August 18, 2005 - The Seeds of Our Defeat
On August 18, 2005, Bob Taft
pled "no contest" in Franklin County Municipal Court to charges for failing to disclose 47 golf
outings, five dinners, and 29 other favors paid for by friends. Taft was
charged the maximum financial penalty for each of his crimes, totaling $4000.
Among the violations were three trips to Toledo's Iverness Club with Tom Noe,
who paid for at least one of the outings.
Gov. Taft was the first Ohio governor ever to be convicted of a crime.
A smarter man, a more honorable man, even a Republican party man, would have resigned his office immediately. But not Bob Taft. Instead, he will turn his office over to Ted Strickland and Lee Fisher in January 2007 and walk off into history as the man who brought down the Ohio Republican Party.
I called for his resignation, even his impeachment, and a few others joined me. But not enough, and no one that really mattered.
The polls continue to tell the sorry tale. The most recent SurveyUSA poll shows that while 76% of Republicans approve of George Bush's performance in office, 70% of Republicans disapprove of Taft's.
Bob Taft has singlehandedly driven the base of the Republican party away from its statewide candidates. Here are my predictions:
Governor - Ted Strickland by at least 10 points
Attorney General - Betty Montgomery - the only GOP survivor
Secretary of State - Jennifer Brunner
Auditor of State - Toss Up, but leans to Sykes
Treasurer - Richard Cordray
Blackwell could still redeem himself and shift his last minute ad buys away from himself and towards the two apportionment board seats. But I predict that he will not. His ego and his unflinching belief that he will still win somehow will not allow him to make this sacrifice for the greater good. Instead he will fade from the statewide scene, a defeated candidate.
Strickland, on the other hand, will take the risk. Even when the polls show a tightening towards the end, he will shift his last minute ad buys to others and win total control of the apportionment process.
you are right about Taft, but you need to include the seed previous to that: June 30, 2003. That state budget included sales tax increases and continued our slide into economic purgatory with bloated government. the first seed? June 1991 and every two years since then. republican failure to properly budget and reform our tax code until 2005 is the bigget nail in our coffin.
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Good one.
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Scott, I have to respectfully disagree with you. I think Blackwell will win when all is said and done. I also think Hartmann will win the Secretary of State's race because of his cash advantage.
The Democrats will win the Treasurer's race, but it's not going to be the apocalypse like many think it will be.
If we do go down in flames though, we have the Ohio GOP establishment to thank for that. They are the ones who protected Bob Taft from being impeached, and Bob Taft is the reason we are in the trouble we are.
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This is one of those times that I really hope that I'm wrong.
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