The problem about focusing all of your energy on the 2nd District Congressional race is that you start to see the race everywhere. For instance, take today’s front page of the Dayton Daily News:

Ethics a greater issue for officials
Number of allegations of violations up sharply

By Laura A. Bischoff
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | For Mark Twain, golf was “a good walk spoiled.” In Ohio, that’s not the half of it. In recent years, the game has helped to spoil careers and led to resignations in Ohio government.

Since 2002, a dozen people at various levels of state government have been investigated or left office for ethical lapses ranging from accepting gifts, including free golf, from people who do business with their agencies to even more serious transgressions that resulted in criminal prosecutions.

And that doesn’t include questions of propriety that have followed recent revelations about lawmakers socializing with lobbyists, nor the on-going federal investigation of former House Speaker Larry Householder and two top consultants over allegations of campaign finance irregularities.


Hmm… I wonder if that has anything do to with this Cincinnati Post editorial from 2004?

Blackwell is also investigating allegations of undue influence in a hotly contested primary race for the Ohio Senate in the 14th District just east of Cincinnati. Householder is openly backing Rep. Jean Schmidt of Miami Township against another member of the GOP House caucus, Rep. Tom Niehaus of New Richmond, for the seat being vacated by term-limited Senate President Doug White.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that two of Householder’s top aides, fund-raiser Kyle Sisk and political adviser Brett Buerck, were offered bonuses if they could persuade Niehaus to drop out of the race and avoid a contested primary. The newspaper also reported that Householder personally made a telephone call to a lobbyist suggesting a campaign contribution to Schmidt (who won the primary by about 60 votes out of 33,700 cast; a recount is pending).


Pretty soon you’re going to find me in a rubber room mumbling mega-farms… soy bean mega-farms… on a private jet… bows… and why no socks… WHY NO SOCKS???