Ohio First: a story of Croney Kickbacks and Bush Pioneers

Ohio First: The links to Householder Scandal

Following the links in the chain discovered by luaptifer in Cronyism: Bush Pioneer Behind Attacks on Reform Ohio Now, we found.....

• The main opposition to Ohio reform, Ohio First Voters Education Fund, has very strong ties to Bush Pioneer and lobbyist, Tom Whatman.


• Whatman is the owner of Whatman Associates and its public affairs affiliate, Strategic Public Partners.


• Ohio First's website ProtectYourVote.org was registered by Brandon Lyndaugh, Vice President of Strategic Public Partners. The phone number and address for ProtectYourVote.org is the same as Strategic Public Partners.


• The Ohio First articles of incorporation name Whatman Associates President Darren Klinger as secretary.

Look below the fold as we continue to follow the money. Maybe we'll find another Pioneer....

1. Reports by Ohio First to the Ohio Secretary of State show $27,000 in payments to Strategic Public Partners for "campaign staff."


2. The same report shows a payment of $18,625 to Majority Strategies for "literary production."


3. Majority Strategies owner Sam Van Voorhis was subpoenaed in the investiagation of alleged campaign finance violations by another Bush Pioneer, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.


4. J. Matthew Yuskewich, Treasurer for Ohio First, also received a subpoena. He was the treasurer of the Ohio House Campaign Committee when the alleged kickback scheme occurred.


5. Wait, one more subpeona worth noting was issued to Tom Whatman. Whatman was the treasurer of the fund Informed Citizens of Ohio, started by Householder, which was also under investigation.

How many more links are there in the chain and where do they go?

and

Cronyism: Bush Pioneer Behind Attacks on Reform Ohio Now

first posted @ ePluribusMedia

By now it is apparent to most that cronyism is the engine that drives the Bush empire.

In a Halloween article, the Toledo Blade writers identify two Republican lobbyists who hand out donations to influence polices, and in return, seemingly net 6 million in federal contracts.

What isn't included in the Blade's article is that one of those lobbyists, Tom Whatman, has his hands in the GOP attack against the Reform Ohio Now's effort to clean up Ohio elections after the rumored voter disenfranchisement and vote stealing that occurred in the 2004 election.

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Let's follow the money:

4. And who might just be the president of Strategic Public Partners? President of Strategic Public Partners who hosts the form accepting donations for the Educational arm of the Ohio First group attacking Reform Ohio Now (the grassroots organization trying to clean up Ohio election law)?

Tom Whatman

Yes, that Tom Whatman. The lobbyist whom the Blade exposed on Monday as the channel for 6 million dollars in federal contracts to clients.

Congress Had the Same Intelligence I did

BULLSHIT!

Since I knew of the FIRST THREE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS DELAYED TIL AFTER THE ELECTION, I've tried to make the point that the lies of this administration sold to the American people misled not only us little janes and joes, it misled our leadership! Since awareness of those FIRST THREE DELAYED REPORTS, TWO OR THREE OTHER DELAYED REPORTS have come to light!!!

For so long, Bu$h claimed he had the same intel that Congress had. THAT IS BULLSHIT! I've tried to make people aware of the fact and cited the relevant pieces wherever possible.

This history retells the story, that the SIC Democrats were sworn NOT TO TELL what they'd learned in Committee by the thugs towing the line of this Administration.

With backbone finally showing up among the Democrats, I think it's essential that the history be revisited!

Please reread the excerpt @ePluribusMedia, The Selling of the Iraq War: The First Casualty while keeping in mind just how many reports were withheld from the American people that would have indicted this Administration in time for us NOT TO REELECT them, if we really have, had we been told of their findings.

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HOORAY for Harry Reid and the post-nuclear option! Send a note to think him for demonstrating that Democrats may be reclassified, once again, as Vertebrates under the Endangered Species Act:

http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm

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Five of the nine Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Graham and Durbin, ultimately voted against the resolution, but they were unable to convince other committee members or a majority in the Senate itself. This was at least in part because they were not allowed to divulge what they knew: While Graham and Durbin could complain that the administration's and Tenet's own statements contradicted the classified reports they had read, they could not say what was actually in those reports.

Much more of the same intelligence at ePluribusMedia