Posted on 08/12/2005 9:44:15 AM PDT by Theodore R.
The Real Meaning of Buckeye Special Election Is Ohio Turning Blue? by John Gizzi Posted Aug 12, 2005
In the wake of a Democratic candidate’s narrow loss in the August 2 special election in Ohio’s most Republican U.S. House district, pundits have begun pondering whether the Buckeye State is turning blue.
The problem for Republicans seems to be the stench that has begun to envelop the administration of Ohio GOP Gov. Robert A. Taft.
Republicans have held the Ohio governorship for 16 years and in the last two presidential elections the state has been indispensable in providing an Electoral College majority to George W. Bush. If Democrats can take back the governorship in 2006, however, they would improve their chances of taking the state’s electoral votes in the 2008 presidential contest. In another tight red state-blue state race, that could give the White House to Hillary Clinton or whoever happens to be the Democratic nominee.
The chances of this calamity’s taking place have been enhanced by the investigation into coin dealer Thomas Noe, a Republican contributor, into whose enterprises the state, under two Republican governors, has invested millions of state employee pension funds. In May, the state froze Noe’s assets.
On July 22, the Toledo Blade reported: “Tom Noe stole millions of dollars from the state and used a ‘Ponzi’ scheme to fabricate profits within the state’s $50 million rare-coin investment, Ohio’s attorney general said yesterday.”
“There was an absolute theft of funds going on,” the paper quoted GOP Atty. Gen. Jim Petro as charging.
This week, Noe’s lawyers denied the charge in a court motion, saying that Petro’s court motion was “page after page of speculation, setting forth no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of defendant’s Thomas Noe, Inc., or Thomas Noe.”
After Noe received state funds as investments in his coin business in 1998, according to the Blade, he made $7,000 in contributions to then-Secretary of State Taft, who was running for governor. In total, Noe has given $22,190 to Taft. In 1998, he also gave $2,000 to then-Gov. George Voinovich (R.), who was running for the U.S. Senate that year. In addition, he has given $7,500 to Sen. Mike DeWine (R.-Ohio).
“I think it shows that Tom Noe has become radioactive very rapidly, and politicians want to disassociate themselves from him as rapidly as possible,” John Green, director of the University of Akron’s Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, told the Dispatch.
In late July, Brian Hicks, formerly Taft’s chief of staff and now a Columbus lobbyist, pleaded no contest to charges he did not report taking gifts, in effect, from Noe in the form of undercharged stays at Noe’s $1.3-million vacation home in Islamorada, Fla. According to the Blade, Hicks paid $300 to $500 to rent Noe’s condo, when he should have paid $1,500 to $2,800. Taft himself is now under investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission for failing to report up to 60 golf outings he received over several years.
The political fall-out from what is increasingly dubbed “the mess in Columbus” has already worked to the detriment of the Republicans. With Democrats sensing their best chance at capturing the governorship in two decades, their leading candidate, Rep. Ted Strickland, has raised a whopping $1 million since announcing for governor two months ago. Moreover, in the special election for Congress August 2,,Democrat Paul Hackett narrowly lost (52% to 48%) to Republican Jean Schmidt in the 2nd District (suburban Cincinnati), the most Republican of Ohio’s 18 House districts. In both debates and mailings, Hackett tied former state legislator Schmidt to Taft and corruption in Columbus.
‘Chicken Hawk’
In focusing on the special election, national media outlets such as ABC News and the Washington Post made much of the fact that the 43-year-old Hackett, a U.S. Marine reservist who had served a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq, was critical of President Bush’s handling of the Iraqi war and the current occupation. At different points, Hackett was even quoted as referring to Bush as a “chickenhawk” and “S.O.B.”
“He did that to draw attention to himself, but Iraq was by no means a big issue here—Taft and taxes were,” said Portsmouth lawyer Eddie Edwards, a Republican activist in the 2nd District. In contrast to his anti-Bush salvoes that were highlighted in the national media, Edwards noted, the Democratic hopeful actually seemed to embrace Bush and the U.S presence on the campaign trail. One Hackett TV spot featured footage of Bush himself, and said: “There is no higher calling than service in our armed forces”—leading Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett to denounce the spot as “a blatant attempt to dupe voters” into thinking Bush endorsed the Democrat. Asked by the Cincinnati Enquirer what his exit strategy for Iraq would be, Hackett echoed Republican Schmidt that the U.S. must “finish the job.”
“I opposed the war, but we’re there now and can’t just leave,” said Hackett. “I propose that we get serious about training the Iraqis and marry them to American units, so that they can defend their fledgling democracy.”
Hackett and the Democrats hit hard at Schmidt as a “rubber stamp for failed policies,” tying her to Taft and noting that she voted for his unpopular sales tax increase. In their final debate July 26, Hackett mentioned Taft’s name in the same sentence with Schmidt 12 times and used the term “rubber stamp” seven times. The Hackett campaign’s two district-wide mailings linked Schmidt to Taft and taxes. The Democrat may also have benefited from last-minute reports that Schmidt, as a state legislator, had lobbied Gov. Taft’s office on behalf of an Internet lottery company owned by one of her contributors, Roger Ach (in whose failing on-line gaming company the controversial Noe was an investor).
Hackett carried four counties that Bush had won handily last year, but Schmidt survived through a big win in her home county of Clermont and by carrying strongly Republican Hamilton County. Taft and “Coingate” nearly cost Republicans a safe House seat. Will they cost them enough to make Ohio “blue” in ’08?
John Gizzi is Political Editor of HUMAN EVENTS.
well, it would be nice if the OH GOP cleaned up its act .. this looks like an IL redux.
The OHIO 2 race should be a warning to everyone.If we keep standing for "pale pastels" with no bold agenda we will lose in 06.Conservatism is the ONLY redeeming quality of this party.We need to remember this.
Holding a clean election in the metropolitan areas would end this speculation.
If Kerry had ignored the lobbyists and run hard against free trade, outsourcing, Enron, etc he could have carried Ohio.
Hillary will not repeat that mistake.
Interesting the Republican candidate won 52% to 48%. My experience in special elections tells me that this a large margin to win by, yet the press keeps referring to it as a close election. I guess they keep dreaming, however, we cannot become complacent.
They're going to have to wait till next November to find out anything and till 2008 to be sure.
Call me silly, but I predict that a lot of things are going to happen between now and the elections, and those things (whatever they are) are going to influence how Ohion's vote.
But most of those New Yorkers were already voting in both states anyway. What difference will this make?
I'm not so sure about that. His biggest problem would have been credibility, since he was as much a "bought" candidate as anyone else.
The issues you mentioned -- particularly free trade and outsourcing -- primarily hold sway with a very narrow group of voters, many of whom end up voting for third-party candidates anyway. Almost all of the support for candidates like Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Ralph Nader comes from these voters.
"Rare coin investment fund"?????
Hit it Crystal Gayle:
"Don't it make my Buckeyes blue"
The democrat lied to the voters. They thought they were voting for a pro-American.
I'll bet they're glad he lost now that the truth had surfaced. That lie will help Republicans next time. Voters don't like being lied to. Ask Bill Clinton!
IIRC, in the previous election it was a 70% to 30% margin.
It would be like me golfing against Tiger Woods on his home course and coming within 4 strokes. I could see how with a little improvement I could actually beat him, and Tiger better look at what went wrong.
Keep in mind that by the time 2008 rolls around there's a good chance that Ohio may not even be a key state anymore. The real battleground states are going to be those Midwestern states that "changed hands" -- or nearly did -- between 2000 and 2004, like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.
Republicans.
Ha! Rose Kennedy was listed as a Florida resident when she died to avoid the Massachusetts death tax, even though she hadn't left the PRM for several years. Dems will move to get out of their spoiled nests and save a few bucks.
On the other hand, democrats are losing the union support and their cash.
All the democrats do for union workers is raise their taxes and steal their pay checks.
I don't see Secretary of State and future Governor Blackwell on there. Good, I hope he didn't get any money from this crook.
The second district is the most Republican in Ohio.We should have gotten 65%.Something is wrong.
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