The Republicans want Rep. Bob Ney (OH-18) to just go away. Ney agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to his association with convicted lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Ney now has become the poster child for Republican corruption in Ohio and Congress. Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce (OH-15) has also called on Ney to resign.
Because the Republicans failed to pass stricter ethics legislation, Ney will still be able to collect his retirement and other benefits once he is out of jail. How nice. The Republicans have managed to take care of their own.
Ney's hand-picked Republican replacement for Ohio's 18th district, Joy Padgett, is also calling on Ney to resign. However, her request has other motives. If Ney would resign from his House seat before the election, Republican Gov. Bob Taft would more than likely appoint Padgett to fill Ney's seat for the next few months. Also, it would allow Padgett to call herself the incumbent in her political ads as she runs for the seat in the November election.
The Republicans can act shocked by the behavior of Ney and others, but the GOP knew these illegal activities were going on all the time.
*Ohio has lost more service members in Bush's war in Iraq. Ohio has lost 128 of its sons and daughters in Iraq, according to Iraq Casualties.
Remember when Bush said that the U.S. would start to send troops home by the end of the year? Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. The 147,000 men and women of our military who are stationed in Iraq will continue to stay there with no plans to send anyone home.
