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Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans

By TChris, Section Other Politics
Posted on Fri Jun 03, 2005 at 02:11:35 PM EST
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by TChris

Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett realizes that Republicans need a refresher course in ethics. His solution:

With an eye toward next year's election, Bennett said last week he will require any candidate seeking the party's support to have ethics training.

Bennett made the decision in the wake of a political scandal triggered by the loss of $12 to $13 million from the state's workers compensation fund. The fund inexplicably decided to invest in rare coins at the suggestion of Thomas Noe, a Toledo coin collector who was chairman of President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in northwest Ohio. About 120 of the coins, supposedly in Noe's care, are missing.

Noe is described as "a lawn sprinkler of campaign cash to major Republican candidates in the state." Noe sprinkled money on a variety of Republican candidates, including President Bush, who is returning $4,000 in campaign contributions he received from Noe. The Bush campaign received more than $100,000 raised by Noe.

Other Republican candidates are also emptying their pockets of Noe's money.

Gov. Bob Taft, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine and three other statewide officeholders with gubernatorial ambitions announced this week that they are giving up about $60,000 they had received from Noe. In Washington, the Republican National Committee said Thursday it would donate to charities $6,000 that the Bush-Cheney campaign and the RNC received from Noe and his wife, Bernadette.

Ethics training might have alerted Republicans to the impropriety of trusting a man with a $55 million state investment simply because he's a generous contributor to Republican campaigns.

"This is such a vibrant example of the culture of corruption in Columbus," said Democratic state Sen. Marc Dann, whose party has not won a statewide race in Ohio in more than a decade. "The people in charge have become too comfortable with churning government benefits in exchange for campaign contributions," Dann said.

The ethics training may be coming a bit late. Ohio voters are unlikely to be understanding of politicians who decided to squander funds that were intended to compensate injured workers.

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    Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#1)
    by nolo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    (in lovely Cleveland, Ohio) You'd be amazed what Ohio voters will tolerate.

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#2)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    May I suggest an idea...how about a "scared straight" program where they do a visit to a minimum security prison and listen to horror stories from people like John Rowland about the brutal living conditions there...the lack of Perrier and tennis court playing time...

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    here in illinois, the governor and legislators have decided not to fund pensions for a year-budget problem solved. party affiliation-democrat.

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#4)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    D**N our election system is F-U-B-A-R!

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#5)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    Ethics lessons :: Republicans a) Flying lessons :: pigs b) Swimming lessons :: bowling balls c) Cooking lessons :: cannibals

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    can someone trick Ken Blackwell into attending?

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    Reminds me once when my Dad had an fbi agent on the stand. My Dad was the defense atty and running the agent thru his quals (not exact transcript, just my memory): Dad - and what was your training? fbi - I attended the fbi academy at quantico. Dad - And what kind of training did you receive there? fbi - We were trained in weapons, legal procedures, interrogation techniques and jury school. Dad - Jury school!? What did they teach you in Jury School? fbi - They taught us to tell the truth. Dad - (pauses 3 beats) ... and how long did that take? Even the fed judge laughed, and then admonished the gallery & jury for laughing. But seriously folks, these weren't minor technical reporting glitches, they were calculated attempts to systematically subvert campaign finance laws. If you need an ethics class to know that's wrong you shouldn't be NEAR politics.

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:40 PM EST
    Republican ethics Jumbo shrimp Military intelligence . . .

    Re: Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans (none / 0) (#10)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:41 PM EST
    What can they learn? The right wing motto: "All I ask for in life is an unfair advantage."

    Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans | 9 comments (9 topical)