The Governor

Ohio's Governor Taft had hardly had time to apologize for all those gifts he'd forgotten to report (and for which he was convicted) when a further search turned up 8 more! As Sandy Theis and T.C. Brown wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer,

The admission quickly shifted the debate from Taft's ethics to his competence, and it came just hours after an unusual alliance debuted a new interactive Web site, MoveOnTaft.org, to try to force the governor from office 16 months before his term expires.
....

Because some of the newly discovered gifts were received in 1999 and 2000, he could face two additional charges.

The new website MoveOnTaft.org is the result of cooperation between the conservative group Ohio Roundtable and the "liberal-leaning" Ohio Citizen Action. Their mutual goal is to remove Taft from office whether by resignation or impeachment.

According to Steve Eder and James Drew of the Toledo Blade,

Both organizations plan to deploy volunteers to football games across the state during the upcoming season to disperse information explaining why they believe the governor must be removed. Organizers said there is not enough time to launch a petition drive to oust the governor.
....

“We don’t anticipate that Governor Taft is necessarily going to respond to this campaign without the assistance of members of the General Assembly,” said Mr. Zanotti [head of Ohio Roundtable], adding that the effort would be focused largely on convincing legislative leaders to remove the governor.

Liberals and old-style conservatives in other states should take note of the cooperation the Ohioans have been able to forge on this issue.

The pension fund abuses

Though many writers (myself included) have been referring to this as "Coingate," the investigation into the handling of the pension-fund money is leading far beyond Tom Noe's rare-coin investments.

The Oversight Commission is looking into the investment practices of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Yesterday it surfaced that beginning in 2002 the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had "repeatedly complained over several years that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation paid excessive fees to some of its brokers."

The letters sent by the SEC included one sent directly to Ohio Attorney General (and wannabe governor) Jim Petro. His Chief Council Elizabeth Smith wrote back to the SEC and told them that "the trading fees were acceptable."

Christopher Kirkpatrick and Mike Wilkinson write that—

One of the brokerage firms mentioned in the SEC letters is Great Lakes Capital Partners, operated by Patrick White, a former Cleveland police officer.

Mr. White has been linked to Mr. Gasper, who was forced to resign as chief investment officer for the bureau after $215 million was lost in an unapproved Bermuda hedge fund.
....

Mr. White and his firm are active politically, contributing nearly $30,000 to candidates, most of them Republicans.

Attorney General Jim Petro

If Jim Petro isn't corrupt, he's sure as shit incompetent. The House Minority Leader (a Democrat) said of him—

I don’t know what he does as the attorney general. But clearly going after people who are over-billing the state is one of his jobs.”

This may be news to the Attorney General as all the other crimes, misfeasances and malfeasances have been.

Petro is not, however, just sitting on his duff. No, he is going to court to argue against potential reforms of the Ohio electoral system. These reforms would come in the form of amendments to the Ohio constitution put forward by the group Reform Ohio Now (RON), so they're referred to as the RON amendments.

Jim Provance writes in the Blade—

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has sided with the group trying to keep four election-reform constitutional amendments off the Ohio ballot, a move that places his office on both sides of the case.

Petitions for the amendments were gathered with the assistance of out-of-state workers, and that is the basis for the challenge.

Both Petro and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell oppose the amendments, which would end gerrymandering of the voting districts. If there's one thing they can't tolerate, it's fair and open government.

Previous posts
Ohio Republican Attorney General Petro has coins in his pocket (7/29/05)
Jean Schmidt elected to lifetime appointment as U.S. Congresswoman from Ohio (8/3/05)
Fun in Ohio (8/22/05)