You may or may not have heard about the latest Jon Powers “scandal.” This one involving a disorderly conduct ticket from the City of Cleveland Heights in the state of Ohio.
An image of said ticket is at the left, and you can read it fairly well if you click the image … but to sum it up, it claims that Powers – on Oct. 23, 2004 – swore at a Cleveland Heights police officer.
I ran into Jon yesterday, actually, and he says it’s a jaywalking ticket. He also told me that he never swore at the officer – and in fact, wrote “I never said that” on the line where his signature goes.
According to the Buffalo Bean, this latest scandal was dug up by the Jack Davis campaign, which made me wonder … with $3 million to spend, is this the best Jack could find? Swearing at a cop?
I can, of course, hear the talking points now. The Davis camp (and the GOP) will start saying something along the lines of: “This just goes to show that Jon Powers has contempt for authority. He’s a rogue.”
But … doesn’t everyone who runs for office have contempt for authority? Is Jack Davis (or Chris Lee or Alice Kryzan) running for office because they think those in power are doing a great job? No. They think they can do better. Otherwise, no need to run, right?
And even elected officials tend to have contempt for authority, don’t they? When Dick Cheney told Sen. Patrick Leahy to “Go f#@k yourself,” did that not show contempt? Now. I certainly wouldn’t want to be compared to Dick Cheney if I were Jon Powers, but where was the outrage from the GOP when that occured?
And did Jack Davis get thrown out of a 2003 GOP fundraiser because he respected authority? No. It’s because he refused to take “no” for an answer.
The Republican Party really seems to think that they’re going to make hay with what I’m told is a $25 ticket. If what I read earlier is correct, though, they might want to have everyone’s court records sealed.
A post on another blog indicates that Lee has two driving while intoxicated arrests under his belt. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but I’m sure the Democratic Party is already looking into it.
If the post is true, will Henry Wojtaszek and Jim Domagalski call a press conference to talk about it, like they did for Powers’ last “scandal?”
I’m guessing “no.”
Undoubtably, Powers has flaws. And I’ve addressed them before. I’ll likely address them again. But this four year old ticket is a rodeo clown if ever there was one.
When, oh when will the candidates for the 26th district stop slinging mud and start addressing issues?