Half the Taft, Twice the Corruption

So, Governor Taft demonstrates yet again that the rules do not apply to the Republican Party. Perhaps part of his punishment should be to, oh, I don't know, invest in rare coins. If it was a Democratic governor pleading no contest to ethics charges, he would be lambasted on talk radio and hounded until he quit. From CNN:

The governor has forced out underlings for ethics offenses, but he said those cases were different. Taft said his golf outings were mostly weekend events with friends and he didn't know they needed to be reported. The Ohio Ethics Commission found no evidence that he had given political access in exchange for the outings.

Taft, 63, entered the cramped city courtroom Thursday accompanied by his attorney, his wife and two state troopers. He stood respectfully as he apologized to Froehlich.

"As governor I have made it clear that I expect all state workers to comply and follow both the spirit and the letter of Ohio's ethics laws, and I have demanded no less of myself," Taft said.

But at a news conference minutes later, Taft said repeatedly he would not resign, saying he had too much to do in his remaining 16 months as governor.

Certainly, both Democrats and Republicans have been guilty of such things, but for some reason, the pundits and blowhards only pay attention if the guilty party has 'D' somewhere after the name. One wonders if Ohio might have swung the other way in 2004 if Taft is shamed sooner.
(Crossposted by Bostondreamer at FloridaBlues)