Posted on 08/17/2005 1:07:05 PM PDT by wildwood
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Gov. Bob Taft, under investigation for not reporting numerous golf outings as required by law, will be charged with four criminal misdemeanors, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Taft, a Republican and member of a distinguished U.S. political family, would be the first Ohio governor to be charged with a crime.
If convicted, he could be fined $1,000 and sentenced to six months in jail on each count, though time behind bars was considered unlikely. Taft will be charged later Wednesday, said City Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh, who declined further comment pending an afternoon news conference.
Investigators have looked for weeks at Taft's alleged violation of a law requiring officeholders to report all gifts worth more than $75. Though long anticipated, news of the charges were still a stunning conclusion to a process Taft began in June when he announced the lapse.
The charges would come three months after Taft stressed at an ethics conference the importance of ethical behavior for public employees. "Public employees can enjoy entertainment, such as golf or dining out, with persons working for a regulated company, or one doing business with the state, ONLY if they fully pay their own way," he said in the May 11 speech at Xavier University.
Taft, 63 and nearing the end of his second term, would be the highest-ranking official to be charged in a ballooning state investment scandal. His former chief of staff was convicted of an ethics violation in July.
Other Ohio governors have come under investigation, including Republican George Voinovich, investigated for unproven allegations he laundered campaign money, and Democrat Richard Celeste, whose connections to a contributor who owned the failed Home State Savings Bank were examined.....
(Excerpt) Read more at wtol.com ...
What is it about RINO's and corruption? I hope Ohio doesn't go the way of Illinois.
and the toledo (cough cough) blade.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050817/BREAKINGNEWS/50817018
the blade's server is crap, though, and very slow, just like the paper.
i dunno. he has already said he is NOT resigning, which he needs to do. he holds everyone else to such a high standard, but not himself.
YAWWWWWWNNNN
Oh, sorry, did you say something?
traficant was right, every now and then. i don't think taft has ever been right. he's a weasel. he needs to just GET OUT.
sorry if breaking news of politics from OHIO, a swing state of significance in presidential elections, bores you.
We have a similar problem here in Tennessee. Our ex RINO governor Sundquist hasn't been indicted, but a number of his closest cronies have. It basically involves the state hiring a PR firm for a lot of money that did little or no work. Here's the link to the FR post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350371/posts
"Investigators have looked for weeks at Taft's alleged violation of a law requiring officeholders to report all gifts worth more than $75"
What happened to all the furniture Hillary?
Yes, Ahia seems to rapidly be becoming the Floriduh of the North...
Four misdemeanors mean nothing.
At least, not until he's convicted. Or does corruption among elected officials not bother you?
SW
Taken alone it might not mean much. But considered within the context of this entire Noe debacle, it certainly means something & will reverberate in Ohio politics for years to come.
At what point does the criminal behavior of our elected officials begin to "mean" something?
glad to see your standards are so high.
the republican party in ohio is in trouble; these problems only reflect a part of the problem.
taft requires all public employees to disclose every stinkin' little thing they do; he just lectured employees three months ago on disclosing ALL gifts, yet he does something like this over the course of many years. apparently there were over 50 occasions on which he violated the law.
a bit breathtaking that you find it to be "nothing."
the man is a liar and a cheat. he needs to resign for the survival of the party in ohio.
this WILL affect the next presidential race. he needs to resign.
I'm actually cherring them on. The Ohio GOP is doing its best to sabotage the President and any conservative pro-American agendas from being implemented at the national level with the trio of Voinovich, DeWine and Taft (affects presidential & Senatorial elections).
My attitude is convict all their corrupted butts and put some real principled conservatives in there to clean up the mess (if any but Blackwell remain). Speaking of which, heard deWine may finally have a challenger in the primary the other day with an exploratory committee being formed. I'll be donating to DeWine's challenger should he make it official.
Now, had he been a (D), you would still be waiting for that info.
What a noble name - Robert Taft - to be sullied this way. Is this guy the son or grandson or Robert Taft, "Mr. Republican" of the US Senate and an implacable foe of FDR's tax-spend follies? Even if there are no charges, or they aren't true, Gov. Taft has sullied a great name by being a big taxer-spending. His ancestor Wm Howard Taft (is he the grandfather or great-grandfather? )is probably rolling in the grave, too.
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