Bob Wise

Embattled, ethically challenged, Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise, last night lost the endorsement of the Knox County Republican Party to challenger Roger Reed.  The full story is here.

It's not very often that a longtime incumbent loses a party endorsement to a challenger, especially when the rules require a 2/3's vote of the committee.  It looks like we're starting to have an impact.

        

I thought I started out a little slow but warmed up as we went along.  Link to the audio is here:

        

This morning, a ballot issue committee called LetOhioVote and several individuals involved with this group filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court to duck depositions and subpoenas requested by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The investigation was launched after it was reported that LetOhioVote's political operations were funded by over $1.55 million in contributions by an obscure Virginia nonprofit group called New Models.

Their complaint can be found here. 

Most of the individuals associated with either LetOhioVote or New Models are former aides or consultants to Ken Blackwell, Ohio's former Secretary of State. They argue in Court that the Secretary of State does not have the authority to launch such an investigation.

That's funny.

That's the same argument that I made in 2004 when Ken Blackwell and his top aides tried to subpoena donation records to the Ohio Taxpayers Association.  A link to my comments and objections can be found here.

Nonetheless, here are some of the quotes from then by Carlo LoParo, a spokesperson for Ken Blackwell at the time and now one of the individuals that was subpoenaed by Jennifer Brunner:

LoParo said the secretary of state is doing his duty to investigate campaign finance irregularities and denied any vendetta against Pullins.   "We hope that Mr. Pullins fully complies with this subpoena," LoParo said. "If Mr. Pullins has done nothing wrong then he will have no problem presenting the information requested."

-     Lancaster Eagle Gazette - June 15, 2004

Blackwell’s spokesman, Carlo LoParo, was unmoved. “While I’d love to join Mr. Pullins at his pity party,” LoParo said, “we have a job to do and we want him to comply with our subpoena.”

-     Cleveland Plain Dealer - June, 2004

Blackwell’s office also issued a subpoena on Wednesday to Scott Pullins, chairman of the Ohio Taxpayers Association. It demands bank records and documentation of campaign activities since 2000.

 

Pullins’ critics contend that he and the OTA acted as an issue-advocacy front for Householder until the men had a recent falling out.

 

Pullins said he would not provide the records because “they’ve been constitutionally protected since 1958,” the year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NAACP did not have to turn over membership lists and other records to the attorney general of Alabama.

 

Responded LoParo: “We’re not the Alabama attorney general, this isn’t 1958 and he’s not the NAACP.”

-     Cleveland Plain Dealer - June, 2004

Sometimes the past comes back to bite you.

        

A guest post from my Democratic friend Tim Russo:

At today’s TEDxCLE event in Cleveland, I learned about an extraordinary idea.  The NEO law firm of Dworken & Bernstein is spearheading an effort to pass a law in Ohio to force defendants to pay up unclaimed class action judgments, and donate the funds to charities.

Ohio Lawyers Give Back was founded by Dworken & Bernstein Co., L.P.A. to promote the use of cy pres in class action settlements. When a class action is settled, plaintiff and defendant agree to a fund amount to pay all class members. Since many class members have moved, passed-away, or can’t be found, millions of settlement dollars go unclaimed. That settlement money is intended to benefit the class—rather than revert to the wrongdoing defendant—so the ancient doctrine is now being used to distribute the unclaimed money to charities and non profits.

Over $20 million dollars has already been distributed, just by the sponsors, a single law firm. If cy pres were used more broadly,hundreds of millions of dollars each year would be available to help charities, non-profits, and the communities where we live. This website is dedicated to advancing the use of cy pres in all class action settlements where a large pool of unclaimed settlement funds is expected.

Here is attorney Pat Perotti explaining the issue, as he did at today’s TEDxCLE.

SB 157 would create Ohio law mandating the use of cy pres doctrine in class action judgments, forcing the defendant to pay the full amount of the judgment, and donating the amount unpaid to the plaintiff class to charity.  Here’s a portion of the sample letter to lawmakers.

Senate Bill 157 will provide a huge pool of needed money to these programs.  Use of the doctrine codified by S.B. 157 has already given over $20 million dollars to charities and non-profits,and has kept programs open that were out of funding and closing their doors.  Those monies have provided medicine and treatment to sick kids who would not have received it otherwise due to funding cuts.  Mealsf or tens of thousands of poor throughout Ohio—who were not otherwise going to be served due to funding cuts.  Speech and hearing therapy for deaf children in areas where the programs were closing.

S.B. 157 will expand this pool of money in an amount conservatively estimated at over $50 million dollars each year.  I twill do so without costing the state anything.  It will do so by requiring nothing more than honesty in the settlement of class action lawsuits, so that the benefit of a settlement (presented to the court as, for example, $1 million) will be that amount.  No more.  No less.  Just the honest truth.

I spoke with Pat Perotti who gave the presentation at TEDxCLE – he’s a Republican plaintiff’s attorney, a confluence which warmed my heart. Perotti explained that SB 157 is currently being held up in the Ohio Senate by Senate president Republican Bill Harris, and Republican Senators Keith Faber and Steve Buerher.  Well, if SB 157 is good enough for a Republican plaintiffs attorney, it damn well oughta be good enough for the Republican controlled Ohio Senate.

This issue is a no brainer.  We all get letters in the mail from class actions which we ignore, because the amounts we are due as laintiffs in the class are so small as to not be worth our effort to collect it.  Because of this, even though the money has been awarded by a judge, even though the lawyers have been paid, the only party getting away with behavior a court has deemed worthy of a judgment against that behavior are the people who owe the money.

It only makes sense to make the defendant pay the full amount, and if the full amount isn’t distributed to the entire class, donate that mount to charity.  I can’t imagine why anyone would oppose this. There is no reason for the Ohio Senate to delay action on SB 157. Perotti told me the votes are there to pass it.  So put it on the floor, and pass it.

Please send a letter, or this blog post, to the email addresses below.  I’m doing that right now.

SD19@senate.state.oh.us – Senator Bill Harris

SD12@senate.state.oh.us – Senator Keith Faber

SD01@senate.state.oh.us – Senator Steve Buehrer

        

From my email inbox:

Washington- With the House Ethics Committee confirming that corrupt New York Democrat Charlie Rangel is guilty of breaking key ethics rules, Zack Space has put himself squarely at odds with the bipartisan panel.  Space has already voted twice to sweep his party’s corruption problems under the rug by letting Rangel off the hook – and is it any wonder? According to the Federal Elections Commission, Space has taken $21,000 from Rangel and his PAC in campaign donations. It’ll take more than a few donations for Rangel to buy his way out of hot water, but that hasn’t stopped him and Space from trying.

 

Space repeatedly sided with his corrupt colleague while the House Ethics Committee completed its investigation into Rangel’s endless history of dirty deeds:

 

“Rep. Charles B. Rangel broke congressional gift rules by accepting trips to Caribbean conferences that were financed by corporate interests, the House ethics committee said Thursday.”

 

“The committee said its report was intended to "serve as a public admonishment" of Rangel, and it ordered him to repay costs of the trips.”

 

“Beyond the trips, Rangel faces more troublesome allegations regarding his failure to pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, the use of his congressional office to raise money for the wing of a New York college named in his honor, revised financial disclosure forms that show more than $500,000 in previously unreported wealth, and his use of a rent-controlled apartment for his political committees.” (Paul Kane, “Rep. Rangel’s trips broke congressional gift rules, panel says,” Washington Post, 2/26/2010)

 

“Zack Space's decision to repeatedly sweep Rangel’s corruption under the rug and openly accept campaign donations in return proves that he is just another Democrat who is more concerned with partisan loyalty than serving the people he’s supposed to represent,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Speaker Pelosi once promised to ‘drain the swamp’ and lead ‘the most honest and open Congress in history,’ but Space and his fellow Democrats are now standing knee-deep in corruption.”

 

Unfortunately for Space, his decision to stand with his friends in Washington rather than the voters and taxpayers of Ohio will come to haunt him this November.

 

###

        

Embattled, ethically compromised Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise has drawn a total of 3 opponents.  2 for the May GOP primary and 1 if he survives to the general election.

Longtime Fredericktown Mayor and County Dog Warden Roger Reed and 2008 primary candidate and local realtor Tim Smith both filed for the Republican Primary.  Incumbent Democrat Mount Vernon At Large City Council Member Rebecca Jordan filed to run as the Democrat's candidate.

Of course, none of them have campaign websites as of yet.

        

Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association, announced today that the association is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) “Endangerment Finding” for greenhouse gases. On Friday, February 12, 2010, the association filed a petition for reconsideration with the EPA, asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to review her agency’s decision in light of damaging disclosures calling into question the validity of its underlying climate data. Additionally, on Tuesday, February 16, 2010, the coal association filed a separate petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The association urged the EPA to reconsider its actions, and for the federal appeals court to review EPA's actions because of the inevitable and severe harm it will inflict upon Ohio's coal mining industry. Carey said, “The EPA relied on the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which we now know was simply not credible. These were not scientists seeking the truth. This was an organization with a political agenda, intent on showing a pattern of global warming. The EPA has no choice but to go back to the drawing board, and find a legitimate, independent scientific research organization capable of collecting data and objectively analyzing it.”

According to Carey, the EPA’s current path regarding greenhouse gases would make the coal industry extinct. “That would kill mining jobs and jobs across the American economy. Furthermore, the regulatory burden would also jeopardize the nation’s goal of energy independence, threaten our national security and raise rates for the great majority of consumers who are dependent on low cost electricity supplied by coal-fired power plants.”

Last year, the association warned the EPA that its decision to charge forward with regulations that will cripple the U.S. economy and devastate the mining industry in Ohio and beyond is irrational and should be reversed. It has now come to light that the EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act was based, in large part, upon flawed research provided by the IPCC.

The IPCC has come under fire in recent months following the anonymous leak of emails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, which generated the data used by IPCC in reaching its conclusions. Those emails revealed that IPCC member scientists were destroying data, deleting emails, falsifying information, exaggerating information and using flawed methodology in analyzing historical climate data. The CRU emails further disclosed a pattern of bias against, and hostility towards, scientists who questioned the research methods or conclusions of those who believed that significant global warming, caused by humans, has been occurring.

Rather than acting as objective, truth-seeking scientists, CRU undertook its work with a strong bias towards showing a historical warming pattern. Now the subject of multiple investigations, these revelations of misconduct by CRU has called into question the IPCC report, upon which EPA based its conclusions.

“We can not sit back and allow the EPA to take such drastic action, imposing new regulations that are certain to crush the coal industry in Ohio and throughout the United States, based upon biased and invalid science,” said Carey.

The Ohio Coal Association is a trade association dedicated to representing Ohio's coal industry. The association is committed to advancing the development and utilization of Ohio coal as an abundant, economic and environmentally sound energy source. Ohio has one of the lowest electric rates in the world because its coal-fired plants provide citizens with low-cost, reliable electricity. Nearly 90 percent of Ohio's electricity comes from coal, and coal provides over half of the nation's electricity needs. The Ohio coal industry directly employs over 3,000 individuals, with studies showing over 30,000 additional spin-off jobs in local communities throughout Ohio. Additional information is available at www.ohiocoal.com.

        

Our efforts to obtain a special prosecutor to investigate the admitted illegal activities of Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise have moved several important steps forward this week.  Let me explain.

First, Knox County Common Pleas Court Judge Otho Eyster today recused himself from consideration of this case.  Just days ago he said he would rule on the motion. 

Second, we are slowly and steadily being able to show that it has been the usual and customary practice of the Knox County Prosecutor to request a special prosecutor when his office has such a conflict.  For example, just this week we learned that the former treasurer of the Knox County Republican Party pled guilty to theft in office after an investigation by a special prosecutor.

In 2007 the Knox County Prosecutor requested a special prosecutor to investigate a Hilliar Township Trustee who was accused of theft.  John Thatcher said that it would be a conflict of interest for his office to investigate this case because he represented the Hilliar Township Trustees in their official capacities.

In 2008 the Knox County Prosecutor requested a special prosecutor to investigate the Knox County Sheriff. The Knox County Prosecutor represents the Knox County Sheriff in his official capacity.

Finally, we learned that the Ohio Supreme Court considers county agricultural societies, which runs county fairs, to be political subdivisions.  If that is the case then Wise has clearly violated Ohio law in contracting with the society to provide propane to the county fair.  You can read our court filing here.

Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher, who represents the Knox County Commissioners in their official capacities, has no business investigating Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise.  This is especially the case because Wise's activities concern his private business dealings with county owned properties among other admitted infractions.

        

Something is definitely starting to smell here in Knox County.  And his name is Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher.  In 2008 the Ohio Ethics Commission concluded that Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise had violated several Ohio laws concerning his placement of Wise Choice Propane LPG tanks at the Knox County Airport.

The letter can be found here.

In the letter the OEC finds that Wise violated the law but recommends no prosecution after discussion with Wise's fellow elected official Prosecutor John Thatcher.  Two things jump out.  First, the Ohio Ethics Commission has no discretion to recommend against prosecution when a violation is found.

(C)(1)(a) If, upon the basis of the hearing, the appropriate ethics commission finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts alleged in the complaint are true and constitute a violation of section 102.02, 102.021, 102.03, 102.04, 102.07, 2921.42, or 2921.43 of the Revised Code, it shall report its findings to the appropriate prosecuting authority for proceedings in prosecution of the violation and to the appointing or employing authority of the accused. If the accused person is a member of the public employees retirement board, state teachers retirement board, school employees retirement board, board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund, or state highway patrol retirement board, the commission also shall report its findings to the Ohio retirement study council.

ORC 102.06

Second, and more importantly, Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher had a legal and ethical duty to step aside and request an independent prosecutor.  In a recent case that involved a Delaware County Commissioner, a visiting judge was appointed and the matter was prosecuted by a team of special prosecutors.

This is even more reason for why a special prosecutor needs to be appointed in Knox County.

        

This afternoon I filed an affidavit and petition with the Knox County Common Pleas Court requesting that they appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the potentially illegal and unethical activities of Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise.  A link to the court filing in pdf is here.

In 2007, Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise walked into CES Credit Union in Mount Vernon, Ohio and threatened several employees with deadly harm with a firearm.  A link to the Columbus Dispatch story is here.  Nothing happened to him.

In 2005, Knox County Commissioner Bob Wise placed his propane tanks on property owned by Knox County without obtaining written bids.  In placing the tanks at the Knox County Airport, he didn't even bother informing the board or the director.  In fact, board member Fred Dailey was so outraged that he filed a complaint with Ohio's Inspector General.  In both cases local prosecutors again did nothing.  A link to the Columbus Dispatch story on this issue is here.

Most recently I learned that Bob Wise and his Wise Choice Propane were tampering with the propane tanks of my client Wilhelm Bottled Gas.   A link to the Mount Vernon News article on that issue is here.

Tampering with a propane tank in Ohio that you don't own is a crime under Ohio's fire codes.  The reason for this isn't for competitive reasons, but for the safety of the public.  Propane tanks can be dangerous and the original owner remains liable for any damage that might result.

It looks like too that I'm not the only person that has raised these concerns.  Here's a Mount Vernon News article about the same issue brought up by another local resident.