Op Ed: Taft’s troubles aren’t unlike those faced by Gray Davis

Columbus Dispatch
Friday, July 18, 2003
DARREL ROWLAND

This ought to sound a wee bit familiar to anyone who has followed Ohio politics over the past year.

The incumbent governor acknowledges that the state faces severe financial problems but refuses to offer even an estimate of the coming shortfall.

A couple of months before November’s general election, his challenger tosses out a projected deficit that the governor ridicules. Despite criticism that the incumbent is covering up the extent of the state’s budget woes for political reasons, he wins reelection.

Months later, however, the challenger is vindicated when his seemingly radical deficit projection turns out to be on the conservative side. The governor’s approval rating sinks toward a historic low.

And now, more than 1.6 million people — nearly double the total necessary — have signed a petition calling for a recall election.

What, you thought I was still talking about Ohio?

Sorry. I’ve been on vacation, and a couple of weeks reading news accounts in sunny California.

Aside from the substantial difference in the scale of the fiscal problem, the self-inflicted woes faced by California’s Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, and Ohio’s Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, are remarkably similar.

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

"Davis hid the truth from us. The budget disaster was far worse than he let on," say radio ads funded by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego who is bankrolling the recall effort. (Issa has a surprise 1970's connection to Ohio's concealed carry law)

"I think Davis clearly minimized the size of the budget deficit," Bill Simon (Davis' 2002 campaign opponent) told The Sacramento Bee. "I don’t know that the voters really had the benefit of making an informed decision."

Now, at the risk of oversimplification, substitute Taft for Davis in the above quotes.

In the fall, Taft harshly criticized then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Timothy F. Hagan’s estimate of a coming $4 billion shortfall in Ohio’s budget, yet refused to offer his own number. So, did Taft hide the truth from us? Did Ohio voters have the benefit of making an informed decision in the November election?

By May, Taft’s approval rating had fallen to 40 percent — with a record disapproval rating of 50 percent — in the Ohio Poll. And that’s before Taft signed the largest tax increase in state history.

Maybe I spent too long on the Left Coast, but with all this California screamin’, I can’t help but wonder: Would Ohioans sign a petition to recall Taft, especially if big bucks were spent on an anti-Taft media campaign and circulators were paid $1 for each signature they gathered, as was reported in California?

Ohio’s state law doesn’t allow such a thing. But Taft’s weakness goes beyond shaky poll numbers; he’s frequently dissed by those from his own party in the legislature, and Dispatch staffers hear members of the public level pointed criticisms of Taft, even when they are being interviewed on an unrelated topic.

When the governor was introduced before a July Fourth speech by President Bush in Dayton, Taft got about as many boos as cheers from the crowd of 26,000.

Taft’s supporters point out that many governors are unpopular in these days of tight budgets and say his numbers will rebound after the economy improves.

Supposedly Bush’s political advisers oppose the recall of Davis, saying an unpopular Democrat in the California Governor’s Mansion will help them next year in a state that Republicans have lost in the past three presidential elections.

Wonder what their reasoning is for Ohio, a must-win state for Republicans, and Taft, who can’t even achieve a 50 percent approval rating among his fellow Republicans?

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Alongside any questioning of why the Bush campaign would cuddle-up to Taft, a quesiton closer to home is why Ohio's Senate Republican leadership remains so loyal to a dismally unpopular governor who happens to be from their party?

Click here to read the entire op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).