Columbus Plain Dealer"Ohio's Watergate"-Democrats demand answers from GOP

[papau]

The Columbus Dispatch wrote over the weekend that there are growing concerns among those in the state GOP that the party's growing fundraising scandal could taint the president at Ohio's polls in November. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports some have taken to calling the scandal "Ohio's Watergate

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lake/1090056927180620.xml

Democrats demand answers from GOP
Campaign scandal likened to Watergate
Monday, July 19, 2004
Maggi Martin
Plain Dealer Reporter
Painesville- A group of Democrats gathered on the courthouse steps Thursday to demand that Republicans come clean on the growing campaign-finance scandal that they are calling "Ohio's Watergate."

John Hawkins, an Eastlake attorney running against Rep. Tim Grendell of Chester Township for the Ohio Senate seat in the 18th District, was joined by Sen. Bob Hagan of Youngstown and two candidates for state representative, Tim Cassell of Madison and Dan Dombeck of Highland Heights.

"We need to speak out about the corruption in the Statehouse," Hagan said. "This is the most serious I've seen in 16 years as a legislator."

Hawkins said Grendell should provide the contract he signed with Kyle Sisk, who along with political consultant Brett Buerck is under state and federal investigation for allegations of political corruption. <snip>

The campaign-financing scandal has been brewing for months. House Speaker Larry Householder released copies of contracts between the House Republican Campaign Committee and Sisk earlier this week after being subpoenaed by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who is investigating the legality of the bonuses.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jim Petro provided his contract with Sisk and admitted he paid Sisk $30,000 after firing him in the wake of the fund-raising scandal. <snip>

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[Kukesa]

1. This is terrific! Let 's help 'em implode! n/t

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

2. How conservative is the Cincinnati Enquirer?

To date they have run a grand total of (drumroll please) zero -- count 'em -- ZERO front page stories on what is the biggest political scandal of our generation. The federal investigation into Joe Deters' money-laundering scheme? Nada. Zippo. Not a word.

We need some kind of "Radio Free Europe" in Cincinnati so people will understand what's going on in Columbus.

[Kolesar]

3. The Enquirer has been called "a company newspaper"

and that company is Proctor and Gamble. They are a huge company with conservative management and they control whatever they choose in Cincinnati.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

4. I don't think so...

P&G donated a significant chunk of money to the Repeal Article 12 Campaign (that's Cincinnati's notorious anti-gay charter amendment). And they're certainly a woman and gay-friendly company.

I typically refer to the Enquirer as "The Daily Newsletter of the Hamilton County Republican Party."

[Philostopher]

5. The managing editor used to be a guy named Bronson.

I heard him interviewed once and if I could have reached through the radio and smacked him for all the sanctimonious, clearly political (conservative of course) crap that came out of his mouth, I'd have sat out the misdemeanor assault charge. I don't live down there anymore, and I don't have to deal with him, but I'd gladly have slain him with my bare hands the night I heard him spewing right-wing rhetoric on the radio.

Even if he's not the current managing editor, he's typical. They're very conservative, and they always were. The Post used to be the populist alternative to the Enquirer, but they're pretty much birdcage liner these days -- and the Enquirer skidded farther and farther to the right. By the time we moved north a few years back, I found it unreadable beyond the comics and the entertainment section.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

6. Bronson is now a columnist

The editorial pages became mariginally better now that he's relegated to the Local News section twice a week. But you're right that he's a flaming idiot.

After the April 2001 riots, one of the local TV stations held a "town hall" meeting where certain civic leaders (including Bronson) were on a panel that took questions from a studio audience. One African-American man stood up and ripped Bronson a new one for being the race-baiting demagogue that he is. Bronson had to just sit there and take it. Priceless.

BTW, I heard that he became a columnist because the other members of the editorial board couldn't stand working with him. He's certainly not going to be syndicated anytime soon -- his shit barely plays in Cincinnati, much less anywhere else.

[Philostopher]

7. I think it was an interview on the radio about the riots,

now you mention it, that about made my head explode. Charlie Luken -- Mr. Ineffectual -- who meant well, but lacked the imagination (and, perhaps, the power) to do something really, genuinely consensus building pissed me off enough. Bronson was the reason I quit reading the Cincinnati John Birch Review long before I left there. I'd already resorted to getting my news off the Internet, by then. Glad to hear his frothing has been curtailed a bit, but the Enquirer always was pro-business at the expense of everything else (including the local economy), so it's no surprise it continues.