Strange Ohio Politics

These Republicans don't even hide their relationships with lobbyists. From The Hill: Barbour Griffith & Rogers has scored a prize K Street catch in new vice president Shalla Ross, who comes from the policy director’s post at the House Republican Conference. Ross also served as staff director for the House Rules subcommittee of conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), as legislative director for former Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.) and as a legislative aide in the office of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

Republican fundraiser, Tom "coingate" Noe, has had his trial date set for July 24th. The Toledo Blade has the dirty details.

Republican candidate for governor, Kenneth Blackwell, went to northeastern Ohio to win some supporters. However, the voters in that region of Ohio have a long memory about how Blackwell screwed with their votes in the last presidential elections. News Net 5 has the story.

We all know that the President' approval rating is at 36%. Now we even know the approval rating of Republican Rep. John Boehner, the Republican House Majority Whip. From PR Newswire: Also measured for the first time was new Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner who starts with a job approval of 23 percent positive and 50 percent negative. (Wooo hooo!)

More on Boehner....From the Toledo Blade: It seems that Rep. John Boehner has taken a number of trips out of his district to places which, coincidentally, have major golf courses. (Does this guy even work? Do you think he pays for his tee times?) Here is an excerpt from the article: ... Mr. Boehner, successor in the GOP leadership to ethics-challenged Texan Tom DeLay, is perhaps best known as the recipient of a golf junket to the storied St. Andrews links course in Scotland, paid for by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose corrupt exploits set off the current ethics debate. Depending on what source you believe, Mr. Boehner did - or did not - know that he was traveling illegally on Mr. Abramoff's dime to Scotland. But the story doesn't end there. According to a nonprofit group called Campaign for a Cleaner Congress, records show that Mr. Boehner took 180 trips to destinations outside his southwest Ohio district from 1999 to 2005. Most of them were to exclusive golf resorts, including - yes - St. Andrews, Pebble Beach in California, and Pinehurst in North Carolina...