''Life after the legislature'': Doug White likely Taft pick for commerce dir.

FLASHBACK: Sen. White admits to existence of HB12 vote trading for Taft job appointments

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting today that outgoing Senate President Doug White is likely to find the "life after the legislature" that he so eagerly sought during 2003 deliberations on concealed carry reform.

The December 21, 2004 Dispatch story reports as follows:

Gov. Bob Taft today is expected to appoint his lieutenant governor, Jennette Bradley, as state treasurer and replace her with Bruce E. Johnson, the current director of the Ohio Department of Development.

The two Columbus-area officials will assume their new offices in early January, when state Treasurer Joseph T. Deters becomes Hamilton County prosecutor.

Sources also told The Dispatch that outgoing Ohio Senate President Doug White, a Manchester Republican, is the front-runner for Ohio commerce director, replacing Bradley, who currently serves in dual government roles.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

The story concludes with this:

White last night declined to confirm that Taft will appoint him the state commerce director, but he did say the governor had offered him a position as deputy director in the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

"Those rumors are certainly out there," White said, referring to the commerce and agriculture jobs. "Hopefully one of them’s going to come true."

Regarding the commerce directorship, White said, "If it happens at all, it’s not going to happen for a while."

White said he asked Taft for at least a two-year appointment to a state job so that, among other things, he could build his benefits in the Public Employees Retirement System.

Commentary:
After the 2002 elections, concealed carry proponents had good reason to expect quick passage of a strong concealed carry bill. Voters had increased the pro-CCW majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, making a veto-override of Gov. Taft possible.

House leaders got to work quickly, passing House Bill 12 in March of 2003, on a 69-28 vote, and sending a bill to the Senate. Once there, proponents again had reason to hope, as Senate President Doug White told the Gongwer News Service that he would not look to Taft for guidance on the gun bill. "Our focus is not now with the governor," White said, noting that his caucus didn't need all the language it sought on previous session's version of the bill, which died in the Senate.

However, Sen. White's deeds quickly separated from his words, and his tough talk about not looking to Taft for guidance was turned on its head. Senate leadership began chasing the "Taft support target". In the end, the Taft administration was essentially allowed to write the worst of the worst of the Senate's amendments, including a "carjacker protection" amendment which would have rendered parents with minors in their motor vehicles completely defenseless.

After passing its own version of the bill in June (with 22 "yea" votes, two more than necessary to override a gubernatorial veto), Senator White refused to appoint conferees to a committee which would sort out difference between the two versions of the bill before sending it to the Governor, saying there was no need to appoint conferees to a committee until a consensus was reached, and claiming that a veto-override was not possible.

White had created an impass that would last for months, asserting that there were at least three Republican Senators who would reverse their pro-CCW vote if the Governor vetoed the bill. Throughout the impass, White refused to answer the question of whether or not he was one of the three, and refused to name the vacilating Senators.

During that long summer, House Speaker Larry Householder said "There’s no point in talking to the Senate. It’s handed all its lawmaking authority to the governor," Householder said. "It’s highly unusual to hand all your lawmaking authority to the governor."

The impass White had created would only be resolved after hundreds and hundreds of citizens marched with openly-carried firearms at rallys across the state, perhaps most noteably in Senator White's hometown of Manchester. Three days after the Tony Gordon Memorial Defense Walk, White named conferees, and took the unusual step of naming himself to the committee.

On the conference committee, Taft's influence in the negotiations continued, as did White's claims that veto-override votes did not exist. Eventually, White admitted that the votes were not there because a few term-limited Republican Senators were looking for "life after the legislature". In other words, they were afraid to commit to override a veto because they were looking for job appointments from Bob Taft.

White, himself term-limited, was one of six term-limited Republicans who refused to commit to a veto-override. And judging by this Columbus Dispatch news story, it appears it is finally payday for Doug White.

As Ohio CHL-holders go about their business each day, struggling to comply with provisions such as the 'plain sight' car carry language, or fearful of attack due to having their right to self-defense on the trip to and from work banned by their employer, or suffering discrimination due to having their name published in a newspaper hoping to deter others from obtaining licenses, they should remember the name Doug White.

Bob Taft did.

Related Stories:
Senate Veto-Override Outlook

Senator: "Republicans sometimes forget that they're Republicans''

Liberal Republicans Fishing for Excuses

OFCC Statement on Senator White's announcement

Breakthrough: Senate Conferees Named!!

Tony Gordon Memorial 'Defense' Walk ''the most emotional of them all''

AGAIN: Senate Republicans leave town with unfinished business