've been stealing and taking bribes--are going to be get off scotfree.

At the same time, I don't think we're going to see the kind of prosecutorial zeal many of us would hope to see, and I don't expect to see much zeal at all where the misdeeds were conspicuously political in nature.

And a lot of the current scandal OUGHT to be political. Because while in the end sheer greed seems to have infected most of the Republican Party, the seeds of this crime wave were political: the vision. notably Tom DeLay's, of how money and jobs, bribery and extortion could be used to guarantee a permanent Republican stranglehold on all levels of government.

K

 
At 2:38 AM, Blogger newc said...

All politicians are crooks man. You should know that. What I want from you is proposals and solutions. We all listen even if you think we hold ill will. You also need to focus on what the enemy is. It seems you have missed the rest of those who have seen what this is for what it is instead of "hate bush". It is tiresome to check daily to just see another rant against publicans. I know and have known for a long time you hate them. But you have to get nitty gritty these days. It is not abot fundementalism, but about what works better and no one is showing anything better. I liked it better when you were in music. I wish I could get any song from any music service. If you could fix that, I will fix the rest. Deal? Would it be possible to transfer rights across music service so when I lust after a song I do not have to use 5 providers? I AM asking you to attend to YOUR job. forget politics.

If you want to fix that, aks me personally.

 

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