Taft's days numbered?

COLUMBUS ---- It was
href="http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-18/112..."
target="_blank">announced today that Ohio Governor Bob Taft will be
facing up to 4 misdemeanor criminal charges as a result of his failure to
disclose
more than 50 golf outings he received as gifts from
lobbyists/supporters.

Governor Taft has claimed that his indiscretion was nothing more than 50 or
more different cases of memory lapse, or it was his secretary's fault,
depending upon who is asking him and when. Each first degree misdemeanor
count is punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. It should
be noted that in Ohio, a first degree misdemeanor conviction would
disqualify someone from holding the office of Sheriff.

Ohio residents only recently learned that a former top Taft aide and Chief
of Staff Brian Hicks was criminally charged for failing to report vacations
he took to Tom Noe's home in the Florida Keys. Hicks was criminally charged
for paying Mr. Noe less than the market rental rate for his stay in the
property and failing to disclose the difference as a gift. Governor Taft,
apparently, didn't pay anything for the golf trips he did not disclose.

Gun rights activists have known about Taft's questionable ethics for far
longer than the majority of Ohioans.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

After having campaigned on a platform
of support for concealed carry reform in the late 1990's, Taft consistently
href="http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=586">opposed such reforms after being elected. In fact, the poison pill
provisions Governor Taft insisted on inserting into HB 12, either through
his direct demands or though his proxies in the political leadership of the
Ohio State Highway Patrol, are a top 5 on almost every
gun owner's fix-it list. The most infamous of these, the media access
loophole, was inserted into HB 12 after it passed both houses.

Taft's approval ratings, already at
href="http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2532">rock
bottom, are sure to plummet even further, if that is even a mathematical
possibility. This is largely thanks to Ohio already having cratered into a
smoking hole in the economic landscape under Taft's piloting.

Buckeye Firearms is hopeful that the General Assembly will finally see
Governor Taft for what he is - a crippled lame duck - and spend the rest of
this session crafting and passing the best gun rights legislation possible.
The absolute last factor any legislator should worry about is the effect of
having to override a Taft veto. Party unity is something that is earned,
just not by Governor Taft. It is time Ohio get into a 12 step program to
get over their Taft problem, and step one has been taken with the filing of
the criminal charges.

UPDATE: Ohio governor fined but avoids jail on ethics charges

FLASHBACK: Round 2: Will the GOP vs. Taft slugfest be good for CCW Reform?