The Ohio US Senate primary in 2010 is getting nasty already, almost 10 months out. But it's also taken a disturbing turn, with an increasing appearance of tax snooping by a sitting Democratic Lt. Governor, Lee Fisher, against the family of a sitting Democratic Secratry of State, Jennifer Brunner.
As usual, Ohio lefty blogs led the way weeding this thing out.
It's all blown up in a week, and it started out weird. The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mark Naymik reported that Jennifer Brunner's 22 yr old son, Jonathon, had unpaid taxes on a condo his parents had paid for in Franklin County (Columbus), and that his parents ended up paying.
Of course, numerous Ohio blogs noticed this was bizarre.
Seriously, why would anyone be looking halfway across the state to see if the 22 yr old son of Jennifer Brunner paid his property tax? And what relevance does it even have to the campaign?
Next up, the same reporter, the Cleveland PD's Mark Naymik, tossed out another Brunner family tax "issue" from Franklin County (Columbus).
Rick Brunner, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's husband, has a history of making late property tax payments on a Columbus office building he bought with his wife.
Pretty quickly, Ohio bloggers smelled a rat.
Why did Naymik bite? Because he’s looking for his next job, that’s why. Anyone who’s been in politics more than a nanosecond knows where all those taxpayer funded spokespeople come from – media. And no one in media is more on the hunt for their next gig than reporters at newspapers...
Next, the Cleveland PD's Naymik turned his attention to the tax filings of Jennifer Brunner's husband's business, this time that he'd "learned" from "tips" from "Fisher supporters" that Jennifer Brunner's husband, Rick, had failed to file tax documents in 1998 and 2001, and wrote a column defending why this nonsense would be relevant, which Ohio bloggers again pounced on.
So now we have the Fisher public relations strategy out in the open-- "let's get a friend in the media to write some negative stories about Brunner's using our own oppo research on her family and then he'll write a column citing the "heated" political environment as something that the Democrats don't want to go on for the next year, and so that coupled with the FEC reports will put tremendous public pressure on Brunner to drop out."
"But what if someone realizes that this information came from us?"
"Oh, come on, who's going to figure that out?"
How much you want to bet the Fisher campaign is pushing Naymik's column today as evidence that Brunner should drop out? Any takers?
Then is gets REAL weird, so weird, that the same Cleveland PD reporter, Mark Naymik, admits a DAY LATER that Jennifer's husband Rick did indeed file the papers in 1998 and 2001, and then Naymik notices he's being played.
But the review itself leaves some unanswered questions about the department's handling of the inquiry that is fueling the belief by Brunner's U.S. Senate campaign that she is being unfairly targeted. Brunner described the review as "fishy." Her campaign likens the inquiry to illegal snooping.
Then another Ohio blogger notices that the Ohio Tax Commissioner is a Lee Fisher donor since 1990, and his spokesperson has a history of dirty tricks, the spokesperson knew about the Joe the Plumber tax liens before they were reported which were illegally snooped up last fall, and THEN the Ohio Tax Department REINSTATES, THE NEXT DAY, the tax certificates it had revoked because of the alleged missing papers from 1998 and 2001, which were actually never missing.
It gets better. Lee Fisher and his campaign then refuses comment when the AP starts asking around. And then the Ohio blogosphere goes APESHIT.
The whole thing reeks. The Inspector General should investigate. And if Lee Fisher won't talk to the AP, he should be made to talk to the IG.
Everything about this story seems to orbit around Lee Fisher. And until an investigation is done, Lee Fisher is going to reek over this. And if it turns out that Lee Fisher was involved in this obvious smear that jeopardized a private citizen's business for political purposes, not only is he unfit for higher office, but he should follow the advice he gave his political student Marc Dann: RESIGN.
Another reaction asks the Governor, Ted Strickland, to investigate.
I really don’t know how Ted Strickland can avoid asking the inspector general to investigate the increasingly fishy fishing expedition into the taxes of Jennifer Brunner’s family. The facts just scream for an investigation, and today, those facts just got weirder.
The whole thing seems to cry out for an investigation. This all hit the fan in about a week! This wasn't planned? Come ON! There's even word that a focus group was in the field push polling on Brunner's family the month before this all came out! Perhaps Ohio Kossacks can help. Jennifer Brunner has done so much for our community, she deserves to at least be free from tax snooping by her own party.