Political Skullduggery

Rep. Robert W. Ney, who went on Jack Abramoff's famous $130,000 golf trip to Scotland, and has been no stranger to this blog, made a big announcement this morning:

Rep. Robert W. Ney, the six-term Republican congressman from central Ohio implicated in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, announced this morning that he will not seek re-election....

Ney has been identified as the accused but so far unindicted "Congressman A" in Abramoff's plea agreement. He has denied wrongdoing.

Ney has been under investigation by federal authorities in Florida and the District for actions that helped Abramoff and two partners buy a Fort Lauderdale-based casino cruise line. The deal that Ney promoted in the Congressional Record hinged on the Abramoff group's creation of a counterfeit $23 million wire transfer.

Ney's anointed successor on the GOP ticket has some special qualifications:

The first thing we know about Joy Padgett is that she's Ney's handpicked candidate -- a distinction about as prestigious as Michael Brown giving you something called a FEMA Gold Star for Competence. The second thing we know is that she was first appointed to her State Senate seat by disgraced Governor Bob Taft," said Bill Burton, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Bob Ney was forced out of this race by the reality of an electorate demanding change from the culture of corruption in Washington and a Congress that compulsively puts special interests first at every opportunity.

The Padgett Record -- A History of Ties to Ney, Taft and the Special Interests

Padgett Took Nearly $8,000 from Ney. Since 1993, Padgett has taken at least $7,500 from Ohio Congressman Bob Ney. [Ohio Secretary of State, www.sos.state.oh.us]

Padgett Was Appointed by Taft to Direct the Governor's Office of Appalachia. In mid-1999, Padgett was appointed to director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, a $63,000 a year job. At the time of the appointment, she was a four-term state House member, barred by term limits to seek re-election. [Columbus Dispatch, 10/10/04; Associated Press, 6/7/99]

Padgett Was Appointed by Taft to Serve in the State Senate. After serving in the appointed position of director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, Padgett was appointed again, this time to the state Senate. [Roll Call, 12/7/05]

Padgett Has Taken Money from Big Drug Makers, Energy and Tobacco. In her campaigns for the Ohio state House and Senate, Padgett has taken money from the pharmaceutical manufacturers; Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson; oil & gas interests and the tobacco company R.J. Reynolds. [Ohio Secretary of State, www.sos.state.oh.us]

Padgett's 2004 State Senate Race Was Referred to as One of the Nation's Nastiest Campaigns. In October 2004 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, referred to Padgett's 2004 Senate race as, "One of the nation's nastiest campaigns [that] has divided a quiet corner of Appalachia, a place usually immune from political venom thanks to its neighborly ways." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/30/04]

Padgett Accused Her Opponent of Being Soft on Terrorists. Padgett's 2004 Senate opponent was a former foreign correspondent for The Associated Press who became famous after Shiite Hezbollah terrorists kidnapped him and held him hostage in Lebanon for almost seven years. Padgett accused him of anti-American behavior and that he is soft on terrorists. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Padgett, also "sent out campaign mailings this month showing Anderson with a Hezbollah terrorist leader. She called Anderson "part of the 'Blame America' crowd" that is sympathetic to Mideast thugs intent on hurting Americans." What she failed to mention was that the terrorist pictured with Anderson was the secretary general of Hezbollah, the group that abducted him in 1985. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/30/04]