Dayton Daily News: Outgoing Ohio governor reprimanded for ethics violations

From John Curry, December 27, 2006

How about the indelible black mark many STRS retirees gave Mr. Taft for his line-item veto for proper funding of the IG to investigate STRS? In many retirees' minds.......it will also remain indelible. Isn't it curious that he forced resignations from some of his staff members for committing the same type of ethics violations that he was convicted of and didn't step down? ..... so much for the "practice what you preach (or teach)" philosophy. John

Dayton Daily News, December 27, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday publicly reprimanded outgoing Gov. Bob Taft over ethics violations while in office, a black mark that stays on his permanent record as an attorney.

Taft, a Republican who has been an attorney since 1976, pleaded no contest in 2005 to failing to report golf outings and other gifts and was fined $4,000. He was the first Ohio governor to be charged with a crime while in office.

The reprimand, which ends the ethics case against Taft, fell between other sanctions the court could have considered, from no punishment at all to revoking the governor's law license.

Taft governor is not an active lawyer and has talked about teaching after leaving office, not practicing law.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, an arm of the state Supreme Court, said in April that Taft violated Ohio's code of professional conduct for lawyers, and Taft later signed an agreement admitting to the violation.

The court's 6-0 decision constitutes the reprimand, which goes in Taft's attorney registration record. Five of the justices are Republicans and one, Alice Robie Resnick, is a Democrat. Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, without explanation, did not participate.

Messages were left with Taft's office seeking comment.

The justices agreed with a recommendation from a court board that hears complaints about alleged wrongdoing by lawyers.

In its six-page ruling, the court noted there was no evidence that Taft had purposely tried to hide the gifts and said that the governor was guilty of an oversight.

The court also said there was no evidence any of the gifts were given as bribes and referred to Taft's prior clean record as an attorney and his "long and previously unblemished career in public office."

The court also noted that Taft had already been punished by the criminal justice system.

Taft "conceded this ethical lapse and acknowledged in his public apology his personal failure to maintain the standards of integrity to which all public officials must adhere," the opinion said.

The ruling also distinguished the reprimand for Taft from harsher punishments for other attorneys who also didn't disclose required matters. In those cases, which involved suspending attorneys' law licenses, the lawyers "had deliberately withheld that which by law they were required to reveal," the court said.

The charges against Taft, who could not seek re-election this year because of term limits and will leave office Jan. 7, stemmed from the governor's failure to report 52 gifts worth nearly $6,000 that he received over four years while in office. The case spiraled off a scandal in which a Republican fundraiser was convicted of stealing from a $50 million state investment in rare coins, which contributed to the Republican Party's loss of the governor's office on Election Day.

Taft, 64, a great-grandson of President and later Chief Justice William Howard Taft, has rock-bottom approval ratings but never considered resigning, though he had forced out several staff members in the past for improperly accepting gifts.

Taft's law license has been on inactive status since 2002, meaning he is not required to take 12 hours of continuing education each year or pay the $300 biennial license fee.

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On the Net:

Ohio Supreme Court: http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/

Gov. Bob Taft: http://governor.ohio.gov/