Democrats Put Taft Impeachment Talks On Hold

WCMH-TV Columbus, Ohio ^ | August 23, 2005

[Columbus Dawg]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Democrats Tuesday said they want to take a break before they proceed further with talks concerning the impeachment of Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.

No other Ohio governor has been convicted of a crime while in office, and so far, no Ohio governor has faced the impeachment process, NBC 4's David Wayne reported.

"We continue to have concern about Governor Taft leading the state after he arrogantly broke Ohio ethics laws," said Minority Leader and Democrat Representative Chris Redfern.

House Democrats left a closed-door meeting after several hours Tuesday to announce an end to current impeachment consideration.

Democrats said they want to work alongside Republicans to determine the depth of the ethics scandal.

"Clearly, there exists a crisis and corruption in pay-to-play," Redfern said.

Taft's vow to remain in office despite ethics violations continues, Wayne reported. During a public appearance, he dismissed impeachment talk and spoke on his current political plans.

"We've passed an historic tax bill," Taft said. "I want to continue working to get companies to come to our state."

Democrats continue to call for a bi-partisan commission to investigate the financial scandal surrounding the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Taft insists he will not resign.

Watch NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for additional information.

[Columbus Dawg]

I think the Democrats are just playing games (possibly a bluff). Talk of Taft resigning from other elected officials has been nearly mute. The folks calling for his resignation or impeachment are mostly those running for statewide office next year, like this Redfern fella. While people would like to see Taft go, a lot of people also have the opinion of "others have done much worse." The example these folks use is that of State Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick and her DUI on I-75 on a weekday afternoon. While I am not a fan of Taft, I would agree that if Taft goes, Resnick and others should go too.

[Lurker]

The Republicans in the Ohio Legislature should be running the impeachment proceedings. This clown needs to be tossed from office on his a$$.

L

[playball0]

Taft is a jerk, but the Dems don't have the votes and they'd end up looking like the partisan crying weenies that they are.