Taft won't give sworn statement in lawsuit

[maddezmom]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. Bob Taft and five key aides have declined to give sworn statements requested by a Democratic state senator who is suing Taft over access to records in a state investment scandal.


Sen. Marc Dann of suburban Youngstown sent a notice this week to the attorney general's office requesting the six depositions on Friday.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Arthur Marziale Jr. wrote a letter Wednesday declining all six depositions and citing executive privilege. He said Taft's chief policy director, Kate Bartter, would be available to testify about general, non-privileged information in reports that Taft received from the bureau.

Dann's attorney, Frederick Gittes, said he would ask the court to force the governor to testify unless Taft reconsiders by Thursday afternoon.

In his lawsuit, Dann is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to order Taft to release memos between the governor's office and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. The bureau, which invests employer premiums to run an insurance program for injured workers, has lost about $300 million in various investments over the past few years.

more:http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=3592722

[truthisfreedom]

1. heh. this is so fun! i love watching the pukes fall apart in a million

ways. they are so spectacularly corrupt!

[Algorem]

2. related thingee-Court orders BWC to release coin records

Agency must reveal purchase, sale prices
Thursday, July 14, 2005

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1121333439316852.xml&coll=2

Columbus - The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation must produce records that show the purchase and sale price of each rare coin in its investment portfolio, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

"The public has an unquestioned financial interest in a state agency's and state administrator's investment of public funds," Justice Alice Robie Resnick wrote for the 5-2 majority.

She rejected BWC's argument that the information constituted a trade secret and its disclosure could hurt the state's ability to recover some of the money.

Bureau officials, along with some coin experts, have said that secrecy could enhance the coins' value because prospective buyers would not know how many similar coins were sold and for what price...

[1monster]

3. In other words, rare coin investments are a scam.

Bureau officials, along with some coin experts, have said that secrecy could enhance the coins' value because prospective buyers would not know how many similar coins were sold and for what price...

[mbperrin]

4. Exactly! It seems that there are quite a few things sold in the world

where everyone knows (or can easily find) the current # in existence and price; stocks and bonds, autos and trucks, houses and real estate; in short, just about everything bought and sold depends on a MARKET for these things, which means buyers and sellers know what, where, and how much it is....this isn't even Econ 101, more like Econ 59.5!


Now let me throw one out: not even my own beloved totally corrupt state of Texas, home of innumerable crooks, shady operators, and perpetrators of scams has ever spent state money on "rare" "collectible" coins!

I really want folks to think about that....;)

[OldCurmudgeon]

5. just wait till they find...

just wait till they find the records that show millions of state dollars "invested" in Star Trek Collectable Plates.

Yes, this is the party that wants to invest our Social Security Trust Fund. Thanks, but no thanks.