Strickland's administration also delivered a negative communication last week. That's when it acknowledged that the nobody told the governor that state's top development officer, Mark Barbash, had tax troubles before his promotion in February to the Cabinet-level post.
Barbash resigned Friday after a media report revealed he owed the Internal Revenue Service more than $146,000.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher knew of Barbash's problem, as did the governor's chief of staff, John Haseley. Yet, neither said anything to Strickland, who found out only when Barbash told the administration he had received a foreclosure notice on his home.
The situation sends a couple of possible messages, neither of them good.
One, the governor's staff keeps him out of the loop. Or, two, the governor doesn't pay attention to his own vetting process.So, Lee Fisher and John Haseley knew of Barbash's tax problems and yet failed to tell the Guv?
Shame on them.
Governor Strickland is in the midst of a tough budget cycle and is looking at a no-gimme re-election campaign next year. These two should know better than to make his life more difficult than it already is.
As for Mark Barbash, fear not! You may owe $146,000 to the IRS, but Akron mayoral recall instigator Warner Mendenhall has you topped! He owes $196,000. So, Mark, you may not be fit to be director of Development, but you can feel free to start a petition drive to recall your local mayor. And, you can whine about it if your mayor's supporters try to point out your tax lien as a reason not to support your recall efforts too, just like Mendenhall has.
Posts
1 comment:
Hello - do we need to discuss anymore who will be the best Senator? Fisher let Jackie Coleman abuse state government and now we learn that he knew of Barbash's tax problem from the beginning. Lee is from the old political guard in which is unacceptable these days. We need Brunner as our nominee.
Post a Comment