Republican governors are in trouble, too

July 8, 2005

In recent weeks I’ve noted that a Republican president and Republican Congress are burdened by multiple political scandals, but let’s not leave Republican governors out of the fun.

In Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft (R) is overwhelmed by charges of corruption; California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) seems to have become a magnet for controversy, and former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R) is currently behind bars.

And then there’s Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R), who is up to his ears in a major scandal involving his administration’s hiring practices. In fact, earlier this year, documents, including notes and emails, came to light that showed Fletcher’s hiring decisions were based almost exclusively on partisanship and not individual qualifications — you got a job in state government if you’re a Republican, whether you deserved it or not.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo investigated, believing that the practices violate state employment laws. This week, a grand jury came to the same conclusion and started issuing indictments.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s deputy chief of staff and two other administration officials were indicted yesterday on charges alleging they illegally filled rank-and-file state jobs based on politics, not qualifications.

The cases marked the second time the Franklin County special grand jury has returned indictments since it was impaneled June 6 to investigate allegations of illegal hiring in the Transportation Cabinet.

Among those indicted this week were Fletcher’s deputy chief of staff, an executive director in Fletcher’s Transportation Cabinet, and Fletcher’s transportation administrative services commissioner. The charges range from violating applicants’ civil rights, to political discrimination, to multiple counts of criminal conspiracy.

In DC, Dems believe criticizing Republican ethics (ala Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, all of Jack Abramoff’s buddies, etc.) highlights how far the GOP has fallen. The truth is, it’s not just in Washington; Republicans’ ethics problems are systemic and nationwide.

Will Dr. Dean or some other Dem with national exposure start talking about this please? And once they start, they should not stop. Our nation of short-attention span consumers need to hear the same message over and over. And that message should not be that Bush or any given Republican is evil or stupid or greedy; that produces too much cognitive dissonance in the moderate/center-right voter. That voter then turns to Fox as the only way to deal with the cognitive dissonance. Instead we should focus on the GOP as a whole. We can cite Delay and Cunningham and Fletcher as examples of the larger trend. Then the voters can say to themselves “I didn’t know the GOP was full of such bad apples. I’m sure the guy I voted for in the past is okay, but next time I definately won’t vote for those sleezeballs”

At least I hope that’s the case.

  • This is great news for the future, since governors can have a huge political impact on national politics (especially the president) and are often future presidential candidates.

    The Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) story is going to be huge. While they are trying to make this seem like a small issue, Civil Service rules were created specifically to avoid this type of cronyism, and are usually quite specific. So there is a really good chance that their partisanship will be clear against the backdrop of Civil Service rules.

    Further, this is EXACTLY the kind of issue that Kentucky voters do not want to hear about—we’re talking about a lot of blue collar people that vote (against their actual interest) for republicans, often for efficiency and integrity reasons. But as the article CB linked to shows, this is spiraling into a major fiasco:

    When Doerting came forward with documentation detailing the partisan tint to personnel decisions, Stumbo [the KY AG] dispatched investigators from his office to retrieve transportation department documents because he feared they were being destroyed.

    Transportation officials balked, however, and attorney general investigators and executive branch security personnel spent a weekend outside a locked file room keeping an eye on each other and the door.

    Administration officials pledged cooperation with the investigation, but have gone to court at least three times, seeking to quash subpoenas or limit the information investigators can obtain through search warrants.

    As many as 500 transportation jobs might have been affected by improper political influence, Stumbo said. And he said the investigation may extend to other agencies. He also asked for appointment of a special grand jury.

    “It does appear serious, and it does appear widespread,” Stumbo said.

  • The Dems need to focus on what has become a Republican Culture of Corruption. It doesn’t even raise eyebrows any more. Borrowing Ronnie’s old line of “There they go again” everytime new sleaze is uncovered would reinforce how commonplace really unseemly behavior is on the right. If the Dems can reinforce that raiding public funds for private gain, influence peddling, harming public interest to benefit moneyed friends and other criminal acts is practically a genetic defect in the whole lot of current Republican leaders, maybe we can the tide turn away from the right-wingers.

  • The corrupt right is so ready and soooooo anxious to rule the world that they are jumping the gun all over the place. Their greed and impatience has them catching hell and they really don’t seem to understand the need for some subtlety when pumping goodies into the old mattress.

    Entitlement is the name of the game. Although the left gets accused of pursuing entitlements quite frequently, it’s often because some deserving or down on their luck group is perceived as being treated too well.

    The entitlements on the right are all about the well being of corporations and their attendant flunkies. They work hard, (like head-putz, George), to scam their cash. They DESERVE to live like princes without criticism. Why should anyone begrudge them the fruits of their labors? Why….it’s un-American.

  • and to conclude, for what it’s worth, the left should start sawing like fiends to drop the branch that RepubCo has gotten itself so far out on. And we should invite One and All to come watch the cutting and the splat as they hit the ground.

    But we need to start sawing. Like yesterday.

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