Final Kiss of Death For Governor Taft?
By Larry S. Moore
Like most Ohioans, I have been following the saga of Gov. Taft and the
unreported gifts. Gov. Taft's latest gifts are certain to result in another round of investigations, news reports, and calls for his resignation.
While many Ohioans are surprised and shocked at more gifts being found, Ohio gun owners and concealed carry advocates should not be surprised. Gov. Taft's problems with reporting, and new items being found that should have been reported, have a very familiar sound to the way Gov. Taft addressed the HB 12 concealed carry legislation. Every time advocates and the General Assembly got close to passing HB 12 or every time an agreement had been struck, Gov. Taft moved the goal posts on us. New information, a new position, or a new requirement was thrown into the mix.
Seems to me Gov. Taft is handling his reporting in much the same manner as he handled his campaign promise to pass concealed carry legislation. Perhaps what we are seeing is not so much the violations in ethical disclosures as it is a pattern of behavior that lacks ethics. It only took a little over 4 years for concealed carry advocates to be fully confronted with this behavior. It took slightly longer for the rest of Ohio and the Ethics Commission to become aware of it.
Whatever the outcome, it is sad for Ohio, Gov. Taft, and his family. The way to have ethics in government is to elect ethical people to office. Now all we have to do is figure out how to determine that before they get elected!
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