Tin Soldiers and Bob Taft Coming

Wish we could forget Ohio:

Last week’s conviction of Gov. Bob Taft on four misdemeanor ethics charges has put another dent in the Ohio Republican party’s image of invincibility — and cast a long shadow over the party’s 2006 candidates.

Over the last decade, the GOP has consolidated power by racking up win after win in the Buckeye State. Republicans today hold every statewide constitutional elected office (including uninterrupted control of the governorship since 1991), both U.S. Senate seats, and majorities in both houses of the state legislature, the state supreme court, and Ohio’s congressional delegation. But these Republican majorities haven’t aged well.

The problem runs deeper than undisclosed gubernatorial golf outings and the state’s rare-coin investment scandal. Republicans were swept into office during the 1990s on a platform of low taxes, fiscal responsibility, and robust economic growth. In recent years, they have instead given Ohioans higher taxes, increased spending, and a generally lackluster economy.

Taft and the Republican-controlled legislature boosted the sales tax by 20 percent, a $2.9 billion “temporary” tax increase that some would like to give more staying power. While this was justified on predictable deficit-hawk grounds, state expenditures continued their upward trajectory. In the years preceding the sales-tax hike, spending grew twice as fast as inflation and more than ten times as fast as the population — despite unified Republican control of state government.

For two years running, Taft has received an "F" in the Cato Institute’s "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors," ranking him toward the bottom. When he did recommend lower income-tax rates earlier this year, he proposed offsetting tax hikes elsewhere: doubling the tax on beer and wine, boosting levies on cigarettes by 45 cents a pack, and increasing electricity taxes by one-third.

In short, much of what conservatives fear about ossified Republican majorities is on display in Ohio. But Taft (who refuses to resign) is mercifully term limited and Democrats aren’t alone in campaigning against the mess in Columbus.

The Democrats happen to be right---Taft ought to go. Taft's ethics problems aren't trivial. He's gone native, holding onto power for power's sake, unable to comprehend much less do the honorable thing.

Make no bones about it---Republicans are elected because of honor, not because of policy. When the architect of the Republican revolution was discovered to be an adulterer, he was drummed out. Likewise, when his replacement had similar troubles, he was drummed out. When Trent Lott said something nice about a geriatric colleague who was once an ardent segregationist, he was drummed out of leadership.

If you don't think the Democrats are inherently less honorable than the GOP, ask yourself what happened to Bill Clinton, Dick Durbin, and Robert Byrd in similar situations to the ones above. And don't get me started on Ted Kennedy.

Taft must go. The Ohio GOP needs a good scrub, and he is the last person who ought to do it.