The fact that there was an attempt to cover up information or the fact that employees of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation let the cover up happen?
After reading this Toledo Blade article, especially this:
On Oct. 27, 2004 - just six days before President Bush was re-elected after narrowly winning Ohio - Mr. Conrad expressed his concern about a potential "leak" of the losses in an e-mail to John Annarino, then the bureau's chief legal counsel and ethics officer. In the e-mail, Mr. Conrad advised how Mr. Annarino and James McLean, then the bureau's investment director, should manage the agency's investment staff to keep the potentially explosive losses under wraps.
"When you and Jim meet with the employees of Investments make sure it is the friendly, jovial John Annarino not the brow beat attorney John Annarino," Mr. Conrad wrote. "You want them to feel comfortable coming up and expressing their thoughts and concerns."
Mr. Conrad continued: "Jim told me this morning that he thought the major chance of us getting involved with the MDL situation is with a leak from OUR employees."
We can only speculate as to would this have made a difference in the 2004 elections, and it's very disturbing that the Governor's office appears to still be in denial over this situation:
Mark Rickel, a spokesman for Mr. Taft, referred to the allegation of a cover-up before the 2004 election as "absurd."
Somehow given the emails and the other information? Doesn't seem absurd to me...
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8 comments:
Lisa,
The most disturbing fact about the whole sorry record with respect to the BWC in Ohio would have to be the cover-up.
It's bad enough that the Bureau was busy losing dollars that businesses had contributed through their premiums, but it's even worse that high level Taft administration officials sought to hide this from the public.
Frankly, I'm not sure any of us realize the depths of the corruption in Columbus in the past few years, and I hope the voters will remember the poor stewardship of public funds we've seen come this November.
Remember, too, that the Republican majority rammed through Senate Bill 7 earlier this year as a BWC "reform" measure before the true ramifications of the scandals and corruption was known.
What was their haste? Why have our leaders been so quiet when they should have been outraged like much of the citizenry? Where were the public calls for Taft's resignation from the majority in Columbus? There may have been some Republicans who stepped up and demanded answers, but most stood idly by, hoping the scandals would blow over and they could keep their positions of power in Ohio.
Now we find out that Ohio's vote could have been altered if the scandals had been uncovered in 2004 before the elections. We must clean up the mess in Columbus and return our government to the people. If we don't, it's shame on us this time.
Coverups with BWC-related business?
Nah, couldn't happen...
:-}
I agree that we have no idea how deep the corruption went. Employees should not be able to be bought off with promises of good reviews. You'd think they'd remember that they are working for the citizen's of Ohio.
Just think if one employee had the ethics to come forward with this, knowing it was wrong.
I also agree reforming something without knowing the full picture is a bandaid approach.
Coverups are everywhere, whether it be a governmental or nongovernmental organization.
Who was it that said "People are basically honest." --- ???
Just have to wonder sometimes.
I don't think that this would have impacted the 2004 vote. Democrats would have blamed the Republican administration and Republicans would have blamed the Democrat BWC board member who supported MDL because his daughter worked there.
Back and forth - politics as usual...
The citizens of the state need and must demand answers and corrective actions to end this fiasco and restore trust.
If a Taft spokesman told me the sky is blue I wouldn't believe him.
I'm tired of my GOP being embarassed by crooks and liars.
Just a bunch of idle speculation and rumors, which a re very often based in fact...
Maybe we'll all wake up and find out that is was only a dream (read as nightmare).
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