House Democrats react to Taft criminal charges

House Democrats react to Taft criminal charges House Minority Leader Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island, issued the following statement in response to today’s decision by prosecutors to charge Bob Taft criminally for failing to report golf outings during his tenure. It may be quoted in whole or in part: This is a sad day for Ohio. For the first time in Ohio history, a governor has been charged with a crime. The public trust has been broken and one of the great surnames in American politics has been damaged. But it is important that we all keep our eye on the big picture. Close to $1 billion have been lost and thousands of injured workers and small businesses across Ohio have been hurt by this scandal. This is the real tragedy, yet we still don’t fully understand what has happened. We do know state government has needlessly wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on medical bills – paying $25,000 for a $1,000 surgical screw, for example. We also know more than $200 million has disappeared in a risky Bermuda hedge fund. And we suspect millions of dollars have been stolen by Tom Noe, one of Bob Taft’s close friends. What we don’ t know is how deep this culture of corruption runs in Ohio. I continue to believe a fully bipartisan committee – co-chaired by a Democrat and a Republican – would be the best way to begin restoring public trust by getting to the bottom of this pay-to-play culture. We need to make everyone who has done wrong is held fully accountable and that a scandal like this never happens again. -- 30 –